Annihilate

This entire page contains **SPOILERS** for the Story Mode of *Just Shapes and Beats*. It is recommended to play the entirety of Story Mode before proceeding this page!

You have been warned.

"*You have been **DESTROYED**.*"
— The level's vocals.

## ANNIHILATE (ORIGINAL MIX)byDestroid

Beginning
"*[...] The governments (Destroyed); Communications (Destroyed); Society (Destroyed)...*"

### World

TOWER

**Annihilate** is the twenty-fifth level in *Just Shapes & Beats* and is the seventh boss battle and the penultimate level in the Story Mode.

## Description

Shortly following the story sequence of the previous level, Final Boss, the Blue Square faces the Boss once more, which the Boss has a part of the Tree wedged into its head, as caterpillar-like creatures come out of the different segments of is body. A selection circle appears below it which leads to this level.

Annihilate is the second part of the Boss's encounter at the TOWER and the final challenging level in the game. The Boss has mutated or evolved into a more grotesque form and battles the player, making them seem hopeless, and evolving further during the second phase, culminating in its final form.

During the first and third phases of the battle, a living segmented border appears throughout the stage and the caterpillar-like creatures attack similarly to the snakes from the Barracuda boss, however much more dangerously. Thurthermore, the Boss uses a bevy of projectiles and beams in mainly in the second phase.

Once the level ends, it will start up the next story sequence, leading to the next level ''Till It's Over.'

## Layout

First Phase
The level begins as the Boss appears at the top of the screen, slowly moving to its place as seen from the level's selection. Several of its segments appear and act as the level's border, as a pink liquid drips from the Boss's eyes and head.
A circle then appears at the right hand side of the screen, exploding into several round spikes shortly after, then switching to the left side of the screen and vise versa. Then, a wave of drifting round spikes appear around the area, attempting to collide with the player by floating left and right.
The background then fades out, as a round spike appears to flash, followed by a caterpillar-like creature bursting out of one of the segments which causes lethal round spike shards and pink liquid to spill out. Twelve more caterpillars burst from other segments to the beat of the track, initially one per beat, however is increased to two after the first four.
Shortly after, a wave of five caterpillars slither down from the top of the area, and six slither up from the bottom after. The Boss starts shaking rapidle as it moves down and begins to crack, flashing with light. The round spikes disappear shortly after, revealing that the Boss has evolved one more time, in its final form.

Second Phase
Following the track's vocals, the Boss unleashes a large horizontal beam from its mouth in the middle of the screen. The Boss them bites its jaws to the beat of the music, releasing a ring of 16 round spikes moving out in all directions. The directions are equidistant and the firing angle slowly rotates clockwise. Two horizontal beams from the bottom and top appear, and the Boss unleashes another beam from its mouth.
Afterward, two more beams from the top and bottom appear, followed by a warning before two round spikes, resembling sawblades, from the left and right of the screen attack, then sequencing a trail of round spikes going downward.
The Boss then attacks the player using its middle beam, followed shortly by four round spike arms that turn around the Boss which it uses to attack the player.
It then continues to attack the player with its summons: round spikes, beams, and another arm attack. It continues attacking in a sequence, middle beam, top and bottom beams, middle beam again, left and right beams, and vice versa.

Third Phase
The Boss floats back up to where it was in its first phase, as it continues to summon more round spikes as the round spike border and background reappear, along with the first three caterpillars bursting out of the segments in the same sequence as the first phase. It then stops summoning the round spikes as four more caterpillars slither across the screen, from right to left then left to right. Six more caterpillars slither from top to bottom and vice versa. The same sequence of caterpillar attacks continue, slithering faster, and leaving less room for error.
Near the end of the level, the Boss floats back to the middle of the screen as the background fades out again. It then bites its jaws with every beat, as two rows of round spikes appear to the left and right with more appearing with every bite of its jaws. The Boss eventually forces the player to go into its mouth, which it bites down on the player as the screen fades out.
Outside of Story Mode, the player doesn't vanish and the Boss fades out as the goal comes in. However, in Story Mode, the player disappears and instead of the goal sweeping in, the Game Over screen is triggered instead. If the player attempts to retry, the Boss lowers down and crushes the player just as they reform.

