Hong Kong 97 Mystery...

[TALUIGI]

There's a game a Homebrew/Bootleg, made by ''HAPPYSOFT LTD.'' That's called Hong Kong '97, When I First Looked to the game name, I was thinking that it's a Obscure Fighting Game... But I has wrong, Now I started to make some investigation to know who did this. but one day, I had found this site :

http://web.archive.org/web/20040922041738/http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-PaloAlto/2191/kurosawa.html

Actually, Nobody said that this game don't have a phystical copy. but, they are selled in FLOPPY DISKS, So it got a rom, so you can play the game in the pc with a emulator.

Here's the translation.
Hong Kong 97
The most famous thing in SFC coterie software.
Although not much talked about,
It is that Coulomb Mr. created
It has become a common belief.
And say to the sale in the FD in such form
We had a tremendous plan.
It seems was not transferred to the run (laughs).


Hong Kong 97 package
* The Player, Bruce Lee relative.
Operates the Chen killer, he is annihilating the Chinese People's
There must be.
* Chen's heroin addiction.
Power up and take the syringe!
The Norikire the crisis in the power of the drug!
* China VIP When you destroy the car
Special bonus
* Whatever attention to the mine. By using
It is a powerful ally.
* 1.2 billion of excitement if the murdered person

Well weird... The creator of this "Work of Art" Is know as "Kowloon Kurosawa" He got a facebook, his facebook photo got a mickey mouse look-a-like mask. and In the 2004's Site. There's a photo of a guy with the same mask. It's very bizarre. also possibly it got a ending. mabe if you reach to the score : 120000000 you can finish the game, because in the site, in HK97's Description it's writed "エンディングが？" That means Finish. or End. So there's a clue that the game got a ending. or a next level. So I'm Trying to reach that ABSURD SCORE. Like there's my score for now.

I hacked the Score Numbers to make understandable also, yes. The game is hackeable!  :rolleyes:  

Like, the game is like a mystery, I want know more of the development, and secrets behind it. also I can make a mockup photo of the Original Floppy Disk photo.

[taizou]

apparently Kowloon Kurosawa is a journalist, and he made the game in about a week - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_97_(video_game) / http://sixsamana.com/?p=257

(also judging from the release date, it was probably intended for play on real SNESs with a floppy disk-based copier, rather than emulators)

[TALUIGI]

Hmmm... That's really weird. How they would run Floppy Disks on SNES?! :shock:
Also, I am trying to get a good score, but I has in 9845, But then, It reseted back to 0048! WHAT HAPPENED?

[fcgamer]

You would use one of the many different SNES copiers, which all use generic floppies.  From the looks of the packaging, it seems this game was just distributed on generic disks, and not on cart format, ever.

[TALUIGI]

Oh... So it's like a SuperFamicom Version of the Famicom's Disk System?

[fcgamer]

TALUIGI

May 8 2015, 08:51:49 AM

Oh... So it's like a SuperFamicom Version of the Famicom's Disk System?[/quote]Eh, sort of, but not exactly.  A lot of bootleg companies had made disk-based copiers for Super Famicom / Super Nintendo, which "dumped" the games onto numerous floppy disks, which could then run without needing the cartridge.  I imagine this game was made to run through one of those.

[HummerBootlegFan1992]

Wait, why would "a Japanese person" release a bootleg game "that usually Chinese/Taiwanese or Russian people do" giving the name 'Hong Kong 97' for the "Super Famicom which bootlegs weren't usually made on", plus "releasing it on a floppy disk"!? Were there even SNES emulators in 1995? Okay, I admit it. I may have gone a little crazy with this weird type of thing, but it's not your usual bootleg, you all know that.

[TALUIGI]

Well, that's some very peculiar form of physical copy. But I'm asking me everyday... Also why I can hack the graphics by dropping the ZSNES Save state on YY-CHR?

