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** At first, Jebidiah in the reboot is seemingly the only one to see through Calypso's charade, ultimately subverted in that others seem to know (or suspect) that Calypso isn't what he's seems, but are derided as conspiracy theorists
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** At first, Jebidiah in the reboot is seemingly the only one to see through Calypso's charade, ultimately subverted in that others seem to know (or suspect) that Calypso isn't what he's seems, but are derided as being insane conspiracy theoriststheorists.
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*** Possibly subverted, as Black and the 2012 Reboot are pretty devoid of Silliness.
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*** Possibly subverted, as Black ''Black'' and the 2012 Reboot are pretty devoid of Silliness.silliness.
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* {{Hammerspace}}: Where the weapons are stored after weapon select animations were introduced starting with ''Black''. There is even an animation for the motorbike producing a large oil barrel. In ''Black'', Sweet Tooth's special attack involves it [[TransformingMecha transforming]] into a HumongousMecha, even though there isn't enough room in car mode to store its towering clown robot form.
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* {{Hammerspace}}: GovernmentConspiracy: The reboot strongly implies that Calypso bribes the government with wishes, hence why there is no response by the Police or Military. This may also partially explain the WeirdnessCensor that seems to be in place, all the violence caused by Twisted Metal is covered up and written off as unrelated crime.
*{{Hammerspace}}: Where the weapons are stored after weapon select animations were introduced starting with ''Black''. There is even an animation for the motorbike producing a large oil barrel. In ''Black'', Sweet Tooth's special attack involves it [[TransformingMecha transforming]] into a HumongousMecha, even though there isn't enough room in car mode to store its towering clown robot form.
*{{Hammerspace}}: Where the weapons are stored after weapon select animations were introduced starting with ''Black''. There is even an animation for the motorbike producing a large oil barrel. In ''Black'', Sweet Tooth's special attack involves it [[TransformingMecha transforming]] into a HumongousMecha, even though there isn't enough room in car mode to store its towering clown robot form.
** At first, Jebidiah in the reboot is seemingly the only one to see through Calypso's charade, ultimately subverted in that others seem to know (or suspect) that Calypso isn't what he's seems, but are derided as conspiracy theorists
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*** The game strongly implies that Calypso bribes the government using his wishes, hence why there is no response from the Police or Military.
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* SlasherSmile: Needles Kane throughout the series, and Calypso in ''2''.
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* SlasherSmile: Needles Kane throughout the series, and Calypso in ''2''.''2''
* {{Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness}}: The third and fourth game are easily the silliest of the main series, while ''Black'' and the 2012 Reboot are extremely Dark and Grim. The first and second game fall somewhere in middle, with the second being slightly sillier, with the exception of [[TearJerker Grasshopper's ending]]. The offshoots (i.e. Small Brawl) lean strongly to the sillier side of things.
* {{Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness}}: The third and fourth game are easily the silliest of the main series, while ''Black'' and the 2012 Reboot are extremely Dark and Grim. The first and second game fall somewhere in middle, with the second being slightly sillier, with the exception of [[TearJerker Grasshopper's ending]]. The offshoots (i.e. Small Brawl) lean strongly to the sillier side of things.
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* BlackandGreyMorality: While some of the drivers have far more admirable goals than others, even the most noble are willing to go along with the loss of life and destruction that the Twisted Metal tournament entails.
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* BlackandGreyMorality: {{Black and Grey Morality}}: While some of the drivers have far more admirable goals than others, even the most noble are willing to go along with the loss of life and destruction that the Twisted Metal tournament entails.
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*** Possibly subverted, as Black and the 2012 Reboot are pretty devoid of Silliness.
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** Sweet Tooth and Mr. Grimm are expys of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and Comicbook/GhostRider, more so in some games than in others.
** The stadium level in the 2012 reboot is strongly reminiscent of the "Dog Race" sequence in Manga/DeadmanWonderland.
** The stadium level in the 2012 reboot is strongly reminiscent of the "Dog Race" sequence in Manga/DeadmanWonderland.
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** Sweet Tooth and Mr. Grimm are expys of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and Comicbook/GhostRider, more so in some games than in others.
** The stadium levelat least in the 2012 reboot is strongly reminiscent of the "Dog Race" sequence in Manga/DeadmanWonderland.earlier games.
** The stadium level
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*BlackandGreyMorality: While some of the drivers have far more admirable goals than others, even the most noble are willing to go along with the loss of life and destruction that the Twisted Metal tournament entails.
* BloodSport: The Titular Twisted Metal Tournament.
* BloodSport: The Titular Twisted Metal Tournament.
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** ShoutOut: [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos's]] blades and a boxart of ''VideoGame/WarOfTheMonsters'' are also part of the memento.
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* {{Expy}}: Mr. Grimm in ''Twisted Metal 2'' bears a striking resemblance to the Comicbook/GhostRider. When you select him on the car select screen, his skull even catches fire.
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* {{Expy}}: Mr. Grimm in ''Twisted Metal 2'' bears a striking resemblance to the Comicbook/GhostRider. When you select him on the car select screen, his skull even catches fire. Sweet Tooth is an expy of the SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, at least in the earlier games.
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* ShoutOut: [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos's]] blades and a boxart of ''VideoGame/WarOfTheMonsters'' are part of the mementos in Calypso's office in the reboot.
** Sweet Tooth and Mr. Grimm are expys of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and Comicbook/GhostRider, more so in some games than in others.
** The stadium level in the 2012 reboot is strongly reminiscent of the "Dog Race" sequence in Manga/DeadmanWonderland.
** Sweet Tooth and Mr. Grimm are expys of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and Comicbook/GhostRider, more so in some games than in others.
** The stadium level in the 2012 reboot is strongly reminiscent of the "Dog Race" sequence in Manga/DeadmanWonderland.
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*** The game strongly implies that Calypso bribes the government using his wishes, hence why there is no response from the Police or Military.
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* WeirdnessCensor: There seems to be ''something'' like this going on in the PS3 game. Some of the cutscenes are puncuated by a radio show, where callers will try to talk about the Twisted Metal contest. The host always dismisses them, reasoning if there was one person behind all of the recent destruction, people would be forming lynch mobs. [[spoiler: Given Calypso's [[{{Satan}} true nature]], he probably has something to do with it.]]
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* DarkMessiah: As explained by Calypso in the reboot, The Clowns worship Needles Kane, going so far as to build a horrifyingly huge robot circus tent in his image. They are even convinced that, just like TheMessiah, he will one day return (might be true, [[spoiler: if you consider either Charlie or Sophie...]]). But we all know that Needles is just an AxCrazy MonsterClown SplitPersonality who [[spoiler: killed most of his alter ego's family]] and doesn't give a shit about [[BadBoss killing his own men for his own gain]].
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* DarkMessiah: As explained by Calypso in the reboot, The Clowns worship Needles Kane, going so far as to build a horrifyingly huge robot circus tent in his image. They are even convinced that, just like TheMessiah, the MessianicArchetype he will one day return (might be true, [[spoiler: if you consider either Charlie or Sophie...]]). But we all know that Needles is just an AxCrazy MonsterClown SplitPersonality who [[spoiler: killed most of his alter ego's family]] and doesn't give a shit about [[BadBoss killing his own men for his own gain]].
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* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Calypso in ''Twisted Metal: Head-On''.
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* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: WhiteHairBlackHeart: Calypso in ''Twisted Metal: Head-On''.
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-->--Commercial for ''Twisted Metal 2''
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* WorldTour: Every game after the first one. In fact, the second game makes it a plot point.
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* HateSink: The Jones Family in ''Twisted Metal 4''. Even the clown at the ending can't stand them.
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* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Does anybody else agree that Calypso in ''1'' resembles a burnt-face Gene Wilder?
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* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: NoCelebritiesWereHarmed
** Does anybody else agree that Calypso in ''1'' resembles a burnt-face Gene Wilder?
** Does anybody else agree that Calypso in ''1'' resembles a burnt-face Gene Wilder?
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*** Or Glenn Jacobs, AKA Wrestler/{{Kane}}.
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* MasterOfAll: Minion, who has top-tier stats in all areas.
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* DarkerAndEdgier: Applies to ''Black'', with DownerEndings and NightmareFuel galore.
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* DarkerAndEdgier: Applies to ''Black'', with DownerEndings {{Downer Ending}}s and NightmareFuel galore.
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** Mr. Creel from [[DarkerandEdgier Black]] counts. [[DisproportionateRetribution He nails a mask to an intern's face for making him spill coffee all over his papers!]]
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* DullSurprise: Every single ending in Twisted Metal 3. See [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaFKLhJ2kaY here.]]
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* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The fact that Needles and Marcus Kane, despite being split personalities (Needles being a violent, psychotic half and Marcus being his sanity and reason), exist as two separate entities, drive two separate vehicles, and constantly battle each other until the Dark Tooth ending from ''Head On'' where [[spoiler: Needles and Marcus meet in the middle of a field curious about seeing the other but ultimately decide to work together, resulting in an unstoppable force of destruction.]]
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** The 2012 reboot was originally going to have nine endings (three for each character). However, due to time constraints, six of them were left out.
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*** Then there's also the Carnival of Carnage, a ''hideously gigantic'' MonsterClown robot built in the image of Needles, by far the largest ''fully functional'' combat vehicle in Twisted Metal history. Its so big that it takes up several levels to fight it (the [[KillItWithFire flamethrowing]] clown head beneath it, the giant pinball table inside it, the trap-laden path towards the actual boss, the actual boss itself).
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--> '''Iron Maiden:''' ''RUN LITTLE MAN! '''RUN!!!'''''
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* OminousChanting: Used in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53opJu5Qubs Rooftops]] theme in the original, and the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqX3sbDsB0U Suburbs]] theme and others in ''Black'', complementing the Gothic CrapsackWorld setting in the latter.
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* OminousChanting: OminousLatinChanting: Used in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53opJu5Qubs Rooftops]] theme in the original, and the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqX3sbDsB0U Suburbs]] theme and others in ''Black'', complementing the Gothic CrapsackWorld setting in the latter.
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** Played straight in ''3''. Every ending was scripted the same way: car gets in, Calypso states the winner's wish, then cue to IncrediblyLamePun as Calypso gets the last laugh. Taken to such extreme that some drivers ask for completely random stuff (Auger's driver entered to get revenge for his buildings being destroyed, but he wishes to "connect to his inner child"...).
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** Played straight in ''3''. Every ending was scripted the same way: car gets in, Calypso states the winner's wish, then cue to IncrediblyLamePun {{pun}} as Calypso gets the last laugh. Taken to such extreme that some drivers ask for completely random stuff (Auger's driver entered to get revenge for his buildings being destroyed, but he wishes to "connect to his inner child"...).
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* IAmAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: Mr. Grimm]] in ''Black''
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* IAmAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: Mr. Grimm]] Grimm is revealed to be this in ''Black''a flashback in ''Black''.
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* IncrediblyLamePun: The endings of ''Twisted Metal 3' involve these.
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* {{Pun}}: The endings of ''Twisted Metal 3' involve these.
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--> '''Sweet Tooth''': Its good to be back.
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--> '''Sweet Tooth''': Its It's good to be back.
