I know very little to barely anything about Touhou, but I've been listening to the music ever since a friend of mine introduced me to it. I commonly ask Youtube to just compile me a random pile of 50 related 2hu songs, and it's consistently very good to listen to.
I don't have any real favorites when it comes to songs or circles, although I remember that I liked tutti sound.
The songs are the biggest part of the Touhou community. Several surveys during several events in Japan including during Comiket (where only Touhou-related stuff can fill an entire convention hall) and Reitaisai (a Touhou convention which started out small, but had to move to the Tokyo Big Sight convention center, the same one as Comiket) shows that about 30% of the fans actually actively plays the games. The rest is in there for the music or the fan-made stuff. Though mostly the music.
Personally, I'm more somewhat of a liker of a theme, rather than a circle. If there's a theme I like, I'll almost always like all variations of it. My current top 5 would probably be (random order original + current favorite fan version):
Thinking back, I probably listened mostly to stuff from dBu Music and =NeutraL= ============
Anyway, the new game is pretty neat. You're playing the antagonist of part 14 and have to dodge everyone's stuff using items you found. With those items you can cheat the normal spellcard rules, rendering you invincible for a moment or teleport you to a new area. Boss attacks have been intensified to be almost impossible to beat without those items as well though. Everyone wants to capture you after all... I'm currently working on Day 9 (out of 10). Every day consists of 7 or 8 attacks to conquer. The puzzling and thinking outside of the box is kinda nice. Though it takes a lot of patience to persevere.
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The announcement of Touhou 15 and confirmed release date for Touhou 14.5 (an extension for the latest fighting game) Touhou 15, Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, demo will be released on May 10th and will feature playable characters Reimu, Marisa, Sanae and Reisen. The inclusion of Reisen surprised a lot of people, but on the other hand she was the last of the stage 5 bosses who had not yet been playable. The rumors so far are that the moon people are involved. This because Reisen originated from the moon.
Touhou 14.5, Urban Legend in Limbo, will be released on May 10th as well. The story is slightly mentioned in the manga Forbidden Scrollery. A lot of old urban legends are being forgotten in the outside world and become trapped in Gensokyo leading to a lot of new (relatively harmless) youkai.
It is an add-on for part 13.5, the last fighting game, and gives at least 3 new playable characters. 1) Kasen Ibaraki. A character who first was shown in the official manga. She claims to be a hermit and is in tune with nature. There are strong signs that she might be an Oni instead, but the way she has been revealed so far shows that she will be mostly fighting using her hermit-persona. Summoning animals and whatnot.
2) Fujiwara no Mokou. The Extra boss of part 8 lives near the Human Village and works together with its protector. It is no surprise that she could be involved in the events somehow, but still the announcement surprised a lot of people because they never thought ZUN would actually go through with it. It is a well known fact that Mokou was scheduled for part 12.8, but ZUN could not find a way to not make her canon immortality overpowered. So I'm curious what he found for her.
3) Shinmyoumaru Sukuna. The Inchling and final boss of part 14. Living in a food bowl she fights with a needle and her Miracle Mallet. I'm really interested in this one because Shinmyoumaru was my favorite new character and I love her theme.
There is probably a 4th character as well. The demo of 14.5 from a few months ago had a cloaked character in the story mode from which only an outline was shown. The outline doesn't fit any of these 3 characters.
Here is the PV for 14.5, showcasing all characters confirmed playable (from 13.5 and this addon together):
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Well, seeing how the games are only legally available in Japan during the Touhou conventions where ZUN releases them. It's no surprise. (Though since a few weeks there has been an American company that has legal permission to release part 14. So perhaps...) Also because he just cares about making his music more widely spread. Anyone can do whatever with the characters as far as he's concerned. The only thing he doesn't want is a commercial anime. There are a few fan-made ones, but he doesn't mind those.
I've played the fan games more than the actual games
So have I, but when the fangames are RPGs with a ton of stuff to collect that's not hard compared to an arcade shooter or a fighting game. Just Labyrinth of Touhou 1+2 get over 600 hours combined.
Also, I was reading through this thread and noticed this post:
In February I went to my first anime con ever because it was like 15 miles from my place. There was a Touhou 12.3 tournament organised by a Dutch Touhou form I had never heard of before. I got 3rd place in said tournament. I lost in the semis against...Nekomithos. I also joined their forum <_<
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Just finished Touhou 14.5 story mode with all characters and the Touhou 15 demo on normal. Things are getting a bit more interesting lore-wise.
14.5: Kasen Ibaraki destroys part of the border because she senses something is going to destroy it completely in the outside world. It's a psychic from Japan who is simply curious to reach other worlds. Was not aware of the possible consequences. Everyone beats her up and bar her from normally entering Gensokyo. She can still visit in her dreams though. However, there is something wrong with the artifacts the psychic used. One of them, the Lunarian one, was misplaced.
Fun fact: The psychic's name is Usami Semireko. She's the ancestor of Usami Renko. One of the 2 main characters of the Touhou Music CD short stories.
Touhou 15: Because of the events from Touhou 14.5, Lunarians are starting to get pissed at Gensokyo. Lunarian rabbits and mechanic spiders arrive in Gensokyo to purge the earth from all impurities (in other words: anything that can die).
Quote:
The metallic spider's march of purification cannot be stopped. The trees wither before one's eyes. Not one blade of grass was left in the spider's tracks. When Gensokyo is completely purified, it will be transformed into a perfect world. Into a beautiful planet with no life on it...
