The 7 Best South Park Games

The South Park franchise has had many ups-and-downs over the years. While the animated series remains culturally relevant – eschewing nonsensical violence and poo jokes for social commentary with Season 4 – the accompanying videogames have seen much greater swings. From excellent to appalling, South Park has shifted through numerous genres over the years. Here’s our picks for the seven best South Park games of all-time.

By the end of next year, there will be a total of 11 South Park videogames. These are or have been available across a variety of formats, beginning back in 1998 on the Nintendo 64. As stated above, the quality level has peaked and trothed with wild abandon – the less said about South Park Rally the better – but there are some gems in there. Read on for our picks of the seven best South Park games!

Every South Park Video Game

Below you can find the details on every South Park game released so far. We’ve put together a handy chart detailing the year each game debuted, and the formats upon which the game was made available. It’s worth noting that some of these games – such as the 1998 original South Park – were made for a specific format, and as such ports to other devices were less than successful.

The 7 Best South Park Games

As you can see above, the South Park games have come in all shapes and sizes. Launching across multiple generations of game consoles across a swathe of genres. As such, picking the seven best South Park games was a difficult decision, despite there only having been 10 released thus far.

Below you’ll find Chit Hot’s choices for the seven best South Park games. Be sure to let us know in the comments below if we missed one of your favourites!

South Park

The very first South Park video game launched back in 1998. Originally a Nintendo 64 exclusive built on the Turok 2: Seeds of Evil engine, the game was later ported to PC and PlayStation. The latter of which did not perform particularly well.

South Park is an FPS in which single-player mode places the player in control of one of the four main characters of South Park. The player must defeat a variety of enemies using the various weapons found throughout each stage in order to reach the exit point at the end.

In addition to completing levels, the player must also prevent large enemies in the stage (dubbed ‘Tanks’) from reaching the exit before they do. If they fail to do so, they will be forced to defend South Park from the ‘Tanks’ in a short minigame called the ‘Penalty Round’ after the stage.

It was a pretty straightforward FPS game that relied on the toilet humour of the first few seasons of South Park a little too heavily. The reception to the game was middling at best, but looking back 25 years later, it certainly wasn’t all bad.

South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack

Another early South Park title that was criticised at launch, South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack was a very different kind of game. The player(s) takes the role of one of four characters in a game show hosted by Chef. The game intermittently switches between questions and mini-games. Players have the option to “shaft” (pass on) a question to another player after opting to answer the question.

The game was designed solely for a multiplayer experience. The game debuted on the Nintendo 64, and eventually appeared on all the major home consoles of the time. Just as with the original South Park game, Chef’s Luv Shack was met with a lukewarm reception. But hey, it’s a quiz game – if you were expecting something else, you were bound to be disappointed.

South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge

Skipping over a decade with arrive at the Xbox 360 exclusive, South Park: Scott Tenorman’s Revenge. A pseudo-sequel to one of the TV show’s then most popular episodes, the game begins when Scott Tenorman sneaks into Cartman’s house at night and steals his Xbox 360 hard drive. In fear of losing all their progress in games such as L.A. Noire and Batman: Arkham City, the boys give chase to Tenorman through a portal.

They emerge in the year 2546. Tenorman has taken control of the world using his new army of Ginger robots. The boys must fight through the robots as well as some creations stolen from Dr. Mephesto. The game is a fairly simplistic 2D platformer, but the hook is that four players can play simultaneously in a similar vein to Rayman Legends.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

And now for something completely different. South Park: The Stick of Truth is an RPG with an aestheic that recreates the style of the TV show far better than any previous title (except perhaps Chef’s Luv Shack). The player takes on the role of ‘New Kid’ playing through a unique story featuring many notable characters from the series. 

Many RPG staples are represented here, but of course with a unique South Park twist. At the beginning of the game the player selects one of four character archetypes; the Fighter, Thief, Mage, or Jew. The first three should be obvious in their abilities, while the Jew class specialises in “Jew-jitsu” and long-range attacks.

A turn-based combat system, experience points and a wealth of collectibles round out a fairly typical RPG game. However, its most certainly a competent one, and that South Park flavouring makes it all the more interesting.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

The sequel to the well received South Park: The Stick of Truth, South Park: The Fractured But Whole followed three years later. Much like the original title, this sequel was a well received RPG.

Fans of the series were complimentary for the improvements and creativity of combat scenarios and faithfulness to the source material. However, many were divided over the story. Some critics called it a humorous improvement. Others however, said it was less effective and relied too much on toilet humor.

What’re your thoughts on this mini-series of South Park RPGs? Do you prefer South Park: The Stick of Truth or South Park: The Fractured But Whole? Let us know in the comments below!

South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!

Much like Tenorman’s Revenge, South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! was an Xbox 360 exclusive title. It’s a tower defense game in which players must destroy waves of enemies using towers strategically placed around a path. In addition players can directly control a character to attack the enemies and collect dropped coins in order to buy and place down more towers.

In single player, the player switches between each character. However, there’s also a multiplayer mode. Here, each player is assigned to a specific character.

South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! didn’t exactly break the mold when it launched. However, it was a perfectly competent tower defense game and – in a period of lull for the franchise’s games output – was warmly received by fans.

South Park: Phone Destroyer

A semi spin-off from South Park: The Stick of Truth, South Park: Phone Destroyer is a mobile game in which players continue the adventures of New Kid. The game follows the children as they play a game based around different RPG themes. 

The game is played with decks of cards that consist of characters from the South Park television series. Each card costs energy, which restores over time. There are different versions of each character for every theme. The player can unlock these through opening card packs or purchasing them in the Daily Shop or PvP Shop. Most of the cards have their own special ability with its own unique purpose.

Being a mobile game, card packs are also purchasable by way of in-app purchases. Reflecting this, the game features three endings. Each one dependent on how much money the player spends while playing the game. An interesting take on ‘freemium’, if a little on-the-nose.

If you’re a lover of South Park, be sure to check out our picks for the seven best South Park episodes! And let us know which games are your favourites in the comments below.