Touhou Project

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Touhou Project
Original title 東方 Project
developer Team Shanghai Alice
First title TH01 (1996)
Last title TH17 (2019)
Platform (s) PC-98 (until 1998)

Windows (since 2002)

Genre (s) Shoot 'em up , beat' em up

The Touhou Project ( jap. 東方 Project, Toho Project ), also under the English Nebentitel Project Shrine Maiden is known, a series of Dojin - shoot 'em ups . The Shanghai Alice team that develops these computer games consists only of the Japanese game developer ZUN. The series belongs to the genre Danmaku , in which the player is exposed to massive fire and has to fight his way through. A higher-level action is also important, for example in the form of short conversations in front of each boss opponent.

development

The Touhou Project is a one-man project by the Japanese game developer ZUN, who designed and wrote the music, graphics and program code completely by himself. Its real name is Ōta Jun'ya ( 太 田 順 也 ), as can be seen from the credits of the PC-98 games .

Gameplay

The player controls a 2D character from a bird's eye view and usually contests six stages one after the other, in each of which an intermediate and final boss must be defeated. The character is deemed to have been hit when an enemy projectile hits the character's hit box . In the case of the player sprite , only a relatively small part is vulnerable or is captured by the collision query. The same goes for the projectiles, so that the sprites can overlap without the player losing a life.

This game mechanics makes relatively complex attacks possible. At higher levels, faster and more difficult projectile patterns are thrown towards the player, so timing becomes more important. The bosses also challenge the player with more or less complicated attack patterns depending on the degree of difficulty and level. The patterns are laid out over a large area and are unique for each boss. Each boss appears once as an intermediate opponent in a short interlude roughly in the middle of the stage before the actual fight at the end of the stage takes place. It is often not the same boss that appears at the end of each stage. As a rule, these appear later as actual opponents, or for example in the Extra Stages or in the following Touhou offshoots and play a larger role there. So although each touhou is complete in itself, threads of action run through the entire series.

In almost all games in the Touhou series, the bosses emerge according to a fixed scheme. Each opponent has specific projectiles that are used as the main element of their designs. These are, for example, cards, lasers, knives or other projectiles. Each boss has a bar at the top of the screen that shows one of several attack phases. If the player empties the bar completely within the given time limit, there is a point bonus and the next attack phase begins. The same thing happens automatically when the time runs out, regardless of the level of the life bar.

Every normal attack wave is followed by a so-called "spell card". These are special patterns that demand more skill from the player. In contrast to the normal attack of the boss opponent, the player gets a high point bonus if he completes a spell card without using bombs or losing a life within the time limit. In addition, all floors that are on the screen at exactly this point in time are completely removed and, depending on the point system, added to the score. As a rule, attack wave and spell card alternate, with the non-spell card attacks becoming more demanding each time. In the game Imperishable Night there are also ultimate attacks of the boss opponents, the so-called "last spells", which only appear if you have collected enough points in the level. In the Last Spells, the player has no option to use bombs. However, these are risk-free, since a failure (loss of life or time is running out) does not cost the player a life, but rather a maximum of bonus points.

Game mechanics

The game mechanics also include the following:

