Hong | Kong 97 Magazine Top
| Category | # of Magazines | Highlights | |----------|----------------|------------| | News & Current Affairs | 12 | South China Morning Post Magazine, Ming Pao Weekly, Stand News Review | | Business & Finance | 13 | Hong Kong Business, Economic Times, Bloomberg Businessweek (HK edition) | | Lifestyle & Fashion | 20 | *Vogue Hong Kong, Harper’s Bazaar HK, ELLE HK, * ** | | Food & Travel | 15 | Taste HK, Hong Kong Traveller, OpenRice Magazine | | Arts, Culture & Entertainment | 14 | Muse HK, ArtAsiaPacific, Hong Kong Film Magazine | | Technology & Innovation | 8 | MIT Technology Review (Asia), Wired HK, Tech in Asia HK | | Sports & Health | 5 | South China Athletic Review, RunHK, Yoga & Wellness | | Niche & Specialty | 10 | Parenting HK, Senior Living, LGBTQ+ Hong Kong, Eco‑Living | | Total | 97 | — |
Below you’ll find a short description of every title, plus a quick note on where to pick it up (newsstand, subscription, or e‑edition).
The “top” magazine coverage of Hong Kong ’97 is remembered not just for its front pages, but for the questions it raised: Could “one country, two systems” survive? Would Hong Kong remain a free port and open society? Looking back, these magazines are time capsules — reflecting the hopes, fears, and spectacle of a city making history.
In the world of rare artifacts, few items carry as much dark irony as the original advertisements and features for the unlicensed 1995 video game, Hong Kong 97. The Infamous Magazine "Top"
The term "top" in this context often refers to the game's ranking or placement in specialized underground media during the mid-1990s.
Cult Recognition: It famously achieved the number one spot as the "Wacky Japanese Game of All Time" on the XLEAGUE.TV show, Wez and Larry's Top Tens. hong kong 97 magazine top
Underground Adverts: The game's only known print advertisement appeared in the first issue of a Japanese game hacking magazine called Game Urara.
Satirical Roots: Creator Kowloon Kurosawa also detailed the game’s development in a piece for the erotica magazine Cream, specifically on page 81. The Story: A Satire of History Developed in just seven days by Kurosawa and a few friends, Hong Kong 97
was intended as a brutal mockery of the video game industry. Its plot mirrored the high-stakes 1997 Hong Kong Handover through a lens of absurd violence:
The Protagonist: Players control Chin, a relative of Bruce Lee (using a cropped image of Jackie Chan), hired to "exterminate" the population of mainland China.
The Antagonist: The "ultimate weapon" is a resurrected, giant-headed Deng Xiaoping. | Category | # of Magazines | Highlights
The Soundtrack: A notoriously short, low-quality loop of "I Love Beijing Tiananmen" plays throughout the entire experience. Why It Became a Legend
Despite only selling roughly 30 copies via mail-order floppy disks, the game surged in popularity decades later through internet culture. It is now categorized as a kuso-ge (a "shitty game" so bad it's good) and became a viral sensation after being featured by reviewers like the Angry Video Game Nerd. Its notoriety is so enduring that a sequel, Hong Kong 2097, was released in early 2026 for Windows. The complete history of Hong Kong 97 : r/creepygaming
When collectors refer to the "magazine top" regarding Hong Kong 97, they are usually referring to the print advertisement or feature article found in Game Express, a Japanese gaming publication from the 1990s.
The game was never sold in major stores. It was distributed via mail order through an obscure magazine advertisement. Because the game was unlicensed and produced by the Taiwanese company HappySoft, it didn't get the glossy coverage of mainstream titles like Final Fantasy or Mario.
Instead, the "top" (or advertisement) was a small, grainy section in the back of gaming magazines. It featured a blurred screenshot, a bizarre blurb about the game, and order information. The “top” magazine coverage of Hong Kong ’97
If you are a retro gaming enthusiast, a collector of rare magazines, or just someone who fell down a YouTube rabbit hole late at night, you have likely heard of Hong Kong 97.
It is widely considered one of the most bizarre, offensive, and sought-after "kusoge" (shitty games) in history. But while the Super Famicom cartridge is the holy grail for many collectors, the accompanying print media—specifically the magazine top (or cover feature)—offers a fascinating window into a bygone era of gaming culture.
Whether you are looking to buy one or just understand the history, here is your guide to the Hong Kong 97 magazine feature.
Even non-news magazines joined in. Architectural Digest featured Hong Kong’s colonial and modern architecture. National Geographic ran a striking photo essay on Hong Kong’s people and ports. Fortune and The Economist ranked Hong Kong’s economic future as a “top” story for global investors — with Fortune’s infamous “The Death of Hong Kong” cover (1995) still being debated in 1997 issues.
“Narrating the Handover: Identity, Anxiety, and Colonial Legacy in Hong Kong 97 Magazine”