Twisted Metal III
Release Date	NAOctober 31, 1998
Developer	989 Studios
Publisher	989 Studios
Platform	PlayStation
Rating	Teen

Twisted Metal III is the third installment in the Twisted Metal series, and the first made by 989 Studios. It was released in 1998, and later re-released as a part of the PlayStation's Greatest Hits program.

Contents 1 Story 2 Contestants 2.1 Returning Contestants 2.2 New Contestants 2.3 Boss/Unlockable Contestants 3 Game Modes 3.1 Single Player 3.2 Multi-Player 4 Battlegrounds 4.1 Single Player Battlegrounds 4.2 Multi-Player Battlegrounds 5 Opening Video 6 Trivia

StoryEdit

Calypso: "I am Calypso. Each year I gather the 12 worthiest drivers to face off in the TWISTED METAL competition. They must face each other and some of my friends to claim the ultimate prize. I grant a single wish whatever the winners asked for. To the losers? DEATH! Welcome to Twisted Metal!"

Contestants Edit

Returning ContestantsEdit

Vehicle	Driver(s)	Description
Axel	Axel	Was disfigured when he freed himself from his car, wants to be part of it.
Mr. Grimm	Mr. Grimm	He wants the soul of Calypso.
Hammerhead	Granny Dread	An elderly woman who wants some peace.
Outlaw	Buzz Roberts and Jamie Roberts	Two Cops that want to shut down the Twisted Metal tournament.
Roadkill	Marcus Kane	Homeless man who thinks he has the right to win.
Spectre	Lance Wilder	A ladies' man who wants fame.
Thumper	Bruce Cochrane	Wants to be with his homies.
Warthog	Captain Rogers	Wants a head to match his 20-year old body he won in Twisted Metal 2.

New ContestantsEdit

Vehicle	Driver(s)	Description
Auger	Buster Cobb	A construction worker that wants people to see his inner child.
Club Kid	Club Kid	Wants to have a big party all night.
Firestarter	Damien Coles	Wants to have a open barbecue with his friends.
Flower Power	Amber Rose	Wants to stop those endangering the world.

Boss/Unlockable ContestantsEdit

Vehicle	Driver(s)	Description
Minion	Minion	A Hellish Demon who wants to spend eternity in Hell (Unlockable Character).
Sweet Tooth	Needles Kane	A clown who wants to eat all the candy he wants (Unlockable Character).
Darkside	Mr. Ash	Boss of Washington level (Unplayable Character).
Primeval	Primeval	Boss of the Blimp level (Unplayable Character).

Game ModesEdit

Single PlayerEdit

• Tournament
• Deathmatch

Multi-PlayerEdit

• Deathmatch
• Co-Op Tournament

BattlegroundsEdit

Single Player BattlegroundsEdit

• Hollywood
• Washington D.C. (Boss: Darkside)
• Hangar 18
• North Pole
• London (Boss: Minion)
• Tokyo
• Egypt
• Blimp (Boss: Primeval)

Multi-Player BattlegroundsEdit

Opening VideoEdit

TriviaEdit

• Twisted Metal III was met with a lukewarm reception from critics, many of whom felt it was an "old hat" and did "little to innovate" or build upon the franchise. It has received the aggregate score of 48.97% from Game Rankings and 4.7/10 from GameSpot. Fan site Twisted Metal Alliance protested against 989 studios.
  • Many Twisted Metal fans consider this game to be the worst in the franchise, primarily because of disapproving character redesigns and a gameplay engine which many saw as inferior to Twisted Metal 2's engine.
• This game marks Darkside's first appearance as a boss character.
• This was the first game in the series to introduce a 4-player splitscreen mode.
• Several continuity errors within the Twisted Metal storyline exist because of the events in this game. A good example of this is character ages. Twisted Metal III only takes place two years after the events of Twisted Metal 2, but some characters aged more than just two years, including Jamie Roberts, the driver of Outlaw, as an example. These errors were most likely just developer oversights by 989 Studios. However, since the game is considered non-canon with the rest of the series, these errors should be considered null.
  • Here are some examples of continuity errors this game brings about:
  1. Captain Rogers, the driver of Warthog, only aged two years after Twisted Metal 2. Jamie Roberts, the driver of Outlaw, on the other hand, aged five years.
  2. Axel appears in this game, despite tearing his arms free from his vehicle and becoming disfigured. It is possible that he managed to acquire prosthetics, but the game simply states that he climbed back into his machine. In his ending, his arms and feet are shown to be in perfect condition, as if the events of his Twisted Metal 2 ending never occured.
  3. Needles Kane is not a serial killer; he is instead a psychotic clown who is obsessed with candy and ice cream.
  4. Minion is no longer interested in getting revenge on Calypso for stealing his powers.
  5. Marcus Kane's storyline, although not yet fully developed, displays him as simply a crazy homeless man and not as someone who wishes to end his nightmares of the Twisted Metal tournaments.
  6. Darkside's driver is Mr. Ash, as shown in the Twisted Metal 3 manual.  The picture doesn't show him as, "Mr. Ash does not reflect light so he can't be photographed."  This makes little sense as Mr. Ash never had an alliance with Calypso, in fact the last time they saw each other was when Mr. Ash took "Black" back from Calypso.
• This was the second game in the series to offer a first-person view, the first being the original Twisted Metal. However, the first-person view in this game does not display the interior of the vehicle and instead only has the camera placed directly in front of the vehicle.
• This game introduced many new weapons, such as the Mortar and Speed Missiles, which only appeared again in Twisted Metal 4, which was also made by 989 Studios. These weapons never again appeared in other Twisted Metal games.
• This is one of the only two games in the series in which Calypso is not outsmarted by any of the winning contestants.
• This was the first, and so far only, game to introduce the regeneration concept in gameplay, in which computorized opponents respawn after being killed.
• All characters, upon death, scream with the same voice, despite the gender of the driver. This would also be the case in Twisted Metal 4.
• This is the only game in the series in which opponents create damaging explosions upon death. To add, this is the only game where a player can be killed from the explosion of a dying opponent.
• This is the first game in the series to include licensed music in-game instead of original music. This concept would later be applied to Twisted Metal (2012).
• Twisted Metal III doesn't seem to tie into Twisted Metal 4. There are many reasons for this: Firstly, none of the competitors from Twisted Metal III are able to benefit from their wish because they are tricked by Calypso; secondly, nearly all the Twisted Metal 4 contestants are original characters; and finally, Twisted Metal 4 seems to take place long before Twisted Metal III.
• 989 studios put two text boxes in the back of the TM3 manual, one for Darkside, and one for Primeval.  Darkside's was to imform the reader why Mr. Ash didn't have a picture. It read, "Mr. Ash does not reflect light so he can't be photographed."  The other was for Primeval. (because he didn't have a picture)  It read, "Photo not available-Primeval was busy tormenting souls when photos were taken."
• Twisted Metal III and 4 are the only games in the entire series to feature character biographies with voices.