Senin, 30 September 2013
~Classic Era~ (2002-2005)
The Classic Era is characterized by its still relatively un-refined look, as well as boss HP gauges along the top of the screen with extra bars to the left and the fact that the POC's availability depends upon your Power and may require a quick Focus to activate; read each title's entry.
Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Th06 / Touhou Koumakyou / EoSD)
Release Information
Type: Shooting Game Publisher: ZUN Year of Release: 2002 Language: English-Patched Silhouette on Cover: Flandre Scarlet (Extra Boss) Character Information Playable Characters: 2 (Reimu, Marisa) Shot Types: 2 per character POC: Requires Max Power Extras * The Retexture Pack lets you use updated graphics and make some music replacements, as well as adding a hitbox if you'd like. (Do not use it if you plan to submit scores to MotK; they will not accept your score if you use the hitbox patch, citing its native invisibility in this title.) * The score file unlocks the Extra Stage for all characters and shot types. |
Plot Point: A
thick scarlet mist is covering Gensokyo, blocking out the sun and
causing affected areas to be cold. Our heroines believe the culprit
lives in the newly-appeared Scarlet Devil Mansion, so they head off to
"question" those who live there.
Extra Notes: As the first game in the Windows series, this is the only Classic Era game where you can't see your hitbox when you focus; all others offer that feature. It's also the only Classic Era game not to have a unique gameplay mechanic. 
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Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom (Th07 / Touhou Youyoumu / PCB)
Release Information
Type: Shooting Game Publisher: ZUN Year of Release: 2003 Language: English-Patched Silhouette on Cover: Yukari Yakumo (Phantasm Stage Boss) Character Information Playable Characters: 3 (Reimu, Marisa, Sakuya) Shot Types: 2 per character POC: Focus-Activated before Max Power, Always On after Max Power Extras * The scorefile unlocks all character/shot Extra Stages, and unlocks Phantasm for Reimu A/B and Marisa B. |
Plot Point:
Someone is collecting springtime energy from Gensokyo in order to
revive a giant cherry blossom tree, which is making it unseasonably cold
in Gensokyo. However, when our girls go to investigate, they discover
that the objective behind this collection may threaten Gensokyo even
more than the cold it causes...
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Unique Gameplay Mechanic: Cherry Points & Supernatural Border
In this game, you collect springtime energy, measured in Cherry Points. This happens automatically by killing enemies, but you can also collect pink Cherry Point items to make the process go even faster. If you collect the quota of Cherry Points, your springtime energy activates a Supernatural Border that will protect you from one hit for a limited time. If you take a hit with a Border up, it wipes out all onscreen bullets, but if you don't, you're awarded a sizable Border Bonus for maintaining your border.
In this game, you collect springtime energy, measured in Cherry Points. This happens automatically by killing enemies, but you can also collect pink Cherry Point items to make the process go even faster. If you collect the quota of Cherry Points, your springtime energy activates a Supernatural Border that will protect you from one hit for a limited time. If you take a hit with a Border up, it wipes out all onscreen bullets, but if you don't, you're awarded a sizable Border Bonus for maintaining your border.
Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power (Th07.5 / Touhou Suimusou / IaMP)
Release Information
Type: Fighting Game Publisher: Tasogare Frontier & ZUN Year of Release: 2004 Language: English-Patched Silhouette on Cover: Suika Ibuki (Final Boss) Character Information Playable Characters: 11 (Reimu, Marisa, Sakuya, Alice, Patchouli, Youmu, Yuyuko, Remilia, Yukari, Meiling, Suika) |
Plot Point: A feast is 3 days away, and while preparing for it, the girls are distracted by a strange mist, which seems to have been happening around this time for several years now. This mist isn't a problem, in and of itself; it doesn't actually do anything - but because nobody knows what it is or where it comes from, everyone is suspicious of each other during the feast, so it hasn't been a very fun affair these last few years. Thus, they are determined to discover the cause this year so everyone can have a good time at this year's feast. Extra Notes: Unlike SWR or UNL, this game does not use profiles, so if you want to tweak controls or other game options, you'll have to use the "config_loader.exe" fiile. 
