Video Game / Annalynn

LET'S GET THE SHOW ON THE ROAD!

—Introductory cutscene.

Annalynn is a Maze Game-styled Platform Game created by Cruise Elroy (formerly known as Blutorus) and released in February 12, 2016 for the Mario Fan Games Galaxy's 2016 Super Competition.

The game stars Annalynn, a free-time spelunker. While mining, she finds a hidden crevasse and, unable to resist adventure, explores it. Annalynn finds herself in large cavern full of riches alongside a quartet of angry snakes called the Venom Brood. Now she must defend herself from the snakes through the use of the Blinding Rubies, a once-lost type of magic gems, while collecting any riches along the way.

The goal for each round is to collect all the gold and rubies in the room while avoiding the Venom Brood. Annalynn can jump over the snakes and reach higher platforms. Touching any of the snakes is instant death, although Annalynn can turn the tables on them by collecting a Blinding Ruby.

A remake with updated music and graphics, expansive gameplay, and more levels released on January 29th, 2021. A demo featuring the first six levels was released for the 2020 Sonic Amateur Games Expo and can be downloaded here. The original version is available to download here. The 2016 version was eventually rereleased as Annalynn '16 with some minor gameplay tweaks, and can be found here.

A Puzzle Game spinoff based on nonogram (picross) puzzles, Annalynn: Picture Prospector, was showcased as an April Fools' Day stunt on April 1st and was to be left as a joke project. The following day, Word of God stated a strong possibility of the joke being turned into a full game in the future due to positive feedback. Cruise Elroy later announced that a proper sequel is in the works as of January 2022.

The 2021 remake was ported to Nintendo Switch in June 2023, featuring Anton from Antonblast as a guest character, as well as the ability to play the game vertically with an arcade cabinet frame. This port came with a corresponding patch for the PC version, though it does not feature the Switch version's exclusive content.

For simplicity, the original and its remake will be referred to as 2016 and 2021, respectively. Unless otherwise stated, tropes for 2016 also apply to the Annalynn '16 rerelease as well.

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Annalynn provides examples of:

