Twisted Metal
Overview
In concept, Twisted Metal is a demolition derby that permits the usage of ballistic projectiles, machine guns, mines, and other types of weapons (up to and including satellite-based weapons and nuclear weapons). Players choose a vehicle and an arenar a series of arenas in the story modeo engage in battle with opposing drivers. A variety of weapons and upgrades are obtainable by pick-ups scattered throughout the stage. The last driver alive is the winner.
Although each individual game features its own storyline, they all revolve around the same basic theme: a vehicular combat tournament called Twisted Metal is presented with the promise of granting the contest’s winner any single wish they so desire. In almost all of the games, the host is a man called “Calypso”; however, in the series’ fourth installment, perennial contestant Sweet Tooth briefly takes over.
The hosts of these games are the persons who are, through arcane means, capable of warping reality itself to grant the wish of the contest winner; however, there is a general “be careful what you wish for” theme in the game series, as nearly all of the winning contestants end up with “not-so-happy” endings, due to the skill and proclivity of the hosts for twisting the words of their wish aroundften to deadly effect. The games in the series usually contain a healthy dose of black humor.
Endings
By winning the game, players are treated to an ending pertaining to whichever character they chose to play as throughout the main game. Each ending shows the character wishing for “their heart’s desire” and getting what they wished for (though Calypso will sometimes change the wish due to taking a more literal tone or for deriving amusement by jumbling the winner’s words).
Games
Main Games
Twisted Metal (1995) and Twisted Metal 2 (1996)
Twisted Metal 2 screenshot.
Main articles: Twisted Metal (video game) and Twisted Metal 2
Format: PlayStation, PC
The first two Twisted Metal games were developed by SingleTrac.
An IBM PC version of Twisted Metal 2 exists. It features slightly cut-down graphics compared to the Playstation version (minor details of some levels disappeared) but it doesn’t require a 3D accelerator video card and played well on computers with lower processing capabilities. It also features multiplayer over a modem line or Internet.
Twisted Metal III (1998) and Twisted Metal 4 (1999)
Main articles: Twisted Metal III and Twisted Metal 4
Format: PlayStation
After a contractual dispute with SingleTrac, Twisted Metal development duties were handed over to Sony’s in-house development team, 989 Studios. The Twisted Metal titles developed by 989 Studios were fundamentally different, as the code base was completely rewritten. Sony introduced advanced physics simulation and AI techniques to the series.
David Jaffe, co-creator of the series, once expressed his displeasure at these two iterations of the game series, and was reported to have said, “….[in and of themselves] they’re good games, they’re just not good Twisted Metal games.”
Twisted Metal: Black (2001)
Main article: Twisted Metal: Black
Format: PlayStation 2
After developing several non-Twisted Metal vehicular combat games for GT Interactive, a large number of SingleTrac employees left the company to form the gaming studio Incognito Entertainment and signed with Sony. Naturally, Sony offered them the opportunity to develop a new Twisted Metal title and their first game was Twisted Metal: Black for PS2.
The game is darker in atmosphere and departed from the style of previous games. The more mature content that some of the endings contained led to the removal of the FMV sequences from the European version.
Twisted Metal: Small Brawl (2001)
Screenshot from Twisted Metal: Small Brawl
Main article: Twisted Metal: Small Brawl
Format: PlayStation
Instead of delivering a PS2 follow-up to Twisted Metal: Black, Incognito took an unexpected turn and developed Twisted Metal: Small Brawl for the original PlayStation, a Twisted Metal aimed at a younger audience that featured radio-controlled toy cars instead of full-size vehicles.
Twisted Metal: Black Online (2002)
Format: PlayStation 2
Simply an online version of Twisted Metal: Black, a free copy could be obtained by mailing in a card that came packaged with the PS2 online Network Adapter. After Sony stopped offering the disc, it was later included in subsequent reissues of Twisted Metal: Black on Greatest Hits, in a 2-disc set. The servers to the game have since been shut down.
