The South Park Game So Bad It Almost Ended the Show’s Merchandise

It should come as no surprise that South Park has been called Colorado’s favorite cartoon, as not only is the show, which is in its 28th season, based in the Centennial State, but its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are also Colorado natives.

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The show is accompanied by plenty of Colorado-themed merchandise, but an early video game adaptation was so unfavourable for the creators that it almost derailed merchandising for the franchise altogether.

Colorado’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone Disliked the First South Park Game

The video game, which was released on Nintendo 64 in 1998 and later on PC and Playstation in 1999, depicted the fictionalized version of the actual Colorado area known as South Park in a boxy, 3D fashion, far different from the cardboard cutout style of the actual show’s animation.

Recently resurfaced commentary voiced by Parker and Stone for the first season DVD release confirms the creators’ disdain for the game, which was simply called “South Park,” with Parker being quoted as saying the following:

We were so bummed out on those, because we love playing video games… the first thing was the turkey shooter, and it was just the crappiest video game, we were so bummed out.

Much to the chagrin of the show’s creators, two additional video games were released shortly thereafter: Chef’s Love Shack in 1999 and South Park Rally in 2000, each of which also received negative reviews.

Read More: Casa Bonita: A Denver Gem Saved By South Park Creators

Two additional sequels to the original South Park game were cancelled and even though the show’s creators considered halting merchandise altogether due to the negative response to the games, later South Park-based video games including The Fractured But Whole, which has graphics almost identical to that of the TV show, and Snow Day, which was released in 2024, have been received much more positively.

Check out the full story from Cracked here.