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* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: Needles' son wants to kill Calypso for killing [[YouKilledMyFather his father]]]]
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* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: Needles' son wants to kill Calypso for killing [[YouKilledMyFather his father]]]]father.]]]]
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Talon in the 2012 game; it's a helicopter, so while it can assault others from the sky it also has the disadvantage of being slow and its machine gun Special Weapon requires you to manually aim at your target while also leaving you in place for them to retaliate, and it's also difficult to avoid Freeze Missiles which cause it to fall to the ground.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Talon in the 2012 game; it's a helicopter, so while it can assault others from the sky it also has the disadvantage of being slow and its machine gun Special Weapon requires you to manually aim at your target while also leaving you in place for them to retaliate, and it's also difficult to avoid Freeze Missiles which cause it to fall to the ground.
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** ShoutOut: [[VideoGame/GodofWar Kratos's]] blades and a boxart of WarOfTheMonsters are also part of the memento.
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** ShoutOut: [[VideoGame/GodofWar [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos's]] blades and a boxart of WarOfTheMonsters ''VideoGame/WarOfTheMonsters'' are also part of the memento.
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* BossInMooksClothing: Juggernaut in the reboot certainly counts if you're fighting against it in the campaign. [[MightyGlacier An already tough vehicle]] which can dish out tremendous damage by just [[CarFu ramming you]], it also always has it's trigun and quad cannon activated (both capable of spamming TONS of [[MoreDakka bullets]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre swarmers]]) and is bound to be a MookMaker. If that wasn't bad enough, it's weakpoints are pretty hard to hit; it's trailer doors open for a brief moment when releasing [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and trying to attack it head-on is usually near suicide.
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* BossInMooksClothing: Juggernaut in the reboot certainly counts if you're fighting against it in the campaign. [[MightyGlacier An already tough vehicle]] which can dish out tremendous damage by just [[CarFu ramming you]], it also always has it's its trigun and quad cannon activated (both capable of spamming TONS of [[MoreDakka bullets]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre swarmers]]) and is bound to be a MookMaker. If that wasn't bad enough, it's its weakpoints are pretty hard to hit; it's its trailer doors open for a brief moment when releasing [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and trying to attack it head-on is usually near suicide.
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* BadBoss: Both Needles and Dollface in the reboot are revealed to be pretty dickish towards their [[{{Sidekick}} gunners]]. The former killed off his gunner after he finished planting the C4 under the remaining Grimm Brother to detonate the bomb. The latter shot her gunner after defeating the Carnival of Carnage. Seems that only the 'asshole' Mr. Grimm [[OnlySaneMan isn't such an asshole he claims to be]]. In fact, he would have let his men who were driving the "Brothers Grimm" Monster Trucks enter the nest tournament, had they killed Needles.
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* BadBoss: Both Needles and Dollface in the reboot are revealed to be pretty dickish towards their [[{{Sidekick}} gunners]]. The former killed off his gunner after he finished planting the C4 under the remaining Grimm Brother to detonate the bomb. The latter shot her gunner after defeating the Carnival of Carnage. Seems that only the 'asshole' Mr. Grimm [[OnlySaneMan isn't such an asshole he claims to be]]. In fact, he would have let his men who were driving the "Brothers Grimm" Monster Trucks enter the nest next tournament, had they killed Needles.
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* BadBoss: Both Needles and Dollface in the reboot are revealed to be pretty dickish towards their [[SideKick gunners]]. The former killed off his gunner after he finished planting the C4 under the remaining Grimm Brother to detonate the bomb. The latter shot her gunner after defeating the Carnival of Carnage. Seems that only the 'asshole' Mr. Grimm [[OnlySaneMan isn't such an asshole he claims to be]]. In fact, he would have let his men who were driving the "Brothers Grimm" Monster Trucks enter the nest tournament, had they killed Needles.
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* BadBoss: Both Needles and Dollface in the reboot are revealed to be pretty dickish towards their [[SideKick [[{{Sidekick}} gunners]]. The former killed off his gunner after he finished planting the C4 under the remaining Grimm Brother to detonate the bomb. The latter shot her gunner after defeating the Carnival of Carnage. Seems that only the 'asshole' Mr. Grimm [[OnlySaneMan isn't such an asshole he claims to be]]. In fact, he would have let his men who were driving the "Brothers Grimm" Monster Trucks enter the nest tournament, had they killed Needles.
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[[quoteright:243:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Twisted_Metal_002_6741.png]]
->''Style, sophistication, the ability to launch napalm into oncoming traffic. If these are the things you look for in an automobile, it's time you test drive ''Twisted Metal''.''
-->--Commercial for ''Twisted Metal 2''
Dubbed "''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' with cars", a series of demolition derby games that allows the player to choose from various vehicles armed with guns, missiles, and other weapons. The prize? You get one wish from the man in charge, Calypso. You can wish for anything you want in the world, no matter what the cost, how rare it is, or impossible it would be to obtain. But BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, you might be surprised at what you get.
''Twisted Metal 1'' and ''2'' were created by Singletrac (now Eat Sleep Play) and were regarded as the best in the series. After those, 989 Studios took over and made ''Twisted Metal 3'' and ''4'', which changed, among other things, the graphics to a more "3D" look ([[SpritePolygonMix while the first two were in 3D, things like weapon pickups were 2D sprites]]), several characters' backstories, and in ''4'', even the origin of the wish-granting magic. ''Twisted Metal'' changed hands once again, this time back to the original developers (then known as Incognito, Inc.), who released ''Twisted Metal Black ''for [=PS2=]. ''Black'' was considered DarkerAndEdgier, even in a series revolving around killing anything and anyone that moves, due to new takes on characters and their backstories. Shortly after, ''Twisted Metal Head-On'' was released for PSP, which "went back to the series' roots," and takes place directly after ''Twisted Metal 2'', making ''3'' and ''4'' CanonDiscontinuity.
The eighth entry into the series, simply titled ''Twisted Metal'', was released on Valentine's Day 2012.
----
!!This game provides examples of:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: ''Black'' has a sewer level with tunnels large enough to drive a semi truck in.
* AllJustADream: From various in-game hints, ''Black'' seems to occur completely in Needles Kane's head. In ''2'', the driver of Roadkill [[spoiler:wakes up from a coma caused by a massive highway pileup, giving the impression that the competition happened in his head, with the other drivers involved being the other contestants.]]
** OrWasItADream: However, Marcus' ending shows with a brief glimpse of Calypso's burning eyes...
* AlphaBitch: Krista/Dollface in the 2012 reboot, to a psychopathic[=/=]AxCrazy degree. She feels that she deserves to become a supermodel due to her hard work... her definition of which includes sabotaging her rivals and, at times, outright murdering them.
* AlternateContinuity: Currently exists in three timelines (the original, ''Black'', and the 2012 reboot). [[CanonDiscontinuity The third and fourth games do not exist in any of them.]]
* AnimeHair: Dollface in reboot sports bright pink hair.
* AncientEgypt: A stage in ''Twisted Metal 3'' and ''Head-On''.
--> '''Sweet Tooth''': Its good to be back.
* {{Area 51}}: A stage in ''Twisted Metal 3''.
* AndIMustScream: Outlaw's fate in the Lost Ending.
* AsHimself: RobZombie is a playable character in ''4''.
* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: Needles' son wants to kill Calypso for killing [[YouKilledMyFather his father]]]]
* BackFromTheDead: Krista Sparks and Simon Whittlebone, the drivers of Grasshopper and Mr. Slam, respectively, return as ghosts in ''Head-On''.
** Also Scott Campbell, the driver of Spectre in ''1'', and Preacher in ''Lost'', the bonus ''Black'' pseudo-sequel game included in ''Head-On''.
** [[spoiler: And Calypso resurrects Sophie Kane in the reboot.]]
* BadBoss: Both Needles and Dollface in the reboot are revealed to be pretty dickish towards their [[SideKick gunners]]. The former killed off his gunner after he finished planting the C4 under the remaining Grimm Brother to detonate the bomb. The latter shot her gunner after defeating the Carnival of Carnage. Seems that only the 'asshole' Mr. Grimm [[OnlySaneMan isn't such an asshole he claims to be]]. In fact, he would have let his men who were driving the "Brothers Grimm" Monster Trucks enter the nest tournament, had they killed Needles.
* BadassDriver: The entire cast.
** BadassBiker: Mr. Grimm
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The characters get their wishes granted, but not how they imagined them. Arguably one of the main themes of the series.
** Generally averted when the desire is to take vengeance or otherwise allow others to come to harm (as is usually the case with [[MonsterClown Needles Kane]], the driver of Sweet Tooth). Of course, Calypso got his powers by stealing them from a demon, so it's arguable if he's even capable of being nice.
*** Axel's ending in ''2'' would imply that he is.
** Played straight in ''3''. Every ending was scripted the same way: car gets in, Calypso states the winner's wish, then cue to IncrediblyLamePun as Calypso gets the last laugh. Taken to such extreme that some drivers ask for completely random stuff (Auger's driver entered to get revenge for his buildings being destroyed, but he wishes to "connect to his inner child"...).
** In ''2'', [[spoiler: Mr. Grimm, who feeds on the souls of the dead, wishes to feast -- which leads to humanity wiping itself out. He gets his feast, but after that there are no more humans to die, and thus, no more souls to feed on, leaving him to starve.]]
** Of course, in the first game Calypso really did seem to grant the wishes without a catch for the most part. And occasionally, while he deliberately ignores the thought or intention behind a wish, he does something fairly harmless - like giving Axel a pizza or sending Needles to the dentist.
** [[spoiler:Sweet Tooth]] is a half-and-half guy; plays ball sometimes, screws them over sometimes, and even rejects their wishes twice. This distibution is not based on Alignment.
** The 2012 Twisted Metal game only has three drivers and all three endings are this trope.
*** Sweet Tooth: [[spoiler: He finally found the one who got away after 10 long years. Waking up confused in a casket and asking where his prize was, Calypso drops the ball on him: after the attack, Sophie Kane checked out of the psych ward and committed suicide. Sweet Tooth was condemned to share the casket with Sophie's rotted corpse. At least until Marcus' surviving son digs the grave up to retrieve the mask and vow revenge...]]
*** Grimm: [[spoiler: Daniel Grimm got his wish to go back and keep his father from dying in the stunt accident. But Calypso set him in the backseat of the truck and his appearance caused father Grimm to try and fight him off, resulting in a crash that killed his father anyway. Both versions of Daniel survived... until the younger version took his father's hidden revolver and shot the older version dead.]]
*** Dollface: [[spoiler: As she progressed through the contest, Dollface eventually became torn between either finally having her mask removed or succumbing to her ego and wishing to become the most famous supermodel in the world. She chose the latter, wishing to be sent to the world's biggest runway in hopes of instantly becoming famous. Just her luck, she ends up on an ''airport runway'' instead of the catwalk. She tried to run away as an airplane started to land, but in a twist of cruel irony, one of her heels broke off. The fall sealed her fate and she was run over by the plane's landing gear. The saddest irony? The mask finally did come off...]]
* BedlamHouse: Blackfield Asylum, of course.