Bosses from Touhou 8 are Lunarian exiles and sensed this attack coming. They gave the heroines some drugs that allow one to see the future and give them a fighting chance against the Lunarian army.
Touhou 15 is way harder than the other series. The gameplay trick lies within that last sentence of the story. Lunarians do not follow the spell card rules. So when you die, it's game over normally. Thanks to the drugs from the Lunarian genius, you respawn at the beginning of the attack that killed you and get to try again. There is a score penalty for every death though. And even then, clearing just normal stage 3 is HARD.
I can't wait for the full game to come out. This seems to be pretty damn challenging and I'm really curious to see if the official manga Silent Sinner in Blue will also be referenced in it.
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In good old mjack-style, I think I'm gonna make one post with each game I've played. This can be canon games, spinoff games or fangames.
I'll do the canon games in order, but can put some other stuff in between.
So to start this off.
Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (EoSD)
This was the first game after the restart. It was the first game on Windows and also the first game created by 1 person, ZUN.
Story In the fantasy world of Gensokyo the shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei is enjoying a sunny day when her vision gets obscured by a red mist. This mist starts blocking the sun and will not disappear. Reimu and her friend, the witch Marisa Kirisame, go to search for the source of the mist and get rid of it. They eventually reach a medieval mansion on a great lake. Inside of that mansion the vampire Remilia Scarlet awaits. She created the mist so she can go out during the day.
When Remilia is defeated/befriended there is one day a great downpour at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. But Remilia is at Reimu's shrine. What's going on now? Remilia's little sister, Flandre Scarlet, escaped her basement lockdown...
New Characters Reimu Hakurei Shrine Maiden of Paradise and protector of the world of Gensokyo. Her powers, combined with those of the border youkai, are the things that keep Gensokyo alive as the fantasy world in Japan. She is responsible for the seperation of Gensokyo from the outside world and cannot be killed. She was born exceptionally gifted and is very lazy. Also has a shoot-first-ask-later attitude.
Marisa Kirisame In her own words: "An ordinary Magician". As far as a human living in a forest filled with deathly creatures and shooting giant lasers of doom is considered normal of course. She lives outside of the human village to practice her magic. She has no natural talent, but gets her skills from hard work and the occasional stealing.
Rumia A very young youkai of Darkness. She can create a sphere of darkness around her, but she can't see anything herself if she does. This leads to her running into trees all the time (seriously, this is canon). As stage 1 boss she is quite weak and easily dispatched.
Daiyousei Her name literally means 'great fairy'. She has no canon personality, but in fanon is the best friend of Cirno. This is because she is the stage 2 midboss.
Cirno A fairy of ice. Selfproclaimed 'strongest'. This is factually correct because she is indeed the strongest fairy in Gensokyo. Still, fairies are very weak overall so even as strongest fairy she doesn't come further than a stage 2 boss.
Hong Meiling A guard youkai. She is the gate guard of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Has very weak spiritual power, but quite strong physically. The fights in Gensokyo however? Magical. Also being a gate guard doesn't mean much when all of the cast can fly.
Patchouli Knowledge A youkai magician and great librarian. One of the strongest magicians, but she is neutered by her poor health. At one point she summoned a demon to help her in her library. This helper is called Koakuma. She is also the best friend of Remilia Scarlet and partly responsible for the movement of the cast to Gensokyo.
Sakuya Izayoi The head maid of the Scarlet Devil mansion. She has timestopping powers and can use that to manipulate space as well (the Mansion is a lot bigger from the inside than from the outside because of her). The fact that she uses her timestopping powers to keep the entire mansion clean gives her the nickname 'Perfect Maid'.
Remilia Scarlet The owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and oldest of two sisters. As vampire she has high magical and physical strength. Nicknamed the Scarlet Devil because she has quite a low appetite. If she attacks a human she cannot drink all of the blood, therefor spilling and making her dress scarlet red. Has the power to manipulate fate.
Flandre Scarlet The youngest sister of the vampire sisters. Has been locked in the basement for 495 years because her power to destroy anything in a thought scares everyone. She respects her elder sister too much to escape. This of course changes when the older sister isn't at home...
Game stuff This was the first game of the renewed Touhou series and it shows. Both gameplay wise and graphic wise it falls behind on the other games. However, the gaps between bullets are slightly larger than with the other games, so you can maneuver all right in there. However, if you play at easy mode, Sakuya Izayoi will kick you out of the mansion after stage 5. You can only reach the final boss, Remilia, at normal difficulty or higher. You can unlock the Extra stage, with Flandre as boss, by beating Remilia Scarlet without using any continues during the game.
It is quite beginner friendly once patched to newer textures and it is quite a nice starting game for a beginner in the series.
Story It is a beautiful Spring day in May in Gensokyo. Except that there is snow everywhere and it's freezing. Our two heroines go out to investigate. The maid Sakuya Izayoi also gets sent along by her mistress because Remilia doesn't like the snow either. She wants to go flower viewing. After tracking the essence of Spring to the realm of the dead, the heroes have to fight the princess of the dead and her gardener to stop their plan to resurrect a giant youkai tree. Unbeknownst to anyone, the tree is in fact deadly and sealed with the body of the princess.
