Cory in the House DS Game Surges on Metacritic User List

A viral internet campaign has propelled the 2008 Nintendo DS game Cory in the House to near the top of Metacritic's all-time user-rated video games list, displacing its long-standing reputation as a low-quality tie-in title and driving resale prices for physical copies to unprecedented levels.

The game, a Disney adventure-stealth title based on the short-lived TV series about a teenager navigating life in the White House, has seen its Metacritic user score climb to 9.3 from a previous low, fueled by thousands of enthusiastic reviews submitted in recent weeks. This surge positions it just behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the 2025 role-playing game that holds the top spot with a 9.5 user score. The campaign echoes a similar effort in 2013, when users on platforms like 4chan and Reddit artificially boosted the game's rating to as high as 9.5 through ironic praise, turning it into an enduring online meme celebrated for its perceived absurdity rather than quality.

As of mid-January 2026, Cory in the House has accumulated over 4,700 user reviews on Metacritic, more than doubling from about 2,400 earlier in the month. In comparison, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has added several...