** [[spoiler: It seems that Calypso has the Preacher from the reboot sent to this during the ending. And then the camera scales back, and back... and back.]]
* BigBad: Calypso.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Kanes. Needles Kane (the driver of Sweet Tooth) is a serial killer, and Charlie Kane is either an old drunkard taxi driver turned insane (main series) or a dead zombie remote-controlled by his son (''Black'' continuity). Marcus Kane seems to avert this [[spoiler:until we learn that he and Needles are the same person, just two different personalities.]]
** And in the reboot, [[spoiler: his son, Charlie, takes over his father's (Needles specifically) place and Calypso resurrects his daughter, Sophie, as a female version of the titular clown.]]
** In a manner of speaking, The Joneses from ''4'' also qualify. Damn tourists. Sweet Tooth was right to drive them all off a cliff at his own expense!
* BonusFeatureFailure: The hidden characters of ''Black'' except for Yellow Jacket are missing introduction movies and character bios; ''all'' of them are missing mid-game cutscenes to follow the boss fight against Minion; and the [=FMVs=] they ''do'' have are very cheap-looking compared to those of the normal drivers.
** The Boss Characters in ''4'' don't have specific ending [=FMVs=] either, it's the generic one also used when playing with a custom car.
* BossInMooksClothing: Juggernaut in the reboot certainly counts if you're fighting against it in the campaign. [[MightyGlacier An already tough vehicle]] which can dish out tremendous damage by just [[CarFu ramming you]], it also always has it's trigun and quad cannon activated (both capable of spamming TONS of [[MoreDakka bullets]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre swarmers]]) and is bound to be a MookMaker. If that wasn't bad enough, it's weakpoints are pretty hard to hit; it's trailer doors open for a brief moment when releasing [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and trying to attack it head-on is usually near suicide.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Due to their ''very'' graphic and unsettling nature, the PAL version of the game saw the removal of character [=FMVs=].
** Also the story behind the "Lost Endings" for ''Twisted Metal 1'', with the higher ups objecting against them due to the violence and {{Stripperific}} chicks appearing in them.
* TheCameo: The final boss of ''Black'' is a large assault chopper called Warhawk; ''{{Warhawk}}'' is a small series of Sony-platform games created by Singletrac/Incog where the player pilots such a vehicle.
* CanonDiscontinuity: Twisted Metal: Head-On acts as a direct sequel to ''2'', and ignores Twisted Metal 3 & 4. ''Black'', meanwhile, is set in its own continuity, as is ''Twisted Metal: Small Brawl'' (basically ''Twisted Metal'' [[LighterAndSofter for kids, with RC cars]]). The reboot is yet another continuity.
* CarFu: It's an option with every vehicle, but a few have it as part of their Special Weapons arsenal. Darkside, Hammerhead and Mr. Slam are the most notable examples, and in ''Black'', Axel and Yellowjacket have secondary CarFu modes as hidden moves. Grasshopper's special attack in ''2'' and ''Head-On'', meanwhile, involves launching her buggy into the air and landing on enemies. Melee combat is particularly important in the first game, where most of the devastating weapons of the later games do not exist yet and many special weapons are useless. When you are in a semi truck and all you have is a wimpy firebolt as your weapon, you probably want to hit the turbo and plow into people instead.
** It's even more prevalent than ever in the 2012 reboot. Larger vehicles like Darkside and his bigger brother Juggernaut, are capable of dishing out enough damage with a single ram to knock off at least 50% of another vehicle's armor.
* CatapultToGlory: Brimstone's special weapon involves launching a crucified sinner through the air who then latches onto your vehicle and ritualistically kamikaze's with dynamite while yelling "Repent!" on contact with enemies.
* CharacterCustomization: Amazingly present in ''4''. However, it's ''extremely'' primitive, with few options for your vehicle and only four breeds of special weapon from which to select.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn:
** In the first game, Calypso just grants the wishes straight-up, without any twists or manipulation... [[spoiler:save for Outlaw]]. In the "lost endings", he's more of a dick, granting and then subverting the wishes. (What he does to Scott Campbell is outright KickTheDog.) It's only with the second game that he becomes the master of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and LiteralGenie.
** The first game plays "Needles" Kane's psychosis purely for laughs, ''especially'' in the dumped live action endings. The second game added in the perma-burning scalp, but still treated him as an actual clown with murderous tendencies. It wasn't until ''Black'' that he was fully transformed into the very definition of a MonsterClown, both in backstory AND in-game.
* CompositeCharacter: Dollface in the reboot has the mask of the ''Twisted Metal: Black'' Dollface, but shares her name (Krista Sparks) with an unrelated character from ''2'' and ''Head-On'', and her motivations (pursuit of fame) call to mind the driver of Spectre in ''2''.
* ContinuityNod / InterContinuityCrossover: In the 2012 reboot, Mr. Grimm's story shows Calypso's office. He has kept mementos of past drivers and Twisted Metal Contests from the ''1'' to ''Head-On'' and ''Black'' continuities. Among the items we have:
** From the first ''Twisted Metal'': Sweet Tooth's imaginary friend Crazy Harold the Wacky Lunch Sack, Crimson Fury/Warthog's black box and Spectre/Yellow Jacket's vial of potion (from the live-action endings)
** From ''Twisted Metal 2'': Twister's fossilized helmet, Hammerhead's plane tickets and some bricks from Simon Whittlebone's tower.
** From ''Twisted Metal: Black'': The girl's teddy bear from Stone's story (though it could also be Krista's teddy bear from ''Head-On''), No-Face's surgical boxing gloves, Raven's voodoo dolls, John Doe's wallet, and Mr. Creole's key to Dollface's mask.
** From the 2012 game: Sweet Tooth's Machetes, Mr. Grimm's father's license plate, Dollface's mask.
** ShoutOut: [[VideoGame/GodofWar Kratos's]] blades and a boxart of WarOfTheMonsters are also part of the memento.
* ComicBookAdaptation: A tie-in comic for ''Twisted Metal 2'' came out back in its time as a giveaway prize. It focus on Calypso's StartOfDarkness and how he become the host of the tournament.
* CoolCar: Virtually every vehicle in the series.
** CoolBike: Mr. Grimm.
** CoolPlane: Warhawk in ''Black''. The PS3 game adds the Talon, a helicopter.
** TankGoodness: Minion, usually. Warthog to a lesser extent (if it's not a tank, it's a hummer.)
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: In 2012, if you watch one of the AI opponents, you will notice they can re spawn their special weapons almost instantly. With one time using its special five times in one go just after the match started. It is also able to use other items without having to previously acquire them.
** They do that in all Twisted Metals, in 2012 they also do more damage, gang up on you, and can use the sniper rifle instantly without charging it (which is an instant death) and many times there is no laser to warn you. If this happens you have to restart completely.
* CrapsackWorld: Every stage. If they aren't when the match begins, they sure as hell are when it ends.
* CurseCutShort: "Shut up and ''bleed'', you motherfu--[ScareChord]"
* CypherLanguage: How Minion communicates to the player during ''Black'''s loading screens. 1=A, 2=B, etc.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Applies to ''Black'', with DownerEndings and NightmareFuel galore.
* DarkMessiah: As explained by Calypso in the reboot, The Clowns worship Needles Kane, going so far as to build a horrifyingly huge robot circus tent in his image. They are even convinced that, just like TheMessiah, he will one day return (might be true, [[spoiler: if you consider either Charlie or Sophie...]]). But we all know that Needles is just an AxCrazy MonsterClown SplitPersonality who [[spoiler: killed most of his alter ego's family]] and doesn't give a shit about [[BadBoss killing his own men for his own gain]].
* DidntSeeThatComing: Every game includes one or two endings where Calypso [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPzQk-Nap34&feature=related has the tables turned on him.]]
** Averted in ''Twisted Metal 3''. He wins EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
** Averted again in the reboot, ironically. He also wins EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Though less jarring than in [=TM3=], since for the most part, it was a case of Karmic Justice.
** Sweet Tooth is not exempt from this in ''Twisted Metal 4'' either. A few of the endings screw him over.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first game is less silly than the rest of the series, lacks or implement differently several gameplay features and has a major case of CharacterizationMarchesOn.
* EasyModeMockery: When played on Easy, the second game ends just after the first boss with a big stop sign featuring the message "No losers allowed beyond this point".
* EvilVersusEvil
* ExactWords: When you meet Calypso, you need to be ''very'' careful how you word your wish...
* ExpansionPack: ''Twisted Metal Black Online'', which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* ExplodingBarrels: A unique example
* {{Expy}}: Mr. Grimm in ''Twisted Metal 2'' bears a striking resemblance to the Comicbook/GhostRider. When you select him on the car select screen, his skull even catches fire.
* EyeScream: No-Face from ''Black'' had his eyes and tongue removed by [[spoiler:a back alley doctor who lost $20,000 betting on him in a boxing match]], although [[DisabilitySuperpower he can still see well enough to drive]]. Also, Shadow's ending in ''Black'' features [[spoiler:Raven using voodoo dolls to gouge out the eyes of the two punks who killed her best friend Kelly, then implying that she will do the same to her parents]].
** The [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] clarifies that No-Face has some sort of psychic ability that lets him 'know' where everyone is so he can drive his car.
** This is how Sophie was able to Escape from Needles, she stabbed him in the eye.
* FragileSpeedster: Twister, Crimson Fury, ATV and Quattro, among others.
* FreakyFridayFlip: [[spoiler: Needles Kane's]] ''Head On'' ending. Calypso, in [[spoiler: Needles Kane's body,]] is then killed when...
-->'''Calypso:''' "Guards! Kill the intruder!"
-->'''[[spoiler: Needles Kane]]:''' "Oooh, good idea! Do that!"
-->''Calypso is promptly gunned down by his old guards.''
* FreestateAmsterdam: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Holland: Field of Screams" which consists of [[MundaneMadeAwesome several tulip fields and a pair of windmills]].
* FrickinLaserBeams: Besides being the special of a few cars throughout the series, it's the special weapon pickup in the Tokyo (shot from a satellite dish) and Egypt (shot from the tip of the pyramid) stages in ''Twisted Metal 3''.
* FriendOrIdolDecision: Dollface in ''Black'' has the chance to obtain the key to unlock her mask, [[spoiler:but at the life of her boss, who put the thing on her in the first place. She takes the key, killing him, but decides that she doesn't want it anyway, saying that the mask will never grow old and ugly, while her normal face will.]] Although in ''Twisted Metal: Lost'', this was revealed to be a bad decision, because as Dollface found out, [[spoiler:while the mask will never age, it will never grow either, and being a fourteen year old girl, her SKULL IS STILL GROWING...]]
** Hold on a second... if she's ''fourteen'', [[FridgeLogic how'd she get a job?]] You'd think they have child labor laws even in the TM universe.
** It goes beyond that. In her flashback, she says that "it was [her] first '''real''' job after college..." Wait, college? 14? What?
*** Well it has been stated that Black takes place [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind inside Needles' imagination]]...
* GatlingGood: Many cars use gatling guns as their basic armament, and the Death Warrant vehicle in the PS3 game has your gunner use a man-portable one as a SpecialAttack.
