Hong Kong 97

About

Hong Kong 97 is a chaotic multidirectional shooter set against the backdrop of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover. You play as Chin, a character loosely tied to Bruce Lee, tasked with eliminating mainland Chinese immigrants depicted with inflammatory language. The gameplay focuses on fast-paced shooting, though the execution is notoriously glitchy and unpolished. Developed in about a week by journalist Kowloon Kurosawa and published by homebrew studio HappySoft, it’s a relic of the Super Famicom’s fringe scene. The game’s infamy stems from its deliberate or accidental absurdity. Ranked as the Number One “Wacky Japanese Game of All Time” by XLEAGUE.TV and featured on The Angry Video Game Nerd, it’s celebrated for its unintentional comedy. Despite technical flaws, it gained a niche following in Japan and Taiwan, where its over-the-top plot and rough edges became a draw. A product of its time and a cautionary tale, Hong Kong 97 remains a curious artifact for collectors of gaming’s weirder corners.

Storyline

The game is set around the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. It is said that, at the time, people from the Chinese Mainland (called "fuckin' ugly reds", making this one of very few games on the Super Famicom that contains cursing) started immigrating to Hong Kong and generally increasing the crime rate. As a countermeasure, Chin (Jackie Chan in his Wheels on Meals appearance), a relative of Bruce Lee, was hired by the Hong Kong government (represented by Chris Patten) to wipe out all 1.2 billion people of China. But meanwhile, in China, research was underway to bring the dead "Tong Shau Ping" (Deng Xiaoping) back to life as the ultimate doomsday machine. When the game was released in 1995, Deng Xiaoping, said to be dead in the game, was still alive. However, he did die months before the handover, which is when the game's plot actually takes place.