Anett Futatabi

Lore & Background

Anett Futatabi is set in the same fictional universe as Earnest Evans and El Viento, taking place two years after El Viento. The story concludes the narrative of Annet and Earnest, revealing Zigfried's true motives. After being rescued from a sacrifice by Earnest Evans, Annet travels across Europe and encounters a local sect that wants her special pendant. Following an attempted ambush in the sect's castle, she barely escapes and begins another quest to protect the world from destruction.

Reader's Guide

Anett Futatabi represents a significant shift in gameplay from its predecessors. Unlike Earnest Evans and El Viento, which are 2D platform games, Anett Futatabi is a side-scrolling beat 'em up that deeply resembles Sega's Golden Axe and Streets of Rage franchises. The game features brief multi-scrolling levels with cutscenes between them, and each level includes a boss character who appears out of thin air, usually wielding a weapon. The protagonist Annet's magic has five levels—wind, earth, water, fire, and death—regulated by a power meter that regenerates automatically. Magic cannot be used against bosses. Annet wields a sword instead of bladed boomerangs, and the only items are health restoration items. The game was received poorly, with difficulty and in-game graphics highlighted as main criticisms, though the cutscene graphics were praised. Critics noted that the extreme challenge masked a lack of content, and the game was unfavorably compared to Streets of Rage. Its legacy is as a niche, Japan-only title that later received an official English release in 2026.

Did You Know?

• The game is the final entry in a trilogy that includes Earnest Evans and El Viento.
• No official English version or 'Earnest Evans Collection' has been released as of current known canon.

A Shift in Genre: The Beat 'em Up Reimagining

Anett Futatabi marked a significant departure from the series' established formula. Where Earnest Evans and El Viento were two-dimensional platformers, this third entry reimagined the experience as a side-scrolling beat 'em up, drawing heavy visual and mechanical parallels to Sega's Golden Axe and Streets of Rage franchises. The narrative still unfolds through animated cutscenes that punctuate short, multi-scrolling stages, each culminating in a boss encounter where the antagonist materializes seemingly from nothing, typically armed with a weapon. Annet herself fights with a sword rather than the bladed boomerangs of earlier games, and her magical abilities are governed by a regenerating power meter that unlocks five tiers of elemental attacks—wind, earth, water, fire, and death, in ascending order of potency. Notably, magic is rendered useless against bosses, forcing players to rely on her blade. Beyond health-restoring pickups, the game offers no additional weapons or power-ups, keeping the combat vocabulary deliberately narrow.

Concluding the Trilogy: Story and Stakes

Anett Futatabi serves as the narrative capstone to Wolf Team's three-part saga, set two years after the events of El Viento within the same fictional universe. The story finally unravels the true intentions of Zigfried, a thread that had been building since the first installment. Annet, having been saved from a ritual sacrifice by her father figure Earnest Evans, embarks on a journey across Europe. Her quest is complicated when she encounters a local sect fixated on acquiring her special pendant. The tension escalates into a violent ambush at the sect's castle, from which Annet barely escapes with her life. This harrowing experience propels her into a broader mission to prevent the destruction of the world. The game thus functions as both a personal conclusion to Annet and Earnest's intertwined storylines and a resolution to the overarching conspiracy that has driven the trilogy since its inception.

Critical Verdicts: Praise Amid the Potholes

Critical response to Anett Futatabi was largely negative, with reviewers singling out punishing difficulty and underwhelming in-game visuals as the primary flaws. Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 argued that the end-level bosses, despite their simplistic attack patterns, were tuned so aggressively that players could not strike them back efficiently, and he suggested the extreme challenge was a deliberate smokescreen for the game's thin content. He found the in-game graphics merely average, noting that while Annet herself looked sharper than in El Viento, everything else was forgettable. Ken Horowitz of Sega-16 drew an unfavorable comparison to Streets of Rage, describing the title as a "bastard child of two genres" that belonged fully to neither, and called the non-cutscene visuals "bland." Yet both critics shared a genuine appreciation for the animated cutscenes, which showcased the distinctive low-color, 16-bit anime aesthetic that became a hallmark of the Mega CD and PC Engine era.

Thirty Years in the Vault: The Long Road to Annet Returns

Despite its place as the concluding chapter of a beloved trilogy, Anett Futatabi remained locked behind a language barrier for over three decades. Developed by Wolf Team for the Mega CD, the title was released exclusively in Japan in 1993, meaning that for more than thirty years, English-speaking players had no official means to experience the story's conclusion. That changed on January 16, 2026, when the game was included in the Earnest Evans Collection, receiving its first-ever English localization under the retitled name Annet Returns. This long-delayed accessibility not only gave new audiences a chance to engage with the trilogy's final act but also allowed longtime fans of the earlier entries to finally witness the resolution of Annet and Earnest's saga. The 2026 release effectively closed a chapter that had been left open since the early 1990s, transforming a Japan-only curiosity into a complete, globally available package.