When the plan is stopped, the heroes try to locate the border youkai, because she messed with the border of life and death. It is the reason the ghosts could interact with the living world and vice versa. At first they go during day, but the youkai is asleep and instead her servant, Ran Yakumo stands in their way. When they return at night, Ran makes a final stand, but the heroes eventually reach the strongest youkai and master of borders, Yukari Yakumo.
New characters Letty Whiterock A youkai master of winter. She can only be active if it's very cold. Because of this she is suspect #1 in the eyes of the heroes, but she doesn't have anything to do with it.
Chen When first encountered, she is simply a nekomata (cat youkai) that's guarding an abandoned village where everyone ends up when they're lost. However, the heroes would encounter her later in search of the border youkai. She is actually the shikigami (sort of servant) of Ran Yakumo.
Alice Margatroid A youkai puppeteer who lives in the Forest of Magic. The heroes encountered her earlier (in Touhou 5 she was the Extra boss). Canonically the connection exists, but is not really touched upon their visual differences. She is also researching the Spring incident and shares her info with the heroines after a fight.
Lily White A fairy who announces Spring by shooting bullets all over the place. The heroes encounter her when they near the realm of the dead. Lily instinctively felt the Spring essence gathering there and flew up as well.
Lunasa, Lyrica and Merlin Prismriver The Prismriver sisters are poltergeists summoned by a fourth sister long ago. The fourth died, but the ghosts remain. Together they play their musical instruments wherever is needed and they are very good with combination attacks. They stand before the entrance to the realm of the dead as stage 4 bosses.
Youmu Konpaku Gardener and servant of the realm of the dead. She owns two swords which she can handle quite skillfully.
Yuyuko Saigyouji The princess of the dead. Can incur death in anyone at will. She is however very aloof and mostly hungry. She loves parties and flower viewing, which is why she wanted to resurrect the giant tree, not knowing what that would mean for her own existence.
Ran Yakumo The strongest beast youkai (nine-tailed fox) and shikigami of the strongest youkai. She gets stronger the more orders she follows and she is very dedicated to her master. She takes over most of her masters duties when said master is asleep (which is a lot of the time). Having a shikigami takes a tremendous amount of strength, but Ran herself is so strong that even she, as shikigami, has a shikigami of her own. Chen.
Yukari Yakumo The strongest and probably oldest youkai (at least over 1600 years old). Her borders, combined with Reimu Hakureis powers are the thing that keep Gensokyo intact as a world. She sleeps most of the day and night and is what almost all youkai aspire to be. Extremely devious and always scheming something. Also likes to pop up where-ever and whenever she wants.
Game stuff This is the most 'neutral' of the early Touhou games. The difficulty is highest between the three early games, but it has an extra gameplay affair in that you can get a protective border if you collect enough essence of spring. It is also the only game to sport not 1, but 2 Extra stages. The 2nd, the Phantasm stage, is canonically the most difficult one. But it is quite similar to the Extra stage, so most players won't have too much trouble with the stage. The boss though...
Another good pick for beginners, especially if you've played shmups before.
Music The best three themes in this game imo are (in random order): Necrofantasia / Necro-Fantasy - Yukari / Ran Yakumo theme. (Fantasia is a remix of Fantasy) Phantom Ensemble - Prismriver Sisters theme. Border of Life - Yuyuko Saigyouji theme. Remembering the melancholy of human existence...even ghosts stray from the path of righteousness Oh, and the remix for her final attack
Finally, I have to mention that this game has the most sad backstory of them all. Yuyuko and Yukari where friends when Yuyuko was alive. They wanted to seal the great youkai tree that could kill people. One fateful day, Yukari finds a way, but when she reaches Yuyuko's place she finds Yuyuko dead (most common theory, slit throat). Yukari uses Yuyuko's body to seal the tree and ensures that her spirit gets a good place in the realm of the dead. Years later, they reconcile, but ghost Yuyuko cannot remember anything from her living self, so Yukari has to start the friendship from scratch. The backstory is a great source of fan content. But I guess you can say that the Yakumo family is just that popular. Both Yukari and Chen have a humongous following.
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Story: At the end of the Harvest Moon Festival the heroines notice something is wrong with the moon. The four humans Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Sakuya Izayoi and Youmu Konpaku search for a youkai partner (Yukari Yakumo, Alice Margatroid, Remilia Scarlet, Yuyuko Saigyouji) and freeze the night to stop the fake moon from doing more damage to the youkai. However, along the way, you will have to fight one of the two MCs who do want the night to continue. Eventually the chosen pair comes at Eientei and learn that the fake moon would be gone at the end of night anyway.
After defeating/befriending Kaguya Houraisan, she challenges the heroes to a trial of guts in the Bamboo Forest. The immortal Fujiwara no Mokou, Kaguyas nemesis, awaits there.
New characters Wriggle Nightbug A simple firefly youkai who lives around the forest and attacks the humans.
Mystia Lorelei A night sparrow whose song causes blindness. She uses that to run a food stand (She sings to blind people, have them eat eels and undoes her power and claim the eels did the trick). In later works she starts a punkrock band.
Keine Kamishirasawa The guardian of the human village of Gensokyo. However, most people do not know she is actually a werebeast herself. She uses her powers to protect the village from harm. Like random human/youkai pairs that come too close to the village.
Tewi Inaba A rabbit youkai who controls luck. She is also the guide of the Bamboo Forest. Most likely the white hare of Inaba, which would make her one of the oldest of the cast.