Hardcore Mode Changes
First Phase* The round spikes appear more often and continue to appear during the caterpillar attack.

Second Phase* A ring of 32 round spikes rather than the usual 16 is present when the Boss bites down.
* Round spikes continue to emerge as hazards during the rotating arms attack.

## Gallery

The level in the selection screen, with the Boss looming over it.The caterpillar attack in its first phase.The second phase.The rotating arms attack in its second phase.Ditto.The third phase.The ending.

## Trivia

* This level is the only level with a track made by Destroid, and introduces the band to the game.
	+ Although not displated in the game, Excision and Far Too Loud also made the track.
* The level's full name is 'Annihilate (Original Mix),' however is shortened to simply Annihilate in the official Just Shapes & Beats Soundtrack List.
* Both this level and New Game have similar traits. These traits are as follows:
	+ In Story Mode, both levels end without the player collecting the Tree piece, and after the level, the next Story sequence begins.
		- This also applies to the game's final level in the Story Mode, however.
	+ Both levels are the second consecutive encounters of the Boss, as well as a boss battle with it.
	+ The Boss alters its form during gameplay in both levels.
	+ Both levels' beginning resemble their level selection sequence during Story Mode.
	+ Both levels have animated red backgrounds in their level selection sequence.
	+ Both levels begin in what the player thought was all three pieces of the Tree of Life purified.
	+ Both levels have a slowed down, reversed and downpitched version of the song playing in the background of the level selection screen in Story Mode.
* The Boss's teeth cannot damage the player during the ending in Playlist Mode or Challenge Mode.
* This was formerly the only main level which is not a SPECIALSPECIAL  level that is not in the queue for a Challenge run.
	+ The reasoning behind this exclusion was because the developers thought that Annihilate would be too difficult for players to succeed, as this is the boss level of a Challenge run which is not picked by players. This was proven false since many players complain that some of the normal levels or extra levels are more difficult than this level.
	+ Annihilate was later added to the pool of Boss levels in Update 1.1.
* This is one of the only boss battles where an achievement is not earned after completeing it in Story Mode, only being rewarded after beating the following level, which is a continuation of this level.
	+ The other boss battle to not have an achievement is La Danse Macabre.
* The title of the level refers to the Boss's goal, which is to annihilate the player, as seen in the level.
* Both this level and Close To Me have similar traits. These traits are as follows:
	+ Both levels have a slowed down, reversed and downpitched version of the song playing in the background of the level selection screen in Story Mode.
	+ Both levels take place directly before or after an attempted purification of a piece of the Tree of Life.
		- Unlike Close To Me which takes place before a successful purification, Annihilate takes place after a failed purification of a piece.
	+ The Boss of both levels is visible over the level selection circle, and a piece of the Tree above.
	+ Both levels have lethal tears shed and something running down the boss's face in the initial phase of the level.
	+ Both levels involve transformations of the Boss.
		- This level shows only one transformation.
	+ Both levels have animated red backgrounds in their level selection sequence.
* The round spikes on the border seem to lack hitboxes on random occasions.
* Both this level and La Danse Macabre have similar traits. These traits are as follows:
	+ Both levels are boss battles.
	+ Neither of the levels give you achievements upon beating them for the first time.
		- La Danse Macabre is not a Story Mode boss, therefore does not have an achievement.
		- Only Annihilate's continuation is awarded with an achievement.
	+ Both levels feature larger versions of pink particles.
		- In addition, their Hardcore Mode counterparts feature way more particles, especially from Pulse Bombs.
	+ Both consist of bosses that are formed of smaller creatures, with the Annihilate Boss having caterpillars within its segments, and the the La Danse Macabre Boss consisting of smaller teardrops.
		- Additionally, those creatures end up breaking out of the main boss during the level.
* It is possible to "survive" the ending by staying between the round spikes, however the game still behaves normally.
* This is considered by many platers to be the hardest boss level and the second hardest level in the game.

## References

1. ↑ "*No, we have decided to not include it in the challenge pool of songs. Do you think it would belong there despite it's difficulty?*" - oilzor. October 1, 2018 Steam Community Discussion - "Is it possible to queue Annihilate in public matches?"