WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.720 Okay, so let's unpack this. Imagine you are handed 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:05.960 a mission. Right. You need to create a piece 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:09.699 of media, but your explicit undeniable goal is 00:00:09.699 --> 00:00:12.099 to make it as fundamentally broken and absolutely 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:14.820 parable as humanly possible. Which goes against 00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:17.679 basically every creative instinct. Exactly. You 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.199 want to build something so cynical that it actively 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:23.000 insults the medium it belongs to. You cobble 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:25.480 this nightmare together in 48 hours. You sell 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:27.600 a few copies out of the back of some shady publications. 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:30.719 And then you just walk away. You assume it's 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:32.619 buried forever. Right. You move on with your 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:34.920 life. Yeah. But then decades later, you wake 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:37.359 up to find the Internet has unearthed your garbage 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:40.000 masterpiece, and you are now an unwilling legend. 00:00:40.259 --> 00:00:43.140 It's the ultimate anti -success story. It really 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:45.920 is. Today, we are taking a deep dive into the 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:48.380 strange, highly secretive world of Yoshihisa 00:00:48.380 --> 00:00:52.159 Kurosawa, who often went by the name Kulun Kurosawa. 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:54.700 A fascinating figure. We are looking at the making 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:56.880 of what is widely considered the worst video 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.960 game ever created. a bizarre 1995 Super Famicom 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.019 release called Hong Kong 97. And the materials 00:01:04.019 --> 00:01:06.400 we have to untack this are just as unconventional 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:10.719 as the game itself. So true. We've dug into archived 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.180 underground 90s gaming zines and contemporary 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:17.340 retrospective essays from the retro gaming community. 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:20.099 And most importantly, we have Kurosawa's own 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:23.900 highly revealing 2018 tell -all interview with 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:26.579 the South China Morning Post. Which is just a 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:29.060 goldmine. Our mission today is to understand 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:32.140 how a deliberate mockery of the gaming industry 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:35.239 accidentally became an enduring internet legend. 00:01:35.500 --> 00:01:37.400 Because this isn't just a look at retro gaming 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:39.700 trivia. For you listening, this is a psychological 00:01:39.700 --> 00:01:42.239 study of underground culture. It's about the 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.799 sheer terrifying power of internet sleuthing. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:46.819 Oh, absolutely. And what actually happens when 00:01:46.819 --> 00:01:48.620 you create a piece of anti -art that escapes 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:51.260 your grasp. It takes on a massive life of its 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:53.019 own. When you release something into the wild, 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:55.549 even if it is a pure joke. You completely surrender 00:01:55.549 --> 00:01:57.950 how the world receives it. Yeah, you lose control. 00:01:58.189 --> 00:02:01.250 So to understand how we get to a 1995 Super Famicom 00:02:01.250 --> 00:02:03.450 disaster, we really need to look at the guy who 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:06.810 built it. Yoshihisa Kurosawa. Right. Kurosawa 00:02:06.810 --> 00:02:09.069 wasn't your standard aspiring game developer. 00:02:09.210 --> 00:02:11.849 He was born in Tokyo in 1971. But from what I'm 00:02:11.849 --> 00:02:14.210 seeing in these retrospectives, he wasn't taking 00:02:14.210 --> 00:02:16.689 the traditional path. No, not at all. He wasn't 00:02:16.689 --> 00:02:18.689 going through computer science programs or aiming 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:21.030 for a comfortable corporate job at Nintendo. 00:02:21.969 --> 00:02:24.110 Where does a guy like this even get his start? 00:02:24.599 --> 00:02:27.199 In the tech scene. He started deep in the trenches 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:29.860 of early, highly technical computer culture. 