The Touhou Project, also known as Toho Project or
Project Shrine Maiden, is a series focused on bullet hell
shooters made by one person, known as ZUN, who does all the
graphics, music, and programming for the most part. The Touhou
Project began in 1996 with the release of the first game,
Highly Responsive to Prayers, developed by the group
Amusement Makers for the Japanese NEC PC-9801 series of
computers. The next four Touhou games released between
August 1997 and December 1998 also were released on the NEC
PC-9801. The Touhou Project was inactive for the next three and
half years until the first Microsoft Windows Touhou game,
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, was released in August
2002 solely by ZUN after he split from Amusement Makers and
started Team Shanghai Alice. Touhou Project became a media
franchise spanning a steadily increasing number of official
games, in addition to commercial fan books, light novels, and
manga.
The "Bullet Hell" Style of Gameplay, known in Japan as Danmaku, focuses far more on the players ability to dodge the literal curtain of bullets bring thrown at them regularly then the actual combat and is known for it's difficult learning curve.
(An Example of the "Curtain Fire" Style of Gameplay)
The plot of the Touhou Project revolve around
the strange phenomena that occur in the
fictional realm of Gensokyo
(Literally
translated Illusion Village or Fantasy
Village) in Japan. Long ago, it was a
desolate place haunted by yōkai who
preyed on lost wanderers in the area. Soon
exorcists were sent into the area to resolve the
yōkai problem, and they eventually settled in
the area as a check on the yōkai. As human
civilization advanced elsewhere, the power of
yōkai began to diminish and they chose to seal
Gensokyo away from the outside world as a haven
for themselves.
As a result of the seal the isolated community developed its own civilization. As opposed to the outside world, magical and spiritual qualities prevailed over science and while yōkai and humans coexist, they still fight with each other. The only known gateway from the outside world into Gensokyo is the Hakurei Shrine on the border of Gensokyo. However, the seal has weakened and more humans are able to wander into Gensokyo from the outside. Things disappearing from the outside world such as extinct animals and vanishing traditions tend to show up in Gensokyo.
Touhou Games Released
- Highly Responsive to Prayers (Toho Reiiden)
- The first game of the Touhou series. It is not a traditional shooter, and is similar to Arkanoid instead. Reimu Hakurei, the perpetual protagonist, was introduced in this game. The game was released in 1996.
- Story of Eastern Wonderland (Toho Fumaroku)
- Released in August 1997 at Comiket 52. This is the first danmaku game of the series, and also marks the first appearance of Marisa Kirisame (here as the second-to-last boss), the second major player character of the series.
- Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream (Toho Yumejiku)
- A two-player, versus-type shooter. Released in December 1997 in Comiket 53.
- Lotus Land Story (Toho Gensokyo)
- Released in August 1998 in Comiket 54. This game introduces the focus mode, a staple of the series hereafter, that slows the sprite's movement to facilitate dodging bullets.
- Mystic Square (Toho Kaikidan)
- The fifth and last Touhou game for the PC-98, released in December 1998 in Comiket 55. Mima and Yuka, final bosses of The Story of Eastern Wonderland and Lotus Land Story respectively, return as playable characters in this game.
- The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Toho Komakyo)
- This is the sixth Touhou game and the first on Windows. It greatly exceeded the PC-98 games graphically and musically, and was the first game to gather a substantial Western fanbase. The story, told by conversations between characters during interludes in the action, goes as such: The land of Gensokyo(setting of all the Touhou games) has been engulfed by a red mist, and its inhabitants no longer see the sun. As the miko Reimu Hakurei or the witch Marisa Kirisame, the player attempts to deal with the source of the mist, a mysterious figure called the Scarlet Devil.
- Perfect Cherry Blossom (Toho Yoyomu)
- This is the seventh Touhou game. It is unusual among the recent releases in that the English and Japanese titles are not similar in meaning; its Japanese title could be rendered as Bewitching Dream. As the month turns to May, winter has lasted far longer than normal in Gensokyo, and the denizens begin to suspect foul play. As Reimu, Marisa or the new arrival Sakuya Izayoi, the player embarks on a search for those who are working to prevent spring's coming. Perfect Cherry Blossom continues the tradition of the Touhou games, the reappearance of former bosses as playable characters. Sakuya was the maid of vampire Remilia Scarlet, better known as the Scarlet Devil, and the player fought her several times in EoSD.
- Immaterial and Missing Power (Toho Suimuso)
- This game was produced in collaboration with Twilight Frontier, and is the 7.5th game in the series. Despite being released after Imperishable Night, it is numbered 7.5 because the events in this game took place before those of Imperishable Night. Immaterial and Missing Power is a 2D fighting game instead of the usual scrolling shooter. Though Team Shanghai Alice was only responsible for the storyline and some of the music, the game was listed as one of the team's official works.
- Initially playable characters in this game include some of the characters from previous Windows games, such as the two protagonists Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, Alice Margatroid, Youmu Konpaku (both bosses from Perfect Cherry Blossom), Sakuya Izayoi and Patchouli Knowledge (both bosses from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil). More characters become playable as the player finishes the story mode with the initially playable characters, and so on. An official patch to the game adds Hong Meiling (from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil) as a playable character, but she is not available in the story mode.