Twisted Metal: Head-On (2005)
Main article: Twisted Metal: Head-On
Format: PlayStation Portable
Despite the return of SingleTrac/Incognito with 2001’s Twisted Metal: Black, they still had yet to deliver a true sequel to Twisted Metal 2. With the PSP, Incognito created a game that picks up where Twisted Metal 2 left off.
Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition (2008)
Main article: Twisted Metal: Head-On
Format: PlayStation 2
In February 2008 Eat Sleep Play (the original developers of the Twisted Metal franchise) released Twisted Metal: Head-On to the PlayStation 2. However this port features much more than the PSP version. Most notable include “Twisted Metal Lost” from the unreleased/incomplete Twisted Metal: Black 2 aka Twisted Metal: Harbor City. Bonus features include: code to download the soundtrack, a half hour documentary with the original developers called “Dark Past”. A walk around tour (not a game) by controlling Sweet Tooth and the never released live-action ending videos of all the characters from the original Twisted Metal.
Future Games
Twisted Metal PS3 (TBA)
Format: PlayStation 3
It has been unofficially announced that Jaffe and his new company, Eat Sleep Play, will be developing a new title in the Twisted Metal franchise, for the PlayStation 3. The announcement, not officially confirmed by Sony, came from a hidden message that was decoded in the Twisted Metal: Head-On “Dark Past” documentary where groups of numbers appeared on screen at points during the video which corresponded to letters of the alphabet. When deciphered, the message reads “Twisted Metal is coming on PS3”. The title of the game is believed to have been displayed various times throughout the documentary which is the original Twisted Metal logo but in colors of rustic browns and yellows. However, Sony has not officially confirmed the existence of the game, and upon further questioning on multiple occasions Jaffe has insistently declined to comment further, and has in general refused to officially announce the title of Eat Sleep Play’s first major game until Sony is ready for him to do so.
Eat Sleep Play may have provided more information about what is to be implemented into the new installment of the franchise during the Sweet Tooth Tour in Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition, when unlocking certain information about the history and developments of previous TM games. On feature 18/29 the developers state that the touring mode was to have been incorporated in Twisted Metal: Harbor City, a.k.a. Twisted Metal: Black II, which was to have both Sweet Tooth and Preacher playable and have a full interactive game mode. Of course, this was scrapped as TM:HC was never finished. But in an interesting note, in feature 18/29 they explain how the mode was to work and going on into the traps and end the paragraph with “Enjoy! We won’t go so easy on you next time!”. Thus, giving a possible hint that this mode could very well be implemented in the next Twisted Metal game for the PlayStation 3.
Cancelled Games
Twisted Metal: Black Sequel
Format: PlayStation 2
A sequel to the PlayStation 2 game Twisted Metal: Black was in development but was cancelled when the series co-creators left the development team. At time of cancellation two levels had been completed, these levels were included in Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition as a special mode.
Recurring characters
Twisted Metal features 50 different cars (although some different combinations of car and driver) in its eight incarnations (Twisted Metal, 2, III, 4, Black, Small Brawl, Head-On, and the upcoming eighth title). Many characters appear in more than one game of the series, although the same vehicles are not always driven by the same people.
Minor examples of such recurring characters include:
Variations of Mr. Grimm, Warthog and Sweet Tooth are the only characters that are featured in every Twisted Metal game. Out of all three, Sweet Tooth is the only character to keep the same vehicle. In “Twisted Metal 4”, Mr. Grimm is Capt. Grimm and Warthog is General Warthog.
Thumper, Outlaw, Spectre, and Axel have been featured in all except one Twisted Metal game. Thumper does not appear in Twisted Metal: Black, Outlaw and Spectre do not appear in Twisted Metal 4, and Axel does not appear in Twisted Metal.
Twisted Metal: Head On and Twisted Metal: Small Brawl are the only games in the series which do not feature Minion as a boss or as a playable character. In most games, Minion is a demon that drives a large, powerful tank. In Twisted Metal: Black he drives a tanker truck.
Warhawk is a boss in “Twisted Metal: Black.” He only appears in one game.
Twisted Metal 4 and Twisted Metal: Black are the only games that do not feature Hammerhead.
