Twisted Metal: Head-On

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Twisted Metal: Head-On is the seventh game released in the Twisted Metal series, developed by Incognito Entertainment and released by Sony the PlayStation Portable on March 24, 2005; and for the PlayStation 2 on February 5, 2008.

Not only does it share the distinction of being the only handheld game released in the series, but is also the first game in the series to be shipped fully online-enabled.

Extra Twisted Edition[]

14774 — Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition by Eat Sleep Play

The PlayStation 2 port of Twisted Metal: Head-On was developed by Eat Sleep Play, and was subtitled Extra Twisted Edition. It included the cut live-action cutscenes from the first game's beta stages, a concept art booklet, a code for the entire Twisted Metal Soundtrack (excluding TMIII and TM4), a version of the unfinished Twisted Metal: Black sequel Twisted Metal: Harbor City (named Twisted Metal: Lost in-game) and "Sweet Tour", a 3D platformer that was part of Harbor City before the game was cancelled. The main gameplay has all the content of the PSP version, plus new characters, and an added Transylvania stage.

Story[]

Twisted Metal: Head-On revolves around the same theme as the previous installments. A man named Calypso holds an annual vehicular combat tournament called "Twisted Metal" with the promise of granting the winner whatever they ask for in the form of a single wish.

Depending on which vehicle you beat the game with, you get an ending involving Calypso and the driver(s) of the vehicle you picked.

Contestants[]

This game contains a total of 18 vehicles, 8 are unlockable out of them all. All the vehicles from TM2 (except Minion) return, and Crimson Fury from TM(1995) makes a return. There are 3 new vehicles as well.

Returning Contestants[]

Vehicle	Driver(s)	Description
Roadkill	Marcus Kane	Marcus Kane returns and enters the contest to get rid of this "nightmare".
Shadow	Mortimer Scharf	Brought back from the dead, Mortimer Scharf enters wanting to return to his slumber after teenagers vandalized his grave.
Mr. Grimm	Mr. Grimm	The Grim Reaper himself, he enters in hopes that Calypso can give someone else the job of the Dark Collector.
Sweet Tooth	Needles Kane	Needles Kane returns this year to the tournament to take Calypso's spot as the owner of Twisted Metal.
Thumper	Angel	A spoiled girl, Angel wants to make her car bigger, better, and louder.
Spectre	Chuckie Floop	Chuckie Floop won a car from a radio station and an invitation to Twisted Metal, not knowing what he wants to wish for.
Twister	Miranda Watts	Miranda Watts, the sister of the driver from TM2, enters in search of her twin sister, Amanda, who went missing after she won the contest last year.
Outlaw	Carl Roberts and Jamie Roberts	Brother and sister duo Carl Roberts (driver from TM) and Jamie Roberts (driver from TM2), enter together to end Twisted Metal once and for all.
Grasshopper	Krista Sparks	After her death predating the first game, Krista Sparks is now a spirit, brought back to life by her dad. She enters Twisted Metal, with the wish to be alive again.
Warthog	Colonel Hall	Colonel Hall enters to acquire an ultimate weapon to rid the world of all evil.

Unlockable Contestants[]

Vehicle	Driver(s)	Description
Axel	Axel	After the events of TM2, Axel had a doctor give him robotic arms on one condition - Axel must enter Twisted Metal again and give his victory wish to the doctor.
Mr. Slam	Simon Whittlebone	After falling off his tower to his death in TM2, Simon Whittlebone haunted Whittlebone Tower so no one would destroy it. Simon enters to be reborn so he can continue finish his tower.
Crimson Fury	Agent Shepard	Working for the FBI, Agent Shepard enters the contest to arrest Calypso and end Twisted Metal for good.
Hammerhead	Catfish	Catfish enters for one reason - he wants to legitimately hunt humans for sport.

Boss/New Contestants[]

Vehicle	Driver(s)	Description
ATV	Gene Ruttish	(Sub-boss, unlockable): Gene Ruttish enters the contest wanting to be a ladies' man.
Cousin Eddy	Cousin Eddy	(Mid-boss, unlockable): Cousin Eddy has always had a thing for shiny things. He wants a new RV.
Dark Tooth	Needles Kane and Marcus Kane	(Semi-Final boss, unlockable): Driven by Marcus and Needles Kane, they find Tower Tooth in a field.
Tower Tooth	Needles Kane and Marcus Kane	(Final boss, unlockable): Driven by Marcus and Needles Kane. Tower Tooth is only playable in Deathmatch mode in the Roman Ruins stage, known as the "Tower Tooth Challenge".

