As a fan of the Touhou series, it really was only a matter of time until I actually started reviewing some of the games. So far, I've played ten Touhou games, 6-16. Some of them I've finished, some of them I almost finished and died at the final spell, and some of them I just haven't been able to beat. However, I do have a lot to say about all of these games, so here are my impressions on Touhou 6-16:
Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil: Out of all the Touhou games, this is the most iconic one that everyone knows about. Its music and characters definitely helped to bring me into the series. More than any other game, this one gives me those early 2000s vibes that just generates so much nostalgia. However, this is also probably the worst Windows game in the series because, wow, is this one janky. It definitely feels like ZUN hasn't quite figured out how to make his bullet hells fair yet, because many of my deaths in EoSD felt... not that. The lack of a shown hitbox when you focus is the most well-known issue, but even more than that, the hitboxes in general just never felt quite right (looking at you bubble bullets). Deaths felt random, it's like I died when I shouldn't have, and didn't die when it looked like I was smack dab in the middle of the bullet. The bullet patterns also felt a bit off here, spell cards were undefined, and many entirely different patterns are being thrown at you at the same time constantly regardless of whether or not they work together. Not to mention some other issues like the somewhat grating soundfont, the chunky graphics, the easy mode that doesn't let you fight the final boss, and the point of collection line only being usable at max power. I love this games' characters, composition, and story, but it just hasn't aged well gameplay-wise. I think a full-on remake with the new engine could help it achieve its full potential.
2/5 Stars
Perfect Cherry Blossom: This was the first Touhou game I played, and it was a pretty great impression. I highly recommend it for new players since it really feels like the quintessential game, not too hard and not too easy, and lacking any intrusive gimmicks or insane boss attacks that might throw you off. The music and atmosphere is great, many of the characters have since become iconic, and the addition of a Phantasm stage adds some extra content. The gameplay has been polished up since EoSD, with the patterns feeling more well thought-out, the hitboxes making more sense, and the focus move actually showing you what your hitbox looks like. I especially love this game's last two stages, with the insanely fun Youmu fight and mind-blowingly tense Yuyuko fight. I definitely get why a lot of people love Yuyuko, she's easily one of the best and most intense final bosses of the series. I really don't have much else to say here, PCB doesn't really get anything wrong. Each character is fun to play, the bosses are entertaining to fight, and the difficulty curve is pretty on-point (Stage 4 isn't that bad, EoSD's is way worse), it's a nearly flawless Touhou game.
5/5 Stars
Imperishable Night: Imperishable Night is a very worthy sequel to PCB and a strong ending to that initial Windows trilogy. This one makes a bunch of great additions like the team system (which allows for some of the funniest dialogue in the whole series) and the introduction of spell practice adding a ton of replay value. The multiple paths give IN the most boss fights in the whole series, and I feel like this is the game that starts to add fun little gimmicks to spice up the bosses in general. Wriggle has fireflies, Mystia makes the screen darker (a surprisingly fun fight, by the way), Marisa has the master spark, Reisen has lunacy, etc. The whole game has this great fast-paced feel bolstered by the frantic piano-heavy soundtrack, and it results in a ton of fun set pieces. That chase scene at the end of Stage 4 genuinely caught me off guard and is still one of my favorite moments in the series. The atmosphere and general presentation is also stellar, the night-time vistas are so stunning, and the soundtrack is one of the series' best. Imperishable Night really did have all the makings for one of, if not the best game in the series... if it hadn't dropped the ball at the very end. Gameplay wise, the final stage and bosses are perfectly fine, but the way they work is too convoluted for its own good and just isn't explained properly. The game doesn't really tell you how many half-hours you have left before you automatically get a Bad Ending, nor the fact that Time Points are a thing, nor how to face each final boss, nor the fact that you lose all your continues on Kaguya's stage, nor the fact that you can't fight Kaguya until you beat Eirin. Aside from that gripe, I think IN is an incredibly fun entry in the series and another really solid starting point, but I can't help but feel a bit sad about how close it came to perfection.
Side Note: Imperishable Night introduces a minor recurring issue I like to call "Stage 6 Syndrome". Some of my favorite Touhou games are the ones that stick the landing and nail the finale, but there are also plenty of games that kinda peak around Stages 4 & 5 and fall off in the finale. This is the first instance of this, but it won't be the last...
