Cyberia Location #1 The Screamer Arena! [With Footage]

An impressive digital mock up of the Screamer Arena.
Tod Tastic; the popular compere at the Screamer Arena.
A tough competitor who goes by the name Marv Warmonger
Concept artwork by Alberto’s team.
More concept artwork.
A still from the camera team’s first successful recording of what the Screamer Arena might look like backstage. We are thoroughly impressed with this character, Robbie Renegade, is identical to Jack out of Tekken (which was released six years after Give Me Head Productions wound down although we’re pointing no fingers). Another observation is that it must’ve been created around May or June time when employees were able to aggressively rinse the budget.
Screamer Arena [VHS #1]
This is a short clip pertaining to the above still
We’ve seen this before…
Alberto was real busy on this project.
A promo photo of Joey Knuckles. Played by amateur boxer Ralph White.
Another promo shot of Tod Tastic.
Look at this fella! On the back of the photo reads Walrus. We think the actor was the once popular sumo impersonator Filip Yung who enjoyed 3 months of fame on the sometimes racist, always obnoxious talk show circuit in 1986 before disappearing into obscurity.
Some sort of ninja.
Some other sort of ninja. This is actually pretty cool.
More tasty Alberto doodles.
Some muscle man called Bjorn “The Almighty” whose arms look like they’ve been marinating in industrial-strength steroids for a month.
Tod Tastic character in the video game Neon Nights in Cyberia.
Ninj!
They actually came up with Grandpa Guillotine…
A behind the scenes photo of Bamboo Dodge.
Alberto has discovered the neon crayons.
A mock up of Tod Tastic whipping up the audience for death and destruction. It’s a good example of the Give Me Head team’s misguided ambition.
An illustration of Dodge.
Alberto himself.

There are several locations which were going to appear over and over throughout the Cyberia Universe. One of the first which the team came up with was the Screamer Arena. After a fist fight among staff, it was eventually located in Megacorp Valley rather than the Pleasure Strip (which according to Alberto was “hogging all the fungasms”). Some of the playable characters are directly related to this venue; the most obvious being the poke jitsu master Joey Knuckles and his number one fan Boriz.

The idea was floated that the Screamer Arena should be a location where players gamble on death matches to earn some extra candy. However, unlike the Swank Gallery, this was possibly scrapped or abandoned because we can’t find any further development. We think that if George Khan had also worked on this area of the economy then it would’ve been put to good use.

Regardless this location still had some utility. If the filming ever seriously got underway then the Screamer Arena was going to be broadcast on digital screens throughout the Cyberia Universe; in dive bars, diners, underground gambling dens and on digital screens in apartments and offices. You can even tune into the show wearing some V-Spex or by way of a Monkey Chip. This would’ve cranked up the immersion levels tenfold.

Alas! It never fully materialised. Yet we have still been blessed with an abundance of geek mastery courtesy of Alberto’s highly productive dream team.

We already know from the Joey Knuckles biography that the Screamer Arena is like a futuristic gauntlet. If the above photographs are anything to go by then it’s the battle of the hairdos and hair don’ts: Military Buzz Cut Vs Redneck Mullet, Chonmage Vs Mohawk.

There were several ideas rolling around as to which bloody sports were going to be played here. One which seemed to gain the most traction was the death matches. Opponents were going to enter an enclosed ring which was fenced in barbed wire and they were only allowed to leave either in a body bag or as champion.

A fella named Tod Tastic was the host of the Screamer Arena. The notes describe him as an “all-American jock who’d give Rush Limbaugh a run for his money”. He would stir up the blood thirsty crowds which was an idea “borrowed” from The Running Man; a movie adaptation which was viewed many times at Give Me Head HQ for inspiration.

Here are some notes written by Alberto which were partly damaged and therefore incomplete:

[We] told Cassidy that the gauntlet ring has to […………] the inside of a cartel torture chamber: blood, guts, brains, severed [possibly cocks]. It would also be cool to have futuristic graphics that predict the fighter’s next move […..] futuristic chainsaws […] and boom! Goodnight, motherfucker!

Finally, this location is also featured in the aborted video game Neon Nights in Cyberia. The first Street Fighter had not long dropped and it marked the beginning of a new era of gaming–both in style and attitude. 16-bit never looked so funky.

There were several location backdrops that were used and even Tod Tastic was going to be a playable character. However, it was a short-lived concept that nearly resulted in several real life murders which you’ll be reading about soon.

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