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Touhou 8: Imperishable Night (Th08 / Touhou Eiyashou / IN)
Release Information
Type: Shooting Game Publisher: ZUN Year of Release: 2004 Language: English-Patched Silhouette on Cover: Kaguya Houraisan (Final Boss B) Character Information Playable Characters: 8 (4 selections as teams of two - Reimu & Yukari, Marisa & Alice, Youmu & Yuyuko, and Sakuya & Remilia, and later on, selectable individually when unlocked.) Shot Types: 1 per character (So you get 2 when playing as a team.) POC: Focus-Activated before Max Power, Always On after Max Power. Extras * The scorefile unlocks all the single character selections for play, and unlocks the Extra stage for all characters. |
Plot Point: Someone's
replaced the real moon with a fake the night before the Harvest Moon
Festival. The girls know the moon is important for more than just being
the subject of the festival, but they only have a single night to
investigate, so they've formed teams to expedite the investigation as
much as possible. Our girls hurry, knowing time is of the essence: can
they resolve this incident in time for the festival...?
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Unique Gameplay mechanics: Time-Based Story/Continue System & Human/Youkai (H/Y) Teams
How the Time Thing Works
The game's storyline is time-intensive; the game begins at 11:00 PM, and if it becomes 5 AM at any point, the game is over, even if you had additional lives left over after successfully clearing a stage. Time generally advances one full hour at the conclusion of each stage, and continues cost half an hour each, so you only initially have enough time for exactly one continue on an ordinary game-clear run. However, if you meet the Time Point qutota by collectimg Time Orbs (the little purple specks you get in this game for killing enemies), time only advances half an hour at the conclusion of that stage, which frees up enough time for one additional continue.
The Mechanics of Human/Youkai (H/Y) Teams
Unfocused fire is from your human, focused fire is from your youkai; the H/Y gauge in the lower-left of the playfield tracks your recent firing trends, and awards you a bonus if you're firing mostly as one type:
80% Human or more: Start earning Time Orbs just for hitting enemies.
80% Youkai or more: Grazing starts earning Time Orbs as well as points.
How the Time Thing Works
The game's storyline is time-intensive; the game begins at 11:00 PM, and if it becomes 5 AM at any point, the game is over, even if you had additional lives left over after successfully clearing a stage. Time generally advances one full hour at the conclusion of each stage, and continues cost half an hour each, so you only initially have enough time for exactly one continue on an ordinary game-clear run. However, if you meet the Time Point qutota by collectimg Time Orbs (the little purple specks you get in this game for killing enemies), time only advances half an hour at the conclusion of that stage, which frees up enough time for one additional continue.
The Mechanics of Human/Youkai (H/Y) Teams
Unfocused fire is from your human, focused fire is from your youkai; the H/Y gauge in the lower-left of the playfield tracks your recent firing trends, and awards you a bonus if you're firing mostly as one type:
80% Human or more: Start earning Time Orbs just for hitting enemies.
80% Youkai or more: Grazing starts earning Time Orbs as well as points.
Touhou 9: Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Th09 / Touhou Kaeidzuka / PoFV)
Release Information
Type: Versus Shooter Publisher: ZUN Year of Release: 2005 Language: English-Patched (Must install the included Cirno font.) Silhouette on Cover: Sikieiki Yamaxanadu (Final Boss) Character Information Playable Characters: 16 (Reimu, Marisa, Sakuya, Youmu, Reisen, Cirno, Lyrica, Merline, Lunasa, Mystia, Tewi, Aya, Medicine, Yuka, Komachi, Sikieiki) Extras * The scorefile unlocks all characters for all modes (including the Prismriver sisters in match play). |
Plot Point:
Far more flowers are blooming in Gensokyo than there should be - all
four seasons' flowers are blooming simultaneously, plus an overabundance
of poisonous higanbana! This attracts lots of attention, convincing 16
of our girls to go check things out.
Extra Notes: Though the main patch is applied, there's something you must do that I cannot take care of for you - there's a font file called "Cirno.ttf" in with the folder's contents; you need to install that in your Windows Fonts folder - otherwise, the game will use its default font, whose English characters are too big for the text box. 
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Unique Gameplay Mechanic: Versus Shooter
This plays differently from a traditional one-player Touhou game, so to battle your friends (or even clear the Story mode) effectively, it helps to be familiar with the mechanics this game's battle system uses. If you can understand all this, you'll come out on top far more often.