[taizou]

HummerBootlegFan1992

May 9 2015, 08:43:18 AM

Wait, why would "a Japanese person" release a bootleg game "that usually Chinese/Taiwanese or Russian people do" giving the name 'Hong Kong 97' for the "Super Famicom which bootlegs weren't usually made on", plus "releasing it on a floppy disk"!? Were there even SNES emulators in 1995? Okay, I admit it. I may have gone a little crazy with this weird type of thing, but it's not your usual bootleg, you all know that.[/quote]as numerous people have explained now, it wasn't designed for emulators, it was made for floppy disk based SNES copiers, eg:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Professor-SF-Attached.jpg
They were a common(ish) way to pirate SNES games in the 90s, before emulation was really viable - I don't know how prevalent they were in Japan, but people there still use "Magicom" (the name of a common SNES copier) to refer to DS flash cards, so they must have had some underground presence at least.

but homebrew developers used them too, which was the case here - it wasn't a "bootleg" or any kind of organised commercial operation at all, just one guy making a crappy game in his spare time and probably distributing it through local stores and/or conventions. if you're aware of doujin games, it seems like that kind of thing.

[TALUIGI]

Hmmmmmm... So it's like a "reader" that if you put the Floppy, You can play SNES Games, without catridges. Ok. But imagine the price of this thing...  

and yea, I make my own emoctions.Found a weird site, possibly related to HONG KONG '97.
But in another domain... hmm...
http://web.archive.org/web/20090221003228/http://mukunob.hp.infoseek.co.jp/game/1997/19971.htm
This game, but it SNES response,

Translation (Changed some words because Google Translator is retarded)

Spoiler: click to toggle

What does not exist ROM cassette, it is back software that only the data is distributed.
Content is also quite dangerous, it will not be an exaggeration to just say that the dark side of the game industry.

This menu appears on the screen when you turn the game on.

Apparently, it seems to say that choose the language.
Since I am Japanese, I tried to choose the Japanese.
Then, the following screen.

It don't smell so good.
This is the first scene.

Oh, It's says I "copy without permission, it is the infringement of copyright to sell"?
I "please feel free to contact us", it can not be a very hesitate mood.

Who are these guys?, we have an office building in Tokyo.
I do not know the most whether or not there now.
Although I thought it was also of going to make sure,
I should quit because even unpleasant to directly resulting in disappearance.

We have reached the title screen with difficulty.
Already from the title screen, large runaway of publicity right ignored.

Well, ... the opening of the problem starts from here.

In the same site, got some directories.

One with just writed : I am speechless..

In the Start of the opening, is compose with dangerous text and image.

The game itself was also no less in this opening.
Tough it's a shooting game. But it's in Argus level, it's average.
Since the corpse image is used in large quantities, it was decided to postpone the public.

Although it is about incidentally BGM,
During the game from the opening, until the game over screen,
That it is of like a Soviet ○ map of theme (Chinese) flows much,
It is to further accelerate this dark runaway locomotive.

Everyone Happy soft on goal in the world this kind of a DOS(?!) Black Game,
It is safe?

(Note) Got a plenty of death to the Chinese people. ... I Don't made this game.

[TALUIGI]

And, Hong Kong '97 Music is hackeable!! =O
It's weird how they use samples to music.

The game can be hacked, I want to HACK THE SCORE!!!  :yay:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jxs2rczgjkbeic1/HK8BIT.SMC?dl=0

TALUIGI

May 31 2015, 05:07:22 PM

And, Hong Kong '97 Music is hackeable!! =O
It's weird how they use samples to music.

The game can be hacked, I want to HACK THE SCORE!!!  :yay:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jxs2rczgjkbeic1/HK8BIT.SMC?dl=0[/quote]Hello! I sended a special message to Koowloon's facebook. because I want to know more about the developement and stuff. I just said to him:
こんにちは、私は「博麗97"は、 "私はこのゲーム面白いゲームについての詳細をお知りになりたいと私はそれについての詳細を知りたいです！ありがとう。
Hello, I want to know more about the game "HONG KONG '97" this game looks like interesting and I want to know more about it! Thank You.  

