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EoSD Stage 4 had the weird book things, so there's that. Overall, you're right, though, enemy design variety is a nice thing to have, and the lack of it in Windows games does feel strange. I do actually think some of the more gimmicky bullet patterns in Windows games go a long way to make their fights feel unique, though. Stuff like Seija reversing the screen in DDC, Kyouko reflecting her bullets off surfaces in TD or whatever Reisen had going on in IN all goes a long way to making those fights feel memorable to me, and there's a few more examples I could choose from. I do kind of wish the Windows games did that kind of thing more, though, it always feels really fun whenever it does happen. This is fair too, methods of getting extra lives in Windows games can vary on if they're any good or not, and I agree that point tiles are one of the better ways to go about it. I do like the way UFO does it, though, that felt really fun and interesting to me.

And now, we've made it to the first of the Windows Touhou games! ...Yep, this sure is the first Touhou game on Windows alright. I don't know if this is going to seem like stating the obvious or is going to make everyone on this forum hate me, but I honestly find this game to be pretty overhyped in a lot of areas. To start with, the story - Remilia has covered Gensokyo in a thick red mist so that she as a vampire can go outside in the day, and Reimu and Marisa head out to stop her, battling various members of the Scarlet Devil Mansion staff (as well as two entirely unrelated youkai) along the way. It's fairly basic, but it gets the job done, no issues here. Now, this is the part I think I'll lose a lot of you at; I do not think this game has very good characters. Alright, hear me out here, there are characters introduced in this game who I like. I've mentioned Cirno before as one I particularly enjoy, and Sakuya and Patchouli are another two I quite like (Patchouli admittedly more for the fact I think the "big floating magic circle" type of magic she uses is really cool than anything), but I don't think any of their best qualities are really there in their EoSD characterization. Cirno is a complete and utter non-character here compared to what she would go on to become from PoFV onwards, and most of the other characters are just kinda there as well, not really getting to express much of a personality. If you told me to name a single character trait Remilia has after I played EoSD without showing me anything else from the series, I really don't think I could. It's a shame, too, because Mystic Square and to a small extent Lotus Land Story were both able to do a good amount for their new characters with roughly the same amount of lines as the EoSD cast, so having virtually everyone here be carried by their portrayals in future games is a shame. Beyond that, I feel like this game's soundtrack is also somewhat of a downgrade from the last two PC-98 games, although it could just be that I don't like most of the instruments used in this game. It makes sense, given that ZUN was just now getting used to using anything other than FM Synthesis to compose music, but of this game's soundtrack, Voile, the Magic Library, Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial, and Septette for the Dead Princess are the only three songs that really stick out to me, with the rest ranging from alright to barely listenable for me, and even of the ones I just listed, Luna Dial is the only one I'd put on the same level as the best of Lotus Land Story or Mystic Square's soundtracks. This soundtrack isn't bad, mostly, I just find it extremely forgettable when compared to what came before or after it. Despite everything I've just said, there are some things I actually do like here! First of all, I feel like this is the point where ZUN became really willing to experiment with the bullet patterns. We'd seen a lot of variety beforehand in Mystic Square, sure (Mai's spinning laser wheel thingy continues to be one of my favorite bullet patterns in the series), but this game feels like it really goes out of its way to experiment and display its characters' abilities through gameplay, in moments like Cirno freezing her bullets still and having them move in a different direction when they're un-frozen, or Sakuya being able to stop time, place bullets on the screen, and resume time, having them all start moving at once. I really love stuff like this, so it's a pleasant surprise to see it being done this early in the series. Additionally, the character art, although objectively quite bad, still has a certain charm for me that I really enjoy, even if Meiling does look a bit like she'll eat me alive. Overall, while EoSD is responsible for the start of the Windows Touhou continuity, it's definitely a game that I respect more than I actually enjoy it. I have this idea in my head of it being one that everyone really likes, but come to think of it, I don't actually know what the general fandom perception of it is these days, so it'll be interesting to see if I get burnt at the stake for this post or if it gets met with a slightly underwhelming sense of "well, yeah, obviously".

