Getting Started with Touhou Games! A Beginner's Guide to Choosing Your First Touhou Experience!

Have you ever wanted to get into Touhou, but couldn't decide where you should even begin? Well, this video will attempt to cover everything a newcomer to the series would need to know to decide on their first Touhou game experience!
You can purchase Touhou 10 to 17 here: store.steampow...
Read up Touhou yourself: en.touhouwiki....
DISCLAIMER The hitbox footage is not my own, as setting up the thing was ridiculous, so I gave up. If you want to take a crack at it, here's info on the things you'll probably need:
EoSD Hitbox Patch: github.com/mit...
Info required for this: en.touhouwiki....
Universal Practice Patch: github.com/ack...
LOLK PointDevice Extra (Creator Unknown, source would be appreciated) mega.nz/file/b...
*While timestamps are included, to avoid constant repeating of info, anything covered in a previous game won't be restated, so I do recommend starting from the beginning for the first time!
0:00 Introduction
1:08 Terms and Explanations
2:00 The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (EoSD)
7:33 Perfect Cherry Blossom (PCB)
11:00 Imperishable Night (IN)
16:28 Phantasmagoria of Flower View (PoFV)
17:50 Mountain of Faith (MoF)
20:13 Subterranean Animism (SA)
22:34 Undefined Fantastic Object (UFO)
26:24 Ten Desires (TD)
29:56 Double Dealing Character (DDC)
31:39 Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom (LOLK)
34:54 Hidden Star in Four Seasons (HSiFS)
37:04 Wily Beast and Weakest Creature (WBaWC)
41:06 Closing Thoughts
Thumbnail by: / rakkidei
Video Overlay by: / 24hrcallcentre
EoSD Hitbox, UPP, and Spellcard Menu footage by: / hakanaiblue
Support me on Patreon: / aspreyfm
My Twitter: / aspreyfm
Twitch: / aspreyfm
TwitchVODs: / aspreyarchive

[@AspreyFM]

Something I'd like to add that I forgot is that for Imperishable Night, the Point of Collection line works the same, but you can now use it just by being in Focus while over it

[@gamerpl4995]

Unless you are Marisa.

[@haxkn]

that may be the reason why Wriggle Kick became a meme

[@MauricioLSB]

What is the key to go slower

[@Talguy21]

@@MauricioLSB Unless you've rebound it, it should be Left Shift.

[@charmeleonevolves5553]

@@gamerpl4995 Marisa alone or Marisa and alice?

[@cha-kentouhou]

I am Japanese. You really like Touhou Project! I can't understand what you're saying, but I can understand your love. I'm very happy to know that there are people outside of Japan who love this game.

[@BadAssDaddy18]

Man, you don't know how absurdly addicted overseas peeps are to Tohou

[@RenataRengoku5941]

Im mexican and I love touhou

[@ch3rry833]

I'm from Italy, and I'm a fan since 2011!

[@azunixx]

Here an argentinian! I've just started playing Touhou today, it's so cool

[@jewel-kun9730]

From Philippines and I'm infatuated with this series...

[@SpinozillaSaurian]

41:52 "It's only a matter of time until Touhou 18 becomes a reality." Well, do I have news for you...

[@gravitymonkey9300]

Wait what happened?

[@SpinozillaSaurian]

@@gravitymonkey9300 Touhou 18 got announced

[@AspreyFM]

Believe me I'm very excited for it. I finished writing the video in December, and finished the Editing near the end of January, things kept me from uploading it for awhile was all. I knew Touhou 18 was coming eventually, but didn't see that eventually being 2 months

[@OkamiKai6980]

@@AspreyFM same. But like always *Mima's not here. Nor Flan-*

[@somerandomtouhouenjoyer4879]

@@SpinozillaSaurian And its name is *unconnected marketeers* dunno what that means

[@Plasmy271]

Me who has already played all the Windows games: "Sure I'll watch this"

[@LunarWingCloud]

Don't call me out like that

[@olthdorimirth6055]

Yeah, and I'm bored.

[@Zack_Zander]

Yep, gotta give respect for those who put out their time to help invite new possible fans. Despite knowing all of this, it’s still nice.

[@Amelia_Whitevoid]

Reletable.

