It’s hard to believe that South Park has been around for almost 30 years. A cartoon about a group of irreverent eight-year-olds has covered just about everything from fart jokes to political commentary, and even now, 27 years after its first episode, it still manages to forge itself a place in the zeitgeist.
Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny don’t just come in cartoon form, though. Throughout the years there’s been a range of South Park games, and we’ve ranked them all, from worst to best. From the very first game, simply titled South Park, that launched on N64 in 1998 to the latest — the brand new South Park: Snow Day, we’ve ranked them all below.
Some of these games are classics in their own right. Others deserve being flushed away alongside Mr Hankey. Read on to see how we’ve ranked every South Park game through time.
9. South Park Rally
- Initial release date: 5th January 2000
- Platforms: PS1, N64, Dreamcast, PC
- Developer: Tantalus Interactive
- Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
Presumably wanting a slice of Mario Kart’s success, South Park Rally was the first original game from Tantalus Interactive, which until then had focused on porting games to Sega Saturn. Despite featuring an authentic cast of South Park characters, it didn’t fare well, receiving mostly poor critic reviews.
Racing around the streets of South Park is fun for a while, sure, but ultimately South Park Rally just lacked innovation to really stand out at a time where karting games were dominated by Mario Kart. Huh, a little like now, really.
8. South Park: Snow Day
- Initial release date: 26th March 2024
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC
- Developer: Question LLC
- Publisher: THQ Nordic
The newest game on this list of South Park games has not fared well at all. Technically a follow-up to The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole, South Park: Snow Day eschews their rich RPG gameplay for something simpler and more bite-sized. It’s essentially a co-op battler, where players — taking on the role of “the New Kid” — go up against various factions of kids playing a make-believe battle on a snow day.
It could have been something fun but aside from the odd cutscene, there’s little to like here. Gameplay is mostly shallow, it’s short, and there’s not much reason to go back. It also leaves behind the authentic 2D art style of the cartoon to go full 3D instead. It doesn’t look too bad, but it’s a strange choice that doesn’t really work for South Park.
Read our review of South Park: Snow Day
7. South Park: Phone Destroyer
- Initial release date: 9th November 2017
- Platforms: iOS and Android
- Developer and publisher: Ubisoft
Phone Destroyer, developed by Ubisoft, was designed to accompany The Fractured But Whole, releasing alongside it as a mobile exclusive. Like all mobile games, however, it features its fair share of microtransactions. The difference here is that they actually form part of the story, and if you drop any money on this otherwise free-to-play game, you’ll get a different ending.
It’s essentially a strategy card game where players will collect cards with various special abilities on them. It’s a neat idea and, actually, fairly enjoyable to play. But those microtransactions means it’s in the bottom end of our rankings of South Park games. Sorry.
6. South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack
- Initial release date: 1st December 1999
- Platforms: PS1, N64, Dreamcast, PC
- Developer and publisher: Acclaim
Combining minigames and trivia to make a rather unique game show, there was fun to be had in South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack. You’d take on the role of Cartman, Kenny, Kyle or Stan as you take part in Chef’s gameshow, answering questions about South Park and more.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t met with the same amount of “luv” that Chef has to give, getting low and mixed reviews from critics. Still, we’d argue that there’s a place for a South Park trivia-based game. And 25 years on, there’s a hell of a lot more trivia about the series to draw on now. Are we suggesting a Chef’s Luv Shack reboot? Well…
5. South Park
- Initial release date: 21st December 1998
- Platforms: PS1, N64, PC
- Developer: Iguana Entertainment
- Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
It’s safe to say that South Park, the original game based on the cartoon, wasn’t a good game. It didn’t fare quite as bad as, say, Chef’s Luv Shack, in reviews, but you’re hardly going to remember it as a 90s classic. It’s essentially a first-person shooter where players use random weapons to take down a variety of enemies. Imagine a rudimental South Park: Snow Day if you will, but with a first-person perspective.
We’re being generous on South Park because it’s the first game from the franchise, and without this, there’s a chance none of the others would have followed. Does that make it good? No. Should you dust off your ancient PS1 and pick up a second-hand copy of this to play it? Absolutely not. Leave it in the past, but we’re at least glad it existed.
4. South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play
- Initial release date: 7th October 2009
- Platforms: Xbox 360
- Developer: Doublesix
- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Remember Xbox Live Arcade? In the days before digital games were commonplace, they were reserved for release on Xbox Live Arcade, a place where smaller titles would drop with no physical version available. One such game was South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play which, if the title doesn’t give it away, is a tower defence game.
We dig its visual style, which apes the cartoon almost perfectly, and building your own defences is fun — although perhaps not as enjoyable as destroying your enemies’. You can technically still play this, but you’ll need to dig out your old Xbox 360 to do so: it was sadly never made backwards compatible for Xbox One or Series X/S.
3. South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge
- Initial release date: 30th March 2012
- Platforms: Xbox 360
- Developer: Other Ocean Interactive
- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
We’re going from one Xbox Live Arcade game to another, with South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge. Technically, this one didn’t fare as well as some of the others in reviews, but we personally think there’s a lot to like here.
It’s a side-scrolling platform game that sees Cartman and co. go up against Scott Tenorman. Set in the future, where Tenorman has manufactured his own army of “ginger robots”, you’ll be making your way through various platforming levels as you battle against them. It’s packed with typical South Park humour and absolutely looks the part: in fact, many of its assets have been taken directly from the animated series. It’s about as authentic as they come, then, even if the gameplay doesn’t always quite hit the spot.
2. South Park: The Fractured But Whole
- Initial release date: 17th October 2017
- Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC
- Developer and publisher: Ubisoft
There’s a great gulf between Tenorman’s Revenge and The Fractured But Whole. We’re in a whole new league of South Park games now, and there’s a reason this has ranked amongst the best games of the series ever released. It’s actually, properly good: not just as a South Park game, but as any game, full stop.
It’s been almost seven years since it released, but we still think fondly of this RPG adventure which casts you as ‘The New Kid’. It’s a sequel to The Stick of Truth, and that’s the only reason it’s missed out on the top spot, really. Here, Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny are playing at being superheroes, giving you various special powers and abilities to use in combat. It’s probably the storytelling that we love most, though: it’s amongst the closest thing you can get to an actual South Park series, and we love it.
Read our review of South Park: The Fractured But Whole
1. South Park: The Stick of Truth
- Initial release date: 4th March 2014
- Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC
- Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher: Ubisoft
It had a bit of a rocky development, getting caught up in the bankruptcy of the original THQ, and at one point we weren’t sure we’d ever see South Park: The Stick of Truth. Thankfully, Ubisoft stepped up as publisher, and we’re so glad they did because this is one hell of a game. It’s no surprise we’ve ranked it the best of all South Park games, and we’re not sure it’ll ever be topped.
Imagine D&D crossed with South Park. That’s what this comedic RPG aims to do, and it does it with gusto. After choosing your character class (Fighter, Thief, Mage or, of course, Jew) you head out to enjoy turn-based battles with other South Park characters, but once again it’s the story that carries The Stick of Truth through. There are some hilarious (and grotesque) scenes to enjoy, and drawing directly on plots laid out within the cartoon, it’s an essential and perfect addition to the world of South Park.
