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Update []:
Hilltop has revealed that its next English patch is for Sony's PS1 adventure title, Kowloon's Gate.
Released exclusively in Japan in 1997, Kowloon's Gate was an ambitious undertaking; conceived in 1992 and announced in 1994, it underwent an uncharacteristically long development period for a game in the 1990s, and at the time of release, it divided critics – Famitsu gave it 26 out of 40.
Sales were poor, but over time, the game's stature has grown internationally.
You can head over to the always-excellent Read Only Memo for an interview with the team behind the translation, who described the process as being like "chewing glass" – and add that playing the game often feels the same, too:
"At every possible step when the developers could take a shortcut and do a one-off thing with a band-aid, they did it. The game is really, really, really resistant to being subtitled. This is the most difficult project that I've ever worked on, period."
Original Story []: The translator Hilltop has taken to social media to tease a "major fan translation announcement" set for Friday, May 22nd, 2026, on YouTube.
You may already know Hilltop from their work on quality fan translation patches for Japanese-exclusive games, such as Racing Lagoon, Aconcagua, Boku no Natsuyasumi 2, and Mega Man Legends 2 Episode 1: Roll's Close Call!, or for their involvement in the official localisation of the PS1 title Milano’s Oddjob Collection for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S.
However, it seems they now have another exciting new fan project up their sleeve that they are ready to announce, and apparently, this is one “you won't want to miss…”
In the past, Hilltop has previously revealed that they are working on fan translations of the Wonderswan title Cardcaptor Sakura and the PS2 game Rowdy Princess, and has also announced, on Patreon, that they are behind (at the bare minimum) two other projects. These include another “unannounced PS2 game,” and “a very large in-progress fan-translation” that they were asked to join back in March in order to bring it “to the finish line."
Given that the placeholder image accompanying this recent tease indicates that the game being translated was released for the original PlayStation, not the PS2, it’s probably safe to assume this announcement is about the latter, not the former.
Already, there are a bunch of exciting theories about what the mysterious game could be, with two of the most popular guesses being the 1997 adventure game Kowloon’s Gate, which was previously being worked on by Cargodin and EsperKnight (who is now "effectively retired" from ROMhacking), and Human Entertainment's horror-themed adventure game Twilight Syndrome: Tansaku-hen and Twilight Syndrome: Kyūmei-hen, which was being worked on by BlameRobots and @BobSchneeder45.
Only time will tell if one (or none) of these guesses is correct. You can tune into the reveal at 1 pm PT on May 22nd on the Hilltop Works YouTube channel if you want to watch the announcement live.