Fighting Games

Touhou Gathering Reverie ~ Immaterial and Missing Power is the first of many Touhou fighting games brought to us by ZUN and Twilight Frontier.

After the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom, the denizens of Gensokyo started having feasts every three days, during which a stange mist always appears. Naturally, Reimu and various other people set out to solve this mystery (or not).

The game is a 2D fighting game that involves dodging bullets. It's considered the most difficult of the fighting games, and sadly it's the only one that has little to no community left and no THPatch translation available.

Touhou Scarlet Perception Heaven ~ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody spices up the 2D fighting gameplay with the addition of weather mechanics and card decks. It's one of the most beloved Touhou fighting games.

The incident of the day are strange and capricious weather phenomena occur all across Gensokyo. Unsurprisingly, but not in the way you'd think, the source is the sky (Heaven).

Since the game takes place after the events of Mountain of Faith, a lot of new locations and characters make an appearance here, which definitely adds to its popularity.

Some of the game's stages. Click to enlarge.

Touhou Hisoutensoku ~ Chase the Enigma of the Gargantuan Guignol is an expansion of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, introducing more playable characters, weathers and spirit orbs. This game has the largest playerbase out of all the fighting games.

An artificial looking giant has been wandering all over Gensokyo, which unsurprisingly makes everyone curious about where it came from or what is it.

The game adds 3 more campaigns to the base game, most of which are sillier than the others solely because of the new characters that were included. It's beloved game for many reasons.

Touhou Heart Elegant Tower ~ Hopeless Masquerade is the first of the aerial fighter Touhou games. The fights are set in the air, making it possible to dive down above the baseline, as well as jump upwards. The game's graphics are inspired by Japanese historical art, which gives it a stylish flair.

All characters belong to a faith (Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism) and their fighting styles and bonuses differ as such. This ties neatly into the conflicts introduced in the plot.

The game uses a new engine built from scratch that features all new sprites, 3D backgrounds and of course, the air fighting mechanics.

As a direct antithesis to Hopeless Masquarade, Touhou Deep Secret Record ~ Urban Legend in Limbo is a stylishly modern, off-the-wall game featuring many modern day legends and modern day Earth for the first time.

Urban legends and strange orbs have appeared all over Gensokyo. People generally don't mind them, because using the urban legends to spice up their fights entertains them. A couple of people, however, decided to follow the directions of one of the urban legends, and pursue collecting the orbs, hoping to see what happens.

The air-fighting mechanics have been enhanced by the collecting of occult balls and the urban legends the player is able to summon with their help.

Some of the game's stages. Click to enlarge.

Touhou Spirit Possession Bloom ~ Antinomy of Common Flowers is a sequel to Urban Legend in Limbo, as its events directly influence the events of this game.

This time, the occult balls' influence affect the boundaries between inside and outside, dream and reality, and even the boundaries between people's minds. An odd effect that's abused for a quick buck by more than one person.

The game is played by choosing character pairs and switching between them to enhance battle capabilities.

Touhou Strange Tale of Avarice ~ Sunken Fossil World is a "horizontal side-scrolling danmaku water action game" as described on Twilight Frontier's website. Its genre is a mix between beat 'em ups and fighting games, with some platforming and collection as well.

Cursed black water is gushing to the surface in Gensokyo. Reimu, Marisa and other descend into the depths to find the cause, not knowing what horrors await them down there.

Twilight Frontier's new engine brought with it stylish pixel art and fun liquid mechanics that are integral to the gameplay.