Cosplayers dressed as characters such as Dr. Mario, Pikachu and Hokusai were among the thousands undeterred by the summer heat who joined an outdoor queue before streaming into Hong Kong’s annual comics and games fair on Saturday.

The 26th edition of Ani-Com & Games Hong Kong began on Friday and will run until Tuesday at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, featuring a record-high number of 160 exhibitors and more than 788 booths.

A snaking queue formed beyond the convention centre across the street on a footbridge into Central Plaza on Saturday, and was constantly moving without any signs of ending as of 2.30pm.

Jonathan Nguyen, who came as Dr. Mario – the main character of the eponymous Nintendo video game – has attended all five days of every edition of the show in the last two decades after moving to Hong Kong from the US.

“I tell myself the budget is HK$2,000 [US$255] every year, but I go over budget all the time; it was double last year,” the kindergarten teacher in his 40s said.

He observed certain products were cheaper this year – such as figurines that used to be in the region of HK$600 and now priced at HK$400 – thanks to the low Japanese yen, adding that the economic downturn had not impacted his desire to spend.

“I would say that nerds spend no matter what the economy is like because we do it for the love of the game,” said Nguyen, who also dressed as Steven from Steven Universe and Russell from the film Up on other days of the event.