* GayParee: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Paris: Monumental Disaster". It consists of a small chunk of the Paris city center filled to the brim with historical monuments, boutiques and alleys, and crammed between the Eiffel Tower (which you can destroy by detonating a remote bomb on the upper level) and the Louvre Museum. And it's [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels awesome]]. So awesome, that they remade it in ''Head-On''.
* GenreSavvy: The Robertses in ''Head-On'', with regards to Calypso's wish granting methods. But, of course, they had already been screwed over twice before, so they learned from their mistakes.
** [[DownerEnding Or not...]] Jamie's ending in ''2'' is an example of this trope played straight, as she tricked Calypso into helping her find her brother. A good example from ''Head-On'' is Agent Shepard, who, in his ending, doesn't even bother making a wish, he just arrests Calypso.
* GloriousMotherRussia: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage, "Moscow: Suicide Slide".
** The Moscow level in ''Head-On'' is arguably a better example. While the one in ''2'' only contained a small arena with none of the city's landmarks, the one in ''Head-On'' featured Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin, and a few SCUD missiles that could be used to blow up parts of the scenery.
* {{Hammerspace}}: Where the weapons are stored after weapon select animations were introduced starting with ''Black''. There is even an animation for the motorbike producing a large oil barrel. In ''Black'', Sweet Tooth's special attack involves it [[TransformingMecha transforming]] into a HumongousMecha, even though there isn't enough room in car mode to store its towering clown robot form.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: At least once someone has been able to successfully make a wish that screws Calypso over. This isn't the only way Calypso is defeated though.
** Most directly was ''Head-On'', where [[spoiler: Sweet Tooth wishes for he and Calypso to swap bodies. Sweet Tooth immediately orders Calypso's guards to shoot him]]
* HumongousMecha: Sweet Tooth's special in Black transforms his ice cream truck into this.
** Tower Tooth in Head-On, conveniently hiding in the streets of [[{{Animeland}} Tokyo]] as an ice cream shop.
*** Then of course there's the Iron Maiden [[http://thegamingliberty.com/wp-content/uploads/DF2.jpg Dear crap, look at it]]
*** Then there's also the Carnival of Carnage, a ''hideously gigantic'' MonsterClown robot built in the image of Needles, by far the largest ''fully functional'' combat vehicle in Twisted Metal history. Its so big that it takes up several levels to fight it (the [[KillItWithFire flamethrowing]] clown head beneath it, the giant pinball table inside it, the trap-laden path towards the actual boss, the actual boss itself).
* IAmAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: Mr. Grimm]] in ''Black''
* IHaveAFamily: This is said by one of Needles Kane's victims in his opening cinematic in ''Black''. Needles Kane's response? "Shut up and bleed, you mother-", being [[CurseCutShort interrupted by the sound of lightning]].
** It's also the last thing [[spoiler: John Doe remembers before Calypso kills him.]]
* IncrediblyLamePun: The endings of ''Twisted Metal 3' involve these.
* InnocentInnuendo: Meter Maid's ending in ''4''. She gives Sweet Tooth a parking fine worth millions of dollars. She says she'll clear it all up if Sweet Tooth himself does a "few minutes of community service." Sweet Tooth is enticed and takes her up on her offer. We then see Sweet Tooth taking a driver's safety course.
* ItsGoingDown: The Eiffel Tower in both versions of the Paris stage.
* JackassGenie: Usually Calypso is a LiteralGenie, but he's still guilty of doing this on a couple of occasions.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: How the characters, especially Needles Kane, in ''Black'' describe their stories to the player using [[FullMotionVideo FMVs]].
--> "Let's face it, boys and girls: a man [[SadisticChoice has to have]] [[ProfessionalKiller his priorities.]]"
* LandOfDragons: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Hong Kong Crunch".
* LargeHam: Calypso.
* LastBreathBullet: [[spoiler: Outlaw]]'s ending in ''Black''. Just after [[spoiler:killing the terrorist the second time,]] he looks over at [[spoiler: the family he was trying to save. We hear over his earpiece "Target is still hot! Repeat, target is ''still hot!''" just before the PinkMist gets splattered everywhere.]]
* LegacyCharacter: Many of the cars that appear in multiple games keep their appearance and special attack. Some, however, like Sweet Tooth, don't technically count, since their drivers are actually the same person every time.
* LethalLavaLand: "Amazonia: The Fire Walk" in ''Twisted Metal 2''.
* LighterAndSofter: ''Small Brawl''. it's still somewhat dark, however. The game itself is bloodless and kid-friendly because you drive radio-controlled cars, but then you get to the endings where Calypso [[spoiler: is eaten by a giant frog, nearly blown up with a large firework rocket, shoots one of the drivers into space or leaves a giant pile of explosives to try and blow up another participant]].
** ''4'', while not to that degree, is in general much sillier and more colorful than any other game in the series so far.
* LiteralGenie: Calypso switches between being this and just [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor misinterpreting wishes in general]]. Some of the best examples of this are Warthog's ending in 2 ([[spoiler:a 100 year old man wishes for the body of a 20 year old, but didn't get the head to match]]) and Twister in ''Head-On'' (CameBackWrong in a nutshell).
* LouisCypher: Calypso temps people to do horrifically evil things in exchange for wishes which he screws with as much as possible.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The "Amazonia" level from the second game features Aztec-style pyramids surrounded by lava emerging from a volcano, [[YouFailGeographyForever in Brazil]].
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Some weapons such as the MIRV, Rain 2, Reticle, Zoomy, Swarmer and the specials of some characters such as Sweet Tooth's and Roadkill's in Black.
* MindScrew: For a VehicularCombat game, Twisted Metal is this trope as a whole! Many got confused guessing what is Marcus'/Needles' real identity. It also didn't made sense as to how Marcus and Needles, who are the same person, could co-exist as separate people and fighting each other in the contest. That said, if they are the same person, how is it that one of them could STILL survive after killing the other since they're the exact same person?
** Twisted Metal's alternate universes are also pretty damn confusing to get it right. While Black does takes place in Needles' mind, Marcus also made an appearance in that universe (as Minion) who as we've known, is always paranoid about Twisted Metal being just a nightmare. He says that he misses the colourful world. But in the colourful universe, Marcus is still as paranoid as ever, forever stating that everything isn't real while Calypso always tells him that Twisted Metal is as real as how he wanted it to be. This could be suggested that the colourful universe takes place in Marcus' mind. That said, the Black and colourful continuities are both just dreams and that nothing is real.
*** And then we have Small Brawl, which is a LighterAndSofter version for kids. You wouldn't expect ''this'' to be connected to the Black and colourful universes, right? Well, in Spectre's ending, it was revealed that the boy was the son of Ken Masters, the Spectre in Twisted Metal 2, which is set in the colourful universe Marcus always regards as a nightmare. This makes Small Brawl a dream ''within'' a dream... Goddamn! Are the creators of Twisted Metal fans of Studio Gainax's or 7th Expansion's animes or what?
*** And then we have to fit in the Alternate Universe of the 2012 game.
* MonsterClown: Needles Kane. What else do you expect from a serial killer whose head is on fire?
** [[spoiler: Sophie Kane]] in the reboot is an EvilIsSexy version.
* MnogoNukes: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Moscow: Suicide Slide" is an abandoned Soviet missile silo.
* MonumentalBattle: The Eiffel Tower, the pyramids of Egypt...
* MonumentalDamage: The Eiffel Tower, the pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, the Hollywood sign... and many, many more.
* MoralDissonance: Even the good guys leave a trail of death and destruction that tends to be massively out of proportion to what they want to achieve. In ''Black'', for instance, Raven wants to avenge the [[TearJerker death of her friend]] who was [[spoiler:drowned by bullies]] and Agent Stone [[spoiler:went mad with grief because he accidentally shot a family during a hostage crisis]]. To make things right again, both drivers run over tens of pedestrians, blow up civilian cars that happen to be in their way or in the blast radius and destroy a large number of buildings. The number of innocent deaths would probably be well over a hundred. Raven returns in ''Twisted Metal: Lost'', where she [[spoiler:protects the city from the other rampaging killers... by using her voodoo powers]] to blow the hell out of everything.
** This is sometimes brought up. Jebediah is less than thrilled when he realizes they're fighting in a town he used to preach in, and several characters in ''Black'' apologize to Warhawk before the final battle (Agent Stone in particular is crushed -- "I know this man"). It's just that they're usually out of options.
* NameOfCain: The Kane family: a madman with a MonsterClown split personality and his father, the drunkard insane taxi driver (main continuity)/corpse being remote controlled by his other son (''Black'' continuity). The 2012 game [[spoiler:adds in Marcus/Needles two children, both of whom take up the MonsterClown legacy at the end.]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Does anybody else agree that Calypso in ''1'' resembles a burnt-face Gene Wilder?
** In ''Black'' he looks very much like [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] minus the mask.
*** Or Glenn Jacobs, AKA Wrestler/{{Kane}}.
* NotDrawnToScale: Scale problems exist like nuts in this series. Axel, a man on a platform stuck between two wheels, is approximately 20 feet tall, judging by the civilian and house sprites on some levels. Even the motorcycle & dune buggy vehicles are house-sized.
** This even leaks into gameplay. In ''Twisted Metal 2'', Axel could run over ''and crush'' any other vehicle short of a boss, justified by being bigger than any of them, despite being just a man standing upright between two monster truck wheels. Yes, he can crush Hammerhead, which is an actual monster truck.
** ''Black'' is actually somewhat realistically scaled: buildings do indeed tower above the vehicles, and although Axel is too big again, even the missiles are generally properly sized as opposed to the giant warheads in every other game.
* OminousChanting: Used in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53opJu5Qubs Rooftops]] theme in the original, and the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqX3sbDsB0U Suburbs]] theme and others in ''Black'', complementing the Gothic CrapsackWorld setting in the latter.
* OneWomanWail: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpKiB37jEhs&feature=related Freeway]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvZC8SwVVIE Snowy Roads]] music themes in ''Black''.
* OnlySaneMan: Quite possibly Agent Shepherd (Crimson Fury) in ''Head-On'', who's pretty much the only guy who realized that Calypso is an asshole, doesn't even bother making a wish, and [[ShutUpHannibal arrests him on spot]]. [[JusticeWillPrevail Score one for justice!]]
** Marcus Kane, who most would pass off as a delusional madman after reading his bios, is usually proven to be this in his endings. [[spoiler: [[MonsterClown His split personality]], however...]]
* OrificeEvacuation: Goggle Eyes' ending in ''4'' has him wishing to contain all the bugs in the world so he can kill them. He immediately chokes to death as every bug in the world bursts from his body.
* PauseScumming: The second game implemented the pause feature in an odd way. Your car and the enemy cars would stop dead as expected, but projectiles would continue as normal, the sole exception being the ricochet bomb. With timely use of the pause button you could land every single Roadkill boomerang, every single Sweet Tooth ice cream cone, every single freeze missile, break out of a Mr. Slam infinite freeze missile loop, blow up opponents with their own mines (because the delay before they arm didn't stop when the game was paused, of course) and avoid running into projectiles fired in front of you. The list goes on. Conversely, you could also die during the pause screen.