[@abarette_]

ikr aaaaaa

[@user-ih7el2ul1i]

I am Japanese! I like Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom best！ Jyunko's Last spellcard(Lunatic) is SUPER CRAZY😭

[@haniyasukookina]

Bomb it,easy

[@user-ih7el2ul1i]

@@haniyasukookina I want to get spell card bonus. It take 4993😭

[@haniyasukookina]

@@user-ih7el2ul1i Oh...then that's the real pain,one of the hardest spell

[@ssjcrafter8842]

I'd disagree on Touhou 15 being the best, but it is rather fun from what I played. Also sorry for the completely unrelated question, but why is your name Kitsune/Fox with a Junko PFP, when Junko isn't a fox?(sorry for the question, I'm just curious)

[@momsaccount4033]

@@ssjcrafter8842 Junko fox go brrrrrrrr

[@atijohn8135]

The Touhou 9 segment is just "I don't even know what's happening on the screen, and you won't too, so let's move on"

[@Cyril86]

Which is a shame, since Touhou 9 is cool, and real fun in multiplayer.

[@marthedge]

It's my favorite and it feels like a disservice that it was kept so brief. It is markedly different from the rest of the mainline windows-era games and it is different enough that one could indeed call it a spin-off. But even so, after playing it for a while you sort of gain an understanding of the game's flow. The CPUs tend to set a sort of pace to their fights as a story mode run goes on and you can even get a decent challenge trying to survive the lunatic-difficulty computers (with fight pacing of their own). There's still patterns to recognize like a typical touhou game (opponents' level 2/3 spells are one thing with a bit of variation, level 4 spells are a few attack sequences cycled) and it is very heavy on the random pellet-dodging (which can come into good use for other touhou game patterns that incorporate random pellets). At its core it *is* a touhou game, it's just very mechanically-different from what a beginner may expect from the series. Every game tends to start somewhat slow, even the lunatic level ones, but they gradually increase into this less and less manageable chaos until either your human opponent cracks, the CPU decides to stop casually touching every bullet and die, or you resort to letting loose whatever spell-attack to get some breathing room (or crack/lose). All in a fairly short amount of time usually. Between the music and the pacing of each match I've come to adore it. It's like the danmaku equivalent of arm-wrestling. The only thing I can really fault PoFV for is making my hands tired (what do you know, it *is* arm-wrestling) from mashing the fire button and having a drastically different mechanical system from the rest of the (windows-era) series. I can't really fault Asprey for not recommending it to a beginner (because even I wouldn't, the fundamentals function differently and everything), but it did feel like the information given didn't do the game justice and might even give a wrong impression Like how bombs don't just instantly launch the charge bar, it also comes *at the cost of making it level 0 instead of level 1 after using it*, making you lose more charge economy in the match if you don't get a full-gauge pickup/1hp-remaining-charge (encouraging the charge-up for the "bomb" if possible and only ever hitting bomb as a last resort). Or how launching more level 2-4 attacks ups the intensity of the bullets (and if you don't use them, the game will do it for you via the score bonus). You don't "just shoot bullets to send attacks back", especially against CPUs that don't care and just dodge everything (short of specific characters such as aya/medicine that destroy CPUs). Level 2-4 spells are essentially a defense mechanism against CPUs and they're barely mentioned at all. Strictly for the sake of a beginner guide I could see glossing over a bunch of these details to try and stick to the basic framework of what each touhou game essentially is, but there are further mechanical explanations for other games' gimmicks present that I just don't see for PoFV. It's a very simple game once the mechanics are understood, but I do recall when first trying it out that I didn't understand why things were being declared automatically or how the CPU works. Ten Desires also had a similar mechanical overlook that was killing me without me knowing (trance mode increasing resources, certain resources only showing up if you fulfill a condition like killing specific fairies in a specific time frame). Getting a good run vs. a lunatic CPU feels great to pull off even when losing just because of how nutty the matches get. It has given me a thrill I haven't had in quite some time and I would highly recommend it after getting a taste from other entries. Sorry for the sudden essay/review I'm just very passionate about the game.

