Total Carnage

Total Carnage is a twin-stick shooter arcade video game originally developed and published by Midway in North America in March 1992. Set in the fictional country of Kookistan during 1999, players assume the role of Captain Carnage and Major Mayhem from the Doomsday Squad in a last-ditch effort to overthrow dictator General Akhboob and his army of mutants from conquering the world, while also rescuing POWs held by his military force.

Total Carnage was created by most of the same team who previously worked on Williams' 1990 arcade game Smash TV and shares many gameplay elements. Both use twin-stick shooter control schemes, but while Smash TV takes place in single-screen arenas, Total Carnage has large scrolling levels and bonus levels. Total Carnage adds bombs which can be collected and become active when dropped, exploding several seconds later.

The game was ported to the Amiga, CD32, Jaguar, Game Boy, MS-DOS, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is included in multiple compilations, such as Midway Arcade Treasures 2, Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition and Midway Arcade Origins.

The arcade version of Total Carnage received positive reception from critics, but it was not successful financially. The ports were met with mixed critical response. Designer Mark Turmell would go to work on the highly successful NBA Jam.