* PrecisionFStrike: First used in ''Black'' by Needles in his intro. It was [[CurseCutShort bleeped out though]]. The reboot was the first time in the series where the F-bomb was used openly. In a nod to ''Black'', the first time the F-bomb ''was'' used, it too was [[CurseCutShort cut short]] by the scream of Marcu's/Needles' wife upon [[spoiler: her getting chopped]]. For the rest of the game, F-bombs were dropped without censors.
* PyramidPower: Obviously enough, in the Egypt stages.
* RealSongThemeTune: ''Black'' uses "Paint It Black" by Music/TheRollingStones in the credits.
* {{Recurring C|haracter}}ar: Sweet Tooth, Warthog and Mr. Grimm (renamed Reaper in the reboot) are the only vehicles seen in ''every'' game in the series; Axel and Outlaw are in all games except one; Thumper, Spectre, Hammerhead and Roadkill are in all except two.
** RecurringCharacter: Calypso, Needles Kane and Mr. Grimm are in all games, though Grimm is a different character in ''Black'' and the upcoming [=PS3=] game. Axel, Marcus Kane, Preacher Jebediah, the Roberts siblings, Bruce Cochrane, Minion, Captain Rogers, Krista Sparks and Simon Whittlebone appear in more than one game.
* RingOfPower: ''Twisted Metal 4'' sets up the premise that Sweet Tooth managed to steal a magical ring from Calypso that gave him all his powers to grant wishes.
* RoadCone: While no two characters' endings could technically occur (since, by the nature of the contest, you kill all the other drivers), several endings from ''Twisted Metal 2'' are treated as happened in ''Head-On'': Axel, Outlaw 2, Twister, Mr. Slamm and Grasshopper (sorta). Though Axel's story is written in a way that suggest his previous ending happened as a result of having survived rather than because he won, and the others may be {{Hand Wave}}d by the fact there are 2 years between the games, and the tournament has always been annual.
** On the other hand, Outlaw's ending in the first ''Twisted Metal'' is pretty much the ending that happened, as its the only one brought up ''twice'': it's the focus of Outlaw-2's story in ''Twisted Metal 2'' and is referenced again in ''Head-On''.
** ''Twisted Metal: Lost'', the mini-game found in the PS2 port of ''Head-On'' which serves as a "sequel" to ''Black'', treats ''EVERY'' ending from Black as having happened, even if they included objects/events impossible to come by any other way. Maybe Calypso got nicer and granted everyone's wishes after the tournament?
** ''Twisted Metal 3'' had the same issue to a lesser extent, what's with Warthog's driver wishing to have the head to match his body, the two Outlaws being reunited and Axel claiming he separated from the machine (though his hands does seem undamaged).
* RobZombie: A GuestFighter in 4. He even drives his Dragula roadster.
* RoofHopping: A staple stage setting in the series: "Rooftop Battle" in the first, "New York: The Big Leap" in ''2'', "Tokyo" in ''3'', "Skyscrappers" in ''Black'' and "Tokyo Rooftops" in ''Head-On''.
* SdrawkcabName: The name of the Doctor that gave Dollface/Krista her mask in the 2012 reboot? Dr. Ospylac.
* SecretCharacter: Minion in every entry in which he's playable, but also Sweet Tooth in ''2'' and ''3''; Manslaughter, Warthog, Yellowjacket, and Axel in ''Black''; Axel, Darkside, Mime, [=PieceMeal=], and Trapper in ''Small Brawl''; Axel, Mr. Slam, Hammerhead, Crimson Fury, ATV, Cousin Eddy and Dark Tooth in ''Head-On''; and Warthog in the 2012 ''Twisted Metal''.
* ShipLevel: The "Prison Passage" stage in ''Black''. A big chunk of the Greece stage in ''Head-On'' happens aboard one as well.
* ShockAndAwe: The Environment (Env) pickup, introduced since ''Twisted Metal 2'', is an special item found on certain stages, which activates a lightning attack in a limited range around whatever its generating it. Certain cars (most commonly Outlaw) have this as their special weapon, too.
* SignatureLine: The page quote.
* SlasherSmile: Needles Kane throughout the series, and Calypso in ''2''.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: "Antarctica: The Drop Zone" in ''2'', "The North Pole" in ''3'', "Amazonia 3000 BC" in ''4'' and "Snowy Roads" in ''Black''.
* SpinoffBabies: ''Twisted Metal: Small Brawl''.
* SplitPersonality: Needles Kane, the driver of Sweet Tooth, and Marcus Kane, the driver of Roadkill. Starts out as SplitPersonality, but eventually turns into JekyllAndHyde, and EnemyWithout, then into SplitPersonalityTakeover. Needles could also be considered a SuperPoweredEvilSide.
* SpiritualSuccessor: After making ''Twisted Metal 2'', Singletrac was bought by GT Interactive and lost the Twisted Metal license. This lead them to create two stand-alone vehicular combat games: ''VideoGame/RogueTrip: Vacation 2012'' and ''CriticalDepth''. Both games ended up leaving their mark on the series - ''Black'' adopted the visible damage indicator and slightly more involved storytelling of ''Critical Depth'', and ''Rogue Trip'''s faster pace and more interactive arenas.
* StockScream: The death screams, notably in ''Black''.
* StrictlyFormula: All of the endings in ''Twisted Metal 3'' follows the same formula: Car drives in, Calypso reiterates the wish of the winner and shoot lightning with his hands, the driver screams for no reasons and then suffer the consequences of the wish, Calypso makes a terrible pun and thank you for playing Twisted Metal.
* StuffBlowingUp: One of the main features of the series.
* TakeAThirdOption: More of a second option, but in ''Head-On'', the driver of Crimson Fury, Agent Shepard of the FBI, chooses to simply arrest Calypso in his ending rather than trying to collect his prize from the LiteralGenie.
* TheKidWithTheRemoteControl: The driver of Yellowjacket in ''Black'' is Charlie Kane, reanimated by his son and literally controlled by a remote control. Also, the vehicles in ''Small Brawl'' are RC cars driven by little kids.
* TheGrimReaper: Mr. Grimm, in the first [[strike: two]] three games and ''Head-On''.
* TookALevelInBadass: Hammerhead in the PS3 reboot. It went from sluggish enemy who could fight, though outmatched, to a massive boss battle alongside Slayer (the truck, not the band, though both were based off of heavy metal bands).
* TransformingMecha: Sweet Tooth's super in Black turns it into one of these.
* {{Troll}}: Calypso. He makes contestants risk their lives fighting in his freak show contest then screws them over when they make their wish, complete with his own trollface.
* VehicularCombat: The entire point of the series.
* WeaponizedCar
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The first game was originally titled ''High Octane'', but was changed due to another game called ''Hi-Octane'', a car-racing game. Then again, ''[[MeaningfulName "Twisted"]] Metal'' seems an appropriate title for this series.
** Designer David Jaffe [[http://comic-con.gamespot.com/comic-con-uncut/p-12.html?tag=topslot;title;5 revealed (about 44 minutes in)]] that ''Twisted Metal'' could've gone in two different directions post-''Black'': a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] title, or a slick, polished look inspired by ''MidnightClub'' and MichaelMann movies, the latter of which would've featured Sweet Tooth as a slick, black gangster with the flames tattooed on his head.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The fact that Needles and Marcus Kane, despite being split personalities (Needles being a violent, psychotic half and Marcus being his sanity and reason), exist as two separate entities, drive two separate vehicles, and constantly battle each other until the Dark Tooth ending from ''Head On'' where [[spoiler: Needles and Marcus meet in the middle of a field curious about seeing the other but ultimately decide to work together, resulting in an unstoppable force of destruction.]]
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Calypso in ''Twisted Metal: Head-On''.
* WorkingTitle: As noted above, ''High Octane''.
----
-->''I am [[JackassGenie Calypso]]. And I thank you for reading the Twisted Metal article.''
->''Style, sophistication, the ability to launch napalm into oncoming traffic. If these are the things you look for in an automobile, it's time you test drive ''Twisted Metal''.''
-->--Commercial for ''Twisted Metal 2''
Dubbed "''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' with cars", a series of demolition derby games that allows the player to choose from various vehicles armed with guns, missiles, and other weapons. The prize? You get one wish from the man in charge, Calypso. You can wish for anything you want in the world, no matter what the cost, how rare it is, or impossible it would be to obtain. But BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, you might be surprised at what you get.
''Twisted Metal 1'' and ''2'' were created by Singletrac (now Eat Sleep Play) and were regarded as the best in the series. After those, 989 Studios took over and made ''Twisted Metal 3'' and ''4'', which changed, among other things, the graphics to a more "3D" look ([[SpritePolygonMix while the first two were in 3D, things like weapon pickups were 2D sprites]]), several characters' backstories, and in ''4'', even the origin of the wish-granting magic. ''Twisted Metal'' changed hands once again, this time back to the original developers (then known as Incognito, Inc.), who released ''Twisted Metal Black ''for [=PS2=]. ''Black'' was considered DarkerAndEdgier, even in a series revolving around killing anything and anyone that moves, due to new takes on characters and their backstories. Shortly after, ''Twisted Metal Head-On'' was released for PSP, which "went back to the series' roots," and takes place directly after ''Twisted Metal 2'', making ''3'' and ''4'' CanonDiscontinuity.
The eighth entry into the series, simply titled ''Twisted Metal'', was released on Valentine's Day 2012.
----
!!This game provides examples of:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: ''Black'' has a sewer level with tunnels large enough to drive a semi truck in.
* AllJustADream: From various in-game hints, ''Black'' seems to occur completely in Needles Kane's head. In ''2'', the driver of Roadkill [[spoiler:wakes up from a coma caused by a massive highway pileup, giving the impression that the competition happened in his head, with the other drivers involved being the other contestants.]]
** OrWasItADream: However, Marcus' ending shows with a brief glimpse of Calypso's burning eyes...
* AlphaBitch: Krista/Dollface in the 2012 reboot, to a psychopathic[=/=]AxCrazy degree. She feels that she deserves to become a supermodel due to her hard work... her definition of which includes sabotaging her rivals and, at times, outright murdering them.
* AlternateContinuity: Currently exists in three timelines (the original, ''Black'', and the 2012 reboot). [[CanonDiscontinuity The third and fourth games do not exist in any of them.]]
* AnimeHair: Dollface in reboot sports bright pink hair.
* AncientEgypt: A stage in ''Twisted Metal 3'' and ''Head-On''.
--> '''Sweet Tooth''': Its good to be back.
* {{Area 51}}: A stage in ''Twisted Metal 3''.
* AndIMustScream: Outlaw's fate in the Lost Ending.
* AsHimself: RobZombie is a playable character in ''4''.
* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: Needles' son wants to kill Calypso for killing [[YouKilledMyFather his father]]]]
* BackFromTheDead: Krista Sparks and Simon Whittlebone, the drivers of Grasshopper and Mr. Slam, respectively, return as ghosts in ''Head-On''.
** Also Scott Campbell, the driver of Spectre in ''1'', and Preacher in ''Lost'', the bonus ''Black'' pseudo-sequel game included in ''Head-On''.