[@lordmarshmal_0643]

@@marthedge As a small addendum to this btw, there is a control option that swaps the keys Focus and Charge are assigned to, so that firing as normal immediately focuses you rather than charging after a moment. I actually figured this out while I was trying to clear Lunatic mode as Marisa a while back (got painfully close a few times, frickin heck Eiki is an absolute beast) and I found it surprisingly useful! ... even if I never did beat it...

[@charmeleonevolves5553]

Nah that's just every single game

[@eliteasriel4591]

Same for touhou 3

[@justananimefan1570]

I think the main reason I want to get into touhou is because of the characters All over the internet I’ve seen all the cute fairy girls and I guess it just has me curious lol

[@5soda]

Same lol

[@morgboat744]

it’s funny i think that’s the draw for a lot of people (and i’d be lying if i said i’m not interested lmao) but for me i just need to settle my masochistic game craving 😌

[@biandreadytodie8677]

It's that and the music for me. I may not have played the game at all but what I do know is Night of Nights has the serotonin in it.

[@water1374]

I feel like I'm about to have an epileptic seizure every time I see one of the games and it makes me extremely interested in them

[@darkensou1838]

most of the games are hard to acces do you have any help?

[@rorii-kon9338]

In my opinion, just pick the game you are truly interested in and you will probably get used to it once you practice alot.

[@flandechocolate9675]

yeah, even ufo

[@naif9464]

Ironically, UFO was the most interesting for me. I ended up 1cc’ing it after a couple of weeks of practice. The skill I gained from playing an above-average Touhou game resulted in me getting used to the dreaded LoLK much faster :D And yes, Byakuren is our god and savior

[@flandechocolate9675]

@@naif9464 may god listen to you, love byakuren though

[@haniyasukookina]

I choose LoLK,I was regret first,but it help me practice fast

[@D00000T]

Become a masochist and start with 15

[@mon_jay]

Touhou is a game that I enjoy even though I suck at it.

[@nocteperpetuaa]

same

[@jojotard5027]

If ur pfp is from an anime. Ur opinion doesnt count

[@crustacean78]

@@jojotard5027 who hurt you as a child

[@jojotard5027]

@@crustacean78 kzbin.info/www/bejne/joDVnZSrhrpqjqc

[@naif9464]

Jojotard WOW HAHAHA WE’VE GOT A MEMER !!!!1!!11 GAMER MOMENT

[@BamdTheBamd]

If anyone's curious about PC-98: Highly Responsive to Prayers: It's Arkanoid but you have to dodge bullets and the ball can hurt you for some reason. It's not too difficult as you can just bomb stages to get extends, but it won't train you for other games. It uses the same continue system as 10, 11 and 12. Story of Eastern Wonderland: The first shmup in the series has no focus, no visible hitbox, no boss health bar, and no point of collection. You also have to beat the game with all 3 shot types to unlock Extra. Fortunately, it's one of the easiest in the series due to overpowered bombs and easy patterns. Extends are gained by scoring. Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream: Same as 9 but simpler and better. It's a versus shmup, so no reason to start with this one. Lotus Land Story: Lots of resources, easy patterns, and an overpowered shot type (MarisaA) makes it one of the easiest. It introduced focusing and a boss health bar. Bombs have a magnet that attract all items on screen. You can't get to Stage 6 if you're playing on Easy or have used a continue though. Mystic Square: Similar to Embodiment of Scarlet Devil in difficulty cause of low resources and difficult patterns. You get an extend for every 100 points. I use Anex86 to emulate PC-98, though others use T98 or Neko Project instead. These emulators have savestates which are useful for practicing.

[@Javifaa]

About the emulator of choice, I always recommend using Neko Project 21 due to it being not only the most accurate and feature complete, it has the best sound emulation of all of these. Still, it's resource hungry, so...

[@Sombres]

SoEW also has you press the shoot button continously to shoot bullets faster

[@momsaccount4033]

@@Sombres wdym by “continuously”? Holding the button or pressing it over and over again?

[@bushieboiyay6531]

@@momsaccount4033over and over again

[@momsaccount4033]

@@bushieboiyay6531 nice

[@v4rr0lot3k6]

Touhou isn't just a game franchise. It's an experience. Remember that when you start!

