A fun enough game, Zero Wing would have been rather revolutionary if it were released four or five years earlier. Unfortunately it comes off more as a lesser clone of Gradius, though not much lesser. The various weapon power-ups are excitingly cool, the music is all kinds of awesome, and the legendary dialogue gives plenty of comic relief moments, but some of the level sections are overly difficult and there's no health bar or sound effects that let you know that you've gotten hit at all until you blow up, which then comes as quite a surprise. Despite its flaws, it's quite a fun game, and can be very enjoyable if you're in the mood for a difficult shoot 'em up.