00:02:30.060 --> 00:02:33.240 We're talking about junior high school and he 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:36.479 is already running his own BBS for the Amiga 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.360 computer. A BBS, a bulletin board system. Exactly. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.780 Running an Amiga BBS in Japan in the 1980s is 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:46.620 such a specific. incredibly niche space to operate 00:02:46.620 --> 00:02:49.300 in. It takes a serious level of technical dedication. 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:51.780 He is building his own digital community long 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:53.960 before the mainstream even understands what being 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:56.500 online means. That technical foundation is crucial 00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:59.060 here because he was operating heavily within 00:02:59.060 --> 00:03:02.000 the Magicom era of the 1990s. The Magicom era, 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:04.419 right. He wasn't just a casual hardware enthusiast. 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:07.180 He leveraged his deep computer geek knowledge 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:09.719 to dive headfirst into the world of game console 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:12.780 backup devices. And more importantly, he became 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:16.009 an active chronicler. of it. Yes, he did. He 00:03:16.009 --> 00:03:19.389 serialized articles in enthusiast computer game 00:03:19.389 --> 00:03:22.469 magazines. He specifically focused on the massive, 00:03:22.569 --> 00:03:25.370 completely unregulated pirated software scene 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:27.729 happening over in Hong Kong. So he is acting 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:31.030 as this sort of digital punk rock journalist. 00:03:31.349 --> 00:03:33.650 That's a great way to put it. He isn't just buying 00:03:33.650 --> 00:03:35.949 bootlegs, right? He is shining a light on this 00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:38.610 shadow economy. He's writing about it for other 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:40.949 hardcore tech enthusiasts. Which tells us so 00:03:40.949 --> 00:03:43.610 much about his mindset. He is completely comfortable 00:03:43.610 --> 00:03:46.370 operating on the fringes. It shapes his entire 00:03:46.370 --> 00:03:49.229 worldview. He is looking at the media landscape 00:03:49.229 --> 00:03:51.650 at intellectual property and at the polished 00:03:51.650 --> 00:03:54.250 retail gaming industry through a very cynical, 00:03:54.449 --> 00:03:57.490 very practical lens. He understands how software 00:03:57.490 --> 00:03:59.949 is copied, distributed, and monetized outside 00:03:59.949 --> 00:04:02.689 of official channels. And his personal life reflects 00:04:02.689 --> 00:04:06.240 that exact same restless fringe energy. He doesn't 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:08.180 stay in Tokyo writing magazine articles forever. 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:10.900 No, he moves. The sources show he relocates to 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:13.319 Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Which is a huge shift. 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:16.240 What happens when a guy who lives and breathes 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.920 the cutting edge of Tokyo's underground tech 00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:23.100 scene suddenly uproots to 1990s Cambodia? Well, 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:25.319 he tries to reinvent himself as an entrepreneur, 00:04:25.379 --> 00:04:27.519 but in spaces that were incredibly challenging. 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:31.360 He attempts to run a bookstore in Phnom Penh. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.379 A bookstore? Yeah. And he also tries his hand 00:04:34.379 --> 00:04:37.279 at publishing free business papers. Wow. Both 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.899 of those specific ventures ultimately fail. I 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:42.720 can only imagine the logistical nightmare of 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:44.600 trying to run an independent publishing venture 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.439 in Cambodia. During that era, it would have been 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:49.920 incredibly difficult. But those failures don't 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:52.439 seem to stop his output at all. Right. He just 00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:55.300 keeps going. He remains fiercely dedicated to 00:04:55.300 --> 00:04:58.060 his writing. He continues authoring niche computer 00:04:58.060 --> 00:05:00.439 books and producing these very gritty underground 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:03.459 Asian travel journals. So he is a businessman 00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:06.420 and a nonfiction essayist who is clearly drawn 00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:09.519 to the raw, unpolished sides of society. Exactly. 