Reisen Udongein Inaba A rabbit youkai from the moon. Servant/pet of Eirin and Kaguya. Her eyes can incite madness.
Eirin Yagokoro A genius from the moon and extremely gifted with medicine. She defected from the capital on the moon and went to earth to stay with her princess, Kaguya. It is her plan to create the fake moon, so the people from the real moon can no longer come to Earth and hunt her.
Kaguya Houraisan Princess from the moon who was exiled because she created and ingested an immortality elixer. Her beauty captivated many earthlings and helped her keep herself hidden for everyone but Eirin, after which the two hid together in Gensokyo.
Fujiwara no Mokou A former human who stole the immortality elixer that Kaguya left as a gift for the humans that helped her. This got her powers of the Phoenix. She wants payback for the humiliations her father went through by Kaguyas hand. She and Kaguya have frequent fight until 'death' (they're both immortal so they basically stop when one of the two is exhausted).
Game stuff This can be either the easiest of the 3 early games or the hardest. The game has 4 teams to choose from. Each team has strengths/weaknesses and a unique perk. The border team (Reimu/Yukari) have a smaller hitbox than the other teams and the biggest window to save yourself when you get hit by a bullet. They also both have homing bullets. So it can be pretty easy. The magic team (Marisa/Alice) can get points easier because the collection border is lower than with the other teams. but both characters can only shoot straight. The SDM team (Sakuya/Remilia) have larger sprites, so grazing points are easier to collect. You also get a free bomb if you lose a life without using your bombs. The netherworld team (Youmu/Yuyuko) get free bombs when you clear a stage. The human side is also 50% shorter so easier to score. The shots are hard to aim however.
Another thing that I love about this game is the fact that it has a Spell Practice mode. You can practice individual attacks when you reach them. It is also possible to unlock special attacks that are only available through this mode. But they are not easy. In fact, some of them are the hardest of the series.
The final thing I should probably mention is that this game has 2 stages 4 and 2 stages 6. Stage 4 has Reimu Hakurei as boss when you play as Magic or SDM team. Stage 4 has Marisa Kirisame as boss when you play as Border of netherworld team. These fights have arguably some of the best themes in the series.
Stage 6A is the standard stage you get in the first clear. If you beat Stage 5 in a 2nd run without using continues, you can go to Stage 6B which has the real final boss.
Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody Touhou 12.5: Hisoutensoku
The three original fighters to complement the shooters. There were 2 other fighters as well, but they signified a style change. So I'll put those two together at a later moment.
Story IaMP: After the first few incidents, parties have been a frequent occurrence in Gensokyo. Reimu's shrine is the location and everything goes great. But when the 5th party in 5 days comes around, some characters notice that they are subtly being manipulated to keep the parties going. Yukari Yakumo was working together with the Oni Suika Ibuki, so Suika could find the other Oni. At the end of the day, Suika loses to Reimu but stays around her shrine as freeloader.
SWR: The Hakurei Shrine is destroyed by an earthquake and there is weird weather around all the cast. The heroes depart to the heavens where the Celestial Tenshi Hinanawi is jealous of all the parties and incidents and wants to be fought as well. She finds heaven too boring. Most notable ending: Suika defeats Tenshi and claims part of the Heaven for her private party area.
Hisoutensoku: Three characters see the shadow of a giant and go to investigate. Character 1 learns that her own goddess build a robot. Character 2 comes across Alice Margatroid who is experimenting with growth spells on her dolls and Character 3 falls asleep and has a dream battle with a giant catfish (due to the earthquakes of SWR).
New Characters Suika Ibuki (boss 7.5, playable in other fighters)i: A very small Oni who once ruled Gensokyo before Yukari and Reimu's bloodline took over. Together with three other Oni they were known as the Devas of the Mountain. Suika is magically not too strong, but physically by far the strongest character of the series who only gets stronger the more drunk she gets. Did I mention she has a gourd with infinite sake yet? Her signature moves has her manipulating density to grow into any size desired (she splits herself into a mist and gently pushes everyone to a party is the plot of 7.5) and creates black holes. Also, she is Japanese Goblin. And pettan.
Iku Nagae (10.5, 12.5 playable): A legendary Oarfish and messenger who warns of earthquakes. Is also the retainer of Tenshi Hinanawi, but she loses her quite easily.
Tenshi Hinanawi (boss 10.5, playable 10.5/12.5): A Celestial (basically an angel) who is bored with the dull life in the Heavens and starts an incident to get Reimu and co to come up and attempt to kick her ass, so she can do stuff.
Giant Catfish (boss 12.5 path 3: Signifies the earthquakes in the dream Hong Meiling has and Meiling fights him. Is just a figment of her imagination.
