Fact check: Did South Park inspire Hello Kitty Island Adventure?

South Park is a popular adult-oriented animated series that premiered on the Comedy Central network in 1997. The show is created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden. The series premiered its 26th season, its most recent, on February 8, 2023.

The series features four school-aged boys named Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick. Its premise revolves around their misadventures while growing up in the eponymous town in Colorado.

As one of the longest-running animated series on television, South Park has built a dedicated fan base that loves the show's mature tone laced with profanity and dark, surreal humor.

The show has been in the news recently for a very different reason. After the launch of the online game Hello Kitty Island Adventure on July 28, 2023, many were left wondering if the online game was inspired by the animated series in some way. But the truth is that Hello Kitty Island Adventure is not inspired by South Park.

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Did South Park ever mention Hello Kitty Island Adventure?

An image of Butters Stotch from the adult animated series (Image via Facebook/South Park)

The online game is mentioned in the show's season 10 episode 8, titled Make Love, Not Warcraft, which aired on October 4, 2006. The episode is written by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Brian Graden and directed by Parker. It became one of the show's best episodes ever and was praised by fans and critics alike. Moreover, the episode even received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2007.

The episode centers around the four protagonists playing the online game, World of Warcraft. But a griefer (meaning a high-ranking player character who willingly kills other player characters just for fun) repeatedly kills the four player characters, leaving them utterly frustrated. Cartman hatches a plan to get all the kids from his school, including Butters, to log in together and defeat the griefer at once.

In response, Butters quips one of the episode's funniest lines, stating that he would rather play Hello Kitty Island Adventure than World of Warcraft. The funny thing about it is that the Hello Kitty Island Adventure game was completely made up and did not exist in real life at that time. But only until July 2023, as that is when Sanrio released Hello Kitty Island Adventure as an online game on Apple Arcade.

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Hello Kitty Island Adventure was launched on July 28, 2023

When the official X account of Hello Kitty announced the launch of the cozy online game on June 27, 2023, fans of the show could not help but feel amused. While fans were tempted to think that South Park had something to do with the game's creation, the notion was swiftly put to rest by Jill Koch.

As Sanrio's SVP of marketing, sales and business development, Koch confirmed that the online game was not inspired by the American animated series in any way during a press preview of the game in 2023.

“Sanrio has no affiliation with South Park. Hello Kitty Island Adventure is basically the perfect title for this multi-player, island centric game that we created. But yeah, no tie-in or affiliation with South Park.”

The Hello Kitty Island Adventure game was created in collaboration with Sanrio and Sunblink and has been exclusively available on the Apple Arcade since July 28, 2023.