tjulian

What I said:

Alright, so in Turrican 1, you play as some guy who is only referred to as "Turrican". But in Turrican 2, you play as Bren McGuire. Now the real issue is the fact that there are three different storylines for Turrican 2. The first (which we all know) is the intro, where the Machine kills everyone but Bren on the Avalon 1 and Bren swears revenge. But the manual says this:

"Morgul, the three-headed incarnation of evil, has finally been destroyed! But you, Turrican, cannot rest because your most dangerous and most noble misscion is yet to commence...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, brave rebellious fighters destroyed the menacing hordes of the MACHINE and it´s tyranny-spreading satellite, which circled the planet of the brave, the planet called Landorin.

The evil moon has gone, but Landorin wasn´t free. The MACHINE still ruled the surface of the planet. The Landorins retreated to the inner core of their world to await their destiny...DEATH. The machines and mutants, however, went on to roam trough the deserted ruins of a long-lost paradise in search of the entrance to the secret caves.

Before, the Landorins retreated, they managed to send a desperate cry for help:
A last radio signal floats through the endless reaches of the tri-solar system and off to the farthest reaches of the universe. The cry is heard, and a man has to be found... A man with the courage to face the hordes, a man to free the last survivors of Landorin, an man on his most dangerous adventure ever... TURRICAN.

Go out to seek the MACHINE and its´ slaves, collect the weapons and ships of an ancient civilisation and free the planet Landorin forever!"

This does not mention anything included in the intro besides the Machine. Even worse is that some versions said this on the back of the box:

"TURRICAN fought an epic battle against Morgul
and won a stunning victory against great odds.
Once again he embarks on a rescue mission.
Five worlds and twelve levels await him in his
Final Fight against the remnants of Morgul's
creation."

So after that, you'd think "Oh, no big deal, just a little mix-up", right? Well the first boss of Turrican 1 (the floating fist) is a boss in Turrican 3. You ALSO play as Bren in T3. Bren probably wouldn't recognize the fist if that's not him in Turrican 1. But this encounter also seems to imply that it WAS Bren in Turrican 1! Pretty strange, right?

What Julian said:

It’s Bren, it always was Bren.

The whole Morgul bit was made up by Rainbow Arts’ British marketing agency when they did the copy for the packaging and manuals and we hated it. Hence the real story in the beginning of T2.

The fist is re-encountered in Mega Turrican and T3 as part of the scrapyard level, which has a selection of bosses that Bren defeated and have ended up there. Note also the jumping robot from T2 level 1.