Despite having a great potential for video game releases, the South Park license was hardly used to great effect in its prime. Behind the scenes though a killer title was in the works for the Microsoft Xbox by Buzz Monkey, one that not only drew upon the free-roaming experience of Grand Theft Auto. Although never seeing release, a prototype of the game has been found on an Xbox Development Kit.
Last August a user of the AssemblerGames forums started a new thread discussing his latest purchase. To his amazement he stumbled upon official hardware for developing Microsoft Xbox games in an independent secondhand store. Rushing home he was pleased to discover work-in-progress code for the Happy Feet game based on the movie, an unknown cave-man styled title, and the aforementioned South Park title. The opening post provided a plethora of screenshots of the game in action, along with a video recording of an in-game cutscene.
Needless to say there was plenty of interest in this finding, and not long after the development kit and contents had been sold on to another owner - a Canadian Video Game Store in Vancouver known as GameDeals. Despite the thread discussing the game going cold for nearly a year, the new owner recently returned to note that they had filmed a clip of the game running with the YouTube channel HappyConsoleGamer - a clip which is now online for all to see.
**Following this information, it would appear that the system has since exchanged hands once more. Judging by the posts of the same AssemblerGames thread, video game preservationist group Past To Present Online have paid handsomely for the kit.
While the video above and screenshots originally posted leave plenty of fans wanting more, those interested in playing this unreleased title can rest easy. Past To Present Online have been involved in a wide range of community releases over the years - including the since removed selection of Rare’s prototypes of Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64.
So whilst we await further news on this incredible piece of video game history, just remember this: ‘Simpsons Already Did It’ with their 2003 release Hit * Run!**
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