** [[spoiler: And Calypso resurrects Sophie Kane in the reboot.]]
* BadBoss: Both Needles and Dollface in the reboot are revealed to be pretty dickish towards their [[SideKick gunners]]. The former killed off his gunner after he finished planting the C4 under the remaining Grimm Brother to detonate the bomb. The latter shot her gunner after defeating the Carnival of Carnage. Seems that only the 'asshole' Mr. Grimm [[OnlySaneMan isn't such an asshole he claims to be]]. In fact, he would have let his men who were driving the "Brothers Grimm" Monster Trucks enter the nest tournament, had they killed Needles.
* BadassDriver: The entire cast.
** BadassBiker: Mr. Grimm
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The characters get their wishes granted, but not how they imagined them. Arguably one of the main themes of the series.
** Generally averted when the desire is to take vengeance or otherwise allow others to come to harm (as is usually the case with [[MonsterClown Needles Kane]], the driver of Sweet Tooth). Of course, Calypso got his powers by stealing them from a demon, so it's arguable if he's even capable of being nice.
*** Axel's ending in ''2'' would imply that he is.
** Played straight in ''3''. Every ending was scripted the same way: car gets in, Calypso states the winner's wish, then cue to IncrediblyLamePun as Calypso gets the last laugh. Taken to such extreme that some drivers ask for completely random stuff (Auger's driver entered to get revenge for his buildings being destroyed, but he wishes to "connect to his inner child"...).
** In ''2'', [[spoiler: Mr. Grimm, who feeds on the souls of the dead, wishes to feast -- which leads to humanity wiping itself out. He gets his feast, but after that there are no more humans to die, and thus, no more souls to feed on, leaving him to starve.]]
** Of course, in the first game Calypso really did seem to grant the wishes without a catch for the most part. And occasionally, while he deliberately ignores the thought or intention behind a wish, he does something fairly harmless - like giving Axel a pizza or sending Needles to the dentist.
** [[spoiler:Sweet Tooth]] is a half-and-half guy; plays ball sometimes, screws them over sometimes, and even rejects their wishes twice. This distibution is not based on Alignment.
** The 2012 Twisted Metal game only has three drivers and all three endings are this trope.
*** Sweet Tooth: [[spoiler: He finally found the one who got away after 10 long years. Waking up confused in a casket and asking where his prize was, Calypso drops the ball on him: after the attack, Sophie Kane checked out of the psych ward and committed suicide. Sweet Tooth was condemned to share the casket with Sophie's rotted corpse. At least until Marcus' surviving son digs the grave up to retrieve the mask and vow revenge...]]
*** Grimm: [[spoiler: Daniel Grimm got his wish to go back and keep his father from dying in the stunt accident. But Calypso set him in the backseat of the truck and his appearance caused father Grimm to try and fight him off, resulting in a crash that killed his father anyway. Both versions of Daniel survived... until the younger version took his father's hidden revolver and shot the older version dead.]]
*** Dollface: [[spoiler: As she progressed through the contest, Dollface eventually became torn between either finally having her mask removed or succumbing to her ego and wishing to become the most famous supermodel in the world. She chose the latter, wishing to be sent to the world's biggest runway in hopes of instantly becoming famous. Just her luck, she ends up on an ''airport runway'' instead of the catwalk. She tried to run away as an airplane started to land, but in a twist of cruel irony, one of her heels broke off. The fall sealed her fate and she was run over by the plane's landing gear. The saddest irony? The mask finally did come off...]]
* BedlamHouse: Blackfield Asylum, of course.
** [[spoiler: It seems that Calypso has the Preacher from the reboot sent to this during the ending. And then the camera scales back, and back... and back.]]
* BigBad: Calypso.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Kanes. Needles Kane (the driver of Sweet Tooth) is a serial killer, and Charlie Kane is either an old drunkard taxi driver turned insane (main series) or a dead zombie remote-controlled by his son (''Black'' continuity). Marcus Kane seems to avert this [[spoiler:until we learn that he and Needles are the same person, just two different personalities.]]
** And in the reboot, [[spoiler: his son, Charlie, takes over his father's (Needles specifically) place and Calypso resurrects his daughter, Sophie, as a female version of the titular clown.]]
** In a manner of speaking, The Joneses from ''4'' also qualify. Damn tourists. Sweet Tooth was right to drive them all off a cliff at his own expense!
* BonusFeatureFailure: The hidden characters of ''Black'' except for Yellow Jacket are missing introduction movies and character bios; ''all'' of them are missing mid-game cutscenes to follow the boss fight against Minion; and the [=FMVs=] they ''do'' have are very cheap-looking compared to those of the normal drivers.
** The Boss Characters in ''4'' don't have specific ending [=FMVs=] either, it's the generic one also used when playing with a custom car.
* BossInMooksClothing: Juggernaut in the reboot certainly counts if you're fighting against it in the campaign. [[MightyGlacier An already tough vehicle]] which can dish out tremendous damage by just [[CarFu ramming you]], it also always has it's trigun and quad cannon activated (both capable of spamming TONS of [[MoreDakka bullets]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre swarmers]]) and is bound to be a MookMaker. If that wasn't bad enough, it's weakpoints are pretty hard to hit; it's trailer doors open for a brief moment when releasing [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and trying to attack it head-on is usually near suicide.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Due to their ''very'' graphic and unsettling nature, the PAL version of the game saw the removal of character [=FMVs=].
** Also the story behind the "Lost Endings" for ''Twisted Metal 1'', with the higher ups objecting against them due to the violence and {{Stripperific}} chicks appearing in them.
* TheCameo: The final boss of ''Black'' is a large assault chopper called Warhawk; ''{{Warhawk}}'' is a small series of Sony-platform games created by Singletrac/Incog where the player pilots such a vehicle.
* CanonDiscontinuity: Twisted Metal: Head-On acts as a direct sequel to ''2'', and ignores Twisted Metal 3 & 4. ''Black'', meanwhile, is set in its own continuity, as is ''Twisted Metal: Small Brawl'' (basically ''Twisted Metal'' [[LighterAndSofter for kids, with RC cars]]). The reboot is yet another continuity.
* CarFu: It's an option with every vehicle, but a few have it as part of their Special Weapons arsenal. Darkside, Hammerhead and Mr. Slam are the most notable examples, and in ''Black'', Axel and Yellowjacket have secondary CarFu modes as hidden moves. Grasshopper's special attack in ''2'' and ''Head-On'', meanwhile, involves launching her buggy into the air and landing on enemies. Melee combat is particularly important in the first game, where most of the devastating weapons of the later games do not exist yet and many special weapons are useless. When you are in a semi truck and all you have is a wimpy firebolt as your weapon, you probably want to hit the turbo and plow into people instead.
** It's even more prevalent than ever in the 2012 reboot. Larger vehicles like Darkside and his bigger brother Juggernaut, are capable of dishing out enough damage with a single ram to knock off at least 50% of another vehicle's armor.
* CatapultToGlory: Brimstone's special weapon involves launching a crucified sinner through the air who then latches onto your vehicle and ritualistically kamikaze's with dynamite while yelling "Repent!" on contact with enemies.
* CharacterCustomization: Amazingly present in ''4''. However, it's ''extremely'' primitive, with few options for your vehicle and only four breeds of special weapon from which to select.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn:
** In the first game, Calypso just grants the wishes straight-up, without any twists or manipulation... [[spoiler:save for Outlaw]]. In the "lost endings", he's more of a dick, granting and then subverting the wishes. (What he does to Scott Campbell is outright KickTheDog.) It's only with the second game that he becomes the master of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and LiteralGenie.
** The first game plays "Needles" Kane's psychosis purely for laughs, ''especially'' in the dumped live action endings. The second game added in the perma-burning scalp, but still treated him as an actual clown with murderous tendencies. It wasn't until ''Black'' that he was fully transformed into the very definition of a MonsterClown, both in backstory AND in-game.
* CompositeCharacter: Dollface in the reboot has the mask of the ''Twisted Metal: Black'' Dollface, but shares her name (Krista Sparks) with an unrelated character from ''2'' and ''Head-On'', and her motivations (pursuit of fame) call to mind the driver of Spectre in ''2''.
* ContinuityNod / InterContinuityCrossover: In the 2012 reboot, Mr. Grimm's story shows Calypso's office. He has kept mementos of past drivers and Twisted Metal Contests from the ''1'' to ''Head-On'' and ''Black'' continuities. Among the items we have:
** From the first ''Twisted Metal'': Sweet Tooth's imaginary friend Crazy Harold the Wacky Lunch Sack, Crimson Fury/Warthog's black box and Spectre/Yellow Jacket's vial of potion (from the live-action endings)
** From ''Twisted Metal 2'': Twister's fossilized helmet, Hammerhead's plane tickets and some bricks from Simon Whittlebone's tower.
** From ''Twisted Metal: Black'': The girl's teddy bear from Stone's story (though it could also be Krista's teddy bear from ''Head-On''), No-Face's surgical boxing gloves, Raven's voodoo dolls, John Doe's wallet, and Mr. Creole's key to Dollface's mask.
** From the 2012 game: Sweet Tooth's Machetes, Mr. Grimm's father's license plate, Dollface's mask.
** ShoutOut: [[VideoGame/GodofWar Kratos's]] blades and a boxart of WarOfTheMonsters are also part of the memento.
* ComicBookAdaptation: A tie-in comic for ''Twisted Metal 2'' came out back in its time as a giveaway prize. It focus on Calypso's StartOfDarkness and how he become the host of the tournament.
* CoolCar: Virtually every vehicle in the series.
** CoolBike: Mr. Grimm.
** CoolPlane: Warhawk in ''Black''. The PS3 game adds the Talon, a helicopter.
** TankGoodness: Minion, usually. Warthog to a lesser extent (if it's not a tank, it's a hummer.)
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: In 2012, if you watch one of the AI opponents, you will notice they can re spawn their special weapons almost instantly. With one time using its special five times in one go just after the match started. It is also able to use other items without having to previously acquire them.
** They do that in all Twisted Metals, in 2012 they also do more damage, gang up on you, and can use the sniper rifle instantly without charging it (which is an instant death) and many times there is no laser to warn you. If this happens you have to restart completely.
* CrapsackWorld: Every stage. If they aren't when the match begins, they sure as hell are when it ends.
* CurseCutShort: "Shut up and ''bleed'', you motherfu--[ScareChord]"
* CypherLanguage: How Minion communicates to the player during ''Black'''s loading screens. 1=A, 2=B, etc.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Applies to ''Black'', with DownerEndings and NightmareFuel galore.
* DarkMessiah: As explained by Calypso in the reboot, The Clowns worship Needles Kane, going so far as to build a horrifyingly huge robot circus tent in his image. They are even convinced that, just like TheMessiah, he will one day return (might be true, [[spoiler: if you consider either Charlie or Sophie...]]). But we all know that Needles is just an AxCrazy MonsterClown SplitPersonality who [[spoiler: killed most of his alter ego's family]] and doesn't give a shit about [[BadBoss killing his own men for his own gain]].
* DidntSeeThatComing: Every game includes one or two endings where Calypso [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPzQk-Nap34&feature=related has the tables turned on him.]]
** Averted in ''Twisted Metal 3''. He wins EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
** Averted again in the reboot, ironically. He also wins EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Though less jarring than in [=TM3=], since for the most part, it was a case of Karmic Justice.