Twisted Metal 4 and Twisted Metal: Small Brawl do not feature Roadkill.
Auger was only in Twisted Metal 3 and Super Auger in 4.
Darkside was in Twisted Metal and returned in Twisted Metal 3, Twisted Metal: Black, and Twisted Metal: Small Brawl.
Primevil, the boss in “Twisted Metal 3”, is only playable with a codebreaker or gameshark.
Pit Viper is the only original character that has yet to appear in another Twisted Metal game.
Grasshopper appeared in Twisted Metal 2 and Twisted Metal: Head-On.
Shadow appears in Twisted Metal 2, Twisted Metal: Black, Twisted Metal: Small Brawl, and Twisted Metal: Head-On.
Twister appears in Twisted Metal 2, Twisted Metal Small Brawl and Twisted Metal: Head-On
Crimson Fury appears in Twisted Metal, Twisted Metal: Head-On and Twisted Metal: Small Brawl and his driver appears in Twisted Metal: Black as Outlaw.
Mr. Slam appears in Twisted Metal 2″, Small Brawl, Head-On and as Super Slamm in 4.
Yellow Jacket was in Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal: Black.
Flower Power, Firestarter, and Club Kid only appear in Twisted Metal III.
RC Car, Crusher, Moon Buggy, Orbital, Pizza Boy, Quatro, Goggle Eyes, Drag Queen, Meter Maid, Trash Man, Mr. Zombie, The Joneses and Microblast only appear in Twisted Metal 4.
Brimstone, Crazy 8, Junkyard Dog and Manslaughter are only featured in Twisted Metal: Black.
Mime, Trapper, and Piecemeal are only in Twisted Metal: Small Brawl.
ATV and Cousin Eddie are only in Twisted Metal: Head-On.
Twisted Metal: Head-On and Twisted Metal: Lost are the only games to feature alternate vehicles for Sweet Tooth, including Tower Tooth and Gold Tooth respectively. Twisted Metal: Head-On also features Dark Tooth, the boss of Twisted Metal 2.
Twisted Metal: Lost features characters from Twisted Metal: Black, and is also the only game to feature 12-Pack.
Calypso
Calypso, playing the leading role in the storyline of the series, is a playable character in TM4, while in other games, he appears only in the opening and ending cutscenes.
Before creating the Twisted Metal contest, Calypso was just a regular man. He was a family man with a daughter and a wife, and he also had a different name. He led a normal life not unlike any other citizen, until one night he was involved in a freak accident which resulted in him crashing his car directly into a brick wall. This car crash left him in devastation, killing his wife and daughter (later revealed to be Krista Sparks, the driver of the car Grasshopper; extrapolating from this, his original last name might be Sparks) as well as burning and disfiguring his own face. During this time it has been hinted at that Calypso did a few things: first, made a deal (references could be made to support Mr. Grimm or Minion) to come back to life in exchange for souls. Secondly, obtained by trickery or from the deal itself the use of powers (be it through a demon or not) to offer a wish in exchange for killing and winning his contest. Two years after his disappearance while he was assumed to be dead, he re-emerged, his name changed to Calypso, and possessing a power that allows him to grant wishes. The power is said to be stolen from a demon, most likely the driver Minion, who later competes in the contest in order to regain it. Calypso then established Twisted Metal and, for ten years, has continued to run the competition. This is where the first Twisted Metal game comes in.
When someone wins his contest, the winner gets to have one wish granted. These comprise the game’s ending sequences. It should be noted that while Calypso seems to stick to the phrasing of a wish, he will gladly violate its spirit, which usually causes the wisher harm in the end (such as wishing for the ability to fly has him get the wisher’s plane tickets, only telling after they jumped off a building), though in the original game, Black and Head-On he generally granted the character’s wish without pulling any harmful tricks on them. The scope of his powers seem to have extraordinary bounds. Even with this though, there are limits as to just what he can grant.