4.5/5 Stars
Mountain Of Faith: I really wanted to love this one more than I did given that it has one of my favorite soundtracks in the series and some of my favorite characters. And at its best, this game is great, with Stages 4 and 5 being genuinely awesome. Some of the bullet arrangements take old bullets and rearrange them in cool waves to create shapes like waterfalls, stars, and waves, which I thought was really cool. However, out of all the games in the series, MoF kinda felt the most rushed. The game didn't have much of a variety in bullet types, and it ended up having some of the most notorious glitches in the series like MarisaB and the micro-dodging hell that is easy mode. I also found Kanako to be a bit of a disappointing end to the game compared to Aya and Sanae who came before her (Stage 6 Syndrome? So soon?!), with her basic attacks and nearly impossible Easy Mode variants. MoF also implements some new mechanics that I didn't quite love like tying bombing to power (though the buffer helps) and forcing you to retry an entire stage whenever you use a continue, though 11 and 12 also have those mechanics too. On the other hand, the lack of grazing is inexcusable and was a decision I hope ZUN never makes again. It all just added up to a game that, while not a bad title in the series, left me kinda disappointed. Still, I love the tengu and Moriya Shrine, the backgrounds are beautiful, and the soundtrack will always be a series highlight. Similarly to the 6th game, I think a remake that irons out the kinks could bring this game up to Top 5 level for me.
3/5 Stars
Subterranean Animism: This is my favorite game in the series, which may sound odd given its difficulty and similarities to MoF (the bombs and continues work the same way). However, I think there are so many things that SA gets right in spite of all that. The patterns are some of the coolest in the series, from Yuugi's partial rings to Parsee's flowers to Koishi's roses to Utsuho's giant suns. This game constantly throws new things at you without feel too gimmicky, resulting in some of the series' best boss fights. I also love the way weapons work here, with each weapon being tied to another character giving us the closest thing to IN's teamup system (doubly so in terms of dialogue). Despite most of the game taking place underground, ZUN went wild with the biomes here as well, particularly the big town in Stage 3 and the beautiful stained glass palace in Stage 4. And of course, the music is so good, easily my favorite soundtrack of them all. SA's biggest sticking point is the incredibly tough difficulty, but the difficulty curve is really well-balanced (each boss is harder than the last), and the easy mode feels far more well thought-out than Mountain Of Faith's. As a whole, ZUN fixed most of the issues with the previous game and ended up churning out one of the series' most creative titles with Subterranean Animism.
5/5 Stars
Undefined Fantastic Object: I'm very split on UFO because it was so close to being a game I genuinely enjoyed. The difficulty is tricky but not too painful, and the game throws in a ton of cool, new mechanics for the boss fights even if some of them like Unzan's giant hands and Zhou's curvy lasers might be a bit too gimmicky for their own good. The music's great, the story is interesting, Sanae is probably at her most powerful here, and I adore the final boss. However, it's that UFO mechanic that drags the game down for me. This is already one of the harder games in the series, but having to chase down UFOs in the middle of all these tricky patterns feels intrusive and artificial. But what if you decide not to use the UFOs? Well, you'll pretty much be starved for resources for the entire game, not to mention that this is one of those games where continues take you back to the start of the level. The thing is, though, the UFOs aren't poorly implemented. This is a very well-polished game that could have been really fun with simpler bullet patterns and maybe a bit of a UFO buffer (apparently Wily Beast does something like that). However, the combination of the tough bullets and the intrusive mechanic make this game feel more unfair than it should be, and it was the only game where I had trouble even making it past the third stage.