Well, here we are, the last of the PC-98 games! I really love this one. In a way, Mystic Square, also known as "Shinki gets her home trashed by random strangers through no fault of her own", kind of feels like a culmination of everything the PC-98 games have been so far. It plays similarly to Lotus Land Story, which although I haven't played PoDD, I'm going to assume is the best of the previous PC-98 games gameplay-wise, and adds Mima and Yuuka as playable characters, each with their own distinct shot types and endings. Additionally, it's also a fair bit harder than LLS was - not as hard as most of the Windows games, mind you, but hard enough that my inclusion of the fact I managed to 1cc it as Mima on normal in this post is purely here for me to brag about being able to do that, as opposed to an attempt to demonstrate the game's lack of difficulty. Anyway, onto the game's story. Basically, demons from Makai have opened up a kind of tourist agency and are flooding into Gensokyo in unprecedented numbers, prompting either Reimu, Marisa, Yuuka or Mima to head into Makai to try and sort the situation out. Structurally, it is very similar to SoEW and LLS' stories of "strange new world causes incident, main character go in new world to solve incident", but the added dimension of the Makai incident being caused by a tourist agency of all things as well as the expanded roster adding extra dimensions to the story still makes this my favorite of the PC-98 stories. As you might have guessed, this game's story also doesn't take itself too seriously, leading to, in my opinion, potentially the funniest game in the series. Reimu and Marisa's stories mostly take themselves seriously, but Mima and Yuuka's might as well be glorified shitposts, and I kind of love them for it. Mima is just an absolute menace of a character who just wanders around Makai mercilessly bullying anyone she comes across, and when she's asked why she did all this by Shinki at the end of the game, she just says it was to "let off some steam" (thanks to this game I am now firmly a part of the "bring Mima back for Windows Touhou" crowd). The game also features a running joke where she'll consistently tell obvious lies and have them be followed by "(lie)" at the end of her sentences, which should not be as funny to me as it is, but oh well. Similarly, Yuuka is also mostly just here because getting to fight strong people sounds fun to her, and like Mima, is a pure demon with no regard for anyone's life but her own, with this game being where her infamous "genocide is just a game, after all" line comes from. Pretty much every encounter in Yuuka's story can be summarized as some unfortunate soul running into her, being either scared, confused or both by her intense bloodlust, and immediately getting curbstomped shortly after. My opinion that this game is one of the funniest in the series is largely carried by the fact that I find these types of characters really funny for some reason, so if you don't also find them funny then you probably won't enjoy a lot of this game's humor, but I still enjoy this game's writing a lot. Humor aside, the game's also just filled with tons of really cool set pieces that do a great job at conveying the tone and feel of their particular areas through visuals and gameplay. Stage 2's whole flying stars effect does an excellent job at making you feel like you're flying through another world, and is perhaps the single most visually impressive thing in any PC-98 Touhou game, and the rapid onslaught of enemies in Stage 5 excellently conveys the feeling that this entire world has suddenly come together all at once in a single combined effort to stop you from getting any further, contrasting excellently with Stage 6 being mostly barren, being potentially the easiest stage in the game aside from the first and using a single unmoving background, as if at this point Shinki is just throwing whatever she has left at you to get you to just go away already, but by now, you've already burnt through all of her most powerful forces. Additionally, I also just... really like a lot of this game's characters. This technically marks Alice's first appearance in a Touhou game, although she's very different in both design and personality (honestly I think I prefer Windows Alice), but aside from her, Louise's interactions with the main cast are all just generally really funny for one reason or another, Yuki and Mai's whole dynamic is really interesting to me, and still in my opinion the most well-executed version of the "fighting two bosses at once" concept the Windows games would go on to try out a handful of times, and although she's far from the best character in the game, Yumeko is basically a trial version of Sakuya, which at least makes her somewhat interesting to me. Also, Shinki did nothing wrong and deserved better, justice for Shinki. Moving on from the writing, I think it's worth noting that this is by far the most visually impressive of the PC-98 games, and it's clear that ZUN really wanted to push the engine to its limits with this game. The previously mentioned Stage 2 in particular has a really cool effect going on, and Alice's background in the extra stage is also particularly notable in this regard, but this added level of visual polish extends to most aspects of the game. Additionally, the soundtrack, like in LLS, still holds up excellently, and I'd put both games' soundtracks on a similar level of high regard, actually being more enjoyable to me than some Windows games (although I would rank this game very slightly higher than LLS). Grimoire of Alice is an overall great song, and potentially my favorite thing to come out of any PC-98 Touhou soundtrack, but it's far from the only banger this game has to offer, with End of the World ~ World's End, Legendary Illusion ~ Infinite Being, Crimson Maiden ~ Crimson Dead, and Last Judgement all being similarly excellent examples of why I believe this to be the best PC-98 Touhou game soundtrack overall. The Stage 3 theme is also another great one, perhaps my favorite in the game if we ignore Grimoire of Alice, although I have no idea why ZUN thought calling it "Romantic Children" was even close to a good idea. Overall, Mystic Square is an excellent game that still holds up perfectly to this day, and a great way to cap off the PC-98 Touhou era. Additionally, although I'm still largely convinced the LLS lag issue I had was purely something on my end, it's worth noting that this game for some reason runs perfectly fine for me, as does everything else in this series. It's not particularly relevant to the rest of this post, but it did feel worth mentioning, so I tacked it on at the end here. Anyway, Mystic Square absolutely slaps, go play it right now if you haven't already.