[@neitoxotien2258]

I just noticed the thumbnail of this video is accurate. The Touhou jewelcase they are holding where they became a playable character. Nice touch there.

[@raphaelsanchez7386]

And the best part is that Cirno gets ⑨.

[@MisterNameGame]

Despite the lack of the visible hitbox. I personally think Touhou 6 is not a bad starting point since the game is rather simple and straightforward. The bullet patterns can be a little challenging thanks to the speed and reflexes you need to learn but overall, it's not a bad game. Touhou 6 is also the game with the most iconic characters like Cirno, Sakuya and Remilia so it would be great for people who wants to learn about the canon or want to go in chronological order.

[@cirnogaming2352]

it's not a terrible starting point, but because of things like the fast and random patterns and not being able to get to stage 6 on easy, i think there are better starter games like 7 and 8 which can be much more fun

[@TarosTheVoid]

As a person who started Touhou shmups, I agree it's a pretty good start to the series.

[@twist22]

Yeah I think I’ll go this route with it. Having Touhou 7 as one of the best to start with, but seeming so similar already to Touhou 6 made me wonder if I might as well just start with 6 anyway for a more chronological experience.

[@Javifaa]

@@twist22 I think you underestimate how much randomness does have EoSD, even if we don't factor rank (which on this game is not friendly to the new players). Add to that some undercooked additions (that by PCB are fully cooked) and stiff controls, and you have a game that doesn't work as well as a starting point as one would think just looking from the outside. To be fair, I also think the game, while a solid one, is not that good as most of the other Touhou games. Definitively not the worst one (SoEW holds that title), but that doesn't say much.

[@PerlDrop]

Woah you put a lot of effort into this!! Big ups man this is good shit 👍👍

[@fumoyuuka3117]

Ah it's you

[@IEatSignificantAmountsOfAss]

Oh damn, it's the funny Touhou man.

[@raikaria3090]

'The PC-98 era is not referenced in the Windows Era' Except in Touhou 9 directly [Yuuka is involved because people think the flowers are her fault due to LLS] and indirectly in Touhou 7 [Alice recognises Reimu but Reimu dosen't recognise Alice because of Alice's redesign since 5]

[@wwld9823]

when you go out in the rain without an umbrella and try to dodge every drop that's how you get into touhou

[@georgelongcoal1117]

What a big hitbox...

[@MonacoNH]

^

[@charmeleonevolves5553]

Nah, the hitbox is your center (heart)

[@ephraimium6755]

No before you do that you must know how to hit birds with a Yin Yang ball by kicking it into the sky Edit: Also don't let the ball bong you

[@Anonymous-uz3yy]

Weaklings, I tried dodging hail.

[@neitoxotien2258]

Btw, I discover Touhou because of Random red dressed anime character with yingyang orbs, and then I got into Bad Apple! Finally I now played Touhou and my first play was Imperishable Night. Good stuff tho.

[@LushieTilde]

28:55 Because that would be incredibly broken. If you could activate trance whenever you want below full charge you could essentially have a permanent get out of jail free card you would never run out of. It wouldn't really matter if it lasted only a fraction of the full duration because you really only need it to avoid doing that one dodge that scared you into trancing in the first place. Also manual trancing only being at full charge also creates an element of choice, do you trance during the stage to get as many doubled resource as possible or do you trance to avoid this one stage section that you don't know how to do and save bombs? The spirit gauge completely depleting contributes to this, if you try to save your trance for resources and then get hit then you get punished for it, you make a risky choice and sometimes it doesn't pay off, just like getting hit and losing all your stockpiled bombs in most games. Anyways I almost agree with your choices completely. Personally I would swap WBaWC with TD, but that's just my opinion (or have both on the recommended list). TD might give you low amount of resources, but it's patterns are fairly easy to compensate. When I initially started playing Touhou I marathoned clearing every game with all continues used and IN and TD were the 2 games where I stopped and actually 1cc'd them on Normal before moving on because I had so much fun with them. I never felt like TD gave me a low amount of resources because I just had way less opportunities to die. Of course this is just my personal experience with TD as a new player, and obviously it does not reflect what other people's experience might be! Plus I came right off trying to clear SA and UFO with continues for days and failing. But honestly as long as it's not PoFV (too different), SA, UFO or LoLK, any game is a good starting point. I still remember how hard I raged at UFO when I was new, that game was not fun to play before I became better at shmups. I did find SA fun but I had to quit it and UFO and move on to the next game because I could not clear them with their continue system when I was playing all the games for the first time.I had fun with LoLK but it's definitely not a game for new players, I already had 2 1ccs and all previous Windows games worth of experience under my belt at that point and it still took me about 8 hours to clear the game on Pointdevice... up to Junko's final at which point I think I quit if I remember correctly. I remember naively bombing patterns thinking the next one won't be as bad, and then I got stuck on Doremy's final for 80 or something attempts and on Graze Inferno for 4+ hours. Fun times, but also definitely frustrating the many times I almost captured a spellcard and died.