Battlegrounds[]

Minigames[]

Each of the battlegrounds in this game feature a minigame accessible through a pink teleporter hidden in a secret area in the level. They include:

Battleground	Minigame	Description
Big Blue Stadium	Demolition Derby	You compete in a demolition derby against a group of taxis. Finishing under three minutes awards you with an extra life.
Los Angeles	Freeway Slalom	You navigate a freeway that's under construction. Finishing under three minutes unlocks Mr. Slam.
Paris	Chopper Shoot	You use napalm bombs to destroy choppers. With each destroyed chopper, a bridge drops for you cross to reach the Eiffel Tower. Finishing under three minutes unlocks the Paris Death Match.
Egypt	Balance Beam	You maneuver a deadly obstacle course littered with several traps. Finshing under three minutes unlocks the Egypt Death Match.
Roman Ruins	Top Down Driver	You put your turbo, dodging, and jumping skills to the test as you navigate a crazy obstacle course. Finishing under two minutes unlocks the Rome Death Match.
Russia	Shooting Gallery	You must destroy a group of enemy tanks that appear one after the other. Finishing under two minutes unlocks Axel.
Greece	Jump Skill	You jump your way through a platforming course. Finishing under two and a half minutes unlocks the Greece Death Match.
Monaco	Death Race	You must race two laps going the wrong way on the Formula One race track whilst destroying ten of the racers. Finishing it unlocks Crimson Fury. Destroying fifteen racers awards you with an extra life on top of that.
Tokyo Streets	Subway Gauntlet	You speed through a subway tunnel where you must collect stars that are only accessible upon destroying the Sweet Tooth heads on the walls. Finishing under two minutes unlocks the Tokyo Death Match.
Tokyo Rooftops	Sky Track	You must race three laps against the futuristic motorcycle racers. Winning the race unlocks Hammerhead and awards you an extra life.
Transylvania	Platform Puzzle	You must make it through a course that blends platforming with a standard obstacle course. Finishing under one and a half minutes unlocks the Transylvania Death Match.

Trivia[]

Twisted Metal: Head-On's original prototype title was Twisted Metal: World Tour as seen in an early build from January 29th, 2004. Its next title was Twisted Metal: Rage as seen in an early build from November 1st, 2004.
Similar to Twisted Metal III, Twisted Metal: Head-On's story implies several returning contestants won the prior Twisted Metal tournament.
- Amanda Watts, the original driver of Twister, is deceased, having been killed after travelling to the past following Calypso granting her wish of being able to drive at the speed of light. Twister's new driver Miranda Watts, Amanda's sister, is competing to learn what happened to her.
- Axel is shown with his arms and feet having been reconstructed with cybernetics after ripping off his original limbs, following his victory in the Twisted Metal tournament granting his wish to gain the courage to confront his father.
- Jamie and Carl Roberts return as the drivers of Outlaw to once again confront Calypso, after Jamie successfully rescued Carl by using the wish from her victory to be sent into space in pursuit of him.
- Simon Whittlebone returns as a spirit controlling Mr. Slam, having died from falling from the tower he attempted to build following his victory in the previous Twisted Metal tournament.
This game includes all of the Twisted Metal 2 vehicles, except for Minion. Most of the vehicles have either gone back to their classic designs or retain similar looks.
Crimson Fury's vehicle model changes between the PSP and Playstation 2 editions of the game. In the original PSP release, it is a Ferrari Enzo, despite appearing as a Lamborghini Diablo in early versions of the game. For the Playstation 2 release, Crimson Fury is restored to a Lamborghini Diablo.
Darkside may have once been considered for this game, but was replaced by Cousin Eddy, as they have similar special attacks. The Cousin Eddy boss fight is a reprisal of the Minion fight featured in Twisted Metal: Black however.
Calypso goes back to sitting on a throne of car parts in this game like in Twisted Metal (1995) and Twisted Metal: Black.
In TM:HO EXTRA TWISTED EDITION there is a small chance that a glitch will happen in which you will unlock Shadow's ending after playing the tournament once with another character. However, this only happens if there is no TM:HO save data on the memory card.
The original PSP version of Twisted Metal: Head-On was ported to Sony's Playstation Network for digital purchase. The Playstation 2 version has not received a similar re-release however.

Earlier Versions[]

Twisted Metal: World Tour[]

This is a very early build of Head-On from January 29th, 2004. Below are all the differences in it:

This version was playable in the PS2, and not the PSP. It was still planned to be released in the PSP however, as indicated by the file "PSPCARS".
The menu was pretty different.
- It was not animated, being a static green background.
- There exists a "Dev Shell" mode which is a menu for the developers.
- Story and Challenge do the same thing - you choose your character and then the level.
- Choosing Endurance crashed the game.
- There was no proper character select or level select, instead only the names of the car files and levels appear.
- The multi-player menu can be entered, further testing necessary.
- The options menu is a crude leftover from Harbor City.
Several characters weren't finished and were simple placeholders. Below is a list of all of them:
- Axel was a simplistic green car with the text "AXEL" all over it.
- Shadow was mostly the same.
- Mr. Grimm was a simplistic green car with the text "MrGRIM" all over it.
- Roadkill was much more simplistic, lacking its decals.
- Sweet Tooth was the exact same.
- Thumper was a simplistic green car with the text "THUMP" all over it.
- Spectre was the exact same.
- Twister was the exact same.
- Mr. Slam was a simplistic green car with the text "MrSlam" all over it.
- Outlaw was mostly the same, only cruder.
- The most puzzling of all - Crimson Fury had the design that was used for the PS2 port of Head-On.
- Hammerhead had a green paintjob with hammerhead stickers on its sides.
- Grasshopper was a simplistic green car with the text "GRASS" all over it.
- Warthog was a simplistic green car with the text "WART" all over it.
- There were also various vehicles being from Black which crashed the game upon being selected, likely being there as leftovers: Crazy 8, Brimstone, Manslaughter, Darkside, Outlaw, Warthog, Yellow Jacket and Junkyard Dog.
It only had four playable levels: The Coliseum (Roman Ruins), Giza Plateau (Egypt), L.A. Freeway (Los Angeles) and Eiffel Tower (Paris). Hong Kong was also selectable in the menu, but choosing it crashed the game. Hong Kong likely became Tokyo.
- Roman Ruins was the same shape as its final version, only much cruder, with stone-like textures.
- Egypt was surprisingly similar to its final version, only cruder.
- Los Angeles was very unfinished, with the entire level having mostly gray textures.
- The overall shape of Paris was the same, just much cruder. The Eiffel Tower was already destroyed at the start, likely because the animations weren't done yet.
All levels featured the same placeholder music.
This version featured the "Tweaks" menu, which was essentially a debug menu.
There were no pedestrians.
There were no mini-games.

Twisted Metal: Rage[]

This is another eraly build of Head-On, but much more finished. It is from November 1st, 2004. Below are all the differences in it:

This version was playable in the PS2, and not the PSP. It was still planned to be released in the PSP however, as indicated by the file "PSPCARS".
The menu was pretty different.
- It was still not animated, however the background was more well-designed.
- The Sweet Tooth head in the "press X to continue" screen was the one from Twisted Metal 2.
- It had different music.
- Multi-Player couldn't be selected.
- In the options menu, the audio, network settings, load saved game, save settings settings and movie clips couldn't be selected.
- Endurance couldn't be selected.
Most characters had their hometown listed in their driver info.
Colonal Hall was named Capt. Rogers, Warthog's driver from Twisted Metal 2 and Twisted Metal III.
Grasshopper was named Pit Viper, the buggy-model car featured in the original Twisted Metal.
Axel, Mr. Slam, Crimson Fury, Hammerhead, ATV, Cousin Eddy, Dark Tooth and Tower Tooth aren't playable in this version.
- Mr. Slam and Crimson Fury can be unlocked by completing their respective mini-games as usual, but the game will crash if you select them.
- Axel's mini-game unlocks Egypt Death Match instead; and Tokyo isn't in this version, so Hammerhead can't be unlocked.
- ATV, Cousin Eddy and Dark Tooth have models for the main menu, but do not appear in the game. Tower Tooth is not in the files at all.
Hammerhead's model had a green paintjob with hammerhead shark stickers on its sides.
It only had six playable levels: Big Blue Stadium, Los Angeles, Paris, Egypt, Russia and Monaco.
Some levels reused songs from other stages, had different mixing or completely different music. For example, Big Blue Stadium had Egypt's theme playing, Los Angeles had a different song entirely and Russia had different mixing.
Despite not being playable in this build, music files for Roman Ruins, Greece and Transylvania were found.
- This might suggest that Transylvania was an unfinished level from the PSP version, as the level did not appear in it.
- The song for Greece was Battle Without Honor Or Humanity - HOTEI, a song which was featured in the movie Kill Bill, most likely as a placeholder.
Most levels featured a much greater quantity of pedestrians, while in the final game they're incredibly rare.
Los Angeles had piles of trash in the construction area which were on fire.
Egypt had fire in the holes next to the giant crater.
Paris' mini-game teleporter was placed in an extra area on the other side of a door in the room with the paintings. This area was removed from the final game and the teleporter was placed in the paintings room instead. The paintings room also had an Environmental Weapon pickup, however nothing happens when activating it.
Monaco's mini-game teleporter was in a different area entirely.
Most levels had an intro where the camera goes over various areas in them. However, they were pretty glitchy.
This version featured the "Tweaks" menu, which was essentially a debug menu.
The player could choose to battle up to 7 opponents in Challenge Mode, while in the final game the maximum amount is 5.
Pausing the game would not freeze it, and the opponents would drive around in a circle instead.

Intro Video and Credits[]

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ https://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com/2007/08/visiting-with-old-friends.html

[port-1] ttps://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com/2007/08/visiting-with-old-friends.html

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