2/5 Stars
Ten Desires: I know this one is a bit divisive, but I genuinely really love Ten Desires. Oddly enough for a Touhou game, it feels calming, probably due to a combination of its easy difficulty, ethereal atmosphere, and experimental soundtrack. The new engine is easily the most polished yet and it shows in every game that comes after this. The spirit mechanic isn't the most well thought-out (auto Trance and the fact that the spirits don't fall towards you), but I never found it as intrusive or frustrating as something like the UFOs. I do generally like the concept of Trance Mode, though, especially with the way it modifies the soundtrack. The variety in the characters' shot types was also incredibly unique, especially Youmu, who uses a charged sword slash to attack. It's tough to learn, but satisfying to master. The boss fights all utilize gimmicks not unlike the previous game, but I don't think it's all that bad. As a matter of fact, I think TD is the only game in the series to really pull off boss gimmicks in a way that doesn't come at the cost of gameplay, as I loved nearly every fight in the game. Yuyuko gets the longest first boss fight in the series as she brings back watered-down versions of all her PCB attacks, Kyouko has a bubble mechanic that she can use to box you in with a ton of bullets, Seiga uses Yoshika as a shield to block you from hitting her while forcing you to deal with two combatants, and Futo uses her boat to move around quickly. I also think Miko is one of the better final bosses for her spectacular attacks, particularly the one where she brings in a bunch of her allies to fight, and the extra stage with Mamizou is really cool as well. The only weak fight was the Yoshika fight, whose healing teetered a bit on the gimmicky side, but even that could have been fixed by changing the way spirits worked. While this one might be the easiest game in the series, I still have a massive soft spot for Ten Desires, especially since it was my first 1CC.
5/5 Stars
Double-Dealing Character: Let me start by getting this out of the way, on a story-telling and presentation level, DDC is one of the best in the series. The concept of bewitched weapons is super cool, Sukuna's plight is compelling, Seija is flat-out my favorite character in the series (let alone antagonist), and the cast as a whole is incredibly varied, memorable, and fun. Not to mention the incredibly dramatic soundtrack which might just be the most overlooked in the series. On a gameplay level, DDC is fantastic too. It balances out all of the playable characters and weapons by just making them all super overpowered, leading to a lot of options for tackling the stage. Best of all, though, is the addition of one of my favorite mechanics in the series: The point of collection bonus. Rewarding you for going to the point of collection line with items and bombs was such a good idea, and while I never felt like I was starved for resources, I was also always at fault if I ended up wasting all of them. Stage 5 was especially great as it encourages you to use the point of collection line as much as possible with how it spawns enemies near the bottom of the screen. The bosses continue the trend from the previous game of being gimmicky but not intrusively so, setpieces like Raiko's barrels, Seija's antigravity, and Sekibanki's multiple heads were both memorable and fun. The only exception is in the fight with Sukuna (Stage 6 syndrome again?!) and the infamous "You Get Bigger" spell. If you've played the game, you know what I'm talking about, there's some awful hitbox resizing at play that really ruins an otherwise great idea. Still, though, even with that blunder I found myself really enjoying DDC. It's nothing amazing but the strong story, fun stages and bosses, and fantastic core mechanic made for a very fun time.
4/5 Stars
Legacy Of Lunatic Kingdom: I didn't think I'd love this one as much as I did, I mean the difficulty in LoLK is absolutely unreal (and maybe goes a bit too far in the micrododging hell that's the Junko fight), but there is a lot I really love about it. The addition of Pointdevice Mode is a really cool change of pace for the series, as it replaces lives with a checkpoint system that encourages you to navigate a pattern or spellcard perfectly before moving on to the next one. This allows ZUN to throw in some truly crazy attacks that can be very satisfying to master, leading to some very fun boss fights. The only exception is Junko, the final boss that might be the worst instance of Stage 6 Syndrome, though the presence of Pointdevice Mode did lessen the sting a bit. LoLK also has this general sense of intensity to it that really makes it stand out. The soundtrack is epic, and the plot is darker and more mature than any other game in the series (I especially loved seeing Reisen fight the Lunarians she escaped from). My biggest issue with this one is Legacy Mode, which forces you to get through LoLK without checkpoints. This is way too much of an insurmountable task for most Touhou players (let alone a novice like myself) and might have used a bit of balancing. Otherwise, I love this one. Learning to master Pointdevice Mode is a ton of fun, and the emphasis on intense arcade-y difficulty takes the series in a unique direction. While I totally understand if its flaws are too much (and I'd probably say 14 and 16 are better games in general), I found LoLK to be a very refreshing and unique experience.