** Sweet Tooth is not exempt from this in ''Twisted Metal 4'' either. A few of the endings screw him over.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first game is less silly than the rest of the series, lacks or implement differently several gameplay features and has a major case of CharacterizationMarchesOn.
* EasyModeMockery: When played on Easy, the second game ends just after the first boss with a big stop sign featuring the message "No losers allowed beyond this point".
* EvilVersusEvil
* ExactWords: When you meet Calypso, you need to be ''very'' careful how you word your wish...
* ExpansionPack: ''Twisted Metal Black Online'', which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* ExplodingBarrels: A unique example
* {{Expy}}: Mr. Grimm in ''Twisted Metal 2'' bears a striking resemblance to the Comicbook/GhostRider. When you select him on the car select screen, his skull even catches fire.
* EyeScream: No-Face from ''Black'' had his eyes and tongue removed by [[spoiler:a back alley doctor who lost $20,000 betting on him in a boxing match]], although [[DisabilitySuperpower he can still see well enough to drive]]. Also, Shadow's ending in ''Black'' features [[spoiler:Raven using voodoo dolls to gouge out the eyes of the two punks who killed her best friend Kelly, then implying that she will do the same to her parents]].
** The [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] clarifies that No-Face has some sort of psychic ability that lets him 'know' where everyone is so he can drive his car.
** This is how Sophie was able to Escape from Needles, she stabbed him in the eye.
* FragileSpeedster: Twister, Crimson Fury, ATV and Quattro, among others.
* FreakyFridayFlip: [[spoiler: Needles Kane's]] ''Head On'' ending. Calypso, in [[spoiler: Needles Kane's body,]] is then killed when...
-->'''Calypso:''' "Guards! Kill the intruder!"
-->'''[[spoiler: Needles Kane]]:''' "Oooh, good idea! Do that!"
-->''Calypso is promptly gunned down by his old guards.''
* FreestateAmsterdam: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Holland: Field of Screams" which consists of [[MundaneMadeAwesome several tulip fields and a pair of windmills]].
* FrickinLaserBeams: Besides being the special of a few cars throughout the series, it's the special weapon pickup in the Tokyo (shot from a satellite dish) and Egypt (shot from the tip of the pyramid) stages in ''Twisted Metal 3''.
* FriendOrIdolDecision: Dollface in ''Black'' has the chance to obtain the key to unlock her mask, [[spoiler:but at the life of her boss, who put the thing on her in the first place. She takes the key, killing him, but decides that she doesn't want it anyway, saying that the mask will never grow old and ugly, while her normal face will.]] Although in ''Twisted Metal: Lost'', this was revealed to be a bad decision, because as Dollface found out, [[spoiler:while the mask will never age, it will never grow either, and being a fourteen year old girl, her SKULL IS STILL GROWING...]]
** Hold on a second... if she's ''fourteen'', [[FridgeLogic how'd she get a job?]] You'd think they have child labor laws even in the TM universe.
** It goes beyond that. In her flashback, she says that "it was [her] first '''real''' job after college..." Wait, college? 14? What?
*** Well it has been stated that Black takes place [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind inside Needles' imagination]]...
* GatlingGood: Many cars use gatling guns as their basic armament, and the Death Warrant vehicle in the PS3 game has your gunner use a man-portable one as a SpecialAttack.
* GayParee: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Paris: Monumental Disaster". It consists of a small chunk of the Paris city center filled to the brim with historical monuments, boutiques and alleys, and crammed between the Eiffel Tower (which you can destroy by detonating a remote bomb on the upper level) and the Louvre Museum. And it's [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels awesome]]. So awesome, that they remade it in ''Head-On''.
* GenreSavvy: The Robertses in ''Head-On'', with regards to Calypso's wish granting methods. But, of course, they had already been screwed over twice before, so they learned from their mistakes.
** [[DownerEnding Or not...]] Jamie's ending in ''2'' is an example of this trope played straight, as she tricked Calypso into helping her find her brother. A good example from ''Head-On'' is Agent Shepard, who, in his ending, doesn't even bother making a wish, he just arrests Calypso.
* GloriousMotherRussia: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage, "Moscow: Suicide Slide".
** The Moscow level in ''Head-On'' is arguably a better example. While the one in ''2'' only contained a small arena with none of the city's landmarks, the one in ''Head-On'' featured Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin, and a few SCUD missiles that could be used to blow up parts of the scenery.
* {{Hammerspace}}: Where the weapons are stored after weapon select animations were introduced starting with ''Black''. There is even an animation for the motorbike producing a large oil barrel. In ''Black'', Sweet Tooth's special attack involves it [[TransformingMecha transforming]] into a HumongousMecha, even though there isn't enough room in car mode to store its towering clown robot form.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: At least once someone has been able to successfully make a wish that screws Calypso over. This isn't the only way Calypso is defeated though.
** Most directly was ''Head-On'', where [[spoiler: Sweet Tooth wishes for he and Calypso to swap bodies. Sweet Tooth immediately orders Calypso's guards to shoot him]]
* HumongousMecha: Sweet Tooth's special in Black transforms his ice cream truck into this.
** Tower Tooth in Head-On, conveniently hiding in the streets of [[{{Animeland}} Tokyo]] as an ice cream shop.
*** Then of course there's the Iron Maiden [[http://thegamingliberty.com/wp-content/uploads/DF2.jpg Dear crap, look at it]]
*** Then there's also the Carnival of Carnage, a ''hideously gigantic'' MonsterClown robot built in the image of Needles, by far the largest ''fully functional'' combat vehicle in Twisted Metal history. Its so big that it takes up several levels to fight it (the [[KillItWithFire flamethrowing]] clown head beneath it, the giant pinball table inside it, the trap-laden path towards the actual boss, the actual boss itself).
* IAmAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: Mr. Grimm]] in ''Black''
* IHaveAFamily: This is said by one of Needles Kane's victims in his opening cinematic in ''Black''. Needles Kane's response? "Shut up and bleed, you mother-", being [[CurseCutShort interrupted by the sound of lightning]].
** It's also the last thing [[spoiler: John Doe remembers before Calypso kills him.]]
* IncrediblyLamePun: The endings of ''Twisted Metal 3' involve these.
* InnocentInnuendo: Meter Maid's ending in ''4''. She gives Sweet Tooth a parking fine worth millions of dollars. She says she'll clear it all up if Sweet Tooth himself does a "few minutes of community service." Sweet Tooth is enticed and takes her up on her offer. We then see Sweet Tooth taking a driver's safety course.
* ItsGoingDown: The Eiffel Tower in both versions of the Paris stage.
* JackassGenie: Usually Calypso is a LiteralGenie, but he's still guilty of doing this on a couple of occasions.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: How the characters, especially Needles Kane, in ''Black'' describe their stories to the player using [[FullMotionVideo FMVs]].
--> "Let's face it, boys and girls: a man [[SadisticChoice has to have]] [[ProfessionalKiller his priorities.]]"
* LandOfDragons: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Hong Kong Crunch".
* LargeHam: Calypso.
* LastBreathBullet: [[spoiler: Outlaw]]'s ending in ''Black''. Just after [[spoiler:killing the terrorist the second time,]] he looks over at [[spoiler: the family he was trying to save. We hear over his earpiece "Target is still hot! Repeat, target is ''still hot!''" just before the PinkMist gets splattered everywhere.]]
* LegacyCharacter: Many of the cars that appear in multiple games keep their appearance and special attack. Some, however, like Sweet Tooth, don't technically count, since their drivers are actually the same person every time.
* LethalLavaLand: "Amazonia: The Fire Walk" in ''Twisted Metal 2''.
* LighterAndSofter: ''Small Brawl''. it's still somewhat dark, however. The game itself is bloodless and kid-friendly because you drive radio-controlled cars, but then you get to the endings where Calypso [[spoiler: is eaten by a giant frog, nearly blown up with a large firework rocket, shoots one of the drivers into space or leaves a giant pile of explosives to try and blow up another participant]].
** ''4'', while not to that degree, is in general much sillier and more colorful than any other game in the series so far.
* LiteralGenie: Calypso switches between being this and just [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor misinterpreting wishes in general]]. Some of the best examples of this are Warthog's ending in 2 ([[spoiler:a 100 year old man wishes for the body of a 20 year old, but didn't get the head to match]]) and Twister in ''Head-On'' (CameBackWrong in a nutshell).
* LouisCypher: Calypso temps people to do horrifically evil things in exchange for wishes which he screws with as much as possible.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The "Amazonia" level from the second game features Aztec-style pyramids surrounded by lava emerging from a volcano, [[YouFailGeographyForever in Brazil]].
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Some weapons such as the MIRV, Rain 2, Reticle, Zoomy, Swarmer and the specials of some characters such as Sweet Tooth's and Roadkill's in Black.
* MindScrew: For a VehicularCombat game, Twisted Metal is this trope as a whole! Many got confused guessing what is Marcus'/Needles' real identity. It also didn't made sense as to how Marcus and Needles, who are the same person, could co-exist as separate people and fighting each other in the contest. That said, if they are the same person, how is it that one of them could STILL survive after killing the other since they're the exact same person?
** Twisted Metal's alternate universes are also pretty damn confusing to get it right. While Black does takes place in Needles' mind, Marcus also made an appearance in that universe (as Minion) who as we've known, is always paranoid about Twisted Metal being just a nightmare. He says that he misses the colourful world. But in the colourful universe, Marcus is still as paranoid as ever, forever stating that everything isn't real while Calypso always tells him that Twisted Metal is as real as how he wanted it to be. This could be suggested that the colourful universe takes place in Marcus' mind. That said, the Black and colourful continuities are both just dreams and that nothing is real.
*** And then we have Small Brawl, which is a LighterAndSofter version for kids. You wouldn't expect ''this'' to be connected to the Black and colourful universes, right? Well, in Spectre's ending, it was revealed that the boy was the son of Ken Masters, the Spectre in Twisted Metal 2, which is set in the colourful universe Marcus always regards as a nightmare. This makes Small Brawl a dream ''within'' a dream... Goddamn! Are the creators of Twisted Metal fans of Studio Gainax's or 7th Expansion's animes or what?
*** And then we have to fit in the Alternate Universe of the 2012 game.
* MonsterClown: Needles Kane. What else do you expect from a serial killer whose head is on fire?
** [[spoiler: Sophie Kane]] in the reboot is an EvilIsSexy version.
* MnogoNukes: ''Twisted Metal 2'' stage "Moscow: Suicide Slide" is an abandoned Soviet missile silo.
* MonumentalBattle: The Eiffel Tower, the pyramids of Egypt...
* MonumentalDamage: The Eiffel Tower, the pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, the Hollywood sign... and many, many more.
* MoralDissonance: Even the good guys leave a trail of death and destruction that tends to be massively out of proportion to what they want to achieve. In ''Black'', for instance, Raven wants to avenge the [[TearJerker death of her friend]] who was [[spoiler:drowned by bullies]] and Agent Stone [[spoiler:went mad with grief because he accidentally shot a family during a hostage crisis]]. To make things right again, both drivers run over tens of pedestrians, blow up civilian cars that happen to be in their way or in the blast radius and destroy a large number of buildings. The number of innocent deaths would probably be well over a hundred. Raven returns in ''Twisted Metal: Lost'', where she [[spoiler:protects the city from the other rampaging killers... by using her voodoo powers]] to blow the hell out of everything.