For now, No Replies.  :'(

EDIT: I DISCOVERED ONE THING! IF YOU DON'T SHOOT ON DENG XIAOPING. HE GONNA EXPLODE!!  :huh:
EASTER EGG? POSSIBLY?  /:)
ALSO, THE MUSIC SUDDENLY MUTED!  :O

[fergzilla]

This is a good time as any to bring this link up. For one reason or another, months ago out of boredom I decided to transcribe and compare all of Hong Kong 97's text in each language. I did this months before the AVGN even posted his review of the game. And yes, I double and even triple-checked my work. Here's the link to the semi-complete Google document. Any help from people who know fluent Japanese/Chinese to make notes about oddities in the text will be greatly appreciated.


Some things I noted myself, copied and slightly modified from a post of mine from another forum:

-One of the messages in the Japanese language mode uses the word "版權" (copyright), which while still used in Chinese, is a "pre-war" word in Japanese that has been almost phased out of use and largely replaced with "著作権", and this makes things a little bit suspicious concerning if some of the programmers/writers were truly Japan natives or immigrants from Greater China, or just a simple Japanese/Chinese joke (doesn't help that old kyuujitai was used for "版權" rather than current shinjitai "版権").

-And while the English opts to use the colorful "fuckin' ugly reds.", the Japanese and Chinese versions write "人民" without any swearing, which while literally meaning "people", has very high communist connotations in Japan (due in part of the word being used in the full Japanese names of 中華人民共和国 (modern China) and 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国 (North Korea)), so saying 人民/jinmin in Japan is pretty much equal to "those dirty bunch of red commies" in English.

-One final strange thing is that "SGI" (possibly referring to either Silicone Graphics or Soka Gakkai) and "カナダ大使館" ("Canadian Embassy") is in the credits under "協力" ("cooperation") Huh??? What does that even mean? Anyone willing to give any interpretations?? Even the Japanese are racking their brains over this "game". Hong Kong 97 truly is one of the greatest mysteries of video games, and it's so popular to the point of being a meme in Japan and Taiwan.
 
-Oh, and also for fun, I even used Google Maps on the Japanese (former) Happysoft address (the English and Chinese wrote it awkwardly), and you can even use Street View on it.

[msf007]

The word "版權" is not that uncommon in modern Japan. Though it is an old word for 著作権 at least "officially", it is still being used by many ordinary Japanese people. You don't have to feel something suspicious there.

No one would exactly know about that SGI thing, but SGI is rather frequently made fun of in Japanese culture, especially in something unofficial like this game so I suppose this is just one of those cases.

[fergzilla]

Yeah, but keep in mind that the "權" part of "版權" is considered an old kyuujitai kanji in Japan (present-day written Japanese is considered its own simplified form of the Traditional Chinese characters it once used, similar to China's own simplified characters but a whole lot different and less characters were simplified in comparison), so after 1946, it would be presently written as "版権" in shinjitai kanji at the very least. And most Japanese video games don't even use kyuujitai kanji in dialogue (if they even use kanji at all) except for some rare special cases. "権" is considered a largely Japanese-exclusive kanji, while "權" still sees use exclusively in Traditional Chinese today. Keep in mind that part in Hong Kong 97 is the only place where you will see both "權" and "権" ever.

Wiktionary on 權
Wiktionary on 権
Wiktionary on 版權
Wiktionary on 版権

[msf007]

I see, so your main concern was about that letter difference, rather than the entire word.

Yes it is unusual when both 權 and 権 are used in the same screen, but still I never saw it that strange since the game already contains Chinese mode and Chinese font, and even outside that Chinese mode the whole game is trying to be in Chinese-style and look somewhat dangerous/suspicious(That is what so called "underground games" are trying to do) Though being a Japanese game, HappySoft intentionally wrote the copyright message in Chinese(版權所有 翻印必究), and I think they just lazily copy-and-pasted 版權 from that message to display it again, despite it was going to be used in Japanese mode and they actually had a font to display 権.

Oh, if we can trust everything written on Japanese Wikipedia page about HK97, HappySoft actually had a Chinese guy to give help on the Chinese text, according to an interview with Kurosawa!