All Your Base Are Belong to Us
The Zero Wing Engrish catchphrase that became one of the internet's first mainstream memes — 'All your base are belong to us.'
A broken-English declaration of dominance from Zero Wing's opening cutscene. Online it became a snowclone ('All your X are belong to us') for takeovers, raids, and early-web absurdist humor — often paired with CATS's face and Photoshopped real-world signs.
History
The line comes from the poorly translated European Mega Drive port of Zero Wing (1991). Forum GIFs spread in the late 1990s; a February 2001 Newgrounds Flash music video by Bad_CRC (set to The Laziest Men on Mars) pushed it into mainstream press (Wired, USA Today) (Wikipedia, Know Your Meme).
Cultural scores
Editorial estimates of cultural weight — Current Popularity tracks how much people are posting about this now, not historical fame.
Current Popularity = how actively people are posting about this today. Influence = lasting footprint. Cringe = online reception. Brainrot = absurdist energy. Scores last reviewed 2026-07-25. How scoring works
Timeline
1991
Zero Wing Mega Drive English script ships with the infamous line
1999–2000
GIFs and quotes circulate on gaming forums
Feb 16, 2001
Bad_CRC Flash music video posted to Newgrounds — meme goes mainstream
2001–2000s
Image macros, real-world signs, TV ticker pranks, YouTube placeholder joke
2010s–20s
Enduring early-internet reference and anniversary coverage
Examples
- “Photoshopping 'ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US' onto highway signs”
- “Snowclone: 'All your memes are belong to us'”
- “Calling any takeover moment 'for great justice'”
Media
Related entries
Culturally linked — not random recommendations.
Leeroy Jenkins
MemeA 2005 World of Warcraft video in which a player named Leeroy Jenkins charges recklessly into a dungeon while his teammates are still planning, destroying the raid and immortalizing a battle cry.
End of Ze World
MemeJason Windsor's 2003 Flash apocalypse sketch — 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' — often called one of the first viral videos.
![Nyan Cat! [Official] — NyanCat channel thumbnail (2011)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2yJgwwDcgV8/hqdefault.jpg)
Nyan Cat
MemeA pixelated cat with a Pop-Tart body flying through space leaving a rainbow trail — pure early-internet whimsy.
Trollface
MemeThe smirking face of internet trolling — the default symbol for 'you've been tricked' across early internet culture.
Do a Barrel Roll
MemePeppy Hare's Star Fox 64 advice — and the Google Easter egg that made everyone spin the page.
Rickroll
MemeThe internet's most legendary bait-and-switch — Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' disguised as something else.
References
Sources behind this entry. Prefer primary reporting and established culture archives over rumor.
- All your base are belong to us — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org