- Videogames
- TV Series
The Twisted Metal contest (or tournament) is the eponymous event of the Twisted Metal series.
Description[]
Created and hosted by Calypso, Twisted Metal is a demolition derby competition with the goal being to destroy all other contestants with with vehicles of their choosing, and be the last one standing. The winner is then granted a single wish by Calypso, anything the victor could possibly desire.
Despite the goal of the contest being to eliminate the other drivers, many Twisted Metal tournaments have seen recurring participants which aren't undead or immortal, such as Needles Kane, Bruce Cochrane, Marcus Kane and Axel, even though they shouldn't have survived in the first tournament they appear in if they failed to win. This most likely implies that every game is contained in its own universe and aren't directly connected with one another.
Original Contest[]
In the original Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2, the tournament took place once a year on Christmas Eve. Contestants were invited with an email simply asking, "Will you drive?". All of the tournaments before the original game were seemingly originally held in Los Angeles, California, up until the tenth tournament in 2005, which completely destroyed the city. Exactly one year later, the competition was held worldwide.
Twisted Metal III and Twisted Metal: Head-On are the closest to sequels to these first two games, but each exist in their own separate continuity. Many characters, their wishes, and their endings reference events from TM2. However, this further complicates things, as some TMIII and Head-On endings imply that multiple characters from TM2 got their wish granted.
Twisted Metal 4[]
Twisted Metal 4 had a whole different backstory for the competition, seemingly not even being connected at all to Twisted Metal III despite being developed by the same team. In this game, the tournament goes back several decades in the past. Calypso was the owner of the Twisted Metal Circus, which would travel from town to town. In the carnival, contestants would battle in vehicles of their choosing for the chance of winning a mysterious prize. The cost of losing was one losing their immortal soul, which would be sucked into Calypso's ring.
Sweet Tooth joined the circus as a young boy, and stayed with them until he became an adult, where he won the contest. He wished to be the star of Twisted Metal, which seemingly granted him immortality. In the modern day, he invaded Calypso's tower, stole his ring, and became the new head of the Twisted Metal tournament.
Twisted Metal: Black[]
Twisted Metal: Black, like TM4, is completely separate from other titles. In it, most of the competitors are inmates of Blackfield Asylum, and they compete in a fictional city named "Midtown". Calypso, the host of the tournament, frees the prisoners with the promise of a single wish if they take part in a demolition derby competition. The vehicles are chosen by the contestants, but modifications such as weapons are provided by Calypso himself, according to No-Face's journal (the game's manual).
Twisted Metal: Small Brawl[]
Twisted Metal: Small Brawl's tournament is a R/C demolition derby organized by the neighborhood bully Billy Calypso. He promised to give out a single wish for the victor, but in order to make sure the other kids would join, he antagonized them, or in Mortimer's case, stole his pet frog.
Some endings such as Spectre's indicate that this tournament involves the kids of the drivers from previous Twisted Metal games. However, it's more likely that they are simply easter eggs.
Twisted Metal (2012)[]
The tournament in Twisted Metal (2012) is completely different, with factions competing with each other, instead of singular drivers. Only three contestants (four if Preacher is counted) are battling it out, leading their own gangs. Calypso seems to have much more power in this entry, being able to manipulate reality at multiple points, even if no wish is being granted.