History Trivia / HongKong97

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: For years, rumors circulated about the identity of the corpse seen on the Game Over screen. The most common guesses were Polish boxer Leszek Błażynski, Egyptian political activist Farag Foda, or Palestine Liberation Organization member Atef Bseiso, all of whom died violently on the date seen in the timestamp (June 8, 1992)[[note]]Błażynski actually died on August 6, 1992; his inclusion was due to confusion about the DDMMYY format commonly used outside of the USA[[/note]]. It was later revealed that none of these guesses were correct, and it was an image of [[https://www.reddit.com/r/creepygaming/comments/chxnov/the_image_of_the_body_at_the_game_over_screen_in/ a victim of the Bosnian genocide from a shock documentary]], with director Yoshihisha Kurosawa capturing the image from a [=LaserDisc=] copy of the film.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: For years, rumors circulated about the identity of the corpse seen on the Game Over screen. The most common guesses were Polish boxer Leszek Błażynski, Egyptian political activist Farag Foda, or Palestine Liberation Organization member Atef Bseiso, all of whom died violently on the date seen in the timestamp (June 8, 1992). It was later revealed that none of these guesses were correct, and it was an image of [[https://www.reddit.com/r/creepygaming/comments/chxnov/the_image_of_the_body_at_the_game_over_screen_in/ a victim of the Bosnian genocide from a shock documentary]], with director Yoshihisha Kurosawa capturing the image from a [=LaserDisc=] copy of the film.

* OldShame: Yoshihisa Kurosawa has stated that he'd prefer it if people just forgot about this game.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The game was only distributed by mail order on floppy disks (similar to those used by pirates to create bootleg games), and an even rarer cartridge shown by Creator/JamesRolfe in an AVGN update video. Most people opt for playing an emulated ROM of it.

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* ColbertBump: WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd gave it more publicity nowadays than it ever got in the 90's. He even inspired the creation of its pages on Wiki/ThisVeryWiki; and before that, one of the earliest mentions of the game came from WebVideo/GuruLarryAndWez nearly ten years prior.

* OneBookAuthor: ''Hong Kong '97'' is the first and final game made by Yoshihisha "Kowloon" Kurosawa, who created and published the game anonymously. In a 2018 interview with the ''South China Morning Post'', Kurosawa stated that he intended to create the worst game ever and that people would just forget about it.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The plot covers the then upcoming 1997 transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China. There is also a brief allusion to Chris Patten being governor of Hong Kong, and the "Games Wanted" text asks for games to be sent in on a floppy disk.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The game was only distributed by mail order on floppy disks (similar to those used by pirates to create bootleg games), and an even rarer cartridge shown by the AVGN in an update video. Most people opt for playing an emulated ROM of it.

* RealSongThemeTune: The game's theme song (and only music) is a loop of a communist Chinese propaganda song called "I Love Beijing Tiananmen". Or rather, a loop of the first two lines of the song.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The plot covers the then upcoming 1997 transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China. There is also a brief allusion to Chris Patten being governor of Hong Kong, and the "Games Wanted" text asks for games to be sent in on a floppy disk.

* OneBookAuthor: ''Hong Kong '97'' is the first and final game made by [=HappySoft=] Ltd. before they sort of faded into thin air and were never heard from again. This fact is further corroborated by a 2018 interview from the South China Morning Post in which the developer behind [=HappySoft=], Yoshihisa "Kowloon" Kurosawa, stated that he intended to create the worst game ever and that people would just forget about it.
* PopCultureUrbanLegends: For years, rumors circulated about the identity of the corpse seen on the Game Over screen. The most common guesses were Polish boxer Leszek Błażynski, Egyptian political activist Farag Foda, or Palestine Liberation Organization member Atef Bseiso, all of whom died violently on the date seen in the timestamp (June 8, 1992). It was later revealed that none of these guesses were correct, and it was an image of [[https://www.reddit.com/r/creepygaming/comments/chxnov/the_image_of_the_body_at_the_game_over_screen_in/ a victim of the Bosnian genocide from a shock documentary]].

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: For years, rumors circulated about the identity of the corpse seen on the Game Over screen. The most common guesses were Polish boxer Leszek Błażynski, Egyptian political activist Farag Foda, or Palestine Liberation Organization member Atef Bseiso. It was later revealed that none of these guesses were correct, and it was an image of [[https://www.reddit.com/r/creepygaming/comments/chxnov/the_image_of_the_body_at_the_game_over_screen_in/ a victim of the Bosnian genocide from a shock documentary]].

* ColbertBump: WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd gave it more publicity nowadays than it ever got in the 90's. He even inspired the creation of its pages on Wiki/ThisVeryWiki.

* NamesTheSame: As stated on the main page, there's also a movie called ''Hong Kong '97'' that predated this game by one year. However, the game has absolutely nothing to do with the movie except for coincidentally sharing the same title and same general plotline (concerning Hong Kong being returned to China in 1997). This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd in his review of the game, where he says that he'll consider the game a movie-based game... [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames just so he can say it has nothing to do with the movie]].

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The game was only distributed by mail order on floppy disks (similar to those used by pirates to create bootleg games), and only a few people bought it. Most people opt for playing an emulated ROM of it.

* RealSongThemeTune: The games' theme song (and only music) is a loop of a communist Chinese propaganda song called "I Love Beijing Tiananmen". Or rather, a loop of two lines from "I Love Beijing Tiananmen".

* FollowTheLeader: ''Hong Kong 97's'' legacy spawned a spoof, ''[[https://lostmediawiki.com/Taiwan_2001_(lost_PC_game;_2000s-early_2010s) Taiwan 2001]]'', which is supposedly even worse than the former. Despite the availability of screenshots, there are no download links available, and it's unknown whether or not physical copies of the game existed.