Ooo, sounds interesting. Personally, I really enjoyed Mother 3 (although I never finished it for some reason) but couldn't stand playing Earthbound, so I'd be interested to see if I enjoy this one or not.

Oh there are absolutely some great remixes out there, Hisoutensoku's version of Magic Library especially is one of my favorite songs in the entire series, and if we're including doujin music, then Demetori's version of Septette for the Dead Princess is another great one, even if I do like most of their stuff to begin with. This is true, I do definitely think there are characters here who get better as the series goes on, they're just not very interesting in EoSD itself. This is also true actually, when I first played LLS one of my first thoughts was "hey, wait a second, this feels an awful lot like EoSD". The only difference is that Yuuka is a way better villain than Remilia I would have assumed it was either Imperishable Night or Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, although I'm not sure what exactly I'm basing that on.

Same, and I also like how DDC handles Bomb/Life Pieces with the Point of Collection. That's fair. Of that group, Kyouko stands out to me more as something I wanna see more of, since her ability directly interacts with her own bullets. Heck, I kinda wish there was a pattern like some of her ISC ones in TD, creating a barrier on the player where they have to approach the bullets in a slightly different way. I enjoy the Windows games, though after a while of playing and replaying them I start to notice how same-y they can feel at times. I can appreciate the small changes and gimmicks between main numbered entries, but I need something more substantial every once in a while. Honestly I wish there'd be a new mainline game that goes full in on a unique mechanic like GFW or ISC.

I have a few examples of what I like, but I'll start with enemy variety and how they're integrated into the stages. The PC-98 games just have overall better varied enemy visual designs over the Fairy, Phantom, and weird Yin-Yang enemy that come standard in just about every Windows game. In LLS, you'd have enemies that only appear on their respective stage. Stage 2 has the enemies that rise from the lake, Stage 4 has both the doll-looking enemies that come out of the floor and the sawblade enemies that spawn behind the player offscreen with a telegraph and act as mini hazards. In SoEW's Stage 1, there are cannons that emerge from the water on the sides of the bridge, there are constant large projectiles coming from the top of the screen and it ends with a boss fight against Rika, showing that the projectiles were tank shells. Then you have stuff like Mystic Square's Stage 2 and the whole space theming it has going on, with chunks of debris to shoot and flaming comets to dodge. Stuff like that goes a long way into making a stage memorable outside the music, and it makes a stage feel like an actual location instead of just a surreal/pretty background disconnected from reality. Closest thing I can think of in Windows that did that was MoF's Stage 4, with enemy shadows being shown in the waterfall and jumping out to attack, which was cool. Next up are some bosses who have gimmicks outside of what flavor of bullet pattern they have. In SoEW, Mima has a lunging attack in the final fight where she tries to line up with the player and does a quick drop with her staff. LLS has Elly's survive phase pre-fight, which isn't amazing or hard but is something unique to her, as well as the boomerang scythe she throws periodically. Mystic Square has the Yuki and Mai fight you mentioned, which is the only fight in this series that has a definitive 2nd phase completely dependent on which of the two you beat first (closest thing in Windows are some of the duo fights later on in Violet Detector's scenes). Lastly, I prefer how Point Tiles are handled, as they give extends after enough are collected. I know that the first few Windows games carried it over to some extent, so I'll give those games that. I miss that system a lot, because it made collecting Point Tiles worth a damn besides just getting a higher score. To me, the PC-98 games feel different enough between entries and stick with me more after playing them.

I'm biased towards Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams, as it's my favorite Touhou game of all time. Might not be what you're asking for though as it's pretty much Pokemon. Other than that, I love its soundtrack and the inclusion of the whole cast up to 15 (the puppets are exactly that- just puppets- while the actual characters are somewhere in the world).

