Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Needles Kane, the driver behind Sweet Tooth, ranks first among the Twisted Metal characters and drivers this guide can compare responsibly. This is a ranking of 10 notable, named figures—not a verified roster of every character in every game. The series includes drivers, vehicles, bosses and story figures, and the available official material does not establish a complete franchise-wide list.
Who counts as a character in this ranking?
Twisted Metal does not use “character” to mean one consistent thing. A name may refer to a driver, the vehicle associated with that driver, or a story figure. The original game’s manual, for example, identifies Needles Kane as Sweet Tooth’s driver, Commander Mason as Warthog’s driver, and Sgt. Roberts as Outlaw’s driver. This ranking keeps those identities distinct rather than treating every vehicle name as a person.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Twisted Metal (Renewed) | $38.61 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Twisted Metal | $36.37 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Twisted Metal 2 | $39.88 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Twisted Metal: Black - Playstation 2 | $36.97 | Buy on Amazon |
The list brings together figures named in the original manual and official commentary about the 2012 game. It is not an exhaustive roster: the available material does not verify every playable driver, boss, regional variation or bonus-mode character across every release.
How the ranking works
Each entry is judged by how distinct the identity is, how much story importance or ending context the sources establish, how clearly the character stands apart from the others, and how memorable the driver-and-vehicle association is. The order is editorial, not canonical or a claim about universal fan opinion. Different games give their casts different amounts of story, so a character with a documented campaign role has more evidence to assess than one named only in a manual or developer comment.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →#1 Best Overall
- In single player, fight for the prize of one wish fulfilled by winning the Twisted Metal tournament.
- Choose from over a dozen new and series favorite vehicles; each outfitted with weapons of Twisted destruction and strategically dismantle your opponents.
- In multiplayer, become a Twisted Disciple and destroy everything online as a devoted follower of one of the all star Twisted cast of characters. Team up with up to 16 online and 2–4 player split screen.
- Discover psychotic power ups in levels covering over a dozen high octane battlegrounds.
- Pair up different vehicles and maximize your firepower.
The ranked characters
-
Needles Kane / Sweet Tooth
The strongest combination of a defined driver identity and an instantly legible vehicle persona in the material covered here. The original Twisted Metal manual calls Needles Kane a psychotic clown who has stolen an ice cream truck and is searching for his best friend. That driver-and-truck pairing gives the character a specific premise rather than just a memorable name. In 2012, Sweet Tooth was also one of the three figures given a separate campaign storyline. PlayStation’s August 9, 2012 commentary on adapting him for another game likewise describes him as closely associated with vehicular combat.
-
Calypso
Calypso ranks highly because official commentary places him inside the 2012 stories and marks him as part of the wider world, not just a name on a vehicle. Director David Jaffe described Calypso as intertwined with the campaign’s three focused character stories. PlayStation producer Chad Cox also singled him out among the characters the development team particularly liked. Those comments support his importance and distinctiveness, though they do not make this ranking definitive.
-
Mr. Grimm
Mr. Grimm earns a top-three place as one of the 2012 campaign’s three characters with a separate storyline. Jaffe said the team concentrated its story resources on Grimm, Sweet Tooth and Dollface to give those arcs more depth. That gives Grimm stronger documented narrative weight than characters represented here mainly by a manual entry or a brief developer mention.
Rank #2
Twisted Metal- In single player, fight for the prize of one wish fulfilled by winning the Twisted Metal tournament.
- Choose from over a dozen new and series favorite vehicles; each outfitted with weapons of Twisted destruction and strategically dismantle your opponents.
- In multiplayer, become a Twisted Disciple and destroy everything online as a devoted follower of one of the all star Twisted cast of characters. Team up with up to 16 online and 2–4 player split screen.
- Discover psychotic power ups in levels covering over a dozen high octane battlegrounds.
- Pair up different vehicles and maximize your firepower.
-
Dollface
Dollface shares the 2012 campaign spotlight with Sweet Tooth and Mr. Grimm, and developer commentary identifies her as one of the characters the team chose to develop in depth. Her separate storyline makes her more than a supporting name in the game’s vehicle lineup. Her placement below Grimm is an editorial distinction, not a difference in whether she received a campaign arc.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Preacher
Preacher ranks fifth because Jaffe specifically described him as intertwined with the 2012 campaign stories, while Cox named him among the characters the team particularly liked. That establishes a meaningful connection to the game’s narrative and development, even though the available official statements do not provide enough detail to compare his story role beat for beat with the three campaign leads.
-
Axel
Axel’s place reflects a useful part of roster history: availability changed after the 2012 game launched. Sony Santa Monica senior producer Zach Wood announced that a free patch would make Axel available to all players on April 18, 2012. That update makes Axel a notable example of how a game’s playable roster can expand after release; the announcement alone does not establish a particular story role or character ranking.
Rank #3
Twisted Metal 2- 1 - 2 Players
- New Battles
- New Attacks
- New Cars
- Sony Playstation
-
Minion
Minion makes the list because Cox mentioned him alongside other characters the development team particularly liked. That is evidence of developer regard, not a player poll, a formal ranking or proof of a specific narrative role. With less documented story context here than the campaign leads have, Minion sits in the middle of the list.
-
No Face
No Face was also named by Cox as a character the team particularly liked. That gives him a place among the notable figures discussed in official commentary, but it does not establish a campaign spotlight comparable to Sweet Tooth, Grimm or Dollface. His position reflects the narrower evidence available, not a claim that players value him less.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Commander Mason / Warthog
The original game’s manual gives Warthog a named driver: Commander Mason. Keeping Mason attached to the vehicle makes the entry more specific than ranking “Warthog” as though the machine itself were the driver. The manual identifies the pairing, but the available material offers less story detail about Mason than it does about Needles Kane.
-
Sgt. Roberts / Outlaw
Sgt. Roberts rounds out this documented set of named driver-and-vehicle pairings from the original manual. The manual identifies Roberts as Outlaw’s driver; the material available here does not establish a comparable story arc or further character detail. That makes this a lower placement by the stated criteria, not a judgment that the character is unimportant in every game or mode.
Why the 2012 story cast is not the full vehicle roster
Sony’s February 2012 release announcement distinguishes the three campaign storylines—Sweet Tooth, Doll Face and Mr. Grimm—from the broader set of vehicles available through the campaign. It says players could access 16 vehicles. Those are different measures: three characters receiving separate story treatment does not mean the game had only three playable choices, and a vehicle count does not by itself tell you how many distinct story characters appear.
Jaffe explained the concentrated story approach in a December 28, 2011 PlayStation Blog post. The team wanted to spend production time deepening Tooth, Grimm and Dollface, while connecting Calypso and Preacher to their stories, rather than giving many characters brief joke endings. That explains why a campaign-focused ranking naturally gives those figures more narrative evidence than a roster-only list can.
What this ranking can—and cannot—settle
Developer commentary helps establish which figures received attention and which ones the team particularly liked; it does not establish a definitive order. Likewise, the original manual confirms specific drivers without supplying a complete franchise-wide cast list. A genuinely exhaustive ranking would need a verified roster for every release and mode, with recurring characters and materially different versions handled consistently. Until that scope is established, the most accurate approach is to rank the named standouts above without presenting them as every character in the series.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