Game Stuff IaMP: a pretty normal fighting game. A lot of emphasis on bullets though. Playable Characters: Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Remilia Scarlet, Sakuya Izayoi, Hong Meiling, Patchouli Knowlewdge, Alice Margatroid, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Youmu Konpaku, Yukari Yakumo, Suika Ibuki
SWR: Instead of the usual supers, you create a deck of 20 cards which can become active by fighting a lot. Super moves usually take more cards but you can also use cards to make your normal moves stronger instead. Is tactically a lot better than IaMP. Playable Characters: Everyone from IaMP (-Hong Meiling) + Reisen Udongein Inaba, Aya Shameimaru, Komachi Onuzuka, Iku Nagae, Tenshi Hinanawi
Hisoutensoku: An expansion pack of SWR. You need both games to unlock all of the characters, attacks and story modes. Is the most played fighter of the series. Even now. Playable Characters: Everyone from SWR + Cirno, Sanae Kochiya, Hong Meiling, Utsuho Reiuji, Suwako Moriya
Music Contrary to the normal games, the fighting games are not made only by ZUN. The graphics are made by Twilight Frontier and ZUN just oversees the project and creates the tunes for the new characters/situations. The 'old' characters get remixes from old themes made by other artists who lend their music to ZUN. My favorite songs from these three games are: Onigashima in the Fairyland ~ Missing Power - Suika Ibuki's theme (7.5) Bhava-Agra as seen through a Child's Mind - Tenshi Hinanawi final spell theme (10.5) X, the Floating Object in the Sky - Final spell theme from Sanae story (12.5)
Hisoutensoku is also my 2nd favorite game of the series (Part 8, Imperishable Night is my #1) and I've played quite a few online tournaments. Here's one of my matches.
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In my opinion the weakest of the main Windows series. But that's also because it's quite different.
Story A lot of flowers are blooming. Even though the flower viewing event is going on, the sheer amount is way too much. The heroines and some youkai go out to investigate and find out the flowers are actually resting souls of the dead. Gensokyo's Shinigami has been slacking (which is why the souls are stranded in Gensokyo and become flowers) and her boss, the Yama, is on a war path to put her straight and everyone else in her way as well...
Game stuff Yeah, I'm putting this first this time because of the difference. This is a versus type shooter. The screen is split in two. The start of the stage is identical, but if you create combo's shooting enemies you can create extra bullets on the screen of your opponent. Exploding enemies can also clear bullets, so in contrary to the other games, it may be a good idea to wait with shooting stuff. Create enough power and you can even send an avatar of yourself to your opponents stage to wreak havoc. It kinda looks like this.
Because of this, the character selection is quite a bit larger that the normal games, rivaling the fighters. You also need to finish story with every character to finally clear the game. Recurring (playable) characters are: Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Sakuya Izayoi, Youmu Konpaku, Reisen Udongein Inaba, Cirno, all of the Prismriver Sisters, Mystia Lorelei and Tewi Inaba.
New characters Aya Shameimaru A Tengu reporter who carries a camera at almost all times. She reports the flower viewing event when she sees everyone fighting. So she can't resist and joins. Fun fact: She was made specifically for the spinoff that came after this game. She was inserted in this game to gauge fan reaction to her as character.
Medicine Melancholy A living doll who lives her 'life' in a field of lilies. She lies in the way of the entrance to the river Styx. She controls poison and hates humans for throwing dolls away when they're not needed anymore.
Yuuka Kazami The owner of the Flower Field of Gensokyo. It's a huge field of sunflowers. Yuuka herself is extremely protective of her flowers and will go berserk on anyone harming them. Yuuka is a returning character. She was first introduced in Touhou 4 and searched for ultimate magic in Touhou 5. Nobody expected her return here and she also looks quite similar to her old appearances, compared to the other returning characters from the old games. Everyone is terrified of her. She is one of the possible penultimate bosses and unlockable playable.
Komachi Onozuka The Shinigami of Gensokyo. Extremely lazy. She can manipulate distances (depending on the soul she carries over the river, the river can be extremely long or short). She also has limited control of departed spirits. The penultimate opponent of most characters.
Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu The Yama of Gensokyo. She judges the dead. But with her shinigami slacking she has no work. She departs from her station to find Komachi and get her back to work. Is extremely judgmental (which kinda comes with the job) and is arguably the strongest character of the series in terms of 'normal' power (her status as Yama means she cannot be touched). She has a mirror that can let her see everything about a persons soul and she can judge any actions in black (evil) or white (good). For this reason she is not loved with the older and stronger of the youkai, because those love to play mindgames which never work on her. She is the final boss of the game (where she lectures the Player character) and Extra boss (where she checks whether the characters better their lives...which they didn't).
The game that signals the end of the first Modern Era is this one:
Touhou 9.5: Shoot the Bullet
"Story" The reporter Aya Shameimaru is very interested in stories and needs some nice pictures to complement those stories. She goes out to annoy everyone of the cast so they attack her and she can take pictures of those pretty attacks.
Characters The only playable character in the game is Aya Shameimaru. The reporter introduced in the previous game. She is also the fastest character in Gensokyo. She will annoy the following characters: From Touhou 6: Rumia, Cirno, Hong Meiling, Patchouli Knowledge, Sakuya Izayoi, Remilia Scarlet, Flandre Scarlet From Touhou 7: Letty Whiterock, Alice Margatroid, Chen, Youmu Konpaku, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Ran Yakumo, Yukari Yakumo From Touhou 7.5: Suika Ibuki From Touhou 8: Wriggle Nightbug, Keine Kamishirasawa, Tewi Inaba, Reisen Udongein Inaba, Eirin Yagokoro, Kaguya Houraisan, Fujiwara no Mokou From Touhou 9: Medicine Melancholy, Komachi Onozuka, Shiki Eiki Yamaxanadu, Aya Shameimaru (Shiki uses her mirror so Aya fights herself in the final stage),
Note that this is the only game where Marisa Kirisame and Reimu Hakurei (the two MCs) do not make an appearance. They would be possible opponents in the 2nd version of StB. Part 13.5 would use the characters from Touhou 10-13 and add the MCs as well, but we'll discuss that later.