As the title suggests, I've decided to do a little thing on here every so often where I talk about every official Touhou game I can be bothered to say anything about in order of release, starting, of course, with Embodiment of Scarlet De- I mean Highly Responsive to Prayers! Man this game is weird idk how I feel about it I have no idea what the general fandom consensus on this game is, so I have no idea if this will be met with a "yeah obviously" or a "how dare you", but this game is... strange, and I don't know if I like it or not. I think I do? I probably do. Anyway, on the one hand, when it's at its best, it can be surprisingly fun and enjoyable to play, and even this early on there were still a handful of bangers in the soundtrack (Magic Mirror my beloved), but on the other, there are lots of moments in this game where you're stuck batting the yin-yang orb around for what feels like forever trying to hit that one single tile you have left, or on the later boss fights, stuck between choosing to attack and inevitably lose a life or continue dodging bullets and never get a chance to attack. Speaking of which, though, I do think the boss fights are the best parts of this game. While the actual stages can range from inoffensive at best to mildly inconvenient and annoying at worst, I had by far the most fun against the bosses. Their fight themes are all great, and although the fact it's occasionally possible to get stuck faced with an onslaught of bullets it's literally impossible to dodge, the fact the game allows you to retry them as many times as you like does help in making them not too frustrating. They're also where the yin-yang orb gameplay is at its best for me, having to balance attacking and dodging (something that only really gets annoying against Sariel and Konngara and is quite a fun game of risk and reward up until that point) against a target that's big enough to be able to aim for with decent consistency, and without any obstructions to get in your way. Admittedly, I can't actually beat Sariel or Konngara, so the fact I don't like those fights could very well just be a skill issue on my end, but oh well. The rest of the game is... less good, admittedly. There's nothing really all that fun about trying to hit the tiles in the normal stages, nor are there any real decisions to be made, you just kind of keep going until you eventually win. The normal stages are all really easy, too, with the only difference between the early and later ones being that the later ones are all mildly more annoying, without really providing anything more in terms of an actual challenge. Thankfully, though, "mildly annoying" is the worst they ever get, and they're not bad enough to hugely detract from the overall experience. Overall, it's definitely an odd game, and one that definitely shows its age more than even the later PC-98 games that came after it, but at the very least worth going back to, if not for a look at where the series started then just for the honestly quite fun boss fights. Fuck Kikuri's first attack phase, though. The rest of her fight is quite fun, but that first phase can go die for all I care. At least I get to listen to Magic Mirror during it, though.

So, what are you guys thoughts on the demo of Touhou 19? I have just finished the demo Story Mode with all 5 characters, and so far the game seems pretty much the same thing as PoFV, except slightly better/worse in some area. I did play in Japanese, so I might have missed some things. I didn't try to find out what the card did, so I can't talk about those. The goods: - Graphics are ok - Soundtrack is ok. Nothing groundbreaking yet. - Unlike PoFV, you now have 2 special attacks for your screen (Lvl1 and Lvl2 charge) and 2 special attacks to send to the opponent (Lvl3 and Lvl4). It's cool that the Lvl1 attack is now less powerfull. This could mean that we'd see less characters clearing all enemies with one attack. - Clearing a stage with a "Perfect Victory" gives you a different card. It might get frustrating to try and unlock these, but we will see in the full game how card play out. - Animals spirits seems to have various effect. This is cool, since the player can focus on taking down a specific type depending on the situation. The neutrals: - The slow mechanic can be good, but sometime it plays against you when you are trying to charge an attack Having a key for Shooting/Charging, a key for Slow and a key for Bomb might give more control to the player. - Bombs are limited. This can make bad RNG more punishing, but it also means the match will take less time (In PoFV, have rechargeable Lvl2 attacks that clears bullets could drag on some games, until the bullet speed become really fast) - This might be a Story Mode thing, but the character send a special spell card boss and when you kill it, the match automatically ends. If this is limited to Story Mode, it could be a nice thing since it makes the mode a bit more special. - There's no Character Balance, but at the same time it was to be expected that Reimu and Marisa would be stronger than the other characters. The bads: - I never really had this issue before, but sometime the screen can be pretty hard to read when there's a lot spirit+bullet+special bullets+focus area. It makes things a bit chaotic. - The controls. While you can now auto-fire, you can no longer use one key for shooting and charging. I think I'll get used to it, but being able to choose another control scheme similar to PoFV would be nice. - Had a visual glitch that made the background look weird, like the bottom half of the background was vanishing. Might be just me. - Bombs are pretty weak and don't clear much bullets. So far, the game feels like just more PoFV, so if you liked that game you may like that one.