Touhou Danmaku series! - And others

[Maxine MagicFox]

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=3pTXMmK2RaM[/youtube]

Let's start out with what is Danmaku. It is "Curtain fire shooter" / "bullet hell shooter" or a shooting game.

What is Touhou. Well, in the context of this thread it is a series of Danmaku games created by ZUN and published under Team Shanghai Alice. There are currently thirteen games in the series. The first five are early PC-98 games. When most people think Touhou, they are typically thinking of 6+.

However, three of these games are ".5" in the series and are extras that set a different pace. Two of them are fighter games and one of them is like a "boss-only mode" sorta game.

Demo download site: http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/game.html
This allows you to download demos of 6+ with the exception of the newest thirteenth game which I don't think is released yet (?).

Anyways, I'm not very good at the games myself but I DEARLY love them all the same. They are absolutely GORGEOUS and their difficulty can just be out the window sometimes. Especially when the challenge of the games is to see if you can make it through without getting a continue AND earning a high score - and then of course trying to capture spell cards by not dieing or bombing.

My personal favorites (in order):
Imperishable Night
Perfect Cherry Blossom
Mountain of Faith

[Kakizaki]

If you are going to start talking about shooters, you had better make the correct distinctions. Danmaku is closer to translating roughly as bullet curtain -- more commonly referred to in the West as bullet hell shooters (sometimes maniac shooters) due to the intense walls or barrages of enemy bullets. These are actually a sub genre of shooters.

I've been collecting shooters for many years and on many systems (PC Engine, Genesis/Megadrive, SNES/SFC, Saturn, Dreamcast, PSX, PS2) I own easily over a hundred of them. Bullet hell shooters are just an evolution of the genre, not the defining example.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Well, actually, I was kinda mocking the starter sentences of the games.

http://intothelabyrinth.net/images/shooter.jpg

You are right. It is more commonly known as such but even according to this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danmaku - it makes mention that it can be called that. Still - "fixed"

As for me, I've only ever played Touhou and a few doujins. Touhou is the only thing that has ever interested me in the way of Danmaku since it has some gorgeous artwork, designs, and interesting characters. Apart from that, the only other "shooter" I've played is basic Atari, haha, if that even can even be considered.

Hrrrm, I only made the thread about Touhou, but I'll correct it and we can sorta talk about other shooters. I'm not TOTALLY disinterested in this subject especially if you have some demoes that I can try out.

I actually downloaded Touhou on a whim about a year or more ago when I saw the PCB demo on a free download site, and remembered seeing Dom of MegaTokyo.com discussing the games. So, you're right. I know absolutely nothing about the (sub)genre apart from what I've learned being in the Touhou community.

[Vapour Trail]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Riseatrance]

I only play PoFV and on request I also play IaMP.

I've had prior experience with shooters. I believe I could 2CC Ibara if I felt like doing it but that game is full of bs that I don't feel like wanting to go through ever again. Luckily I can apply that to my PoFV play and that's why I don't totally fail at it. Go go CAVE.

[masterofpsi]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Zai]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[ZetaBladeX13]

[Zai]

I downloaded Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Imperishable Night, Mountain of Faith, and Perfect Cherry Blossom, though I'm experiencing difficulties in getting PCB to work. Basically, I went with the ones you recommended, plus SWR as another friend of mine said he was enjoying it.

The three that I've been able to get working have been quite fun. My favorite out of the three is currently IN. Still on Easy, though. As I've only been able to survive without continues to the beginning of the second part (of IN), I expect I'll be on Easy for a while. =D

[Maxine MagicFox]

I haven't tried SWR. Where did you get it? It's not on the demo page frmo what I see. ^_^; If it's warez, please don't post the link publicly. Let's keep that stuff off the forum, thanks.

Awww, having trouble getting PCB to work? Be sure you are installing it while your computer is in Japanese text mode, right? If you want, try post at: http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php - and they'll attempt to help you out.

You really should try to get PCB working as it's definitely one of the best and hardest but most beautiful of the games. Don't be afraid to try the others as well!! The games are so different that you'll never know what you'll end up liking. Plus, you wouldn't wanna miss out on meeting the characters!!

Imperishable Night is the one game I finally managed to 1cc on Normal mode. I'm trying to work on 1ccing Mountain of Faith since it won't unlock Extra mode by 1ccing easy.

Imperishable Night has the EASIEST easy mode. TOO easy actually. So, I recommend all n00bs definitely practice on it. I can 1cc it with my eyes closed these days. If you need a Replay to watch to give you some tips, just ask for any of the games and I'll be happy to share!

Oh! While you're at the games, too, why not try something a little whacky and fun. ~_^ I wonder how well you'll do!

[Zai]

Yes, it would be considered warez. I actually got the link from a guy at GameFAQs's sig/quote. (<-- Can be removed if you think it's too specific) My friend who recommended SWR also gave me another link.

I'll continue to try and get PCB to load, but IN is good enough for now (as in, great). I'm really enjoying these more than I thought I would. I've now been able to advance to the end of the third stage in IN without continues. So I'm already improving! =D

Also, once I get better, I'll attempt to do it with one eye and possibly even when cross eyed. But for now, I'm good with my regular ol' vision. =D Well, not actually good at Touhou games with it, but...yeah.

[Maxine MagicFox]

:3 If only I could have decided when to attempt when one eye. LOL, no I'm joking. I don't even consider my eye a hindrance at all. I can't even remember what was the original discussion when we got to talking about the things that spawned that thread.

Oh, while I was surfing through, I had forgotten I had posted the replay up on those forums of me 1cc'ing the game. Check it out if you are interested:

http://mcloz.net/replays/th8_04.rpy

^ just download and put it into the replay folder. If you have a replay already in slot #4, just rename it.