Selecting a Charge Type
In the Options screen, you'll find there are two settings for your Focus button:
* Charge Mode: You must tap [Z] repeatedly to fire, because holding [Z] charges your Battle Gauge attacks. This is so that holding [Shift] will both slow you down and display your Scope.
* Slow Mode: You can hold [Z] to fire continuously, which also both slows you down and displays your Scope. This way, you only need to hold [Shift] to charge your Battle Gauge attacks.
How to Fill the Battle Gauge
You start each match with one full level on your Battle Gauge. However, one level is not enough to send any attacks to your opponent's side (though one level is enough to use Charge Attacks against the enemies on your own side; see below). To charge your gauge, destroy enemies and graze bullets. (Dying will also charge your gauge one or more full levels.) Your gauge will hold up to 4 levels (and it will tell you when you hit a new charge level).
Charge Attacks
If you charge a single level of your gauge and release, your character will perform a Charge Attack against enemies on your own side that is more powerful than their regular bullets, and most have special properties (for example, Reimu's amulets home, and Youmu's sword can destroy bullets). Using Charge Attacks does not actually deplete your Battle Gauge, so you can use them over and over if you want. (You can't use Charge Attacks if you have less than a full level on your gauge, but the only way to manage that is to use a bomb; see below.)
Sending Attacks to Your Opponent's Side
There are four fun ways to make your opponent's field go from being manageable to being a living hell:
* Destroy enemies. Anything you destroy - including small bullets you wipe out with the little explosions fairies or spirits make - goes to your opponent's side as one extra bullet each.
* Piece together combos. You can cause chain reactions by shooting the first enemy in a line, and can combo kills if they're made within a certain time after the previous kill. The higher a combo you can rack up, the more misery you send over to your opponent's side.
* Charge your Battle Gauge to use Spell Cards. Charging 2 or 3 levels of your Battle Gauge will result in a Spell Card attack on your opponent's field. If you charge all 4 levels, you send them a boss battle!! Using a Spell Card depletes your battle gauge by the level of the attack minus one (so for example, using a level 3 attack depletes 2 levels).
* Use a bomb. Using a bomb costs you your entire Battle Gauge and sends your Extra Attack over to your opponent; how big your attack is depends on the available charge you had at the time. Since doing this depletes the entire contents of your Battle Gauge, that means you won't be able to use Charge Attacks for a while.
Understanding Scopes and Spirits
Floating down toward you with all the bullets and fairies are spirits; some are small and easily destroyed, others are a bit larger and take more of a beating. Destroying one causes a small explosion that can destroy nearby bullets. You can use your Scope to snare them, which helps you position them a bit better (which is why it's important to know the shape and nature of your character's Scope). Don't dawdle after tagging a spirit with your Scope, though: wait too long, and it will slowly drift back upward, and explode into bullets!
This plays differently from a traditional one-player Touhou game, so to battle your friends (or even clear the Story mode) effectively, it helps to be familiar with the mechanics this game's battle system uses. If you can understand all this, you'll come out on top far more often.
Selecting a Charge Type
In the Options screen, you'll find there are two settings for your Focus button:
* Charge Mode: You must tap [Z] repeatedly to fire, because holding [Z] charges your Battle Gauge attacks. This is so that holding [Shift] will both slow you down and display your Scope.
* Slow Mode: You can hold [Z] to fire continuously, which also both slows you down and displays your Scope. This way, you only need to hold [Shift] to charge your Battle Gauge attacks.
How to Fill the Battle Gauge
You start each match with one full level on your Battle Gauge. However, one level is not enough to send any attacks to your opponent's side (though one level is enough to use Charge Attacks against the enemies on your own side; see below). To charge your gauge, destroy enemies and graze bullets. (Dying will also charge your gauge one or more full levels.) Your gauge will hold up to 4 levels (and it will tell you when you hit a new charge level).
Charge Attacks
If you charge a single level of your gauge and release, your character will perform a Charge Attack against enemies on your own side that is more powerful than their regular bullets, and most have special properties (for example, Reimu's amulets home, and Youmu's sword can destroy bullets). Using Charge Attacks does not actually deplete your Battle Gauge, so you can use them over and over if you want. (You can't use Charge Attacks if you have less than a full level on your gauge, but the only way to manage that is to use a bomb; see below.)
