Twisted Metal is Sony’s longest-running PlayStation video game franchise and has spanned over 8 games and 4 PlayStation consoles (PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3). 5 if you count the PlayStation 4 and 5 versions of Twisted Metal: Black and the recently released PS Plus versions of Twisted Metal 1 and 2! Each and every step of the way (excpet the first game) Twisted Metal was joined by the iconic two-wheeled monster man.

Twisted Metal has evolved, changed, and taken on many different forms, from being a semi-grounded car combat title in Twisted Metal 1 to becoming a silly caricature of itself in Twisted Metal 3 and 4 before moving into darker waters with the brooding horror fest of Twisted Metal: Black then followed by the playful and charming Small Brawl until finally settled on a combination of everything with Twisted Metal: Head On and the 2012 reboot, but through every iteration of this weird and wacky series, Axel was evolving and changing right along with it.

Axel was featured on the cover of Twisted Metal. Without a doubt, he’s one of the faces of the franchise and remains one of the most significant contributions to gaming and pop culture that Twisted Metal has ever spawned.

To this day, if you bring up Twisted Metal to someone who is only vaguely aware of what it is, more often than not they’ll ask “is that the game with the giant monster truck wheels?” They may not have any concept of any other aspect of Twisted Metal, but good golly do they have this weirdo etched into their brain.

So what I want to do today is take a look at Axel and how he and his machine have adapted over the course of every Twisted Metal game.

Starting with Twisted Metal 2 all the way through to the 2012 reboot, I’ll break down his place in this franchise and how he has evolved through each game. It’ll be exciting to see how the concept of Axel expresses itself across all the games, because I think his character and vehicle represents each game it appears in perfectly. As goes Axel, so goes the rest of Twisted Metal. And vice verse or whatever.

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Chapters:
Intro: 0:00
Twisted Metal 2: 1:03
Twisted Metal 3: 7:35
Twisted Metal 4: 13:48
Twisted Metal Black: 17:26
Twisted Metal Small Brawl: 22:15
Twisted Metal Head On: 25:09
Twisted Metal Lost: 31:19
Twisted Metal 2012: 32:39
Twisted Metal TV Show: 33:40
Outro: 34:09