** This is sometimes brought up. Jebediah is less than thrilled when he realizes they're fighting in a town he used to preach in, and several characters in ''Black'' apologize to Warhawk before the final battle (Agent Stone in particular is crushed -- "I know this man"). It's just that they're usually out of options.
* NameOfCain: The Kane family: a madman with a MonsterClown split personality and his father, the drunkard insane taxi driver (main continuity)/corpse being remote controlled by his other son (''Black'' continuity). The 2012 game [[spoiler:adds in Marcus/Needles two children, both of whom take up the MonsterClown legacy at the end.]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Does anybody else agree that Calypso in ''1'' resembles a burnt-face Gene Wilder?
** In ''Black'' he looks very much like [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] minus the mask.
*** Or Glenn Jacobs, AKA Wrestler/{{Kane}}.
* NotDrawnToScale: Scale problems exist like nuts in this series. Axel, a man on a platform stuck between two wheels, is approximately 20 feet tall, judging by the civilian and house sprites on some levels. Even the motorcycle & dune buggy vehicles are house-sized.
** This even leaks into gameplay. In ''Twisted Metal 2'', Axel could run over ''and crush'' any other vehicle short of a boss, justified by being bigger than any of them, despite being just a man standing upright between two monster truck wheels. Yes, he can crush Hammerhead, which is an actual monster truck.
** ''Black'' is actually somewhat realistically scaled: buildings do indeed tower above the vehicles, and although Axel is too big again, even the missiles are generally properly sized as opposed to the giant warheads in every other game.
* OminousChanting: Used in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53opJu5Qubs Rooftops]] theme in the original, and the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqX3sbDsB0U Suburbs]] theme and others in ''Black'', complementing the Gothic CrapsackWorld setting in the latter.
* OneWomanWail: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpKiB37jEhs&feature=related Freeway]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvZC8SwVVIE Snowy Roads]] music themes in ''Black''.
* OnlySaneMan: Quite possibly Agent Shepherd (Crimson Fury) in ''Head-On'', who's pretty much the only guy who realized that Calypso is an asshole, doesn't even bother making a wish, and [[ShutUpHannibal arrests him on spot]]. [[JusticeWillPrevail Score one for justice!]]
** Marcus Kane, who most would pass off as a delusional madman after reading his bios, is usually proven to be this in his endings. [[spoiler: [[MonsterClown His split personality]], however...]]
* OrificeEvacuation: Goggle Eyes' ending in ''4'' has him wishing to contain all the bugs in the world so he can kill them. He immediately chokes to death as every bug in the world bursts from his body.
* PauseScumming: The second game implemented the pause feature in an odd way. Your car and the enemy cars would stop dead as expected, but projectiles would continue as normal, the sole exception being the ricochet bomb. With timely use of the pause button you could land every single Roadkill boomerang, every single Sweet Tooth ice cream cone, every single freeze missile, break out of a Mr. Slam infinite freeze missile loop, blow up opponents with their own mines (because the delay before they arm didn't stop when the game was paused, of course) and avoid running into projectiles fired in front of you. The list goes on. Conversely, you could also die during the pause screen.
* PrecisionFStrike: First used in ''Black'' by Needles in his intro. It was [[CurseCutShort bleeped out though]]. The reboot was the first time in the series where the F-bomb was used openly. In a nod to ''Black'', the first time the F-bomb ''was'' used, it too was [[CurseCutShort cut short]] by the scream of Marcu's/Needles' wife upon [[spoiler: her getting chopped]]. For the rest of the game, F-bombs were dropped without censors.
* PyramidPower: Obviously enough, in the Egypt stages.
* RealSongThemeTune: ''Black'' uses "Paint It Black" by Music/TheRollingStones in the credits.
* {{Recurring C|haracter}}ar: Sweet Tooth, Warthog and Mr. Grimm (renamed Reaper in the reboot) are the only vehicles seen in ''every'' game in the series; Axel and Outlaw are in all games except one; Thumper, Spectre, Hammerhead and Roadkill are in all except two.
** RecurringCharacter: Calypso, Needles Kane and Mr. Grimm are in all games, though Grimm is a different character in ''Black'' and the upcoming [=PS3=] game. Axel, Marcus Kane, Preacher Jebediah, the Roberts siblings, Bruce Cochrane, Minion, Captain Rogers, Krista Sparks and Simon Whittlebone appear in more than one game.
* RingOfPower: ''Twisted Metal 4'' sets up the premise that Sweet Tooth managed to steal a magical ring from Calypso that gave him all his powers to grant wishes.
* RoadCone: While no two characters' endings could technically occur (since, by the nature of the contest, you kill all the other drivers), several endings from ''Twisted Metal 2'' are treated as happened in ''Head-On'': Axel, Outlaw 2, Twister, Mr. Slamm and Grasshopper (sorta). Though Axel's story is written in a way that suggest his previous ending happened as a result of having survived rather than because he won, and the others may be {{Hand Wave}}d by the fact there are 2 years between the games, and the tournament has always been annual.
** On the other hand, Outlaw's ending in the first ''Twisted Metal'' is pretty much the ending that happened, as its the only one brought up ''twice'': it's the focus of Outlaw-2's story in ''Twisted Metal 2'' and is referenced again in ''Head-On''.
** ''Twisted Metal: Lost'', the mini-game found in the PS2 port of ''Head-On'' which serves as a "sequel" to ''Black'', treats ''EVERY'' ending from Black as having happened, even if they included objects/events impossible to come by any other way. Maybe Calypso got nicer and granted everyone's wishes after the tournament?
** ''Twisted Metal 3'' had the same issue to a lesser extent, what's with Warthog's driver wishing to have the head to match his body, the two Outlaws being reunited and Axel claiming he separated from the machine (though his hands does seem undamaged).
* RobZombie: A GuestFighter in 4. He even drives his Dragula roadster.
* RoofHopping: A staple stage setting in the series: "Rooftop Battle" in the first, "New York: The Big Leap" in ''2'', "Tokyo" in ''3'', "Skyscrappers" in ''Black'' and "Tokyo Rooftops" in ''Head-On''.
* SdrawkcabName: The name of the Doctor that gave Dollface/Krista her mask in the 2012 reboot? Dr. Ospylac.
* SecretCharacter: Minion in every entry in which he's playable, but also Sweet Tooth in ''2'' and ''3''; Manslaughter, Warthog, Yellowjacket, and Axel in ''Black''; Axel, Darkside, Mime, [=PieceMeal=], and Trapper in ''Small Brawl''; Axel, Mr. Slam, Hammerhead, Crimson Fury, ATV, Cousin Eddy and Dark Tooth in ''Head-On''; and Warthog in the 2012 ''Twisted Metal''.
* ShipLevel: The "Prison Passage" stage in ''Black''. A big chunk of the Greece stage in ''Head-On'' happens aboard one as well.
* ShockAndAwe: The Environment (Env) pickup, introduced since ''Twisted Metal 2'', is an special item found on certain stages, which activates a lightning attack in a limited range around whatever its generating it. Certain cars (most commonly Outlaw) have this as their special weapon, too.
* SignatureLine: The page quote.
* SlasherSmile: Needles Kane throughout the series, and Calypso in ''2''.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: "Antarctica: The Drop Zone" in ''2'', "The North Pole" in ''3'', "Amazonia 3000 BC" in ''4'' and "Snowy Roads" in ''Black''.
* SpinoffBabies: ''Twisted Metal: Small Brawl''.
* SplitPersonality: Needles Kane, the driver of Sweet Tooth, and Marcus Kane, the driver of Roadkill. Starts out as SplitPersonality, but eventually turns into JekyllAndHyde, and EnemyWithout, then into SplitPersonalityTakeover. Needles could also be considered a SuperPoweredEvilSide.
* SpiritualSuccessor: After making ''Twisted Metal 2'', Singletrac was bought by GT Interactive and lost the Twisted Metal license. This lead them to create two stand-alone vehicular combat games: ''VideoGame/RogueTrip: Vacation 2012'' and ''CriticalDepth''. Both games ended up leaving their mark on the series - ''Black'' adopted the visible damage indicator and slightly more involved storytelling of ''Critical Depth'', and ''Rogue Trip'''s faster pace and more interactive arenas.
* StockScream: The death screams, notably in ''Black''.
* StrictlyFormula: All of the endings in ''Twisted Metal 3'' follows the same formula: Car drives in, Calypso reiterates the wish of the winner and shoot lightning with his hands, the driver screams for no reasons and then suffer the consequences of the wish, Calypso makes a terrible pun and thank you for playing Twisted Metal.
* StuffBlowingUp: One of the main features of the series.
* TakeAThirdOption: More of a second option, but in ''Head-On'', the driver of Crimson Fury, Agent Shepard of the FBI, chooses to simply arrest Calypso in his ending rather than trying to collect his prize from the LiteralGenie.
* TheKidWithTheRemoteControl: The driver of Yellowjacket in ''Black'' is Charlie Kane, reanimated by his son and literally controlled by a remote control. Also, the vehicles in ''Small Brawl'' are RC cars driven by little kids.
* TheGrimReaper: Mr. Grimm, in the first [[strike: two]] three games and ''Head-On''.
* TookALevelInBadass: Hammerhead in the PS3 reboot. It went from sluggish enemy who could fight, though outmatched, to a massive boss battle alongside Slayer (the truck, not the band, though both were based off of heavy metal bands).
* TransformingMecha: Sweet Tooth's super in Black turns it into one of these.
* {{Troll}}: Calypso. He makes contestants risk their lives fighting in his freak show contest then screws them over when they make their wish, complete with his own trollface.
* VehicularCombat: The entire point of the series.
* WeaponizedCar
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The first game was originally titled ''High Octane'', but was changed due to another game called ''Hi-Octane'', a car-racing game. Then again, ''[[MeaningfulName "Twisted"]] Metal'' seems an appropriate title for this series.
** Designer David Jaffe [[http://comic-con.gamespot.com/comic-con-uncut/p-12.html?tag=topslot;title;5 revealed (about 44 minutes in)]] that ''Twisted Metal'' could've gone in two different directions post-''Black'': a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] title, or a slick, polished look inspired by ''MidnightClub'' and MichaelMann movies, the latter of which would've featured Sweet Tooth as a slick, black gangster with the flames tattooed on his head.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The fact that Needles and Marcus Kane, despite being split personalities (Needles being a violent, psychotic half and Marcus being his sanity and reason), exist as two separate entities, drive two separate vehicles, and constantly battle each other until the Dark Tooth ending from ''Head On'' where [[spoiler: Needles and Marcus meet in the middle of a field curious about seeing the other but ultimately decide to work together, resulting in an unstoppable force of destruction.]]
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Calypso in ''Twisted Metal: Head-On''.
* WorkingTitle: As noted above, ''High Octane''.
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-->''I am [[JackassGenie Calypso]]. And I thank you for reading the Twisted Metal article.''