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:12.980 And that sets the stage perfectly for 1995. Let's 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:15.079 look at the video game history happening at that. 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:18.300 exact moment. The Super Famicom is at its absolute 00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:21.259 peak in Japan. The Golden Age. You have massive, 00:05:21.259 --> 00:05:24.139 highly polished, big -budget masterpieces dominating 00:05:24.139 --> 00:05:26.319 the culture. Games that defined a generation. 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:28.980 And then you have Kurosawa sitting at the intersection 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:33.079 of game development knowledge, hardware piracy, 00:05:33.139 --> 00:05:36.759 and his own cynical travel experiences. How does 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:38.939 he react to this booming, polished industry? 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:43.100 absolute contempt. According to his own later 00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:45.600 admissions, he looked at the state of the gaming 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.199 industry and wanted to create a total mockery 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:50.360 of it. He wasn't trying to make a hidden gem. 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:52.839 No, he didn't even want to make a game that fell 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:56.300 into the so bad it's good category. His explicit 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:59.660 motivation was to engineer the worst game possible. 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:01.839 He creates a fake company for this, right? He 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:04.759 established a completely fabricated homebrew 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:08.240 label called Happy Soft LTD specifically for 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.860 this release. It is a deliberate act of sabotage 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:14.019 disguised as a Super Famicom cartridge. Absolutely. 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:17.170 But there is a massive catch here. Despite his 00:06:17.170 --> 00:06:19.790 deep knowledge of computers and running BBS systems, 00:06:20.050 --> 00:06:23.050 Kurosawa actually had very little practical programming 00:06:23.050 --> 00:06:25.129 skill. Which is a pretty big hurdle when you're 00:06:25.129 --> 00:06:28.129 making a game. You can't just wish a Super Famicom 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:30.790 game into existence. Right. Especially in 1995 00:06:30.790 --> 00:06:34.050 without modern development engines. So how does 00:06:34.050 --> 00:06:36.370 he pull this off? He recruits an accomplice. 00:06:36.449 --> 00:06:39.430 Okay. He enlists the help of a friend to handle 00:06:39.430 --> 00:06:41.850 the actual coding. And this wasn't just some 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:44.430 random hobbyist. This friend was actually a legitimate 00:06:44.430 --> 00:06:48.350 employee at Enix. Wait. Enix is in the powerhouse 00:06:48.350 --> 00:06:50.810 RPG developer behind Dragon Quest the very same 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:53.519 That is incredible. I am just picturing this 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:56.220 legitimate professional developer moonlighting 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:59.139 over a weekend to help his friend build a digital 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:01.420 trash fire. Because the timeline here is absurd. 00:07:01.579 --> 00:07:03.939 Is it right? Entirely absurd. Working together, 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:06.720 they built Hong Kong 97 from the ground up in 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:10.300 exactly two days. Two days. 48 hours to conceptualize, 00:07:10.300 --> 00:07:13.240 assemble, and finalize a functioning Super Famicom 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:15.540 title. When you only have two days to make a 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:17.899 game, you clearly aren't composing original music 00:07:17.899 --> 00:07:20.319 or drawing pixel art animations. Not at all. 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:23.740 The assets they used are a masterclass in aggressive, 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:26.920 scrappy copyright infringement. Where did he 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:29.019 even get the materials to build this thing? He 00:07:29.019 --> 00:07:31.480 sourced them the exact same way he approached 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:33.980 his travel writing, by wandering the streets 00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:36.019 and pulling from the raw culture around him. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:38.959 Okay. For the audio, he didn't hire a composer. 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.500 He walked down to Shanghai Street, bought a secondhand 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:45.079 laser disc, and ripped the audio straight off 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.920 of it. And for anyone who has seen gameplay footage 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:52.120 of Hong Kong 97, that... Audio is legendary for 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:54.920 all wrong reasons. It really is. It is a short, 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:58.560 looping sample of a song that just plays endlessly, 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.579 driving the player absolutely insane. It never 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:04.449 stops. It never changes. It's relentless. And 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:06.769 the visuals. Just as chaotic. The main character, 00:08:06.889 --> 00:08:09.350 Sprite, the pixelated hero the player controls 00:08:09.350 --> 00:08:12.529 on screen, was blatantly stolen right off a random 00:08:12.529 --> 00:08:14.569 movie poster. He just took it from a poster. 00:08:14.689 --> 00:08:16.490 He just digitized it and dropped it into the 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:19.410 code. No original art, no cohesive design document, 00:08:19.689 --> 00:08:22.569 just pieces of stolen pop culture glued together 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:25.569 with pure spite. It is the anti -art aesthetic 00:08:25.569 --> 00:08:28.110 taken to its logical extreme. So after a frantic 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:31.550 48 hours, Kurosawa has this maddening copyright. 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:34.379 infringing game sitting on a hard drive. A completely 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:37.320 hostile piece of software. He obviously can't 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:39.320 send this to Nintendo to get official cartridges 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:41.840 pressed. How do you distribute something like 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.580 this in 1995? This is where his background in 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:47.279 the Magicom scene pays off perfectly. Oh, right. 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:50.809 The backup devices. Exactly. He utilizes those 00:08:50.809 --> 00:08:53.950 exact same game backup devices he had been writing 00:08:53.950 --> 00:08:56.629 about in his underground journalism. He goes 00:08:56.629 --> 00:08:59.009 to the famous computer malls in Sham Shui Po, 00:08:59.269 --> 00:09:02.169 buys the necessary backup hardware, and begins 00:09:02.169 --> 00:09:04.950 copying his homemade game directly onto standard 00:09:04.950 --> 00:09:07.950 floppy disks. He is literally bootlegging his 00:09:07.950 --> 00:09:10.509 own original creation. Yes. But even with the 00:09:10.509 --> 00:09:13.070 floppy disks ready to go, he still needs buyers. 00:09:13.659 --> 00:09:15.779 He can't put these on store shelves next to Chrono 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:17.820 Trigger or Final Fantasy. So he taps into his 00:09:17.820 --> 00:09:20.220 existing network of underground gaming and tech 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:22.840 magazines. The ones he wrote for. Right. He writes 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:25.620 articles under various pseudonyms, heavily hyping 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:28.159 up this bizarre, edgy creation from Happy Soft 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.179 LTD. Creating his own fake buzz. He sets up a 00:09:31.179 --> 00:09:33.820 completely unregulated mail order service through 00:09:33.820 --> 00:09:37.240 the back pages of these signs. It is such a fascinatingly 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:40.399 raw distribution model. If you were a reader 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:42.700 of these obscure magazines, you would read this 00:09:42.700 --> 00:09:45.639 hyped up, probably very weird advertisement. 00:09:46.779 --> 00:09:49.019 Put cash in an envelope and mail it off to a 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:51.440 phantom company. And a few weeks later, Kurosawa 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.299 mails you back a floppy disk containing the worst 00:09:54.299 --> 00:09:56.759 game ever made. He even created some cheap merchandise 00:09:56.759 --> 00:09:59.340 to bundle with it, right? He did. He operated 00:09:59.340 --> 00:10:01.720 this mail order scheme for a few months, selling 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.879 to a handful of curious readers who were deep 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.360 in the underground scene. And then what? And 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:09.220 then, as abruptly as the two -day development 00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:12.220 cycle began, the distribution just stopped. He 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:14.600 just closes up shop. Completely. He moves on. 