Prepubescent Girls in Frilly Dresses Shooting Lasers: All About Touhou Project

[Grand Master Kickface]

http://blog.hantsuki.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/touhou-sleeping.jpg

Touhou Project is a series of doujin shooters made by one man who goes by the pseudonym ZUN (which I can only assume translates to "he whom the god of ecstasy smiles upon and whose emissions are like that of the wild horses"). It is wildly popular in its home country of Japan where it has started something of a free culture movement.

There are a total of 11 main games so far in the Touhou series (and a few "side" games, like Shoot the Bullet or Scarlet Weather Rhapsody), though the series didn't start receiving much attention until the sixth game, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. Personally, I think the eighth game, Imperishable Night, is where the series really hits its stride in terms of music and bullet pattern design. The appeal of Touhou games lies in their colorful and versatile array of characters, the synchronization of music and level design, but most of all, the freaking massive amount of bullets that are on the screen at once. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nb5Ohbt1Sg&fmt=18) They're referred to as danmaku (which roughly translates to "curtain fire") shooters because there are times when 50% of the screen is covered in bullet. But the challenge makes it all the more satisfying when you finally do succeed, a kind of ferocious euphoria that's missing from modern games. If I were to compare it to any other video game series, I would say it's most similar to the Mega Man games of old.

ZUN does not copyright his characters or music, so Touhou has possibly the most creative and involved fanbase on the planet. Touhou has its own annual convention called Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai, where not only does ZUN himself distribute trial versions of his new games, but thousands of fans sell their artwork, manga, and music rearranges of the songs heard in the game. ZUN sometimes even uses fan-created works for inspiration as part of the canon, and thus maintains a mutually beneficial relationship with his fans, encouraging the creative spirit on both sides. And a lot of the fanworks are really (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSPfO6NjC6c&fmt=18) freaking (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTrf-Lltxig&fmt=18) good (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyntiKkNAOE&fmt=18). And like any fanbase that has Internet connection, it's spawned its (http://shatyou.hp.infoseek.co.jp/IOSYS_tohootomebayashi_loving.swf) fair (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB5IIsX0wS4&fmt=18) share (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXbBX7ji7io&fmt=18) of (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9M4mTV67sw&fmt=18) memes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxfh5jOHv8A&fmt=18).

Unless you live in Japan, you'll most likely have to download or torrent the games through the Internet, but it's totally worth it. You can read more about it at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touhou_Project) or look at some gameplay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-y7EGZuNVg) videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6y_MG_45ew) to get a better feel for the games. Discuss anything related to Touhou Project here!

[phil_]

I couldn't get Perfect Cherry Blossom to play at more than 10 FPS on my emulated Ubuntu drive, and thus I gave up on playing the games. I do, however, have a large collection of Chen pictures. Something about the idea of a familiar's familiar appeals to me. Plus, she's cute.

[DFM]

Whelp this is








Whelp

[Kim]

Been playing Perfect Cherry Blossom. Awesome. I love when there's so much stuff going on that it slows down to half speed. That's how a shmup should be.

[Dular]

I was wondering when Touhou would make it to here.

I've beaten 6 to 11 on normal, but I can't seem to do any of them on hard. Hard mode is hard, especially when your too lazy to make the game go slower than 60FPS.

This is just one of those games you have to beat solely out of pure frustration.

[BB]

Oh, Touhou fans!

Yep, I've become entirely enamoured with everything about this series. There's just something awesome about a series where there are no balance issues between characters- EVERYONE is ridiculously over powered. Knife throwing maid who can stop time? Check. Ghost who can invoke death in humans by simply making them want to die? Check. Half-ghost samurai gardener? Check!

I'm feeling particularly gloat-worthy because my brother bought me PCB for christmas (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/Babybahamut/DSC07162.jpg). So far I've managed to clear it on normal difficulty once on my very last life (including using all my continues) and bombing the heck out of the final bit.

I adore the back story of PCB. Once you know that, the final Spell Card takes on a whole new level of Awesome. Of course, another great thing about Touhou is it's exactly as serious as you want it to be, whether you want it to be a silly fun game with girls throwing lasers at each other because they can, or you want to read more deeply into it.

The music is superb, Necrofantasia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=195XntreoMc) being a personal favourite (it was this song and the encounter with Yukari that really thrust me into Touhou in the first place). And the amount of groups who do covers in immense, you could easily fill a lengthy soundtrack with just Touhou and Touhou covers.

I'm rambling a little now, but this is easily my biggest fandom. It's relatively unheard of so all my friends are sick of me going on about it. :sweatdrop

I'll close with this frankly ridiculous display of gaming ability (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxXX5BaZs1E).

[Ryong]

So, this is like Bangai-o but with even more dodging and, for some reason, random lolicon? Well now, that's just weird.