- Imperishable Night (Toho Eiyasho)
- This is the eighth Touhou game. It was released at the Comiket 66 Convention in August 2004. This story's focus is on a rather more insidious evil than past games. Gensokyo's yearly event, the Moonviewing Feast, is only one dawn away, but someone seems to have replaced the moon with a fake that will not grow full. A team of human and phantom set out to remedy this before the night is over—the story says that the team the player selects is the only team heading out to investigate. This is true for most of the Touhou games; the only character heading for the final boss is the player-chosen one—exceptions to this are Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream, Phantasmagoria of Flower View and Undefined Fantastic Object.
- Each of the usual playable characters gets a teammate from the non-human side of Gensokyo; in this entry. Reimu Hakurei allies with Yukari Yakumo, Yōkai of the Boundary; Marisa Kirisame with Alice Margatroid, Seven-Colored Puppeteer; and Sakuya brings her mistress, Remilia Scarlet. The new team is half-ghost Youmu Konpaku and full-ghost Yuyuko Saigyouji, end-bosses of Perfect Cherry Blossom. All the other characters (except Remilia) appeared in Perfect Cherry Blossom as well.
- Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Toho Kaeizuka)
- This is the ninth Touhou game. It was released in August 2005 at the summer Comiket 68 convention. This game is a versus-type shooter like Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream, and has very different gameplay from the past three entries in the series. The story puts the characters in an investigation on why the flowers of Gensokyo are blooming out of season and more than usual. Initially playable characters include Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya as usual (as well as two other characters from previous games), but the list adds on as the player progresses in the storyline of each of the players.
- Shoot the Bullet (Toho Bunkacho)
- This is the 9.5th game in the series. It was released at the Comiket 69 convention in December 2005. The game is meant to be the game version of the official fanbook, Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red. The player, as tengu reporter Aya Shameimaru, is tasked with taking pictures of bosses for her newspaper to clear successively more difficult stages. The game is unique in that the player has no standard shot or bombs; rather, the camera is the main method of offense and defense as it clears bullets from the screen. Scoring is based on the contents of each photo, boss location, number of bullets, and Aya's position. Notably, this is the only game in which Reimu Hakurei is not a playable character—in fact, she does not even appear as an enemy.
- Mountain of Faith (Toho Fujinroku)
- This is the tenth Touhou game. It was announced in early May 2007, and a trial version was released at the Reitaisai 4 convention on May 20, 2007. The full game was released on the first day of Comiket 72, August 17, 2007. Reimu receives an order to close down the Hakurei Shrine, or it will be torn down and the god of Yōkai Mountain will take it over. As either Reimu or Marisa, the player has to ascend to the top of Youkai Mountain to find the god behind the happenings and prevent the shrine from being taken over.
- Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (Toho Hisoten)
- This is a versus fighting game similar to Immaterial and Missing Power that was made with Twilight Frontier as well. It is numbered 10.5 in the series and was released on May 25, 2008.
- Subterranean Animism (Toho Chireiden)
- This is the eleventh Touhou game. It was announced on May 1, 2008. A demo was released at the Reitaisai 5 convention alongside the full version of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. The full version was released on August 16, 2008 at Comiket 74. A mysterious geyser appears one day near the Hakurei Shrine, which also seems to spout evil spirits from underground. Reimu or Marisa go underground with the help of one of three youkai (Yukari Yakumo, Suika Ibuki, or Aya Shameimaru for Reimu; Alice Margatroid, Patchouli Knowledge, or Nitori Kawashiro for Marisa) and stop the source of the geyser before things get far too out of hand.
- Undefined Fantastic Object (Toho Seirensen)
- This is the twelfth Touhou game. It was announced on February 26, 2009. A demo was released at the Reitaisai 6 convention on March 8, 2009, and ZUN plans to have the full game completed by Comiket 76 in August 2009. Spring has come to Gensokyo and a magical flying ship that is said to bring good omen has appeared in the sky. The player assumes the role of either Reimu, Marisa, or Sanae Kotiya, who returns from Mountain of Faith, as the three girls race to board the vessel. While the separate bomb counter is back, the scoring system gets complemented by the "Undefined Fantastic Objects", or UFO's, that appear as traditional unidentified flying objects in three colors (green, red and blue) and must be collected in groups of three in order to get different bonuses.
The large cast of characters and well detailed plot has spawned a very large cult following for the series and a prodigious amount of derivative works based on Touhou have been created since the release of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. These include dōjinshi(Or fan made Comics), music, MAD movies, anime, and games (even though the Touhou games themselves are dōjin games). The vast scope of Touhou derivatives prompted commentary, noting that Touhou Project became an unmissable aspect of Japanese consumer generated media. ZUN, for the most part, had acknowledged, appreciated, and even encouraged these derivative works by imposing very few restrictions on the use of his works.
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQLIaZUOnBU&feature=related&fmt=18
Important Links
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Touhou_Wiki (Touhou Specific Information Site)
Photo Gallery
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