KING RAT'S GAMER PAD

KING RAT'S TOUHOU PAGE

...Or, more accurately, the ramblings of a madman

Like most people my age who had internet access too early, I've basically grown up with Touhou. Embodiment of Scarlet Devil was and probably will always be one of the more well known games, and it's the one I was introduced to first—while it will always have a place in my heart, I was introduced to and became very interested in the PC-98 games in middle school.

For those that don't know, the PC-98 is a Japanese computer system, probably more commonly known in the west both for Touhou and the sheer amount of porn games developed for the system. Another non-porn series on the system is a handful of Madou Monogatari games, the two in specific being Madou Monogatari 1-2-3 and Madou Monogatari: ARS. Madou 1-2-3 is actually a port of the original MSX game, and personally I would consider it the most fucked up port, considering the more realistic artstyle and gruesome canon differences. More on that here—I need to stay at least a little bit on topic!

Touhou is known most for its bullet hell games, as well as the amount of fanworks (and memes) it has. The games generally seem to follow the same style (with some small differences), but there are a few games that stand out: Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream, Phantasmagoria of Flower View, and Highly Responsive to Prayers. PoDD and PoFV are both a series of boss fights in a more 2-player VS style (which makes multiplayer really fun), and if memory serves correctly, you also don't have to 1cc the game to get the good ending. Highly Responsive to Prayers, however, is the most unique game in the mainline Touhou series, being more in the style of Arkanoid, with bullet hell elements being added in.

I've seen the difficulty of HRtP be disputed. TV Tropes calls it 'Nintendo Hard', while some people consider it too easy because you can just bomb the stages and deal with the bosses. I find the latter to be a bit silly, only because the way bombs work in the game implies that these people aren't so good at it. You start the game with one bomb—the only ways to get them while playing is if you happen to turn over a card with a Bomp UP under it, or by losing a life. Stage bombing does have some advantages, though—some stages will give you an extra life or two (or three) if you bomb it immediately after entering. However, I only do that when I'm in a pinch or know I won't be able to defeat the next boss without a couple extra lives. I've heard that HRtP is one of the most difficult games to LUNATIC 1cc—while I'm not sure if I agree, it did take a month of grinding to finally 1cc the Jigoku route, and even longer for Makai.

There are easy and hard parts of both routes: the Makai route has more difficult boss fights, but more predictable patterns. The Jigoku route, on the other hand, has less predictable boss fights, but they're easier overall. The stage 15 boss in both routes switches this up, though—Elis is less predictable, and Kikuri is extremely difficult. Part of the Makai final boss' difficulty is her two phases—you'll probably already be lower on lives when you get to her second phase, and it's almost impossible to dodge her attacks in LUNATIC unless you spam cards like no tomorrow. Luckily, if you're on your last life, each bomb does 2 damage to bosses. I still prefer to win the boss fight 'legitimately', but this is also really helpful.

KING RAT'S (unreadable) HRtP STATISTICS

	EASY	NORMAL	HARD	LUNATIC	Avg.
Complete (M)	2	0	0	16	--
Continue (M)	9	--	--	135	8
1cc (M)	1	0	0	1	--
Complete (J)	4	1	1	25	--
Continue (J)	1	7	12	130	5.1
1cc (J)	1	0	0	2	--
Complete (T)	6	1	1	41	--
Continue (T)	10	7	12	365	6
1cc (T)	2	0	0	3	--

M -> Makai, J -> Jigoku, T -> Total
Last updated 02 Jun 2022.