Game stuff This was the first Shmup of the series where you would not shoot at your opponents. Instead, Aya is armed with a camera. Everything you can capture with your camera is removed from the screen. However, the camera needs to be charged and this takes some time. You can fasten the charge at the cost of your speed. Good management of your movements is imperative.
Note that this game has arguably one of the hardest spell cards. Though this is also because of the fact that you have to survive stuff instead of free shooting.
After Touhou 9 and 9.5 it was silent for a bit longer than usual, so when this was announced a lot of people were happy. It had been a while since a 'normal' Touhou game came out. The last one was part 8. The events from this game would have consequences that lead to a story which would go on until 13.5.
Story On a warm autumn day, Reimu sits in her shrine and doing her thing when reports come in about a mysterious religious shrine that appeared out of nowhere and settled itself on top of Youkai Mountain. Not long after that, another shrine maiden, Sanae Kochiya, "asks" Reimu to close her shrine and join her branch, the Moriya Shrine. She leaves to give Reimu some time to make up her mind. Reluctantly, Reimu goes to Youkai Mountain to take the fight to their turf. She just knows the local youkai will not be happy about the events either...
After the god of the Moriya Shrine is defeated in the final stage of the story mode, Reimu finds a second, smaller, shrine on the edge of the mountain. Surprisingly, she finds another god there. Even more surprising is her name...Suwako Moriya.
Characters Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame return as playable characters. Aya Shameimaru returns as an opponent (stage 4 boss. She is the fastest Tengu. The native habitants of Youkai Mountain and they are indeed not happy). The new ones in the cast are:
Aki Minoriko and Shizuha Minoriko: Two autumn sister gods. Aki is responsible for the falling and coloring of leaves. Minoriko is the harvest goddess. They try to prevent the heroine from stepping foot on Youkai Mountain, thinking to help the humans survive.
Hina Kagiyama: A curse goddess which tries the same as the Minoriko sisters in stage 2. Spinning is the name of her game.
Nitori Kawashiro: A Kappa. The Kappa are inhabitants of the lower areas of Youkai Mountain. Nitori herself is quite human shy and technologically gifted. She's testing her camouflage system when she comes across the heroines and tries to stop them from...going up on the mountain further to prevent them from getting seriously hurt (seeing a theme here in the first few stages?)
Momiji Inubashiri: A white wolf Tengu. She has extremely exceptional good eyes and is a forward scout for the Tengu society. She reports her sightings to the Tengu command and stands in the way as midboss in stage 4 before the higher-ups send in Aya Shameimaru to take care of the intruders.
Sanae Kochiya: The shrine maiden of Moriya Shrine. She has the same religion as Reimu, but unlike Reimu is a living half-god. She is a direct descendant of Suwako Moriya, the former god of the shrine, and can perform miracles.
Kanako Yasaka: The (current) god of wind of Moriya Shrine. A long time ago she beat Suwako Moriya in a battle and claimed her shrine. However, Kanako never got full control over the local gods. Very few people know how Kanako manages to stay in power anyway. One of her schemes would be the cause for Touhou 11.
Suwako Moriya: The former god of land of Moriya Shrine. She and Kanako became friends not long after the battle. Even though Kanako's presence is much more demanding, it is Suwako who controls the local gods to do their bidding. All Suwako wants is some fun time and her descendant to have a good life. She likes sneaking around though. One of her schemes would be the cause for Touhou 12.3. She has a frog motif because she likes frogs. She has no power over frogs though.
Game stuff This is a great game to practice bombing early and when needed. Contrary to the previous games, bombs do not have their own resource, but are used by sacrificing shot power instead. So they are easily replenished. Extra lifes are also earned by points and have no own resource here.
The portraits took an even bigger nose dive than they already do when ZUN draws things. It even led to the Reimu is a zombie-meme.
Some fans were not amused by Aya Shameimaru's 3rd appearance in a row. They would later know that she was designed with ZUNs girlfriend at the time in mind, so he wanted to use her as much as possible.
The most popular of the New-era Touhou games. And for good reason with great themes, story and characters all around. Heck, this game had the first big bad that actually wanted to destroy the world. The gameplay was also one of the hardest, which is a good thing in this series.
Story Reimu Hakurei gets disturbed by some rumbling in the ground and subsequently a brand new geyser that erupts next to her shrine. At first she doesn't mind much. She immediately sees it as a business opportunity to create a natural hot spring. But before long there are evil spirits rising out from the geyser. Reimu manages to determine where the spirits come from, deep underground, but for some reason she finds very few help amongst the youkai that also don't like these spirits.
Reimu/Marisa use a magic radio to contact a youkai partner and they venture underground in search of the source of the evil spirits. The source of the evil spirits is found in stage 5. A Kasha, cat youkai that transports the departed, released them aboveground because her friend, a hell raven, went berserk and there is no-one underground to stop her. She sent the spirits above to get some strong youkai from the above to help.
After a long fight, the heroes manage to calm the Raven and they learn that she received that power by eating the sun god Yatagarasu which she got from Kanako, the big bad from Touhou 10. In the Extra stage the heroines travel to Moriya shhrine once more to ask Kanako what she was thinking. Instead, they find another youkai from the underground who wants Kanakos powers as well...
Characters Playable: Reimu Hakurei with choice of partner between Yukari Yakumo, Suika Ibuki, Aya Shameimaru. Playable: Marisa Kirisame with choice of partner between Alice Margatroid, Patchouli Knowledge, Nitori Kawashiro.
