Cyberia Location #1 The Screamer Arena! –

Because we’ve found so much visual material regarding the Screamer Arena we decided to break it up into two groups. The following commercial and promotional material is some of the greatest we’ve found by the Give Me Head team.

Cycle through them at your own leisure and then we’ll explain everything we know about the brainchild.

The first Screamer Arena trailer that we’ve obtained. We are dead cert that more will follow…

An impressive digital mock up of the Screamer Arena.

Tod Tastic; the popular compere at the Screamer Arena. He liked nothing more than screaming into a microphone, insulting everyone present including the fighters.

A tough competitor who goes by the name Marv Warmonger. His popularity rating was about 8.

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, who 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 in no direction…). Another observation is that this concept must’ve been created around May or June time when employees were able to aggressively rinse the budget.

A promo photo of Joey Knuckles. Played by amateur boxer Ralph White. A fan favourite

Another promo shot of Tod Tastic showing off his extended leather jockstrap.

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 several months of fame on the sometimes racist, always obnoxious late night talk show circuit in 1988. He was brought into the Screamer Arena for a few weeks and, depite being perfect for this location, was sadly never seen again. He passed in 1994. RIP.

Ninj!

Some muscle man called Bjorn “The Almighty” whose arms look like they’ve been marinating in industrial-strength steroids for the past month.

Tod Tastic character in the video game Neon Nights in Cyberia.

Some other sort of non-playable chaeacter ninja with no name. This would be cool if it wasn’t judt a copy and paste job.

Some sort of ninja.

A photograph of a character named Bamboo Dodge. Let’s remind ourselves that these players are supposed to be undefeated otherwise they’d be dead. I just think a panda wearing a pink kimono was a shit idea and I’d be willing to fight a real boxer if the majority of you were to disagree.

A behind the scenes photo of Bamboo Dodge.

They actually came up with a fighter called Grandpa Guillotine. I suppose sometimes you have to believe that ancient geriatrics can still practice martial arts at a highly competitive level.

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.

Soviet Stan (the second name is short for Stanislav we think).

There are several locations which were going to appear throughout the Cyberia Universe where fighting ahd gambling were the main event. The first which the team came up with was the Screamer Arena. After a verbal fist fight among certain staff, it was eventually located in Megacorp Valley rather than the Pleasure Strip (which according to Alberto was “hogging all the fungasms”). Two of the playable characters are directly related to this venue. That was Alberto’s trump card.

The idea was then floated that the Screamer Arena should be a location where players gamble on 24/7 death matches to earn or lose some extra candy. However, unlike the Swank Gallery, this great idea is possibly still waiting to be discovered because we can’t find any further developments as of yet. We think that if George Khan had also worked on this area of the economy then he would’ve been put to good use. Under normal circumstances of workplace cooperation this would’ve been figured out in a heartbeat.

Regardless of all this, the Screamer Arena still had utility. If the filming ever seriously got underway then the location 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 cyberpunk immersion levels tenfold.

However, it seems that this never fully materialised. Yet we’ve 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. And 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. It works perfectly.

There were several ideas rolling around as to which bloody sports were going to be played here besides death matches. One which seemed to gain the most traction was some sort of roller derby game with machetes. You can read about it here.

But let’s get back to what we think we know about the death matches: opponents were going to enter an enclosed ring which was fenced with 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!

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, aesthetic attitude. 16-bit never looked so funky.

Concept artwork by Alberto’s team.

Finally there were several location backdrops that were going to be used and at one point, when the coke high was peaking, 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.

Alberto himself.

Alberto has discovered the neon crayons.

Alberto was real busy on this project.

More tasty Alberto doodles.

More concept artwork.

EDIT: 06/03/2026

We have found a hitherto unknown Screamer Arena contestant called King Hell. You can read all about this interesting character/s and the inspiration for it here.

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