[@MaribelHearn]

TD can already be broken even with only being able to trance with a full gauge, assuming you aren't using Reimu. Leaving blues/greys behind during your trance means you can get close to or straight up a complete refill and immediately trance again during the lategame. On Stage 5, you can essentially skip every stage portion with trances alone.

[@Carpatouille]

I would also avoid Touhou 10 for beginners for most people. Any Touhou game using power for bombs is a recipe for disaster for most new players, as you kinda need bombs to help you through the difficult times and learning the game. Unless you're planning on cheesing the game with Marisa, but then are you really learning the game? And you need to know about it, so if you don't it's a terrible start. I would only recommend the considered difficult Touhou games or the ones using power for bombs only if these are the games someone is interested in for whatever reason (music, characters, story), otherwise for most people it's probably not the best choice

[@BinglesP]

Here’s a little trick I learned while playing the games myself(which especially works for EoSD given the lack of Focus’ hitbox-showing) Look at the sprites themselves. Though not exact and harder to, well, “focus” on, most Touhou protagonists have bows on their backs that aren’t usually the same color as their dresses. These can act as showing hitboxes, even when unfocused.

[@TheGreatMillz]

I started off at Subterranean Animism and oh boy was that a rather merciless experience. But at the same time, it was rather addicting and I absolutely loved the music. It actually trained me quite a lot for other Touhou games with understanding how to play schmups.

[@Carpatouille]

It may be merciless, but at the same time one of the most satisfying games to 1CC by far too, it feels so good to beat it honestly

[@chipsdonut1]

It's been around 11 years since I found out about Touhou and I think Imperishable Night is one of the best ones to start off with and has a lot of content in comparison to the others.

[@Carpatouille]

It's probably still the best Touhou game objectively, there's so much stuff in it, and it's even more impressive knowing Zun wanted to make even more stuff in this game, mind blowing even

[@dantheman-vs3gi]

I remember first getting introduced into Touhou back in 2007, around the time MoF came out. Saw one of my older cousins playing it while visiting extended family and got hooked since. To think that back then I only really had access to five windows era games while there are now going to be thirteen. In terms of beginner friendliness, I definitely feel that the top two are Imperishable Night and Perfect Cherry Blossom due to the large amount of content that is packed into those games with spell practice and a good cast of characters to choose from (especially with IN and its wide cast of characters). I wonder if you're going to be talking about the fighting games since they're easier to get into for people who might not like the bullet hell genre and offer a good amount of lore in them? Anyways, great video as always and looking forwards for more!

[@Carpatouille]

I think TH8 is objectively the best Touhou game for the reasons you mentioned. It may not be your favourite, but it's always in your top 3 best TH games for a reason. Also, Touhou 12.3 is the best Touhou fighting game by far, highly recommend for people who love fighting games and who are interested in the Touhou universe, that's what I would recommend

[@zturtle1630]

YES! THIS is the video I've been waiting for! I'll definitely be sending this to my friends later to help them get into the series!

[@charmeleonevolves5553]

... so did it work?

[@zturtle1630]

@@charmeleonevolves5553 No 😔

[@phoenx-wb9xd]

The video is here! Just a glance at the timestamp made me all the more excited, and I can only wonder how much effort you put into this. Thank you!

[@starpenguin1]

Coming back to this after having done a 1cc of almost every game makes you see things in a different way. Thanks for giving me the last push to play these games, I've been having a blast playing through all of em.