Kisume A simple bucket youkai who guards the entrance to the underground.
Yamame Kurodani A spider youkai who eats humans and likes to live in caves.
Parsee Mizuhashi A youkai of jealousy. Guards the bridge from the underground cave to the underground city.
Yuugi Hoshiguma One of the legendary Oni who once ruled Gensokyo. She just tests the heroines' strength while keeping her sake dish filled all the way.
Satori Komeji The ruler of the underground city. A Satori that's hated by all youkai because she can read minds without even trying. Only lives with her pets, Rin and Utsuho and her younger sister Koishi. In her fight, she reads the mind of the Heroine and uses spell cards from her partner. So if you picked the Reimu/Yukari team, you will have to fight against one of the worst spellcards from the Phantasm fight from Yukari...Double Black Death Butterfly.
Rin Kaenbyou (aka Orin) The Kasha from the story. A happy-go-lucky cat youkai who loves her job. Tests the heroes to see if they can calm her friend Utsuho. If they beat her, she comes back in stage 6 for a last attack because she also kinda wants their corpse and if they lose to Utsuho there might not even be a corpse left...
Utsuho Reiuji (aka Okuu) A hell raven who ate a god. This power made her believe that she can resurrect the Former Hell and go above ground to turn Gensokyo into the second Hell. When the heroes put her in her place, Kanako appears to her again to say why she gave that power. Kanako wants nuclear energy and Utsuho can now provide and manage that.
Koishi Komeji The younger sister of Satori. She closed off her third eye so she can no longer read minds. However, this made her able to manipulate the subconscious instead. In such a deep way that she even has to consciously allow herself to be seen by others because she no longer has a consciousness of her own. She acts on instinct. Would return later as the catalyst of 13.5. Also, BEST EXTRA STAGE FIGHT AND THEMES. Just the right amount of creepiness and overpowering.
Game stuff The partner chosen gives the heroines different weapons and an extra ability that can be triggered by not shooting and not focusing. Reimu/Yukari: Able to cross the border from the screen. Reimu/Suika: Able to collect every point on screen. Reimu/Aya: Move at extreme speed. Marisa/Alice: n/a, instead has 8 bombs available. Marisa/Patchouli: Has 5 different shot types. Marisa/Nitori: Her bomb gives a protective border that gives half a bomb back if the shield disappears.
Other than that, it's one of the most straight-forward games that is pretty great.
"That winter, the fireplace was never without a crackling blaze in its belly. The boiled wine we drank was undoubtedly middling and cheap, but she said, with a smile, "I've never had wine this good before." And though I didn't say anything, I felt the same way."
Koishi is definitely top 3 material. She was also voted most popular in the most recent Japanese polls during Reitaisai. The first character to beat the MCs since...ever.
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Moderator of the PbP-area. Creating and playing forum games and Mafia since 2004.
Story Because of the explosions the boss from Touhou 11 made, a previously sealed flying ship is released on Gensokyo. Rumors fly around that it is a treasure shop and the MCs go after it to take the treasure. As it turns out, the boat is made by Buddhists who are collecting shards of something to free their master, Byakuren Hijiri, who is sealed in the demon world of Makai.
In the extra stage Byakuren is free, but the MCs learn that the flying UFOs have nothing to do with her. Another youkai was responsible for those. The legendary chimera, Nue Houjuu.
Characters Playable in this game are: Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame and Sanae Kochiya.
New characters are: Nazrin A mouse youkai. Found in stage one where she is searching for something. She returns in stage 5 with the found treasure.l Is appointed by Bishamonten to guide Bishamonten's latest avatar. Is a lot smarter/atronger than she appears.
Kogasa Tatara An umbrella youkai who likes to scare people, but is terribad at it. Has nothing to do with the plot. As only character in the game...
Ichirin Kumoi A buddhist who once tricked a great youkai monk. This eventually turned her from human into a youkai herself. The monk, Unzan, protects her with his life now and they're always found together.
Minamitsu Murasa The captain of the flying ship. Once a ghost from a drowned person, Byakuren and her fellow buddhists gave her a new meaning in life/death.
Shou Toramaru A tiger youkai who was converted by Byakuren. She was later appointed to become the next avatar of Bishamonten, making her the most important person of the Buddhists. She is the one who urged the others to try to free Byakuren.
Byakuren Hijiri A legendary figure who converted to Buddhism and used this to help both humans and youkai. Humans hated her for her helping of youkai and sealed her away. Basically made her youkai jesus. Also learned some tricks from the God of Makai. She uses an attack the final boss of Touhou 5 (God of Makai) used as well.
Nue Houjuu A chimera who was also freed by Utsuho's explosion. Is bored and messes with both Shou's scheme and the MCs. When Byakuren is freed, Byakuren takes Nue in, which made her think about herself. In Touhou 13, her connection with Byakuren makes her do something to help Byakuren immensely.
Gameplay Next to the usual stuff, some enemies drop flying UFOs. (Get it, because the titel abbreviates into UFO too?) If you get 3 UFOs, a big one may appear. Fill it up and depending on the color combination, different bonuses will come to fruition.
Red: Extra Life parts. Green: Bombs Blue: Points Rainbow: Clear all bullets onscreen + 2 new UFOs.
This game is also most notorious for its return of the curvy lasers of DOOOOOMMMM.Also something that was last used in Touhou 5.
