Minion

Minion

"Let's go, little Calypso man."

—Minion, Twisted Metal 2

Minion is a recurring contestant in the Twisted Metal series, excluding Small Brawl, Head-On and 2012. In all games, he serves as a boss and sometimes a secret playable character. He is usually a demon from Hell that operates a tank.

Twisted Metal (1995)

Minion is the winner of the previous Twisted Metal Contest. He is the final boss at Rooftop Combat and is not a playable character.

Minion pilots a heavily armored tank, the XJ-39 (also known as the "Mind Tank"), with unknown stats, presumably all are maxed out. According to one of the unused live-action cutscenes, the tank was developed as a military project. It was rumored that the tank could be directly linked to the driver's mind, making it faster and more agile than any other vehicle created before it. It was also rumored that the tank could also see into its driver's deepest fears and desires. In the aforementioned cutscene, the prototype XJ-39 was depicted to have been stolen by the gang members of Apocalypse 9 one year before the events of the game. As one could imagine, with the "Mind Tank" being driven by someone as powerful as Minion, the results would be devastating.

Vehicle: Cadillac-Gage Textron LAV-300 / Minion / XJ-39 "Mind Tank"

Driver: Minion

Vehicle Type: Tank

Special Weapon: Minion has access to most of the special weapons in the game. (In particular; Thumper, Spectre, Pit Viper, Outlaw and Darkside.)

Speed: 4/5

Handling: 5/5

Armor: 5/5

Special: 5/5

Twisted Metal 2

Minion is a demon with a mission to get to Calypso. It is believed that Calypso stole his powers 11 years ago. Now, it is time for Minion's vengeance...

Minion, once again driving the XJ-39, is the sub-boss of Amazonia. The following quote is seen when you defeat all enemies at Amazonia:

Last year's boss rises from the lava. "I must win! Calypso and I have a score to settle!" he yells, as he comes after you with a vengeance!

Minion is considered to be the best character in the game due to his high speed and armor. His special, in addition to being very powerful, quickly recharges, allowing it to be used more frequently than those of normal characters. He also has a unique characteristic in that he fires white, thick rays out of the back of his tank when the machine gun button is held down - these also deal damage. His only weakness is that he uses a large vehicle, making him a big target (somewhat compensated for by his speed) and can make him harder to maneuver in confined areas.

Vehicle: Cadillac-Gage Textron LAV-300 / Minion / XJ-39 "Mind Tank"

Driver: Minion

Info: Male

Age: Unknown

"You found me. I don't know how but now you and I are linked...we are one...on a mission to find the man who took our life, our power. Together, we shall bring down Calypso."

Vehicle Type: Tank

Handling: Intermediate

Armor: 5/5

Special Weapon: 5/5

Minion shoots 3 missiles and a Freeze Missile simultaneously.

Speed: 4/5

License Plate: N/A

Voice actor: Peter J. Macon

To unlock Minion on PlayStation, press L1, Up, Down, Left at the character select screen.

To unlock Minion on PC, type in "gloriousbigboy" on the character select screen.

Ending:

Twisted Metal III

Minion is a creature Calypso enslaved for release just when you thought you were invincible. When you clear the London level, Minion comes out to play with his arsenal of toys. Consider yourself warned; Minion is one bad-ass evildoer who can move extremely quick and will crumple your vehicle in seconds if you don't evade his giant tank.

"I may be nightmare material, but I dress a helluva lot better than every other slouch in this tournament. My tank will flatten your sorry ass if you irk me, so stay outta my way! But if you can beat me, you can help me hunt down Calypso."

Vehicle: Cadillac-Gage Textron LAV-300 / Minion

Driver: Minion

Info: Male

Age: Unknown

Vehicle Type: Armored Personnel Carrier

Handling: Average

Armor: 5/5

Special Weapon: 5/5

• Quad-Missiles: Fires three homing missiles and a freeze missile that causes a lot of damage.

Speed: 4/5

He is the boss of London, and is fought after destroying all five enemies there.

Unlockable by entering → → → ← ← on the Password Screen.

Info and Ending:

Twisted Metal 4

Minion returns as a boss of Minion's Maze and can be unlocked by completing Tournament mode or inputting Δ L1 L1 ← ↑ at the Password screen. The identity of it's driver is unknown.

Vehicle

Type: Sherman 'Minion'

Handling: ??

Armor: ??

Speed: ??

Special Weapon: ??

Serpent: Fires three homing missiles and a freeze missile that causes a lot of damage. If, somehow, the freeze missile doesn't connect, Serpent will set the enemy on fire.

Ending

Twisted Metal 4 - Custom Car's Boss' Ending

Note: This ending is shared with all other boss vehicles of the game as well as custom vehicles.

Twisted Metal: Black

A large Tanker-truck driven by Marcus Kane, Needles' split personality. Fortunately, Minion is playable, but not without having to beat the game with every character first and he is reduced to 'normal' size so he can be used in combat. Surprisingly, he is usable online (with the Twisted Metal: Black Online game).

Besides the large size of his vehicle, Minion also has a shield protector that can be shut down when the four panels on the front, left, right and back sides are destroyed (Boss Minion only). Minion is the sub-boss at Minion's Stadium, which is also an unlockable arena.

Vehicle: White-Freightliner WFT 6364 'Minion'

Driver: Marcus Kane

Vehicle Type: Armored Tanker Truck

Control: 3/10

Speed: 3/10

Armor: 10/10

Special Weapon: 10/10

Flaming Blaze: A powerful flamethrower at close range, but a series of homing fireballs at long range. Possibly the most devastating weapon in the game.

Trivia

• Minion's driver was not revealed until his playable appearance in Twisted Metal 2. No information in the driver was available in the first game.
• Although it is known that Minion won the tournament the year before the events of the original Twisted Metal (1995), it is unknown what he wished for, or why he didn't wish for his revenge on Calypso like he did in Twisted Metal 2 (though his ending there is non-canon).
• Twisted Metal III is the last official appearance of Minion, the driver.
• Minion is the only unlockable character in Twisted Metal: Black besides Axel who does not require the player to destroy any kind of grounded control panel to unlock as a playable vehicle. However, considering that to unlock him, you need all of the characters, it could be said that, indirectly, you do have to destroy a grounded control panel at some point.
• The original Twisted Metal marks Minion's only appearance as a non-playable character and is one of few appearances to do so, the other being Darkside's Twisted Metal III appearance (without the use of a Gameshark) 
• When playing the story mode as Minion in Twisted Metal: Black, it is possible to fight Minion at stage 4 as it would normally happen. However, the size of the enemy Minion is about twice your size.
• A GameShark code exists for Twisted Metal (1995) that allows the player to change whatever they select to play as into Minion: 8018EFA4 0082 8018EFCC 0050
  • However, Minion can only be accessible whilst playing on the Rooftop Stage. The following code will ensure you will always start there: 8018ED04 0005. This has not been confirmed to work with the actual console and disk, but is confirmed to work via emulation.

Quotes

Twisted Metal 2

• "Calypso! You are coming with me!"
• "You stole my powers, Calypso, eleven years ago, stripping me of my birthright! Now, it is time for you to pay the price!"
• "Time to rot in Hell with your little sister!"