  • Bombs - Similar to the smart bombs in many horizontal and vertical shooters, the player has the option of using a bomb to clear the screen of all projectiles and smaller enemies. Bombs add damage to bosses. In Touhou the bombs are called Spell Cards, but the term is used in two situations, see the following paragraph
  • Spell Cards - one of the most important elements, the term is usually used ambiguously: A spell card is the main attack phase at the boss, each pattern has its own name and in the game you can see how often the player has which spell using a history display Card has clarified; next to the total number of times the player with this character has seen this PC. The second meaning of "Spell Card" is an alternate name for the player's specific bomb. The ambiguity of the term becomes relatively clear in Imperishable Night , for example : Stage 4 has alternative boss opponents depending on the character team. Both can also be chosen as characters by the player. With Reimu as a character you meet Marisa in Stage 4 and vice versa. The bosses' respective spell cards are very similar versions of the bombs that the player can use
  • Firepower - This increases with the number of Power-Up objects collected. These are left behind by defeated opponents. As soon as the maximum firepower is reached (in the earlier offshoots with the value 128, which then appears as "MAX"), power-up objects no longer appear in most games. However, if the player loses a life, depending on the game, either a small part of the firepower is lost or the character loses all power-up items completely, which can then be collected again. In Mountain of Faith , Subterranean Animism and Great Fairy Wars , the shot strength appears as a decimal value with two decimal places, bombs can no longer be used separately, but rather coupled with the firepower. For a bomb, the player loses 1.00 "power".
  • Stages - There are normally six stages per game, which - played through once - can then be practiced individually. The activation takes place individually for each level of difficulty. In addition, each game has an extra stage with a fixed level of difficulty, which is unlocked after successfully completing the main game without using a continue. This represents a special challenge, since a boss in a long series of very many and particularly demanding spell cards has to be defeated in one go
  • Scoring system - the scoring is slightly different in each part of the series, generally shooting opponents only brings a small number of points, while picking up the individual objects of opponents - and their height from where they were picked up - plays a decisive role in this . With various modifiers, and above all the Graze counter, significantly higher scores can be achieved than just defeating the opponent.
  • Focus - When using the focus (by default the shift key) the character slows down, the fired projectiles are concentrated, thus more effective and depending on the game situation they cause more damage. In the games from Perfect Cherry Blossom , a red bordered white point (hit box) appears, which is relevant for the collision query. Regardless of this, the hit boxes are identical at both normal and focused speed, with Marisa Kirisame usually having a slightly larger hit box than Reimu Hakurei to compensate for her higher firepower, which in turn means a greater challenge when dodging in the game.
  • Graze - projectiles that cross the character figure, but miss the hitbox, bring additional points. In the majority of games, the graze counter is a decisive factor for the point system, so that experienced players sometimes “graze” projectiles for a higher score.
  • Difficulty level - Each part of the Touhou series offers four different levels: Easy, Normal, Hard and Lunatic. At higher settings, there are significantly more enemy projectiles flying at higher speed, and both normal attacks and spell cards from boss opponents are more difficult. Sometimes there are additional spell cards that do not appear on low difficulty levels.
  • Character selection - You can choose between several characters (exceptions with only one character are e.g. Shoot the Bullet or Great Fairy Wars), which are in i. d. Usually differentiate in speed of movement, type and strength of the shot. Reimu Hakurei, who has been there since the beginning, offers a target-seeking shot in the majority of the games, which is relatively weak when you compare it with the attacks of the other characters. Sometimes the player can use the character selection to choose one of different types of shots before the game starts.
  • Replays - Recordings can be saved, which are saved in a file with the extension .rpy, either when all lives are lost (Game Over) or when all six stages or the extra level are played through. These .rpy files can then be passed on, for example, and another player can then view them within the respective Touhou title. In the offshoots of the series with "immediate continue" (you continue at the point where all lives have been lost, e.g. Perfect Cherry Blossom and Imperishable Night ), replays can no longer be saved in the current run if the player is already used a continue. The replay feature also explains the high popularity of the videos on popular video portals such as YouTube ; in that the player basically only needs suitable recording software (and Touhou himself only has relatively low hardware requirements) or can work with on-board tools such as Windows Movie Maker.

music

ZUN prefers to use piano, synthesizer sounds and trumpets in the soundtrack, whereby different styles are also mixed within a game. Noticeable features are often fast piano solos and sometimes very high trumpet sounds. Different styles are sometimes used. Transitions from the stage to the intermediate boss are also characterized by musical style changes in the respective track.

The sound effects have remained largely the same through all games and are used to mark events or actions. This can be, for example, the preservation or loss of a life or a victory over a boss. In addition, the effects support the player, so to indicate when a boss is close to the end of a life bar or when projectiles change direction. An experienced player then does not need to look at the life bar and the like that often and can concentrate more on the actual fight.

