Twisted Metal 4

Players control armed vehicles in enclosed arenas, collecting weapons and using attacks to destroy opposing vehicles. Tournament mode can be played alone or cooperatively by two players, while Deathmatch supports up to four. The game also introduced Create-a-Car, which allows players to build and save a custom vehicle. The story follows Sweet Tooth after he overthrows Calypso and takes control of the Twisted Metal tournament, with Calypso entering the contest as a driver. 989 Studios developed the game in response to criticism of Twisted Metal III, enlarging the arenas, adding more environmental interaction and revising the vehicle handling. The soundtrack features seven bands, including Rob Zombie, who also appears as a playable contestant. Critical response to the game was mixed. Reviewers often considered it an improvement over Twisted Metal III and praised its arena design, but disagreed over the handling, multiplayer modes, graphics and soundtrack. The game sold fewer copies than each of its three predecessors.

Twisted Metal 4 is a vehicular combat game in which the player selects an armed vehicle and fights other drivers in enclosed arenas until only one remains. Each vehicle has its own special attack. Further weapons, including missiles, remote explosives and proximity mines, are collected during battle. The arenas contain several elevations, hidden areas and hazards, and some include mechanisms that can be operated against opponents. These include a magnet in the Construction Yard that lifts vehicles before dropping them and a train that runs through Neon City. In Tournament mode, the player fights through a series of arenas, each ending with one or two boss vehicles. The mode can be played cooperatively by two players, while a single player may select a computer-controlled ally. Deathmatch supports up to four players on a split screen. The Create-a-Car option allows players to choose from nine vehicle bodies, add a paint scheme and exterior fittings, assign one of four special attacks and select a battle cry; the completed vehicle can then be saved to a memory card.

Twisted Metal began as a traveling carnival led by Calypso, in which contestants fight in vehicles for a mysterious prize said to be a single wish, while those who lose forfeit their souls. Sweet Tooth first encounters the carnival as a child and follows it until he eventually becomes a contestant. After proving successful in the competition, he wins and asks Calypso to make him the star of Twisted Metal. His desire for prominence eventually turns to envy, and he and a group of clown henchmen overthrow Calypso and take control of the tournament. Under Sweet Tooth, the competition again promises its winner a wish. Calypso enters as a contestant driving a nuclear missile launcher, seeking to reclaim the tournament and the ring now held by Sweet Tooth. The playable contestants have separate endings based on their wishes rather than a single conclusion to the story. In Calypso's ending, he demands the ring after winning, but Sweet Tooth's henchman refuses to surrender it. Calypso fights the henchmen and struggles with Sweet Tooth for the ring, causing the souls held within it to escape and destroying their surroundings. A boy later finds the ring among the wreckage and sees Calypso and Sweet Tooth still fighting inside it.

989 Studios developed Twisted Metal 4 internally, having taken the series in-house for Twisted Metal III after original developer SingleTrac was sold to GT Interactive. Jonathan Beard directed development and produced the game with Darrin Fuller and William Todd, while Jim Buck served as lead engineer and Chuck Doud as music director. The team did not receive the source code used for the first two games, which remained under SingleTrac's ownership. Buck said the changes to the arenas and handling addressed repeated criticism of Twisted Metal III, particularly its small stages, limited environmental interaction and tendency for vehicles to overturn. In a September 1999 demonstration, the vehicle physics had been revised to allow more airborne stunts, and cars showed visible damage when struck. Other planned additions included larger interactive arenas, new weapons and vehicles, stages made specifically for deathmatch, easier combination attacks and a larger role for Sweet Tooth. Pre-release plans for vehicle customization included choices of wheels, body style, engine, weapons, call sign and colors. The soundtrack featured seven bands, including Rob Zombie, who also appeared as a contestant driving the Dragula. Twisted Metal 4 was released for the PlayStation on November 16, 1999. A fifth 989 Studios entry was approved after Twisted Metal 4 shipped but was canceled in December 1999 as the company turned away from PlayStation games and sequels ahead of the PlayStation 2.