4.5/5 Stars
Hidden Star In Four Seasons: I wasn't expecting much from HSiFS, but I was pleasantly surprised by just how well-crafted this game ended up being. It's almost like the polar opposite of MoF in that aspect. The first thing I noticed in this title is just how much customization there is, with four characters and a whopping four weapons per character, resulting in 16 different combinations! That adds so much replay value to the game, and it was super fun to see how differently each of the characters play. The difficulty is on the easy side, but the curve is excellent, slowing ramping up every boss. The real highlight though is the final boss, one of my favorites yet. Okina takes you back through each of the first four stages, using spell cards based on the four main seasons. Originally I found the locations to be a bit generic, but I really did grow impressed with how much the season mechanic ties the whole game together, from the biomes to the weapons to the boss fights. The final spell has her steal all your power and your weapon, forcing you to dodge one of four incredibly tough attacks, it was so jaw-dropping. And while the lack of an original extra boss is a bit disappointing (it's just Okina again), the drive to get revenge was such a cool feeling in a Touhou game. As a whole, this one is a bit on the generic side and its soundtrack introduces those awful Elementic drums, but it's otherwise just so polished and well-crafted, and the great customization gives HSiFS a ton of replay value.
4/5 Stars
Now it's time for some rankings. Here's my ranking of the games:
- Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism - Creative biomes, memorable patterns, flawless soundtrack, and awesome boss fights make for a rewarding experience despite the difficulty
- Touhou 13: Ten Desires - While the spirits mechanic is a bit flawed, the atmosphere, inventive boss fights, and banging soundtrack win it over for me
- Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom - Nothing flashy, but probably the most well-crafted entry in the series. Perfect difficulty curve and phenomenal second half makes for a great jumping-in point.
- Touhou 8: Imperishable Night - Borderline perfect, has the most contest, best presentation, and some amazing bosses, but it just doesn't fully stick the landing
- Touhou 15: Legacy Of Lunatic Kingdom - As long as you don't play Legacy Mode, this is a thrilling Touhou rage game with some bonkers boss fights that are very satisfying to beat
- Touhou 14: Double-Dealing Character - "You Grow Bigger" aside, I adore the story and characters, and all of the gameplay additions and changes are fantastic
- Touhou 16: Hidden Star In Four Seasons - While a bit bland, HSIFS is easily the most polished in the series up to that point, with lots of shot combinations and one of the best final bosses easily
- Touhou 10: Mountain Of Faith - While I love the cast, music, and general vibe, MoF is probably the buggiest and most unpolished main Touhou game and shows in the worst places at times
- Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object - There was so much potential here especially in regards to the final boss, but gimmicky bosses and an awful UFO mechanic just do not mix
- Touhou 6: Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil - As iconic as its presentation is, EoSD hasn't aged the best. The RNG attacks, the hitbox issues, the incomplete Easy Mode, it's all a bit hard to go back to
Here's my ranking of the game's different gimmicks:
- Point Of Collection Line (Double-Dealing Character)
- Team/Partner Mechanic (Imperishable Night/Subterranean Animism)
- Pointdevice Mode (Legacy Of Lunatic Kingdom)
- Seasonal Weapons (Hidden Star In Four Seasons)
- Graze Auto-Collect (Subterranean Animism)
- Supernatural Border (Perfect Cherry Blossom)
- Trance/Spirits (Ten Desires)
- Time Points (Imperishable Night)
- UFOs (Undefined Fantastic Object)
And my ranking of the final bosses is:
- Utsuho - Bombastic, climactic, thrilling, one of my favorite characters and fights ever
- Okina - Went so hard, a perfect cap on the game with a shocking twist in the final spell card
- Yuyuko - Just so satisfying, so intense, so perfect in its difficulty without resorting to gimmicks
- Byakuren - Sullied a bit by the UFOs, but the climactic nature makes it the highlight of the game
- Miko - Such a fun and colorful fight, and the previous bosses returning was so cool
- Remilia - The blood-red visuals are so striking and the patterns are nice and tough, bubbles aside
- *** Stage 6 Syndrome really shows here ***
- Sukuna - Most of this fight is really solid and tough, but "You get bigger" sucks
- Eirin/Kaguya - Fine but nothing special, though made worse by the convoluted systems at play
- Kanako - Basic attack patterns and a final spell that's flat-out broken in Easy Mode
- Junko - I love LoLK, but this boss is a piece of micrododging monochromatic shit
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