Chinpokomon
Episode 310
Original Airdate: November 3, 1999
Watch the full episode free

While many of us here love the Pokemon games, when the toy/cartoon phenomenon was at fever pitch, there were only two camps to side with. Either you were head-over-heels enthralled with the bitty beasts or left bewildered and annoyed by the whole affair. The episode wasn't so much a skewering of the beloved Nintendo franchise, but more of an absurd comment on fad culture, and the "Gotta catch 'em all" mantra, which was little more than brilliant marketing term for saying "buy all this useless crap or suffer the schoolyard consequences."

Of course, in the traditional South Park spin, the Chinpokomon were actually transmitting "subliminal" messages to overthrow the capitalist American government.



The Japanese owe their near success to the brilliant manner in which they dealt with any form of questioning - lavishly complimenting the penis size of any American who got too close to their nefarious plans. Once again, it proved phallic flattery will get you everywhere in our country. How do you think we got our last raise?

 

Speaking of wangs, in Japanese "chinpo" is an infantile term for a, uh, “unit,” akin to "pee-pee" or "ding-a-ling" so the title loosely translates to "Penis Monsters." Still wanna catch 'em all?

Guitar Queer-O
Episode 1113
Original Airdate: November 7, 2007
Watch the full episode free

 

The line between musical virtuoso and Guitar Hero gets blurrier still when Stan and Kyle parlay their digitized shredage into a record deal... if that makes any sense. As it turns out, digital stardom is subject to the same trials and tribulations as any clichéd musical rags to bitches story. All the familiar trappings conspire to tear the plastic power duo apart, including the scrupulous record executive petty jealously and even a replacement ringer so badass he can play Guitar Hero... acoustically:



If the episode itself wasn’t sufficient proof of the vastly increasing reach of gaming culture, just check out the cover art chosen to adorn the South Park: The Complete Eleventh Season DVD boxset.


Above: In case you haven’t guessed, we’re giving these away 

Oh and we’re not clear what console the boys hare aligned with, but it appears Randy enjoys playing Guitar Hero on the PS260?

Above: The Switzerland of game consoles

Make Love, Not Warcraft
Episode 1008
Original Airdate: October 4, 2006
Watch the full episode free

 

For the ultimate South Park/videogame crossover how could we not choose the episode that took place prominently in an actual game. All of South Park has fallen under the spell of World of Warcraft, with every man, woman and child spending more time in the mythical land of Averoth than interacting in their sleepy Colorado town. But as a rouge griefer continues to unfairly kill the boys without provocation, everyone must band together to bring justice back to this virtual world.

 
Above: Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny. Duh

Even the parents do their part to pitch in. Stan's dad obtains a weapon of untold power directly from the developers at Blizzard, and in a particularly disgusting scene, Cartman's mom dutifully wields a bedpan under his chair so her pookey doesn't have to abandon a raid to go number two. How thoughtful?

 
Above: It's what Moms do!

The episode marked an unprecedented collaboration, as Blizzard Entertainment provided the show's artists with numerous character models and servers to create the extensive in-game machinima scenes that had us ROFLing. They were even granted access to assets from the, then unreleased, Burning Crusade expansion. This was all especially sporting considering that the show not only poked fun of Blizzard directly, but mockingly portrayed their entire fan base as slovenly and unwashed fatbodies.

Warcraft devotees will undoubtedly never tire of pointing out inconsistencies, but it’s undeniable that the episode brought WoW even further into the mainstream and is overwhelmingly popular with MMOers. We'll wager to bet that the it even introduced new players to the game (thanks to a free trial include on South Park’s 10th season DVDs), contributing to the ten million strong subscriber base, all the while providing the perfect fodder for gamers at large *snicker* to laugh at themselves.  Because we're not some uppity group of who can't take a joke, right? (*cough* Scientologists *cough*) Sure, not all WoW players are pimply-faced and overweight but... um, we can't think of an end to that sentence.

Okay, we've gushed enough. Click on over to the next page for your chance to win some kick ass prizes.