Publication of the games

A total of 24 games have been published to date, 15 of which belong to the actual series.

PC-98

The first five Touhou games were developed exclusively for the Japanese PC-9801 during ZUN's student days and published by Amusement Makers .

TH01 東方 靈異 伝(Touhou Rei'iden) - The Highly Responsive To Prayers (1996)

  • Constructed as a breakout clone
  • The main character Reimu Hakurei appears for the first time

TH02 東方 封魔 録(Touhou Fūmaroku) - The Story of Eastern Wonderland (1997, Comiket 52)

  • First Danmaku shooter in the series
  • Marisa Kirisame, later the second main character in the series, makes her first appearance as the boss of a level

TH03 東方 夢 時空(Touhou Yumejikū) - Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream (1997, Comiket 53)

TH04 東方 幻想 郷(Touhou Gensōkyō) - Lotus Land Story (1998, Comiket 54)

  • The first Touhou game to incorporate the focused mode that becomes a trademark of the series

TH05 東方 怪 綺 談(Touhou Kaikidan) - Mystic Square (1998, Comiket 55)

  • Mima and Yuuka, final bosses from Story of Eastern Wonderland and Lotus Land Story , appear as playable characters

Windows

The Touhou Project, now by Team Shanghai Alice , has been developed exclusively for Windows operating systems since 2002 . This has greatly improved the presentation and gameplay. Since The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil , Touhou has generally run smoothly under current non-Japanese Windows versions, but - if no Japanese code page is used - dialogues and other Japanese-language texts within the game are lost. This can be remedied either by restarting the system with the appropriate regional setting or, as a more convenient solution under Windows XP / 2003, the free AppLocale tool from Microsoft, since no restart is required here and only the current application runs in the respective code page context; As of Windows Vista, the AppLocale installation program must be started from a command line with administrator rights.

TH06 東方 紅魔 郷(Touhou Kōmakyō) - The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (2002, Comiket 62)

  • First Touhou game to use spell cards

TH07 東方 妖 々 夢(Touhou Yōyōmu) - Perfect Cherry Blossom (2003, Comiket 64)

  • From TH07 the player's hitbox becomes visible when focusing.
  • Sakuya (fifth boss from TH06) is represented as a playable character.
  • Introduction of a Cherry system and the Supernatural Borders, which can briefly protect the player from a hit.
  • First and so far only Touhou game in which, in addition to the Extra Stage, a more difficult Phantasm Stage is available.

TH07.5 東方 萃 夢想(Touhou Suimusō) - Immaterial and Missing Power (2004, Comiket 67)

  • Beat 'em up with a focus on projectiles which, together with Tasogare Frontier was developed

TH08 東方 永夜 抄(Touhou Eiyashō) - Imperishable Night (2004, Comiket 66)

  • Extends the focused mode with a phantom mode, which replaces the game character with his team member when the focus button is held down
  • Has a Spell Practice Mode , in which Spell Cards that have already been played can be practiced individually
  • Introduction of the so-called last spells , extremely heavy boss attacks, which are only contested if the player is playing on difficulty level normal or higher and has collected enough time orbs in the respective stage.
  • Only touhou game that has two completely different final stages. The boss in stage 4 depends on the selected character or the selected team, stage 6A is selected by default, stage 6B is only available if the player does not continue and has already completed stage 6A with the normal end.

TH09 東方 花 映 塚(Touhou Kaeidzuka) - Phantasmagoria of Flower View (2005, Comiket 68)

  • Just like Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream built as a versus shooter.

TH09.5 東方 文 花 帖(Touhou Bunkachō) - Shoot the Bullet (2005, Comiket 69)

  • The game version of the official Touhou Artbook . The main character is the reporter and photographer Aya Shameimaru.
  • The gameplay is more about photographing your way free.