Sending Attacks to Your Opponent's Side
There are four fun ways to make your opponent's field go from being manageable to being a living hell:
* Destroy enemies. Anything you destroy - including small bullets you wipe out with the little explosions fairies or spirits make - goes to your opponent's side as one extra bullet each.
* Piece together combos. You can cause chain reactions by shooting the first enemy in a line, and can combo kills if they're made within a certain time after the previous kill. The higher a combo you can rack up, the more misery you send over to your opponent's side.
* Charge your Battle Gauge to use Spell Cards. Charging 2 or 3 levels of your Battle Gauge will result in a Spell Card attack on your opponent's field. If you charge all 4 levels, you send them a boss battle!! Using a Spell Card depletes your battle gauge by the level of the attack minus one (so for example, using a level 3 attack depletes 2 levels).
* Use a bomb. Using a bomb costs you your entire Battle Gauge and sends your Extra Attack over to your opponent; how big your attack is depends on the available charge you had at the time. Since doing this depletes the entire contents of your Battle Gauge, that means you won't be able to use Charge Attacks for a while.
Understanding Scopes and Spirits
Floating down toward you with all the bullets and fairies are spirits; some are small and easily destroyed, others are a bit larger and take more of a beating. Destroying one causes a small explosion that can destroy nearby bullets. You can use your Scope to snare them, which helps you position them a bit better (which is why it's important to know the shape and nature of your character's Scope). Don't dawdle after tagging a spirit with your Scope, though: wait too long, and it will slowly drift back upward, and explode into bullets!
Touhou 9.5: Shoot the Bullet (Th09.5 / Touhou Bunkachou / StB)
Release Information
Type: Photography Publisher: ZUN Year of Release: 2005 Language: English-Patched Silhouette on Cover: Aya Shameimaru (Sole playable character) Character Information Playable Characters: 1 (Aya) Shot Types: 1 (Landscape-oriented photos) Extras * The scorefile unlocks all scenes. |
Plot Point: Gensokyo's resident newspaper reporter Aya is out looking for a scoop.
How It Works: Instead of firing back, Aya wants to take pictures of the girls and their danmaku to put in her newspaper; she wants a certain number of photos of each spell card, ranging from 3 early on to 9 or 10 near the end of the game; meet her quota, and she declares victory. Of course, she hands out bonuses if you capture nice bullet patterns or came dangerously close to getting hit to get the picture. You unlock additional levels by clearing a certain number of scenes overall, or by clearing a certain number of the previous level's scenes. 
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I don't shoot, I snap.
That's Aya's maxim when it comes to going out for a scoop - you'll immediately note there's no way to fire back at the enemies: this isn't because Aya is incapable of an offensive (one play of PoFV will disprove that theory), but because she doesn't want her own bullets appearing in her photos. She's not interested in defeating her subjects - she's out for a scoop, not a battle. When she's satisfied that she has enough photos, she declares victory on her own.
Charging & Snapping
Aya's camera must charge to a full 100% in order to snap a picture. It charges at a slow rate on its own, but if you can find a good safe spot, you can expedite it: hold [Shift] to Focus, which slows her down to charge it faster, or hold both Slow [Shift] & Snap [Z] to slow Aya to nearly a stop to have her charge it ridiculously fast. Once the camera's charged, you must let go of the Slow button, then press and hold [Z] to bring up the viewfinder. You can move the frame around a bit before releasing to snap, but the longer you expose the film, the smaller the frame gets - if you expose it too long, it becomes overexposed, and Aya is forced to drop the picture entirely.
Snapping for Success
Aya's main aim is to photograph the boss; though she does consider everything around the boss - including bullets, other targets, and even herself - to be beautiful, if your photo does not at least contain the boss, she will not hesitate to drop the photo, declaring your pathetic attempt to be a "Failure." If you manage to capture the boss in the photo, then she will check the logistics of the picture, including not only the boss's position in the frame, but also awarding bonuses for capturing beautiful bullet patterns and beautiful spell circles (as well as her beautiful self, if you can manage to squeeze her in somewhere).
Snapping for Defense
Since Aya refuses to return fire and will not use her spell cards, your camera must also be used as your defense. Any bullets you capture in a photo are cleared off the screen and converted into camera energy. If your shot is a Failure, she doesn't need the extra energy to record the shot, making the energy worth double so you can be up in that girl's face again in no time.
