Hey this is fun - there was a previous "Interceptor" game by EA: F/A-18 Interceptor And it doesn't look like anyone's made the connection. F/A-18 is a 1988 Amiga-only game - I guess it got buried. This was made by a totally different team, so is only related because EA's marketing said so.
"F-22 Interceptor II" you say: https://archive.org/details/SegaDeM...ndBelgie/page/n33/mode/2up?q="Interceptor+II"
Twisted Flipper (Prototype A) Twister Flipper (Prototype B) Dr. Feelgood Promo Poster Both Crüe Ball prototypes feature Mötley Crüe's mascot, Alister Fiend...
A little off-topic but I had a look into the Crue Ball situation. Wikipedia's quote in full: The "Headbangers Ball" bit was already dubious, but I think the "Mötley Crüe was added relatively late in development" isn't accurate either. As Asagoth points out, there are two Twisted Flipper prototypes labelled "Prototype A" and "Prototype B". I don't know who came up with those names - Prototype A is sometimes just labeled as "beta", so maybe somebody's made an assumption, but whatever. (fun fact: it looks like "prototype A" was released by CENSOR (of Sonic 2 fame) - their hacked ROM dates the release as "12/10 1992" (which I imagine is 12th October, given the final game came out in November 1992). The header has its details replaced with XXXXXXs which makes me think someone took out the CENSOR intro, and as a result, it's a bad dump? dunno). Anyway both prototypes have Motley Crue music, and they both have Alister Fiend. Prototype B even credits the band, which suggests they definitiely came on board before the name change. Looking through interviews and magazine scans, there doesn't seem to be a specific reason as to why the name was changed to Crue Ball (other than "because it's endorsed by Motley Crue"... even though it was already endorsed by Motley Crue*), although it was definitely a late decision, as tons of outlets review the game as "Twisted Flipper" and Prototype B looks mostly complete. So the actual story is probably 1) "Headbangers Ball" (if we can prove it) 2) Motley Crue comes on board 3) the name is changed to "Twisted Flipper" 4) the game is sent to magazines for previews/reviews 5) the name is changed to Crue Ball 6) release if we can't prove 1), it could be that Motley Crue was on board with this project from the beginning. OR the developers were seeking out the band's support and were hedging their bets that they'd say yes. Supposedly this game was delayed a few times because EA were assessing the market ("aka let's see what Dragon's Fury does"). *there's probably a good reason why magazines didn't notice this. In the UK, Dr. Feelgood peaked at #50 in the official singles charts, so even though it's the first song you hear when booting up the game, it probably wasn't recognisable to most game reviewers. (Heavy) Metal was (and probably still is) quite niche - it's not Michael Jackson.
https://archive.org/details/mt-09/page/37/mode/1up?q=twisted+flipper MegaTech, issue 09, September 1992, page 37... They notice that the game has Mötley Crüe music and Alister Fiend and they even say that the name of the game is a tribute to Twisted Sister ... https://archive.org/details/sega-force-09/page/n24/mode/1up?q=twisted+flipper Sega Force, issue 09, September 1992, page 24... it seems that the prototype reviewed by several magazines at the time was Prototype A... I agree... not everyone is into Metal... but there is a huge minority who love Metal... and to "make you proud" a large number of famous Metal bands (from various subgenres) are British and many of them were even pioneers in the genre... This one is priceless... poor kids ... they must have had nightmares that day...
Heavy Metal was really big, many a male teenager would go through the rock phase in their youth. But the UK was different then and Heavy Metal was seen as bad for kids and wouldn't get widespread coverage and also then the Mega Drive chip really wasn't up to handling such music Lots of people picked up on the music in Rock N Roll racing on the Snes mind. Most of my mates were into Gun N Roses AC/DC and Iron Maden while me a select few were into Pantera, Brujeria and Sepultura- who were the greatest heavy metal bands ever .
You touched my heart, mate... long live you, Sir... It wasn't just in the UK, but basically everywhere... Portugal is a fervently Catholic country... and the life of a metalhead was a bit difficult at the time... we were basically outcasts... people looked at us with fear... and when we passed some ladies, they grabbed their purses as if we wanted to mug them or something... but on the one hand it was good because no one messed with us out of fear... ... I had a Vestal Masturbation T-Shirt and I remember my philosophy teacher and my preppy classmates being extremely shocked when I entered the classroom wearing it in high school (I only wore it once at school because of that)...
I'm Catholic too, my late grandad was from Ireland and so we were all Catholics after he married gran I think loads of people went through that rock phase in their late teenage years where you grow your hair and blast the heavy metal music. The trouble was Heavy Metal just had this bad rep for drugs, sex and devil worship when truth be told load of people in the 60s were off their heads on drugs having sex in the carefree 60s I was deep into Pantera early in and worshipped Dime Bag Darrel I had heard of Sepultura, but wasn't big into them but went with a mate (who was a massive fan of theirs) for their 93 Tour and they blew me away with the most incredible live performance I had ever seen or heard and been a fan of Calvera brothers even since and enjoy Max Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy stuff I can also remember going to 94 Castle Donington where both Pantera and Sepultura were playing and my mother was almost praying that I come back safe and sound such was the bad rep of Heavy Metal in those days. Heavy Metal was big it just wasn't covered by the mainstream media that's all. But many of us were into the music and also would have the denim jacket with the AC/DC, ZZ Top patches stitched on it I just feel the Mega Drive sound wasn't really up to playing Heavy Metal music covers well. Shame we didn't get more on the Mega-CD mind other than the Scorpion's music for World Cup USA 94 title screen