[EVILNess]

I actually dislike walls o' bullets shooters. My eyes don't see the bullet patterns very well and I die. Thats why I suck so much at bejeweled and it took me around 60 hours to beat puzzle quest.

I still play Bangai-O Spirits, but its more of a hate-hate relationship. I hate myself for playing know that its just gonna frustrate me, and the game hates me just because thats what it was programmed to do.

So personally, the idea of a lolicon Bangai-O does not appeal to me.

[Fifthfiend]

lolicon Bangai-O

random lolicon

large collection of Chen pictures

Hwhat the fuck?

[Meister]

Exactly what it says on the tin. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) Tell your employer I said hi.

[Fifthfiend]

Okay I should restate that.

Prepubescent Girls in Frilly Dresses Shooting Lasers: All About Touhou Project

Hwhat the fucking fuck?

[Regulus Tera]

So, this is like Bangai-o...

Bangai-O (at least Spirits) has never been about bullet hell. Sure, you have a lot of shit to dodge in that game, but you can pretty much deal with it by use of an EX-Attack. There's not a single bullet maze in Bangai-O. If this game had to be compared to a Treasure title it would probably be Radiant Silvergun or Ikaruga, and only very loosely.

[Grand Master Kickface]

Yeah, maybe I should give a better idea of what the games are about. The games are about learning to dodge specific, ornate patterns of bullets, rather than shooting your way through a horde of clustered, disorganized bullets. In short, it's not like Bangai-O.

To wit!

Bangai-O: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xef-x91fczw

Touhou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYWqoDEKD8c&fmt=18

[Dular]

Okay I should restate that.

Hwhat the fucking fuck?

They are just drawn poorly. I think the youngest person is 16 or 17? Maybe 18? It just happens that many of them have no breasts, but they are most definitely there.

Of course, your age makes you think they are lolis.

Managed to clear normal difficulty(including using all my continues)

Real men don't use continues.

[BB]

Yeah, they only look like they're all children because ZUN isn't exactly the most amazing artist ever, bless him. Several of them are over 1000 years old in fact. In other official art not drawn by him they all look older. And the games themselves contain nothing suggestive, that's all the fandom side.

Real men don't use continues.

But-! :( Stage 4 just ruins me!

[phil_]

Hwhat the fuck?Oh, judge judge judge, Mr. "I like Rainbow Brite." (http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showthread.php?t=31680&page=6) At least I was drunk when I mentioned my embarrassing hobby.

[Ryong]

I was thinking something more along the lines of fighting Longai-O in Bangai-O Spirits which involved hundreds of missiles flying around and being counter-counter-counter-attacked while the whole screen's filled with missiles and the game is at 1/8 the normal speed, actually.

Yeah, they only look like they're all children because ZUN isn't exactly the most amazing artist ever, bless him. Several of them are over 1000 years old in fact. In other official art not drawn by him they all look older.

You're making me think of Kiss Players. Y'know, the Transformers manga where the guy draws 21-year old girls as if they were, at most, 12? Yeah. The "really thousands of years old" trope doesn't work very well.

I remember seeing a gameplay video of one of these where the player was dodging everything even when it looked like it hit...What's the explanation? The plane/flying ship thing is much bigger than the 2x2 pixels hitbox. It's a good thing these aren't arcade games, it'd make a lot of people poor trying to beat them.

[Regulus Tera]

I was thinking something more along the lines of fighting Longai-O in Bangai-O Spirits which involved hundreds of missiles flying around and being counter-counter-counter-attacked while the whole screen's filled with missiles and the game is at 1/8 the normal speed, actually.

You should never counter-attack a Longai-O. NEVER. Your best option against them is to fire multiple directional-break/bounce shots against them by luring them to a narrow corridor from which you can escape easily while managing to create a path between their missile barrages.

Unless you are fighting in the Yamato stage. There it is best to fly around in circles and use a combination of break/homing. It takes a while, but there's enough space for you to outmaneuver them while your ammo goes around them.

[Ryong]

You should never counter-attack a Longai-O. NEVER.

It's fun even if it is frustating when you notice he has infinite special meters and you only have 3.

I expect the same kind of frustration when trying to dodge a giant flower of death.

[Grand Master Kickface]

It's fun even if it is frustating when you notice he has infinite special meters and you only have 3.

I expect the same kind of frustration when trying to dodge a giant flower of death.

Would you at least give it a chance before being all, "Oh, it looks like Bangai-O Spirits, and that game sucks, so I bet this sucks too,"? I know that sounds overly defensive, but I really really love the Touhou series, and, being a one-man project, they hold an additional meaning to me as they inspired me to go into game design, and I can't stand to see them be so casually dismissed. Start with Perfect Cherry Blossom. As long as you give it a chance, I can guarantee you'll like it.

