Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is 21 years old today.
The game was originally released on the PlayStation 2 in October 26, 2004, in the US and PAL regions. It would then come to Xbox and Windows in the following year.
The game would get an HD edition for the Xbox 360 in 2014 and PlayStation 3 in 2015. Finally, it was remastered and bundled with Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as part of the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition collection.
What Even Was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas told the story of Carl “CJ” Johnson, returning to his old neighborhood in Grove Street from prison. He finds his hometown of Liberty City overtaken by violent crime and a corrupt police force, and sets things right.
The game visibly gets inspiration from the hood film trend of the 1990s. Movies like Menace II Society, Boyz N The Hood, and others pins the trend to 1990s L.A. This period was characterized by the LA riots, the LAPD Rampart scandal, the crack epidemic, and the war between the Blood and the Crips.
The Strange Truth Behind Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
There’s something unusual about Rockstar North, a studio based all the way in Edinburgh, attempting to retell this story completely separated from them. Of course, they put their work in to make their game authentic and credible.
That included consulting LA natives like DJ Pooh and Mister Cartoon and casting several American actors, including rapper Young Maylay as CJ himself. Less remembered today is that Rockstar also had the cache to cast several Hollywood stars in the game as well.
That included Samuel L. Jackson as Frank Tenpenny, Peter Fonda as marijuana farmer “The Truth”, and James Woods as Mike Toreno.
Pushing The Envelope
At this point, Rockstar had already figured out a lot of the things that defined the Grand Theft Auto formula. Aside from challenging themselves with the story, Rockstar pushed what was possible in 5th generation consoles.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’s open world expanded beyond Los Santos to San Fierro, inspired by San Francisco, and Las Venturas, inspired by Las Vegas. The world is 36 square kilometers, or 14 square miles in total.
Why Is This Game A Meme?
The CJ meme debuted 11 years after the game originally released. It seems memorable because this scene literally occurs at the start of the game. It also seems to evoke a time that gamers themselves feel nostalgic for.
And that really speaks to how far reaching its reputation and impact had become.