Similarly, the meaning of the ending for Roadkill in Twisted Metal 2 is ambiguous – Marcus Kane’s (the driver) wish is to wake up from the nightmare he is trapped in. After winning the contest, Kane awakes up in a hospital bed, surrounded by his family, relatively unscathed. They are surrounded by some of the other contestants, all of whom are severely injured. It is unclear if the contest was a hallucination in Kane mind, or if Calypso truly granted his wish.
Calypso is, to some extent, seemingly a prisoner of the Twisted Metal contest himself: he can’t, for example, restore his daughter to ‘life’ unless she wishes for it. Additionally, endings in Twisted Metal, Twisted Metal 2, and Head On show that his power seems to extend only to granting wishes; he can’t, for example, stop Agent Sheppard from arresting him via his powers, as Sheppard refused to accept a wish. Similarly, in Twisted Metal 2, he could not prevent Shadow from taking his soul as revenge for all the people who died due to the Twisted Metal competition. Also, in Twisted Metal: Head-On, Sweet Tooth wishes to change places with Calypso and, despite Calypso’s final judgment not to, it was granted.
Calypso’s character design is inconsistent. It is different in many Twisted Metal games throughout the series. In terms of appearance, the most notable change is his hair which varies from thick and long to completely bald, or long hair on the sides.
In the first Twisted Metal, he is portrayed by an uncredited actor (Charles Lance) in live-action cutscenes. Here he is depicted as a man with a totally burnt face and a great mass of hair. His voice was distorted and less human than in Twisted Metal 2 and Head-On. However, these live-action cutscenes never actually made it into the game, the reason being that they were deemed too sexist and violent at the time. They were leaked onto the Internet years later and officially released as a special feature in Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition.
In Twisted Metal 2: World Tour, he was a smartly dressed man with long flowing hair, heavy facial burn scars, and a greatly exaggerated evil grin. In the game, the opening sequence and the various endings were narrated entirely by him in first person giving the other characters little dialogue of their own. He also had the memorable line “I am Calypso, and I thank you for playing Twisted Metal” which he would ironically say at the end of each character’s endings while giving the same trademark grin. In this game, he was voiced by Mel McMurrin.
In Twisted Metal III, he was voiced by Mel McMurrin once again and greatly resembled his World Tour appearance. He kept his long flowing hair.
In Twisted Metal 4, Calypso was a playable character since Sweet Tooth had taken over the contest and drove a Soviet-style missile truck armed with a nuclear missile. He looked the same as he did in the third game, though slightly darker.
In Twisted Metal: Black, his left eye is literally sunken into his head and he is bald. In this game, the narrative is reversed from previous games. In Black’s endings, Calypso no longer has any spoken dialogue of his own. The cutscenes are now narrated by the chosen playable character in first person.
In Twisted Metal: Small Brawl, he is referred to as Billy Calypso and is a bratty kid with spiky hair and braces who bullies the other kids into joining his contest which involves toy RC cars.
In Twisted Metal: Head-On, he seems to be a melded version of his World Tour and Black appearances incorporating aspects of both designs. In this game, he is only balding on top with long silver hair around the sides, and keeps the sunken eye from Black, in addition to which he wears a long coat. His dialogue, however, is closer to that of World Tour. There is no narrative in Head-On’s endings, only dialogue between the different characters (including Calypso himself).
Sweet Tooth
Sweet Tooth in TM2.
Sweet Tooth, real name Needles Kane, is designed around the premise of a killer clown that drives an ice cream truck, and his face has been featured on the cover of every Twisted Metal game to date, making him the series mascot. He is the only character, besides Marcus Kane, to drive more than one vehicle in any of the games, being the driver of Head-On’s Dark Tooth, Tower Tooth, and as of Twisted Metal Lost, Gold Tooth. He is voiced by J.S. Gilbert in Twisted Metal: Black.