[Kim]

Actually, it was EVILNess who hates Bangai-O Spirits. Besides, he hates that the same way I hate Elite Beat Agents. It's an abusive relationship. He wasn't saying that Bangai-O sucks, just that it rapes him like Fifth's uncle.

[EVILNess]

Actually, it was EVILNess who hates Bangai-O Spirits. Besides, he hates that the same way I hate Elite Beat Agents. It's an abusive relationship. He wasn't saying that Bangai-O sucks, just that it rapes him like Fifth's uncle.

Bangai-O Spirits slaps me for burning its eggs in the morning. I am a battered gamer.:(

[Ryong]

Would you at least give it a chance before being all, "Oh, it looks like Bangai-O Spirits, and that game sucks, so I bet this sucks too,"? I know that sounds overly defensive, but I really really love the Touhou series, and, being a one-man project, they hold an additional meaning to me as they inspired me to go into game design, and I can't stand to see them be so casually dismissed. Start with Perfect Cherry Blossom. As long as you give it a chance, I can guarantee you'll like it.

I actually like some of Bangai-o, but there's the extreme stages which are just way too hard - Touhou looks like every single stage is like that. If I wanted to play a game where I can't progress without dying around a hundred times before the first boss, I'd go play IWTBG. I'll probably give Touhou a try, though.

Actually, it was EVILNess who hates Bangai-O Spirits. Besides, he hates that the same way I hate Elite Beat Agents. It's an abusive relationship. He wasn't saying that Bangai-O sucks, just that it rapes him like Fifth's uncle.

Truly. To give an example:
Cannonism 2: If you counter the missiles shot at you nearly instantly - which, I should mention, is a bit hard - you probably will end up fucking yourself because the walls reflect your shots back at you! If you don't counter, you're dead!
There's also one where there's a LOT of onscreen enemies and if you do anything besides freeze instantly, you die, because you're surrounded by mines. If you shoot them while being too close, you also die. Mix this with said mines surrounding you in four directions and freeze lasts about 2 seconds...You're screwed very hard.

[Regulus Tera]

Would you at least give it a chance before being all, "Oh, it looks like Bangai-O Spirits, and that game sucks, so I bet this sucks too,"? I know that sounds overly defensive, but I really really love the Touhou series, and, being a one-man project, they hold an additional meaning to me as they inspired me to go into game design, and I can't stand to see them be so casually dismissed. Start with Perfect Cherry Blossom. As long as you give it a chance, I can guarantee you'll like it.

Nobody is saying "Bangai-O Spirits sucks therefore Touhou sucks too". The fact that someone makes the connection between both in terms of difficulty is a plus for me, since I can appreciate a challenge that is imposed solely by level design and not by gimping the player in with bad controls or glitches (say, Battletoads).

I for one will try this series when I replace this laptop's battery. It's screwing up my RAM for some weird reason.

Actually, it was EVILNess who hates Bangai-O Spirits. Besides, he hates that the same way I hate Elite Beat Agents. It's an abusive relationship. He wasn't saying that Bangai-O sucks, just that it rapes him like Fifth's uncle.

The impression I got from EVILNess' Bangai-O Spirits review was that the game was indeed a masterpiece of portable action, but that you would probably dismiss it as a masochistic experiment if you were not able to appreciate how carefully designed all the stages in the game are. I love how the game becomes a puzzle title at times, a fighting game at others, and sometimes it's just a plain ol' shmup.

I actually like some of Bangai-o, but there's the extreme stages which are just way too hard -

More like you're a pussy, PUSSY.

[Ryong]

Nobody is saying "Bangai-O Spirits sucks therefore Touhou sucks too". The fact that someone makes the connection between both in terms of difficulty is a plus for me, since I can appreciate a challenge that is imposed solely by level design and not by gimping the player in with bad controls or glitches (say, Battletoads).


IWTBG does both of these. "HEY, I PRESSED THE BUTTON, WHY DIDN'T I JUMP!?" and "THE GAME CRASHED!?" are probably some of the most said lines in most play-throughs.

More like you're a pussy, PUSSY.

Because I can't beat a stage called "Don't Give Up!" which has a tendency to kill me in less than two seconds unless I freeze everything which gives me a whole second before I die!

( For the matter, the only stages I haven't beaten yet are Cannonism Redux, Don't Give Up!, The Earth and all those stages where you have to outrun something. )

[Kim]

In a similar vein of thought to what we have going here, feel free to let me know when there's a Touhou game where the girls help people with their daily crisis by dancing to catchy pop tunes. I could get behind that action like a mother fucker.

That said, other than Perfect Cherry Blossom or whatever it was called, what are some of the other good Touhou games, or are they all equally good?

[Dular]

Imperishable Night is considered the most appropriate game for newcomers since it isn't terribly hard and has the most content.

