The Game Census
Zero Wing cover art

Zero Wing

Bitwave Games · Clear River Games · 2023-02-14

SteamGOG

Action

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative

Releases: Feb 14, 2023 (Linux), 1989 (Arcade), May 31, 1991 (Sega Mega Drive/Genesis), Feb 14, 2023 (Mac), Feb 14, 2023 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Sep 16, 1992 (Turbografx-16/PC Engine CD)

Defend the galaxy from vicious space pirates! Seize your foes and fire them back at their allies for devastating destruction in Toaplan's legendary horizontal arcade shooter, now on PC with all-new features and quality-of-life bonuses!

88%
positive of 85 reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
0–20,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
IGDB user rating (21 ratings)
$7.99
steam price (US)
Zero Wing is a 1989 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed by Toaplan and published by Namco for Japanese arcades; in North America, it was distributed by Williams Electronics. Controlling the ZIG space fighter craft, players assume the role of protagonist Trent in a last-ditch effort to overthrow the alien space pirate organization CATS. It was the eighth shoot 'em up game from Toaplan, and their fourteenth video game overall.

Health check

Quiet
  • · 16 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~2/week).
  • · Review velocity down 11% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 68% of 12,170 Action games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 1.7k–3.8k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 85 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $0.95 at GOG (2025-10-19)via IsThereAnyDeal

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
141420232026Week of 2023-02-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Attention

131602026-06-06 — 100 pageviews2026-06-09 — 93 pageviews2026-06-12 — 88 pageviews2026-06-15 — 89 pageviews2026-06-18 — 114 pageviews2026-06-21 — 92 pageviews2026-06-24 — 91 pageviews2026-06-27 — 98 pageviews2026-06-30 — 95 pageviews2026-07-03 — 92 pageviews2026-07-06 — 96 pageviews2026-07-09 — 109 pageviews2026-07-12 — 76 pageviews2026-07-15 — 93 pageviews2026-07-18 — 98 pageviews2026-07-21 — 97 pageviews2026-07-24 — 88 pageviews2026-07-27 — 95 pageviews2026-07-30 — 98 pageviews2026-08-02 — 115 pageviews2026-08-05 — 104 pageviews2026-08-08 — 104 pageviews2026-08-11 — 74 pageviews2026-08-14 — 60 pageviews2026-08-17 — 86 pageviews2026-08-20 — 114 pageviews2026-08-23 — 93 pageviews2026-08-26 — 121 pageviews2026-08-29 — 102 pageviews2026-09-01 — 107 pageviews2026-09-03 — 102 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerMulti-playerCo-opShared/Split Screen Co-opShared/Split ScreenSteam AchievementsFull controller supportGamepad RecommendedDualShock Controller SupportDualShock Controller Support

1 supported languages: English

Player tags

2D1980sRetroSpace1990'sActionArcadeCombatSci-fiController

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

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Similarity via IGDB.

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