• 100% Completion: To unlock everything in 2021, you must do a full one-credit run of the game without ever using a continue (score and performance don't matter) as well as doing full "perfect runs" of every stage including the Alien Ravine world exclusive to Random mode and completing all five bonus levels without crashing. The game being designed to emulate the Nintendo Hard quarter-munchers of the 80's and early 90's makes it difficult to survive into the later rounds, let alone reach the ending.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: You can unlock different palettes for Annalynn by completing achievements. Eighteen of these are tied to perfect runs of the main levels, six are eared by successfully getting up to certain points of (and eventually completing) the game without continuing, and five are earned by completing all of the Bonus Levels in Random mode. A special golden palette is awarded if you complete the rest of the collection.
• All There in the Manual: The author's Twitter reveals several aspects about Annalynn that the game itself doesn't touch on, such as her age (23), her last name (Midway), what her family is like, and her life outside of spelunking. Specifically, Annalynn's father owns a spelunking business that's fallen on hard times, and because neither of her brothers were willing or able to take on the family business, she decided to join in their stead.
• April Fools' Day: Annalynn: Picture Prospector was announced as an upcoming project on the author's Twitter only to reveal it was a joke afterwards.
• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The Venom Brood can wears hats if enabled in the options, with Randy wearing a fedora, Handy wearing a cap, and Candy wearing glasses. However, this is averted with Mike, who doesn't have any hat or accessories on him even when the option is enabled. This is touched upon in one cutscene, in which Mike — dissatisfied with his lack of hat — attempts to steal Annalynn's own hat while sleeping, much to her displeasure.
• Anti-Villain: Suggested with the Venom Brood; they're only angry at Annalynn because she woke them up from their nap, and it isn't until she attacks in self-defense that they become more aggressive in their approach. Cruise Elroy has mentioned that he sees their relationship with Annalynn as akin to Mario and Bowser, and that Mike in particular is more reluctant, but goes along due to pressure from the other three.
• Big Bad: The Venom Brood collectively play this role — Randy being the gang's leader and the one to kick off the plot of 2021 and Handy being the one that invents the SN-4K3.
• Black Bead Eyes: Annalynn is drawn with these in the game's promotional art. Though this varies, as Cruise Elroy's art of her on his Twitter account avert this and gives her normal eyes instead.
• Blue Is Heroic: Annalynn's default outfit in 2021 is a blue vest under a cyan sweater.
• Bonus Dungeon: Random Mode adds three new levels taking place in an alien cave. The levels are so big that they have six Blinding Rubies instead of four.
• Border-Occupying Decorations: Since the game is normally presented with a vertical arcade cabinet ratio, it comes with a border featuring art of Annalynn and the Venom Brood (though this can be turned off). In the Switch version, there's also the option to play the game in vertical aspect ratio, which adds a border resembling an arcade cabinet.
• Boss-Only Level: Round 16 is a boss level pitting you against the Venom Brood's last-ditch effort to defeat Annalynn: the SN-4K3.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Color unlocks tied to harder objectives don't do anything beyond showing off that you finished them.
  • Electric Yellow is unlocked by completely finishing the main game on one credit or completing a total of 16 levels in Random Mode without using a continue.
  • Golden Girl is unlocked by perfecting all of the levels, finishing all of the bonus rounds, and specifying one of the conditions to unlock Electric Yellow.
• Collision Damage: Annalynn dies once colliding with a snake. It's inverted once she grabs a Blinding Ruby or a pickaxe (though the latter only appears in Random Mode and only provides protection from the front; she's still toast if she tries to land on one or gets Goomba Stomped).
• Continuing is Painful: 2021 lets the player continue after a Game Over but with several side effects: The player's score is cut in half (usually applying a number not in a 0 to the ones digit in the process) and any color unlocks based around no-continue runs that aren't already obtained are locked out for the rest of the playthrough. The only thing that can still be unlocked for finishing the game with continues is Practice Mode, extra levels for Random mode and cheats.
• Creator Provincialism: Cruise Elroy is Canadian; one of the collectible items in the later stages is a Canadian flag, and if voice clips are turned on, Annalynn sings a brief snippet of "O Canada" when she picks it up.
• Cutscene: Both games have them between sets of levels. 2021 shows what new techniques the Venom Brood will use against Annalynn.
• Death from Above: Starting from the jungle stages in 2021 (or Round 4 in Random Mode), the Venom Brood will drop from platforms if Annalynn is below them. The snakes also drop from the ceiling when respawning and are just as lethal to the touch.