Of course if your insane, go for Subterraneam Animism(Who comes up with these names? Seriously), I'd be surprised if a normal Nuklearpower forumer makes it past stage 3 on their first try without using a continue.


Also: This thread became a Bangai-O thread somewhere along the line.

[Grand Master Kickface]

Imperishable Night is a good entry point, but I'd still recommend starting with Perfect Cherry Blossom because characters introduced in that game are playable characters in Imperishable Night, and you'll have a better appreciation of them if you play Perfect Cherry Blossom first. Also, I feel like Perfect Cherry Blossom paints the best picture of Touhou in general, whereas the other games feel more self-contained.

Or maybe I'm just saying this because Perfect Cherry Blossom was my first game. I dunno. I guess it doesn't really matter that much. If you want to start with Imperishable Night, then it'd be better to do that than forcing yourself through Perfect Cherry Blossom because you feel like you have to.

[Ryong]

I can't read Japanese. At all. So I tried Google to get a download link. Google has not found any working download links nor torrents with actual seeds. Would someone care to give a link where I can actually download Imperishable Night and Perfect Cherry Blossom? And agh, these names are WEIRD!

[Kim]

Ryong, you are just terrible at Google-Fu. Here (http://touhou.w00tstock.com/th08.html)

[Dular]

For those who want an Imperishable Night patch that makes everything english..

Here you go. (http://radicalr.pestermom.com/game.html#IN) Just ask if you want translations for the other games should you come across them.

[Ryong]

So, I played IN a bit on normal. I used up all my continues by the third stage. I blame the SlowShot option for not functioning and, well, I don't know what's the slow key. Using the "Phantom" mode helps manuevering, but not much. It's not exactly hard, but it is silly, what with half of the screen ( or more ) being bullets.

Edit: OH WAIT I SET 1 LIFE PER CONTINUE, THAT'S WHY.

[Kim]

Am I the only person who completely restarts if he has to use a continue? I can't help it, I want to beat it without them...

[BB]

I keep playing if I lose a continue, just to get more practice on later spell cards. Plus that's the way to get the bad endings, finish after using a continue. I can usually get to Stage 5 of PCB without using one, though Stage 4 pretty much ruins me to the point where I'm near using one anyway.

It's driving me a bit mad as I want to unlock the Extra level so I can unlock Phantasm and fight Yukari. And lose horrifically, most likely.

[Grand Master Kickface]

So, I played IN a bit on normal. I used up all my continues by the third stage. I blame the SlowShot option for not functioning and, well, I don't know what's the slow key. Using the "Phantom" mode helps manuevering, but not much. It's not exactly hard, but it is silly, what with half of the screen ( or more ) being bullets.

Edit: OH WAIT I SET 1 LIFE PER CONTINUE, THAT'S WHY.

I think "SlowShot" refers to holding down the Shift Key in order to move more slowly, rather than the game actually slowing itself down when there's a massive amount of bullets on the screen. I know others mentioned it, but my none of the games I've played on my computer have ever slowed down on me, regardless of how many bullets are on the screen (with the exception of the boss of Stage 5 of Perfect Cherry Blossom, where it's supposed to).

And don't be ashamed to start on Easy. I didn't move up to Normal until I had over 20 hours logged into the game.

Am I the only person who completely restarts if he has to use a continue? I can't help it, I want to beat it without them...

Yep, I never use continues. I can't bear the crushing weight of shame that comes with them.

[Dular]

I think "SlowShot" refers to holding down the Shift Key in order to move more slowly, rather than the game actually slowing itself down when there's a massive amount of bullets on the screen. I know others mentioned it, but my none of the games I've played on my computer have ever slowed down on me, regardless of how many bullets are on the screen (with the exception of the boss of Stage 5 of Perfect Cherry Blossom, where it's supposed to).

Well there is also a function in each game(Except Embodiment of Scarlet Devil) that makes the framerate go down when there are a lot of bullets to accomodate for slower computers are newer players. Sometimes the framerate goes as low as 30FPS, so all the shots are much slower. Of course, the button is usually left on so you have to turn it off.

Just a note to new people, the game is ALWAYS supposed to run at 60FPS.



Yay for no-continuing comrades!

[Grand Master Kickface]

AUGH. I was so, so close to beating Subterranean Animism on Normal without continues! I usually run out of lives on the fifth stage, but I got through it this time and got all the way to the last spell card of the final boss! My hands were actually numb by that point, but still I devoted all my mental resources to smoothly floating around the array of crimson bullets... and then, in an instant, it was over. It just... ended, independent of my intention or input. Strangely enough, I'm not angry. It's an oddly calming, peaceful feeling. Oh Touhou, what other alien and archaic wisdoms sleep within your source code?