TH10 東方 風神 録(Touhou Fūjinroku) - Mountain of Faith (2008, Comiket 72)

  • Great simplification of the game and points system that became more and more complicated in the last Touhou games. For example, the previously character-specific bombs were standardized and linked to the power of the shot, so that the use of a bomb also reduces the power of the shot
  • Complete absence of the Graze system
  • Introduction of a new continue system, which gives the player any number of attempts, but always sets him back to the beginning of the respective level with 3 lives

TH10.5 東方 緋 想 天(Touhou Hisōten) - Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (2008, Reitaisai 5)

  • Successor to Immaterial and Missing Power

TH11 東方 地 霊 殿(Touhou Chireiden) - Subterranean Animism (2008, Comiket 74)

  • Reintroduction of the Graze system

TH12 東 方星蓮 船(Touhou Seirensen) - Undefined Fantastic Object (2009, Comiket 76)

  • Reintroduction of character-specific bombs with their own counter
  • The UFO items are new here. If three pieces are collected, a large UFO appears on the screen which, if it is destroyed, gives a different bonus depending on the type.

TH12.3 東方 非 想 天 則 ～ 超 弩 級 ギ ニ ョ ル の 謎 を 追 え(Touhou Hisōtensoku ~ Chōdokyū Ginyoru no Nazo wo oe) - (2009, Comiket 76)

  • Add-on for Scarlet Weather Rhapsody

TH12.5 ダ ブ ル ス ポ イ ラ ー ～ 東方 文 花 帖(Daburu Supoirā ~ Touhou Bunka-chō) - Double Spoiler (2010, Reitaisai 7)

  • Follower of "Shoot the Bullet"

TH12.8 妖精 大 戦 争 ～ 東方 三月 精(Yōsei Dai-Sensō ~ Touhou Sangetsusei) - Great Fairy Wars (2010, Comiket 78)

  • Danmaku-shooter with Cirno (second boss from TH06) in the lead role.
  • The novelty is the "Bullet Freeze" - a technique with which bullets of enemies can be frozen. Bombs freeze all balls on the screen.
  • Life and bombs are linked to the Bullet Freeze, i.e. H. the more of the screen is covered with frozen balls, the more “Motivation%” the player receives, with 100% corresponding to one life

TH13 東方 神 霊 廟(Touhou Shinreibyō) - Ten Desires (2011, Reitaisai 8)

  • In addition to Reimu and Marisa, Sanae and Youmu are also playable characters.
  • The second game (after TH08) contains a spell practice mode
  • Contains a Spirit-World version of every piece of music except Stage 6 Boss Toyosatomimi no Miko.

TH13.5 東方 心 綺 楼(Touhou Shinkirō) - Hopeless Masquerade (2013, Reitaisai 10)

  • Another beat 'em up and successor to Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
  • The native resolution has been increased from 640 × 480 to 1280 × 720 and a new engine is used
  • The fights now take place entirely in the air instead of on the ground as in the previous beat 'em ups.

TH14 東方 輝 針 城(Touhou Kishinjō) - Double Dealing Character (2013, Comiket 84)

  • In addition to Reimu and Marisa, Sakuya is a playable character in a main series game for the first time since TH09.
  • The third game (after TH08 and TH13) contains a spell practice mode
  • The game's native resolution has been increased from 640 × 480 to 1280 × 960.

TH14.3 弾 幕 ア マ ノ ジ ャ ク(Danmaku Amanojaku) - Impossible Spell Card (2014, Reitaisai 11)

  • Danmaku shooter with Seija Kijin (fifth boss from TH14) in the lead role.

TH14.5 東方 深 秘録(Touhou Shinpiroku) - Urban Legend in Limbo (2015, Reitaisai 12)

  • Successor to Hopeless Masquerade , in which the fighting also takes place in the air.
  • The main mechanics here are the occult balls, which are used differently depending on the game mode.

