While the zany comedic cartoon known as South Park has tackled all sorts of topics and themes, there tends to be handful of common callbacks. No, we’re not talking about the weekly death of Kenny in its early years, or the many holiday-themed episodes, but rather, the subject of video games.
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise, given that the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, are on record for being fairly avid gamers themselves. These are the guys that have had a hand in the creation process of The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole video games, and spent the good part of an episode waxing poetic about Red Dead Redemption 2.
So let’s go on down to South Park as we rank the 10 best gaming-related episodes of the show.
10 Towelie
This season five episode involves Stan, Cartman, Kyle, and Kenny meeting an odd new character; a towel fittingly named “Towelie.” He’s a touch pointless and lazy as a character, though one might argue that this is the point.
While much of the episode involves Towelie and veers off into a wild government conspiracy plot, the episode is kicked off with the boys playing an “Okama GameSphere” given by Stan’s mother. Nintendo fans will recognize this as a pretty blatant spoof of the GameCube, which launched around the same time. The boys are so enthralled by the GameSphere, that they play through an entire chaotic action scene transpiring around them.
9 Informative Murder Porn
In an off-the-wall narrative that’s so typically “South Park,” the boys find their parents watching some pretty graphic true crime stories, that all seem to begin with a couple in bed, and end with death. In an amusing role-reversal, the boys become concerned that their folks will be influenced by what they call “informative murder porn,” so Stan uses his cable box to lock his parents out from watching.
From this point, Randy and Sharon visit a boy named Corey to “learn how to tame a horse in Minecraft,” as this is the security question the kids decide upon. This episode’s got a strange hodgepodge of elements, but it gets tied together with an amusing, clever premise. It also ends with a neat little scene in the blocky style of Minecraft as Stan’s parents live out an “informative murder porn” scenario in the game.
8 Freemium Isn’t Free
Like many South Park episodes, “Freemium Isn’t Free” is subtly complex in its message while still being goofy. It crudely shows the addictive, often exploitative nature of freemium software (in this case, a silly Terrance & Phillip mobile game). To get an idea how nutty this episode is – it includes scenes where Stan’s dad Randy tries to argue that his alcoholism isn’t an addiction even as he pounds several glasses of beer and wine, and Satan chats with Stan about the nature of addictive behavior.
What begins as a simple little spoof of mobile games quickly escalates into an apocalyptic setting in Canada, featuring the overtly wacky “Canadian Devil.” This episode is both a smart commentary on society and a humorous bunch of SP-style shenanigans.
7 Sexual Healing
This episode, far more so than the others on our list, refers back to a game reference more as a peripheral device, but it’s still cleverly used, and a key part of the plot.
The boys are playing Tiger Woods RGA Tour 11 which they soon grow bored with. This quickly branches into a wacky narrative involving scientists trying to pinpoint the cause of the “destructive” epidemic of “sexual addiction” in men, chalking it up to “wizard aliens.” This leads to the boys playing a much more exciting version of Tiger Woods – which becomes an action/fighting game as Woods tries to fend off his infuriated wife.
6 Go God Go/XII
In the craziest way imaginable – this episode greatly captures that aggravating feeling of waiting forever to get the hyped Nintendo Wii back in 2006, when the prospect of 3D motion controls was still new and exciting.
Cartman makes the ill-advised move to freeze himself in time, after which he wakes to a strange new world far in the future. What starts as a simple plot about Cartman in his quest for the Wii mushrooms turns into a 2-part saga of futuristic warfare, prank calls through time, and a philosophical critique of atheism.
5 Best Friends Forever
This episode is uniquely awesome and humorous – not just for fans of Kenny, or of the Sony PSP, but because of its grandiose setting and creative topical humor. In it, Kenny’s called upon to use a golden PSP to guide the forces of heaven in battle, thanks to his elite gaming skills.
The episode contains a battle of heaven and hell itself – it’s tough to get more epic than that! Of course, since budget and time was likely tight in 2005, you don’t get to see the battle. But not to worry – the leader of heaven describes it for you, proclaiming it to be “more epic than the final Lord of the Rings battle!”
There’s much to appreciate about this episode, from its topical humor of a hot-button issue at the time, to it cleverly spinning the laziness of the animation into a joke. And that golden PSP is pretty cool, too!
4 Chinpokomon
Dating back to 1999, this is one of the first times South Park really ventured into “topical” territory, spoofing cultural elements that were big at the time. During season 3, Pokémania was in full swing. The boys get caught up in this whirlwind, and they begin consuming just about every product of “Chinpokomon,” the South Park equivalent. They scramble to buy the toys, play the video game, and even attend a camp, all while Kyle tries to keep up.
The episode sort of drifts between riffing the weird nature of Pokémon itself, while also poking fun at commercialism and “fads” run rampant. While the juvenile chuckles are still prominent here, this is roughly the time when SP starts to grow more nuanced.
3 Guitar Queer-O
In one of the most hilariously clever plots on SP, this episode follows Stan and Kyle’s rise to prominence as Guitar Hero rockstars – beginning to work with each other before eventually clashing.
The plot parallels the most cliche of rockstar stories, touching on the typical “rags-to-riches” trajectory and shifting to the obligatory “fall from grace.” It even has the equivalent of drug abuse, with the trippy dragon-chasing game, “Heroin Hero,” that Stan gets lost in, causing his skills to slip. Notable funny bits include the reaction the kids have when Randy tries to show off his real guitar skills, and the amusingly anti-climactic ending when the boys finally hit 1,000,000 points.
2 Make Love, Not Warcraft
World of Warcraft fans, in particular, should find much to enjoy about this one, as much of the episode takes place in the realm of the game. In fact, Blizzard actually granted the showrunners access to their engine, allowing them to record the in-game segments actually in the game. They even added their famed “Sword of 1000 Truths,” to WoW following this episode.
Even for non-WoW fans, “Make Love, Not Warcraft” proves an entertaining journey that runs with the plot device of overcoming adversity, with tons of laughs and gaming “in-jokes.” Regardless of the adversity boiling down to just defeating a hacker – we’re somehow invested, just like our game-addicted heroes.
1 Black Friday Trilogy
This isn’t just a terrific gaming-related episode; it’s a hodgepodge and celebration of several elements of “geek culture,” from game consoles to Game of Thrones, and even anime.
In this epic trilogy, our heroes are out to score one of the new gaming consoles. The story creatively parallels Game of Thrones as factions are divided between the Sony and Microsoft camps. Forces are recruited, betrayals are made, etc. “Black Friday” is chock-full of hilarious nerd-related references, GoT spoofing, and astute commentary of rabid commercialism around the holidays. The likening of Black Friday shoppers to the zombified “White Walkers” is just one of many clever elements in this rich episode.