The 2nd 'practice' game after Touhou 9.5 Shoot the Bullet that is actually one of the hardest games to clear completely.
'Story' Like in 9.5, Aya Shameimaru goes around harassing youkai and humans and gods so they show off their attacks and she can photograph them for her paper. When you clear the Extra stages (the 3 human MCs), there appears another Tengu reporter who challenges Aya for the best tabloid. After you beat her, you can also use her, Hatate Himekaidou, to try and clear the game again with a completely different camera.
Characters The first playable character is Aya Shameimaru (Touhou 9, 9.5, 10). After clearing the game once, you unlock Hatate Himekaidou A reporter who uses ghosts to get her news for her, so she never leaves her house. When she hears that Aya's tabloid gets more readers, she goes and stalks Aya to see how she does that and goes out to gather news herself too.
The opponents are mostly from Touhou 10 onwards and the MCs are in this one too. So: Main characters: Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Sanae Kochiya Touhou 10: Aki Shizuha, Minoriko Shizuha, Hina Kagiyama, Nitori Kawashiro, Momiji Inubashiri, Kanako Yasaka, Suwako Moriya. Touhou 10.5: Iku Nagae, Tenshi Hinanawi, Suika Ibuki Touhou 11: Kisume, Yamame Kurodani, Parsee Mizuhashi, Yuugi Hoshiguma, Satori Komeji, Rin Kaenbyou, Utsuho Reiuji, Koishi Komeji. Touhou 12: Nazrin, Kogasa Tatara, Ichirin Kumoi, Minamitsu Murasa, Shou Toramaru, Byakuren Hijiri, Nue Houjuu
Game stuff This was the second Shmup of the series where you would not shoot at your opponents. Instead, Aya is armed with a camera. Everything you can capture with your camera is removed from the screen. However, the camera needs to be charged and this takes some time. You can fasten the charge at the cost of your speed. Good management of your movements is imperative.
Ayas camera has a zoom option, so you can throw it away from her. Hatate however uses an old mobile phone camera, so her camera shots are instantaneous. However, the area removed is also slightly larger than with Aya.
Fun fact: This game would throw a really big wrench in the fandom theories regarding Momiji Inubashiri and Aya Shameimaru. They first wound up together in Touhou 10 stage 4, so people assumed Aya was Momijis superior in the Tengu society and depicted Momiji as quite submissive. Also supporting Aya in her newspaper. However, Aya and Hatates comments on Momiji's spellcards in this game reveal that Momiji kinda dislikes Aya and that they get in frequent fights. Aya thinks Momiji looks down on Crow Tengu, but Hatate (a Crow herself) sees that Aya and Momiji have some personal feud.
I put off on this one, because it's probably my least favorite of the bunch because of the story. Gameplay wise it's not too bad though.
Touhou 13: Ten Desires
Story After part 12, Byakuren and her crew transformed their ship into a temple and settled in the Human Village. However, they purposefully planted their temple on top of an old mausoleum where her former enemies, the Taoists, lived. Having so many new youkai in the area does unsettle the humans though and they start to subconsciously wish for someone to balance them out. These wishes form divine spirits and they gather at the mausoleum...
Anyway, Miko the head Taoist comes back to life and a Buddhist sympathizer (Nue Houjuu, extra boss from part 12) responds by bringing in her greatest and strongest youkai friend. Said friend is no longer needed because the heroines beat Miko, so the friend 'plays' with the heroines instead.
Characters Next to the usuals Reimu, Marisa and Sanae, Youmu Konpaku was also made playable in this game. The divine spirits very much resemble ghosts. So Youmu's boss is one of the head suspects (stage 1 boss) and Youmu herself investigates as well.
New characters in this game are: Kyouko Kasodani An echo youkai. A starting Buddhist who warns the player that something weird is going on at the Mausoleum.
Yoshika Miyako A Yang-shi who guards the entrance of the Mausoleum and eats divine spirits.
Seiga Kaku An evil Taoist hermit who created Yoshika. She also uses Yoshika as shield in her bossfight. That was a nice touch.
Soga no Tojiko A ghost that supports Miko. Was tricked by Seiga into her current form as a ghost.
Mononobe no Futo A former Taoist hermit turned shikaisen (immortal by placing their soul in an inanimate object). Is the 2nd person behind Miko.
Toyosatomimi no Miko The reincarnation of prince Shoutoku. The head Taoist. As former Buddhist, she and Byakuren are mortal enemies. As far as one can become mortal enemies in Gensokyo.
Mamizou Futatsuiwa A tanuki youkai with the power of transformation from the outside world. Extremely intelligent and cunning. Was able to cross the Hakurei border from the outside world without bringing it to the attention of its protectors Yukari and Ran Yakumo. Also makes fun of Reimu during the extra stage fight with her 8th attack 'Exorcism of the Stupid Shrine Maiden', in which she transforms into Reimu and attacks like her.
Gameplay It is probably not surprising that the Divine Spirits play a role in this game. Some enemies drop spirits when they are killed. As you collect them, a bar at the bottom of the screen starts to fill up. If it's completely full you can get 12 seconds of invulnerability. If you die before the bar is used, you get a final burst of 4-12 seconds (depending on how full it is), but still die after that.
Everything else is fairly standard, though it is probably worth mentioning that playing with Youmu is different from the others, because she uses swords. So you have to get fairly close to hit with Youmu's stronger attacks.
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