The character has gone through several redesigns differing from game to game, similar to fellow character Calypso, and his personality has grown progressively darker along the way. Sweet Tooth’s original look featured him as a green haired, slim simple circus clown who had escaped from a mental institution. The design was expanded upon in the second game in response to changes to the truck’s design, notably due to the clown head adorning the truck now featuring a personality of its own. The result gave Sweet Tooth the flaming head design seen on the character since. 989 Studios which handled the next two games put more emphasis on the clown design, redesigning his attire to that of a ringmaster in Twisted Metal 4; neither design was held in high regard by the developers, with David Jaffe stating his dislike of 3’s look. As of Black and beyond, the design was modified heavily, giving him increased bulk and other features that would be called his “classic look” by Incog Inc.’s design team. His design became a large, somewhat overweight bare chested clown with a flaming mask locked into a permanent maniacal smile. Head On expanded on this idea, changing the mask to face paint and the smile to his own.
The ice cream truck was actually designed well before the driver himself, and Black’s incarnation took six months and many concept sketches to finalize. Labeled early on “DEMONIC ICE CREAM TRUCK”, attention to details such as the head adorning the vehicle and the contents of the back of the truck were focused on during development. Boss variants of the truck have also appeared regularly in the game’s series, starting with Dark Tooth in the second game. While the designs for the vehicles have progressed steadily, care has been emphasized to keep them rooted to the simple ice cream truck structure yet unique, something that has become harder and harder for the team as the games go on.
Sweet Tooth has the most ties to any group of characters in the whole series: his father Charlie Kane (driver of Yellow Jacket in the first game) and Marcus Kane (split personality, Roadkill’s driver). Spectre’s ending in the first game strongly hints that Sweet Tooth was the serial killer who killed the driver of Spectre five years before the competition. In Black, he has an unnamed brother that only appeared in Twisted Metal Black, who himself drove that game’s Yellow Jacket vehicle. He is also directly responsible for the creation of that game’s Axel, whose wife he killed, and Cage, who wishes to be a greater killer than Sweet Tooth. His mask is also seen in Dollface’s middle video, being created by her boss.
Sweet Tooth appears as a car in the child-themed spin-off game Twisted Metal: Small Brawl, based on RC cars instead of real ones. In this game, Sweet Tooth is the youngest and most mischievous kid in the contest, and enters looking for some ice cream. His ending shows that Calypso offers him an ice cream from his familiar Ice Cream truck, but Sweet Tooth instead steals the truck to terrorize Calypso. Sweet Tooth is also an unlockable character in War of the Monsters, a game in which Incognito used the TMB engine to make a movie monster fighting game. One of the characters, Agamo, has Sweet Tooth as the fourth skin. Sweet Tooth is represented by a tall mech with the signature flaming clown head, and often breaks out in his usual laughter throughout the game. Sweet Tooth is also an unlockable character in the North American and European versions of Hot Shots Golf 2. His appearance in this game is closer to his character design in Twisted Metal 3.
Music
Beginning with Twisted Metal III, various music artists and bands have been brought in for each game’s soundtrack. One such person was singer Rob Zombie, who contributed songs to both Twisted Metal III and Twisted Metal 4, and is even a playable character in the latter. Music from the game disk can also be played on a CD player or in a computer.
Track listing of Twisted Metal III by use:
Main Menu Screen: Rob Zombie – “Meet the Creeper”
Hollywood: Rob Zombie – “Superbeast”
Washington, D.C.: Pitchshifter – “Microwaved”
Hangar 18: Pitchshifter – “W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.”
