Prerelease:Twisted Metal (PlayStation)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Twisted Metal (PlayStation).

Live-Action Endings

During the "High Octane" phase of development, it was planned to have live-action cinematics for each character's ending after playing through the single-player campaign. For better or worse, the results were considered to have been so badly executed (partly due to being too cheesy) that the idea was scrapped in favor of scrolling text. Christian people working on the game also took issue with the women in bikinis.

The live-action endings were eventually included in Twisted Metal: Head-On - Extra Twisted Edition, where they were transferred from somewhat-decayed VHS tapes. Notably, some of the endings differ from their final counterparts.

Sweet Tooth

Has three noticeable differences: Crazy Harold the wacky lunch sack is not mentioned in the FMV, Sweet Tooth has a captive for no apparent reason, and finally Sweet Tooth goes insane by shooting everyone and then gets killed by his captive.

Thumper

Thumper has a completely different motive and ending. While in the final game he's trying to restore peace for Los Angeles, in this version he and an unknown accomplice confront Calypso due to thinking he took his girlfriend, only for Calypso to reveal that it was Bruce's boss who took his girlfriend and he kidnapped her due to Bruce left the boss' hits.

Bruce hesitates from not killing him and leaves him be, and then Calypso then just shoots the boss due to being anti-climactic.

Pit Viper

Mostly the same ending, but after shooting everything Calypso sneaks up on her and shoots her.

Yellow Jacket

Like Bruce, Yellow Jacket has a completely different ending: in the final game, Charlie Kane wishes to know his son, and it's revealed that Needles Kane was one of the drivers who was killed in the contest, causing Charlie to go into depression.

This version still mentions Needles, but Charlie wishes to keep driving, so Calypso offers a potion that will give him immortality Charlie drinks it before he collapses on the floor, and Calypso mentions he will use him find other drivers for his competition, to which Charlie gets up and says "Sounds good to me baby!"

Roadkill

Roadkill has the same build-up but a different ending: the final game just has Captain Spears die when he first gets there, while this version has Calypso first lecture him about the dangers, and then Spears manages to get to a radio to get his squad out of danger before he gets killed.

Spectre

Spectre, like Roadkill, has the same build-up but a different ending: Scott Campbell drinks the potion that resurrects him, but instead of Scott going home Calypso says "I giveth and I take it away!" and shoots him so he has to "Try next year driver!"

Mr. Grimm

Mostly the same as the final game, but just gives an extra shot of Calypso being chained up on Mr. Grimm's bike going out.

Outlaw

This ending is the same as the final ending but just mostly longer.

Warthog

Has a completely different outcome: Commander Mason wishes for the box and then tries to threaten Calypso with a strike team, before Calypso shows a dead corpse of a strike team member and scares Mason away.

Crimson Fury

Mostly the same, but the actor who played Agent Stone is not present.

The most widely-believed theory is they couldn't afford to rent a Lamborghini, while the other one is that the actor didn't show up since they used a different car for Yellowjacket - which also explains why he was voiced by an American while the character was British.

Darkside

The cheesiest cutscene in this ending roster.

In the final game, Mr. Ash absorbs Black into his head.

In this version, Mr. Ash uses a can (a repainted Folgers coffee can complete with laser sounds) and Calypso loses his mind when Black gets stolen by Ash.

The plotline of Black giving Calypso powers was retconned in the sequel, along with Mr. Ash being Satan. The actual Satan later appeared in the Twisted Metal 2 tie-in comic, while Black became a separate character in Twisted Metal: Black.

Hammerhead

Hammerhead has a completely different wish, the final game just has them get new treads tires, while this version has them struggling before they decided to go with Calypso's babes.

Worth noting is that the vehicle is blue while the in-game version is green, suggesting either they couldn't get a green-painted truck or Hammerhead was supposed to be blue.

Other Live-Action Stuff

There were meant to be other cutscenes for the game, but they didn't get included in the Extra Twisted Edition and were only seen on the Twisted Metal Alliance site, so they have a watermark and no signs of a higher-quality version anywhere.

Channel 7 Intro

This was meant to play at the start of the game, and it seems to mimic a newscast and explains the high-octane contest. An interesting point, the news interviewer mentions that Calypso died after crashing his car into a brick wall ten years ago, which was in 1995 and then two years ago he emerges after that he talks to black and that's how it ends.

It's worth noting that the backstory of Calypso dying was used in the tie-in comic for the second game.

Channel 7 Part A

Another news broadcast, unknown where it might play but some have guessed it might have played before level 3. The newscaster is at the main development firm where he talks about the government's top-secret program called the "XJ-39" aka "The Mind Tank" aka an early version of "Minion", where it was rumored that it was stolen by the gang members of apocalypse-nine, then he interviews Dr. Kitt where he asked if he heard about the rumor that the Mind-Tank can go very fast and can access their deepest fears and desires.

Channel 7 Part B

Shows the newscaster near the construction warehouse where the three members of Apocalypse-Nine were last seen and gives an exploration of where they have escaped convicts of downtown prison.

Apocalypse-Nine Part A

This cutscene might have played during the rooftops where you battled "Minion" and their appearance is different from what was seen in the sequel being reduced to one and being a demon as seen in the sequel. They taunt the player and say they are going to get rid of the species on this planet.

There's a similar video with a logo halfway and the laughter isn't cut off.

Apocalypse-Nine Part B

Another cutscene where shows the gang going on a killing spree while screaming like madmen: first they robbed a lady's apartment and then attacked a person that was going down the stairs.

David Jaffe explained that "these were supposed to be actually playing on the sides of Minion itself, muted, while you battled it on the rooftops. The idea was that the Mind Tank would show the tank reading the minds of Apocalypse 9 and give off a sense of suspense to the player". There's widely-believed speculation it was meant to be an ending for Apocalypse-Nine due to having sound and their wish to cause anarchy and going on a victory rampage.