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:16.600 He goes back to his travel journals, his books 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:18.519 and his life in Southeast Asia. Just leaves it 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:21.799 behind. For over a decade, Hong Kong 97 is effectively 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:25.759 dead. It is just a microscopic forgotten blip 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.100 in the vast history of bootleg software. Kurosawa 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:31.899 himself forgets all about it. But this is where 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:34.240 the timeline shifts and where the Internet changes 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.940 the absolute rules of legacy. The Internet always 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:40.090 finds a way. We jump forward to the late 2000s, 00:10:40.090 --> 00:10:42.769 and there is this massive cultural shift happening 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:45.309 in online gaming communities. We see the rapid 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:48.149 rise of Kusoge culture. Yes, Kusoge. Literally 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:51.169 translating to shitty games. And that culture 00:10:51.169 --> 00:10:54.740 thrives on digital archaeology. It became a badge 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:56.899 of honor for gamers, YouTubers, and internet 00:10:56.899 --> 00:10:59.919 sleuths to seek out, play, and document the most 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:03.000 broken, baffling, and unplayable games ever created. 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:05.179 They aren't looking for hidden masterpieces. 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:07.799 They are actively hunting for the bottom of the 00:11:07.799 --> 00:11:10.139 barrel. And as these sleuths are digging through 00:11:10.139 --> 00:11:12.700 the deepest, darkest archives of obscure Super 00:11:12.700 --> 00:11:15.879 Famicom ROMs, they eventually stumble upon the 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:18.659 Holy Grail. They find Hong Kong 97. Think about 00:11:18.659 --> 00:11:20.679 what this looks like to a Kusochi fan finding 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:23.039 it for the first time. It has the stolen movie 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.000 poster graphics, the maddening, relentless looping 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.259 music from the Shanghai Street LaserDisc, virtually 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:30.840 zero functional gameplay mechanics, and this 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:33.940 incredibly weird, edgy lore attached to a phantom 00:11:33.940 --> 00:11:37.120 developer called HappySoftLTD. It was absolutely 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.620 destined to explode. It really was. It became 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:42.279 wildly infamous across message boards and video 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:45.799 platforms. But crucially, that infamy was entirely 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:49.159 unwanted by its creator. Right, because no one 00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:51.240 knew who made it. For years, the identity of 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:53.740 the person behind HappySoft was a complete mystery. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.460 The game possessed this mythical status precisely 00:11:57.460 --> 00:11:59.759 because nobody could figure out who would make 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:02.539 something so deliberately awful. But the internet 00:12:02.539 --> 00:12:06.600 is relentless. You cannot hide forever when thousands 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:08.399 of people are obsessed with solving a mystery. 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:11.399 How do they finally crack the case? They connect 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:14.340 the pseudonyms, the old magazine articles, and 00:12:14.340 --> 00:12:17.330 the tech writing. Eventually, rabid fans of this 00:12:17.330 --> 00:12:19.950 game managed to track down Yoshihisa Kurosawa's 00:12:19.950 --> 00:12:22.389 personal Facebook account. Can you imagine the 00:12:22.389 --> 00:12:24.549 psychological whiplash? It must have been surreal. 00:12:24.970 --> 00:12:28.230 You are a businessman and travel writer. You 00:12:28.230 --> 00:12:30.610 log into your personal social media account to 00:12:30.610 --> 00:12:32.870 check in on your life, and suddenly you are staring 00:12:32.870 --> 00:12:35.750 at an inbox overflowing with messages from thousands 00:12:35.750 --> 00:12:37.929 of strangers. People you have never met. They 00:12:37.929 --> 00:12:40.309 are bombarding you day and night with questions 00:12:40.309 --> 00:12:42.789 and memes about a bootleg floppy disk you made 00:12:42.789 --> 00:12:45.460 over a weekend 20 years ago. It is a profound 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:48.379 invasion of his current reality, and his initial 00:12:48.379 --> 00:12:50.580 reaction was to just ignore it. I would too. 