South Park hasn’t had the best run of video games. Aside from two terrible games, an unplayable N64 bomb and a completely forgettable Xbox Live Arcade platformer, and Obsidian’s legitimately good South Park: The Stick of Truth, the foul-mouthed kids of Colorado just can’t seem to get their antics together for something interactive. But it seems the remains of an unfinished South Park project has shown up in the most unlikely of places.
Speaking on the NintendoAge forums, user Qixmaster talked about how he had bought an old original debug Xbox. He found on its hard drive a game titled “spark” and inside was an incomplete build of a South Park game. It was in full 3D and seemed to an open-world game in the style of Grand Theft Auto. Eventually, the YouTube user HappyConsoleGamer, which you can view above, was able to get a better look at this build and bring more details to light.
Amidst the buggy code, missing textures and assets, some interesting mechanics were discovered. There appeared to be a basic combat system involving Cartman using divekicks and Shoryukens, a level where you drove a bus around the town, and what appeared to be a test level with a playable Kenny. As a whole it definitely wasn’t anywhere near even Alpha but it’s a curious time capsule of something that might have been.
Here’s hoping this same fate won’t befall Ubisoft’s follow-up to The Stick of Truth, South Park: The Fractured Butt Whole.