TH15 東方 紺 珠 伝　(Touhou Kanjuden) - Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom (2015, Comiket 88)

  • Reimu and Marisa, but also Sanae and, for the first time since TH09, Reisen, are represented as playable characters.
  • Introduction of the PointDevice and Legacy game modes. Legacy Mode plays like any other Touhou title. PointDevice Mode, on the other hand, gives the player an unlimited number of tries, but every time the player is hit, the player is sent back to the beginning of the last chapter.
  • Introduction of the chapter system. Each stage is divided into several chapters and each boss attack also counts as one. The chapters are mainly used to get hold of life and bomb particles, but they play a bigger role in PointDevice mode (see above). The chapter bonus is calculated from the number of enemies shot down and the collected graze and gives a life particle in Legacy Mode and a bomb particle in PointDevice Mode.
  • While the player grazes bullets (graze), items fall more slowly. If a floor is touched longer, there is an additional Graze bonus.

Adaptations

Music publications

The game music composed by ZUN appeared together with other pieces on a total of eight albums. In addition, a five-part series of CDs was released with a compilation of the music from the games. Further CDs with music appeared as supplements to the print publications.

Print publications

The series Tōhō Kōrindō ( 東 方香霖 堂 ), written by ZUN itself, appeared in several magazines and in 2010 also collected by ASCII Media Works . The light novel Cage in Lunatic Runagate ( 東方 儚 月 抄 ) appeared as a sequel to the game Tōhō Eiyashō in Chara Mel magazine from 2007. Other light novels appeared with Grimoire of Marisa ( グ リ モ ワ ー ル オ ブ マ リ サ ) and Tōhō Gumon Kuju ( 口授 ) 求 求 , both written by ZUN.

The manga series Tōhō Sangetsusei ( 東方 三月 精 ) appears in the magazine Comc Ace . In addition, the manga series Silent Sinner in Blue , Tōhō Ibarakasen ( 東方 茨 歌仙 ) and Tōhō Suzunaan ( 東方 鈴 奈 庵 ) are published in individual chapters in the magazines Chara Mel Fabri and Comp Ace . All series are written by ZUN and drawn by various dōjinshi artists. A Yonkoma series has been published in Manga 4-koma Kings Palette magazine since 2007 under the title Tsuki no Inaba to Chijō no Inaba ( 月 の イ ナ バ と 地上 の 因 幡 ) . In addition, short dōjinshis by various authors as well as interviews, music CDs and other visual material appeared in the two art books Tōhō Bunkachō ( 東方 文 花 帖 ) and Tōhō Shikōbana ( 東方 紫 香花 ).

Reactions and fan base

The Touhou project has a large fan base and is an important part of the user-generated content culture in Japan as publications primarily designed by fans . Among the works created by fans are three short animes . The first, from the fan group "Maikaze", appeared with two episodes in 2008 and 2012. In 2010, the studio ufotable produced a short anime for the game series with Anime Tencho , the mascot of Animate . The production was part of a series of short films for the 10th "birthday" of Anime Tencho. In 2011 Gensō Bankakyō ~ The Memories of Phantasm ~ ( 幻想 万 華 鏡 ) by the group "Manpuku Jinja" came out. The Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai ( 博麗 神社 例 大 祭 ) takes place annually as a convention that is solely dedicated to the game series .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with ZUN in Swedish Player1 Magazine (English) . September 25, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
  2. ↑ product page (in English)
  3. ↑ Announcement of Touhou 12, 'Undefined Fantastic Object', in ZUN's blog (Japanese) . February 26, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
  4. ↑ 1000 万 ID の 巨大 サ イ ト も 創作 の 連鎖 反 応 を 引 き 起 こ す 音 楽 や 映像 で 自由 に 表現. Weekly BCN, October 20, 2008, accessed July 10, 2009 (Japanese).
  5. ↑ 東方 二次 創作 同人 ア ニ メ ー シ ョ ン 夢想 夏 郷 A Summer Day's Dream. (No longer available online.) Maikaze, archived from the original on October 4, 2012 ; Retrieved October 28, 2012 (Japanese).
  6. ↑ Touhou Project , Anime Tenchou Get Anime by ufotable . Anime News Network . September 24, 2010. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  7. ↑ Touhou-Based 'The Memories of Phantasm' Anime Streamed. Anime News Network , August 16, 2011, accessed October 28, 2012 .