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:53.360 He maintained a vow of silence regarding Hong 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:57.399 Kong 97 for 23 years. He refused to acknowledge 00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:00.240 the messages or engage with the Crusade community. 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:03.379 But the pressure just kept mounting. The legend 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:06.720 of the game grew too large to ignore. He realizes 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:08.600 he can't just delete his way out of this. He 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:11.419 had to say something. So in January of 2018... 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:14.279 He finally breaks his silence. He gives an exclusive 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:16.799 interview to the South China Morning Post. And 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.659 that interview is a remarkable piece of video 00:13:18.659 --> 00:13:20.840 game history, primarily because of its tone. 00:13:21.019 --> 00:13:22.940 Because he doesn't use the platform to claim 00:13:22.940 --> 00:13:25.000 some sort of avant -garde genius, does he? No, 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:26.960 not at all. He doesn't try to cash in on the 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.899 viral fame or sell new merchandise. He uses the 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:32.399 interview to lay out the unglamorous, frustrating 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:35.409 truth. He details the two -day development cycle. 00:13:35.549 --> 00:13:38.570 He outs his Enix employee friend. He explains 00:13:38.570 --> 00:13:41.070 the Shanghai Street LaserDisc audio. He just 00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:43.909 lays it all bare. He explicitly states his original 00:13:43.909 --> 00:13:46.809 goal was purely to mock the game industry. But 00:13:46.809 --> 00:13:48.669 the most striking element of the interview is 00:13:48.669 --> 00:13:50.750 that he isn't celebrating this massive cultural 00:13:50.750 --> 00:13:54.210 footprint. He is pleading. Yes. He literally 00:13:54.210 --> 00:13:57.610 uses the platform of a major newspaper to beg 00:13:57.610 --> 00:14:00.559 gamers to drop the subject. He wants nothing 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.580 more than for the world to let Hong Kong 97 die. 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:06.600 It is the ultimate monkey's paw wish. He set 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:08.639 out to make a piece of anti -art that mocked 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.299 the industry, but he executed that vision so 00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:14.019 perfectly that the industry's most hardcore fans 00:14:14.019 --> 00:14:16.360 immortalized him for it. His contempt became 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:18.340 their treasure. But what is truly fascinating 00:14:18.340 --> 00:14:21.139 about Kurosawa's timeline is that his story in 00:14:21.139 --> 00:14:22.820 the gaming industry doesn't actually end with 00:14:22.820 --> 00:14:25.179 him just hiding from a bootleg floppy disk. No, 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:27.470 there is another chapter. If we jump back slightly 00:14:27.470 --> 00:14:31.149 to 2005, a full decade after Hong Kong 97, but 00:14:31.149 --> 00:14:33.490 long before the internet found him, he actually 00:14:33.490 --> 00:14:35.269 had a legitimate career in game development. 00:14:35.409 --> 00:14:38.149 This detail is just incredible. It blew my mind 00:14:38.149 --> 00:14:40.250 when we were reviewing the sources. The guy who 00:14:40.250 --> 00:14:42.789 made the worst game ever actually gets involved 00:14:42.789 --> 00:14:45.549 in a real retail video game release. It was a 00:14:45.549 --> 00:14:48.889 2005 title called The Miniskirt Police. Yes, 00:14:48.950 --> 00:14:51.190 it was part of the well -known Simple Series 00:14:51.190 --> 00:14:53.909 in Japan. The Simple Series. For you listening, 00:14:54.110 --> 00:14:56.470 the Simple Series was a long -running line of 00:14:56.470 --> 00:14:59.070 budget -priced video games known for their very 00:14:59.070 --> 00:15:01.690 straightforward, often quirky and bizarre premises. 00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:05.549 This was Kurosawa's very first actual retail 00:15:05.549 --> 00:15:09.049 CD -ROM release. But he didn't pitch the game 00:15:09.049 --> 00:15:11.809 from scratch. The sources show he joined the 00:15:11.809 --> 00:15:14.889 developer, a company called Daft, right in the 00:15:14.889 --> 00:15:17.049 middle of the game's development cycle. He steps 00:15:17.049 --> 00:15:19.649 into the role of game designer. And here is the 00:15:19.649 --> 00:15:22.330 absolute punchline to this entire era of his 00:15:22.330 --> 00:15:25.389 life. He is working with a tiny team, only about 00:15:25.389 --> 00:15:27.889 five people in total, who is sitting there in 00:15:27.889 --> 00:15:30.129 that five -person development room. It is his 00:15:30.129 --> 00:15:33.220 friend. The exact same Enix employee who helped 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:36.379 him program Hong Kong 97 a decade earlier. They 00:15:36.379 --> 00:15:39.340 are reunited. The duo behind the worst game ever 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:41.820 made is back together working on a budget retail 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:44.440 title about miniskirt -wearing police officers. 