• Depth Perplexion: Annalynn falls off from the background platforms, but the Venom Brood can step on them and kill her on the way.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: The Venom Brood in 2016 turn into outlined ghosts à la Dig Dug when defeated. 2021 has Annalynn kick them out of the screen.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Annalynn's feud with the Venom Brood started due to her accidentally awakening them while they were asleep, and they resort to building an entire battle mech as their final stand when all their attempts to catch her fail.
• Don't Wake the Sleeper: 2021 starts the game by Annalynn crashing on the hidden cavern and accidentally waking up the Venom Brood.
• Double Jump: In Random Mode, Annalynn can nab the Double Jump Boots, which temporarily give her an extra jump. A cheat code added in a later update lets her jump an indefinite amount of times in mid-air.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: 2016, which was released when Cruise Elroy was still known as Blutorus.
  • It is an Endless Game with only one theme and only one repeating room.
  • There's no option to enable hats for the Venom Brood.
  • The controls are slightly more stiff.
  • There is no Achievement System.
  • Getting all the coins and kicking out all the snakes with all the Blinding Gems without getting killed will not earn a perfect bonus.
  • No intro cutscene.
  • No Practice Mode.
  • No alternate palettes.
  • Annalynn has a slightly different design. The most notable difference is that she has a brown vest instead of the dark blue vest she gained in 2021.
• Endless Game: 2016 only has one room that infinitely repeats. 2021 provides a definitive end point in the duel against the SN-4K3, but also has Random Mode which goes on indefinitely.
• Expy:
  • As a cute platformer cartoon character, Annalynn is this to Mario, though she also might bring to mind arcade era miner player characters such as the protagonists from Dig Dug, Miner 2049er, or Spelunker.
  • The Venom Brood are very clearly the ghosts from Pac-Man, and even share some of their traits: the red one always enters the level first and pursues the player straightforwardly, the blue one attempts to do a pincer maneuver on the player in tandem with the red one, and Odd Name Out spawns last and appears to be less interested in directly pursuing the player, usually just hanging around in the vicinity. Fittingly, they also turn blue and become vulnerable if Annaylnn manages to get a Blinding Ruby.
• Floating Platforms: Averted. Every platform is either lifted or held by something seen in the background. The platforms only the Venom Brood can walk by are cave protrusions.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Handy is the brains of the Venom Brood, and the credits outright call him a "sharp-witted tinkerer". He's the one who built the huge battle mech, SN-4K3.
• Graphics-Induced Super-Deformed: Cruise Elroy draws Annalynn's design differently in his personal art, with her being taller, more realistically proportioned, and having realistic eyes instead of Black Bead Eyes. Her design in the game's promo art, however, was made to match her chibi in-game sprite.
• Grid Puzzle: Picture Prospector is a spin-off Puzzle Game centered around solving nonograms to advance mazes.
• Guest Fighter: Anton is playable in the Switch port and retains his moveset from his own game.
• Hard Mode Perks: Turn on every level in Random Mode and the Alien Ravine joins the other five worlds once you venture in far enough.
• Heroic Mime: Annalynn. Justified in that early 80s arcade games either didn't have voice acting or didn't have the capability for speech. A later update added the option to avert this... but only after you beat the game once.
• Instant-Win Condition: No matter how close the Venom Brood is to Annalynn, she wins once all the gold and rubies are collected.
• Instructive Level Design: The game starts out with Randy two levels above Annalynn. It quickly teaches the player that the Venom Brood can cross platforms from the background and travel between levels through the use of tunnels. It also lets the player know how the snakes spawn as Handy immediately falls down the ceiling.
• Jump Physics: Annalynn is able to jump about three times her height and four times her width, as well as turn in mid-air. None of the characters have Fall Damage.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Annalynn does this to Randy in the first cutscene of 2021, complete with A Twinkle in the Sky.
• Maze Game: Of the platforming variety.
• No Fair Cheating: Activating any cheat that severely alters the game to make it easier (Turbo Annalynn, Infinite Jumps, Snake Order) will lock out the player from earning achievements and will permanently display the player's score as corrupted text. Various other cheats that provide different gameplay or make the game harder will only lock out achievements if they deviate enough from the base gameplay. Completely averted with the Voice Clips option, since all it does is let Annalynn speak.
• No-Sell: The Venom Brood can travel through a column of fire set off by Annalynn unharmed and skate across slippery floors as if they weren't iced over at all. They also ignore pits, as there's a background path conveniently placed over every pit.
• Odd Name Out: Randy, Handy, Candy, and... Mike.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: It looks normal at first glance, except venturing into the Alien Ravine causes every text not related to the HUD to turn into garbage tiles. The bonus items are similarly glitched, and in Practice mode Annalynn's response to eating one is... not exactly normal.
• Older Than They Look: Annalynn certainly qualifies. The artwork for the game and Annalynn's Super-Deformed in-game sprite make her look younger than she is (she's 23).