North Pole: White Zombie – “More Human than Human (Jingle Bells Remix)”
London: Lance Lenhart Song 1
Tokyo: Pitchshifter – “Innit”
Egypt: Lance Lenhart- “Valley Of The Kings”
Blimp: Rob Zombie – “Meet the Creeper”
Track listing of Twisted Metal 4 by use:
Introduction Video: One Minute Silence – “South Central”
Main Menu Screen: One Minute Silence – “A More Violent Approach”
Construction Site: Rob Zombie – “Dragula (Hot Rod Herman Mix)”
Neon City: Cirrus – “Time’s Running Out”
Road Rage: Cypress Hill – “Lightning Strikes”
Sweet Tooth Bedroom: Ghoulspoon – “Alien Magnet”
Amazonia 3000 B.C: Skold – “Chaos”
The Oil Rig: One Minute Silence – “And Some Ya Lose”
Minion Maze: Rob Zombie – Superbeast (Girl On A Motorcycle Mix)”
The Carnival: White Zombie – “Grease Paint and Monkey Brains”
Track listing of Twisted Metal: Black by use:
Main Theme / Credits: The Rolling Stones – “Paint It, Black”
Track listing of Twisted Metal: Head On by use:
Big Blue Stadium: Level – “Disaster Proof”
See also
Twisted Metal is often compared to other vehicular combat games, such as:
Vigilante 8, released in 1998, was a direct competitor to TM2 and TMIII
Rogue Trip and Critical Depth are created by the same developers as TM and explore the same concept
Interstate ’82
Carmageddon
187 Ride or Die
Full Auto
RoadKill
WWE Crush Hour
Jak X
References
^ Shahed Ahmed (2000-10-31). “TM: Black Date Set”. GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/news/2648184.html. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
^ “Jaffe: PS3 Twisted Metal Next Project”. Kotaku. 2007-02-07. http://kotaku.com/353706/jaffe-ps3-twisted-metal-next-project.
^ Jeremy Dunham (July 27, 2007). “Jaffe Leaves Sony to Eat, Sleep, and Play”. IGN. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/808/808897p1.html. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
^ a b “As you can see from the photograph taken during filing of the Twisted Metal end movies, Sweet Tooth was at the start simply a circus clown. He did not even have his trademarked flaming hair. But by Twisted Metal: Black, the classic look of Sweet Tooth had emerged. From chicken scratch sketches to full blown CG character models, no expense was spared in bringing this mascot character to his current incarnation.” Factoid 10 in Sweet Tour, Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition
^ “Two classic characters, one class brawl: Optimus Prime (Transformers: The Game) vs Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal Series),” GamePro 235 (April 2008): 24.
^ Sweet Tooth’s Twisted Metal: Urban Assault storyline
^ “The Darkside vs. Sweet Tooth image marks the first time an artist gave the ice cream truck head a living personality, seeing the clown with such an evil personality inspired the team to flesh out the driver of the truck itself, applying the vibe of the head on the truck to the driver inside.” Factoid 4 in Sweet Tour, Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition
^ Twisted Metal documentary bonus video, Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition
^ Dark Tooth ending cinematic from Twisted Metal: Head On
^ “The ice cream truck for Twisted Metal: Black took six months to design, with over three hundred concept sketches done before the team locked on the final version. In the following images you can see the attention to detail that went into everything from choosing the right clown head to figuring out what was inside the back of the truck itself. You can also see the original art of the ice cream truck labeled DEMONIC ICE CREAM TRUCK that was designed well before the character of Sweet Tooth was even conceived.” Factoid 25 in Sweet Tour, Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition
^ “With each title, it gets harder and harder to design a Sweet Tooth boss that is unique and special enough to be a boss character while still retaining the core elements of the very simple ice cream truck design.” Factoid 7 in Sweet Tour, Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition
^ Yellow Jacket ending cinematic from Twisted Metal
^ Marcus Kane bio, Twisted Metal: Head On
^ “For the last five years, you have been a spirit, a ghost, a dead guy. Stabbed by a maniac serial killer at a local circus, you were killed instantly.” – Spectre’s ending from Twisted Metal
^ Yellow Jacket storyline cinematics from Twisted Metal Black
^ Axel ending cinematic, Twisted Metal: Black
^ Cage bio, Twisted Metal:Lost
^ Sweet Tooth bio, Twisted Metal: Small Brawl
External links
Twisted Metal: Head On Extra Twisted Edition – Official Website
TMalliance, a fan site devoted to the series.
TM2alliance, a fan site devoted to making a real sequel to TM2.
v d e
Twisted Metal video games
Games
Twisted Metal 2 III 4 Black Small Brawl Head-On Twisted Metal PS3
Characters
Calypso Sweet Tooth
Related
David Jaffe SingleTrac 989 Studios Incognito Entertainment Eat Sleep Play
Categories: Sony Computer Entertainment games | Vehicular combat games | Video game franchises
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