00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:47.340 You can't write this stuff. And the design input 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:49.759 that Kurosawa brings to the table for this light 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.399 -hearted, quirky budget game is just as jarring 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:54.289 as you would expect. He told the development 00:15:54.289 --> 00:15:57.029 team that his design approach for the miniskirt 00:15:57.029 --> 00:16:00.289 police was heavily influenced by Rockstar Games' 00:16:00.570 --> 00:16:03.929 Manhunt. Manhunt. We are talking about one of 00:16:03.929 --> 00:16:06.929 the most controversial, gritty, and ultra -violent 00:16:06.929 --> 00:16:09.929 stealth survival games ever released. A profoundly 00:16:09.929 --> 00:16:12.649 dark game. The psychological brutality of Manhunt 00:16:12.649 --> 00:16:15.429 is legendary. The fact that Kurosawa was channeling 00:16:15.429 --> 00:16:18.090 the dark, oppressive energy of Manhunt into the 00:16:18.090 --> 00:16:20.870 design of a quirky budget game about police officers 00:16:20.870 --> 00:16:23.110 tells you everything you need to know about Manhunt. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:24.860 about his creative sensibilities. It really does. 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:27.139 Whether he was authoring gritty travel journals, 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:30.139 building bootleg floppy disks in two days, or 00:16:30.139 --> 00:16:33.019 designing legitimate retail releases, he was 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:35.759 always looking to subvert expectations. He consistently 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.460 injected darkness and cynicism into the mundane. 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:41.000 He was always pushing the boundaries of whatever 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:43.529 medium he found himself working in. So what does 00:16:43.529 --> 00:16:45.350 this all mean for you listening to this deep 00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:47.830 dive? Why should we spend our time caring about 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:50.129 a guy who tried his hardest to make a terrible 00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:53.870 game succeeded and then spent two decades running 00:16:53.870 --> 00:16:55.990 away from his own success? It's a great question. 00:16:56.169 --> 00:16:58.929 I think this is a brilliant, hilarious lesson 00:16:58.929 --> 00:17:02.870 in the utter irony of human effort and the loss 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:05.990 of authorial control. Think about how many developers 00:17:05.990 --> 00:17:08.869 pour their heart, soul, millions of dollars and 00:17:08.869 --> 00:17:11.869 years of their lives into polished masterpieces. 00:17:12.049 --> 00:17:14.349 Only to be totally forgotten by the world a month 00:17:14.349 --> 00:17:16.829 later. And then you have Kurosawa. Right. He 00:17:16.829 --> 00:17:19.289 puts the absolute least amount of effort possible 00:17:19.289 --> 00:17:23.109 into a project. He actively designs it as a cynical 00:17:23.109 --> 00:17:26.049 joke, a weapon against the very audience he is 00:17:26.049 --> 00:17:28.869 selling it to. And that is the exact creation 00:17:28.869 --> 00:17:31.289 the universe decides to remember him for. It 00:17:31.289 --> 00:17:32.970 proves that once you put a creation out into 00:17:32.970 --> 00:17:35.569 the world, it is no longer yours. The audience, 00:17:35.789 --> 00:17:37.910 the culture, and the passage of time decide what 00:17:37.910 --> 00:17:40.190 your work means, regardless of what you intended. 00:17:40.890 --> 00:17:43.289 This raises an important question, one that sits 00:17:43.289 --> 00:17:45.609 right at the heart of internet culture and the 00:17:45.609 --> 00:17:47.890 way we consume media today. What's that? When 00:17:47.890 --> 00:17:50.430 a creator intentionally fabricates a piece of 00:17:50.430 --> 00:17:53.470 bad media as a sharp critique, and the public 00:17:53.470 --> 00:17:56.109 ironically elevates it to the status of an enduring 00:17:56.109 --> 00:17:58.849 beloved legend who actually owns legacy of that 00:17:58.849 --> 00:18:01.390 work. Is the true historical meaning of Hong 00:18:01.390 --> 00:18:03.910 Kong 97 defined by the artist who desperately 00:18:03.910 --> 00:18:06.569 uses newspaper interviews to beg the world to 00:18:06.569 --> 00:18:09.289 forget it? Or is the meaning defined by the thousands 00:18:09.289 --> 00:18:11.349 of fans who through their shared fascination 00:18:11.349 --> 00:18:13.710 and relentless digital archaeology refuse to 00:18:13.710 --> 00:18:14.170 let it die.