• Palette Swap: Alongside the default cyan/blue color and an extra orange/red color, thirty other palettes exist for the main heroine.
• Protagonist Title
• Player Nudge: The first three cutscenes in 2021 show off some game mechanics:
  • The intro cutscene displays Annalynn and the Venom Blood travel between platforms. Annalynn simply jumps while Randy enters a tunnel and crosses a background platform.
  • The cutscene from the end of the first world has Randy attempt to ambush Annalynn by jumping off a platform, indicating that the Venom Brood can now apply Death from Above in gameplay.
  • Handy's cutscene hints towards how the flamethrower traps work in gameplay. Once Annalynn passes over one, it spouts a tall gout of fire straight up.
• Portal Network: Each of the stages have small tunnels the snakes can travel through to reach platforms of differing heights. They can even teleport from faraway tunnels to reach Annalynn in record time, though certain ledges and crevices still remain out of their reach.
• Retraux: The game is an homage to early 80s arcade games. 2021 in particular emulates Namco's mid-80s arcade systems' engine and sound chip. Both games start with a faux ROM test when opening the game.
• Respawning Enemies: Knocking down any snakes temporarily removes them from play. They'll return by dropping themselves from the ceiling.
• Power-Up: Picking up a Blinding Ruby or a pickaxe lets Annalynn temporarily turn the tables on the Venom Brood.
• Powerful Pick: Subverted, Annalynn owns a pickaxe but never uses it during gameplay. 2021's intro has her pickaxe break once she finds the hidden crevasse, though it is used in Random mode and in the main game it's used in the final boss fight against the SN-4K3.
• Scoring Points: The main goal is getting a high score. Annalynn earns points by collecting loot, eating/collecting the bonus food/item, and consecutively eliminating ghosts under a single Blinding Ruby. She earns an extra life if she reaches 20,000, then 80,000 points, then for every 160,000 scored afterwards.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Mike quickly jumps out of the SN-4K3 when Annalynn destroys it, seconds before it self-explodes on the rest of the snake gang, sending them flying across the stage.
• Sensory Abuse: The Alien Ravine changes the "PLAYER ONE ROUND ##" text (as well as the Continue and Game Over texts) into a series of garbled tiles.
• Sleep Deprivation: Mike's artwork showcases him tired and his description describes him to have trouble with sleep.
• Shout-Out:
  • The way Annalynn climbs ropes in Jungle is reminiscent of Donkey Kong Jr.
  • The game over music in 2016 is very similar to the same music from Dig Dug. 2021 and the Annalynn '16 rerelease use more original jingles instead.
  • If the speech option is turned on, one of Annalynn's lines when grabbing an item is "Just what I needed!", which is a direct reference to one of the voice clips in the Super Mario Advance remakes.
  • The first unlockable palette — Blue Raspberry — looks identical to Mario's original blue shirt/red overall outfit from his early titles.
  • The final boss of 2021 is clearly inspired by Pac-Man Arrangement, with both having the main four enemies in a huge battle mech that they all share.
  • The Anton mode in the Switch version is called "New Anton Mode", referencing the memetic "New Funky Mode" in the Switch version of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
• Snakes Are Sinister: The Venom Brood are snakes, and the main villains of the game.
• Starfish Language: Whatever the "glitched text" of the Alien Ravine is supposed to be. Amusingly, it can be decoded.
• Suddenly Voiced: An update to the game added the option to play this straight for Annalynn, with her voice being provided by Elspeth Eastman. This also applies to Anton, who gains much more speaking lines here than in his home games, in the Switch version.
• Super Drowning Skills: 2021's third jungle level has several pools of water that kill Annalynn should she jump in. The Venom Brood simply pass them by slithering through the background layer. The only pit hazard they willingly jump into are the Alien Ravine's energy fields, if only because it lacks a killplane altogether.
• Tele-Frag: There are no restrictions as to when and how the Venom Brood use the tunnels scattered around the levels, meaning it's very likely a snake will simply kill Annalynn just by exiting a tunnel she's running past.
• Turns Red: Randy gains speed once a few coins are left, akin to Blinky's Cruise Elroy mode in the Pac-Man series.
• Video-Game Lives: Annalynn starts out with three lives and earns more by reaching score milestones. Random mode lets the player start with up to five lives.
• Underground Level: The entire game is located inside of a cave.
• Updated Re-release: 2016 was rereleased in 2023 as Annalynn '16, which added new cover art and enemies developed for but not implemented in the original release.
• Weird World, Weird Food: The "food" of the Alien Ravine is glitches. Apparently, Annalynn still enjoys it.
  Annalynn: YvMM-
• Version-Exclusive Content: Anton and the arcade cabinet border are exclusive to the Switch port.
• White Flag: Randy holds one up after Annalynn beats the Venom Brood for good at the end of 2021.
• Wrap Around: The Bottomless Pits in the Alien Ravine caves are warps that lead right back to the top of the screen.
• You Have Researched Breathing: The Venom Brood don't start with the ability to jump down the background excursions until the player reaches the Jungle.

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