hell yeah.
or, alternatively:
i've always had an admiration for kusoge. when i was 12 and i played spelunker, something unearthed in me. a realization that, games don't need to have smooth controls to be fun. games don't even need to be fun to be fun. games don't even need to be good to be good.
i don't remember if i was 12 or 13 when i decided that, somehow, hong kong '97 was my favorite game of all time. i had not played it at that point but all of its parts combined formed a very compelling case for it in my head. the mind-numblingly repetitive song, the backgrounds, the politics. it was a bad game that didn't take itself seriously but at the same time did with its political theme that was by no means Metal Gear Solid levels of complex but even so, somewhat noble for the time.
the idea gets across very easily. capitalism vs. socialism. coca cola vs. deng xiaoping and, you, supposedly jackie chan but with a sprite that resembles much more a normal chinese citizen, vs. an army of "ugly fuckin' reds", who much more resemble normal chinese businessmen.
the game leaves a lot up to your interpretation due to its lack of context. just because a point isn't directly told to you, doesn't mean it isn't there, and just because the creators didn't think of it, doesn't mean it can't be real.
the song that plays repeatedly, I Love Beijing Tianamen is the most obvious political jab here. it literally sounds like endoctrination, and it might as well be somewhere. i like the song though! i don't mind its endless repetiton as someone who defends and enjoys reptition in music fiercely. it has a vibe.
gameplay-wise, the only difficult thing is honestly getting insta-killed and booted back to the title screen, which can be easily routed around with save states. but no one really cares about the gameplay in HK97 because sure, that's what makes it a kusoge, but that's not what it makes it HK97.
HK97 is as much of an art game as it is a shitty game. and, maybe there are art games that try to be deep and fail miserably, but the funny thing is that HK97 doesn't really try to be deep but ends up being somehow. and sure, kusoge are a form of art in and of themselves, but this is different. it's not "the art of kusoge", it's "the art kusoge".
or, alternatively:
i've always had an admiration for kusoge. when i was 12 and i played spelunker, something unearthed in me. a realization that, games don't need to have smooth controls to be fun. games don't even need to be fun to be fun. games don't even need to be good to be good.
i don't remember if i was 12 or 13 when i decided that, somehow, hong kong '97 was my favorite game of all time. i had not played it at that point but all of its parts combined formed a very compelling case for it in my head. the mind-numblingly repetitive song, the backgrounds, the politics. it was a bad game that didn't take itself seriously but at the same time did with its political theme that was by no means Metal Gear Solid levels of complex but even so, somewhat noble for the time.
the idea gets across very easily. capitalism vs. socialism. coca cola vs. deng xiaoping and, you, supposedly jackie chan but with a sprite that resembles much more a normal chinese citizen, vs. an army of "ugly fuckin' reds", who much more resemble normal chinese businessmen.
the game leaves a lot up to your interpretation due to its lack of context. just because a point isn't directly told to you, doesn't mean it isn't there, and just because the creators didn't think of it, doesn't mean it can't be real.
the song that plays repeatedly, I Love Beijing Tianamen is the most obvious political jab here. it literally sounds like endoctrination, and it might as well be somewhere. i like the song though! i don't mind its endless repetiton as someone who defends and enjoys reptition in music fiercely. it has a vibe.
gameplay-wise, the only difficult thing is honestly getting insta-killed and booted back to the title screen, which can be easily routed around with save states. but no one really cares about the gameplay in HK97 because sure, that's what makes it a kusoge, but that's not what it makes it HK97.
HK97 is as much of an art game as it is a shitty game. and, maybe there are art games that try to be deep and fail miserably, but the funny thing is that HK97 doesn't really try to be deep but ends up being somehow. and sure, kusoge are a form of art in and of themselves, but this is different. it's not "the art of kusoge", it's "the art kusoge".