Total Carnage

34 Years old Arcade Video game Midway Mfg. Co. [Schiller Park, IL, USA]

Total Carnage © 1992 Midway.

A pseudo-sequel to Williams' superb 1990 multidirectional shoot-em-up, Smash TV, Total Carnage is set in a futuristic parody of the first Gulf War. General Ahkboob, himself an obvious parody of Sadam Hussein, has set his vast army of infantry, tanks and BioGenetic Mutants onto the world.

1 or 2 players must fight through the enemy-packed levels, rescuing reporters and civilians as they go. Total Carnage retains the dual-joystick control of its predecessor, but introduced new weapons, enemies and large, scrolling levels to the original game-play.

As with Smash TV, Total Carnage features the infamous 'Pleasuredome'; accessible only if players manage to collect the 220 keys that are hidden throughout the game's levels. Total Carnage has a much higher difficulty level than that of Smash TV.

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TECHNICAL / MACHINE PICT.

Midway Y Unit hardware

Main CPU: TMS34010 (@ 6.25 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Motorola M6809 (@ 2 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.57958 Mhz), DAC, OKI6295 (@ 8 Khz)

Players: 2
Control: Double 8-way joysticks

Machine Picture
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TRIVIA

Total Carnage was released in March 1992 in North America. According to programmer Shawn Liptak, Total Carnage failed to reach the target of 2,000 arcade cabinets ordered. The game's slow sales resulted in Turmell taking on a different project for his next game, which would become the highly successful NBA Jam.

General Akhboob's role as a parody of Saddam Hussein becomes obvious during the game's cut-scenes; as well as him saying slogans from Smash T.V., he makes an obvious reference to the original Gulf War by announcing that 'all we are making is baby milk.'.

While playing the game, there is a message which says 'the pistons will rule the NBA'. This is a reference to the Detroit Pistons who Mark Turmell was a fan of. Coincidentally, 12 years later, the Detroit Pistons would win the NBA Championship.

Originally the game was programmed to display one of two endings upon completion of the Pleasuredome bonus level. One ending would feature the women from Smash TV and was to be displayed if the player collected all the treasures in the dome. A second bad ending showed the same screen without the women along with a message challenging the player to collect all the dome's treasure. However, a bug in the game caused the good ending to be displayed with the bad ending text no matter how many treasures were collected.

UPDATES

REV. LA1 (March 10, 1992)
PROTO V 2.0 (Feb. 10, 1992)
PROTO V 1.0 (Jan. 25, 1992)

TIPS AND TRICKS

* Password : enter the password on the 'red and white' warp at the beginning of the first mission.

Mission 1 :
'GOOB' - Gate (heading Checkpoint #1).
'ZULU' - Bunker (heading Checkpoint #2).
'ORCS' - Orcus (boss).

Mission 2 :
'ROAD' - Road one (heading Checkpoint #3).
'LIPS' - Airport gate (heading Checkpoint #4).
'LICK' - Airfield (heading Checkpoint #5).
'FIRE' - Hangar.
'FOOD' - Road two (heading Checkpoint #6).

Mission 3 :
'EATS' - Monster Cutscene.
'TOID' - Factory (heading Checkpoint #7).
'BOOF' - Reactor.
'MARK' - Reactor basement (heading Checkpoint #10).

Misc :
'SHOK' - Electric chair.
'DOME' - Akhboob escaped and lacking keys.
'WORM' - Caught Akhboob but lacking keys.
'AZAZ' - Warp to Pleasure Dome with 500 keys.

STAFF

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