[@Kyouno]

Every Touhou game is fun. Even that one where Sakura gives you advice then “dabs” on you 😉. Just make sure not to get Mechanical Scrollery unless you really like to grind and own a console. That game is not really PC friendly...

[@simonitsuka6576]

I'm just going to assume autocorrect changes Sakuya to Sakura

[@hiiragii]

Those games are fan games, though

[@somefries3101]

Sakuya gives you life advices and dabs 😎

[@toaofatome6095]

TLDR: Start with PCB (like me)

[@aronnecroman]

I myself started from WBaWC but after playing all of the game i can definitely say that you should start from PCB

[@ihaveadream7858]

But why not MoF though? Is it because its too easy and the gap between it and other touhou games is too large?

[@aronnecroman]

@@ihaveadream7858 The bomb using Power(P) mechanism is stupid. And it's only appear two times in the series so far anyway, so better play the one with the most common/simple mechanism that will appear a lot more on the series. Also it has fewer shot types. And PCB is one of the easiest game imo. TL;DR = That game feel a lot more messy/experimental than any other game

[@ihaveadream7858]

@@aronnecroman I get what you mean dude. Btw was the first game I played. Idk why I feel that the game is really clean, less micrododging and more macro-intensive spellcards. You feel that you have more space for everthing People say "you can just bomb through everything in this game" for a reason. An experimental one, yet a forgiving one, dealing full dmg at 4.00 power means you get a free bomb at 5.00. Also it makes point pieces the most valuable, I hate collecting things that give me no practical things (especially Power items), having only Faith, Point and Power and Life pieces without any other bs like games from 11, I love the simplicity of it. A refreshing game in my opinion

[@touhoufan7061]

For me I recommend Imperishable Night

[@daedelous7094]

The PC-98 era isn't ENTIRELY unreferenced in the windows era. Most notably. Alice in Reimu's game in PCB: Alice clearly indicates she remembers Reimu, but the latter doesn't remember anything about meeting Alice. This is because while Reimu hasn't changed too much besides a new outfit, Alice is now a young adult compared to being a kid in Mystic Square. She also carries the grimoire that she used in the Extra Stage of Mystic Square. None of the characters really reference Mystic Square again after this though, although Alice did have her dolls back then too, Reimu most likely is just so lazy that she forgot casually beating her up. Byakuren boss battle: One of Byakuren's Spellcards is "Great Magic: Devil's Recitation" and is practically a recreation of Shinki's (Mystic Square: Final Boss) patterns. Shinki is described as the devil ruler of Makai and while Byakuren was sealed in Makai it is presumed she was taught it. Genji: This one is kinda cheating but ZUN himself has confirmed that Genji (Reimu's elder tortoise pet that she rode around on in the PC98 era before she flew on her own) is not gone, he just chills in the pond near the hakurei shrine now. There is also the appearance of Yuuka Kazami (Dressed this time as opposed to catching her in her nightie, also the penultimate and final boss of Lotus Land Story) but she doesn't make any reference to her mansion or anything around it.

[@justwantingtomakepeoplesmile]

Started with DDC and thats where i fell in love with Kagero Imaizumi.

[@victorhugo-od9ek]

* cries in Seija Kijin *

[@Akay4444444444444444]

I like how, when saying the PC 98 games aren't referenced, you showed the boss fight of one of the few characters to appear in the Windows games

[@PunYT]

One thing that I'm surprised that's slept on for PCB is the best shot type in the series, in my opinion: SakuyaA. Unfocused, it's a wide spray, perfect for wiping out small fry. while the focused shot is an aimed one, albeit at a specific arc. She also has 5 bombs per life, and they're great for their roles, too. The unfocused bomb, Indiscriminate, is a screen-clearing bomb that's good to give yourself breathing room. Her focused bomb, Killer Doll, focuses a specific target, which can help with clawing away at their HP, when in a boss fight, while keeping yourself from getting hit.

[@emachine003]

10:47 “The pace of the game is easier to get comfortable with” *shows that fucking youmu spell that took me hours to learn how to somewhat consistently capture*

[@boniour3883]

I've been wanting to get into Touhou for so long but didn't know where to start, thanks a lot I think I'll get PCB then Once I get familliar to the gameplay get EoSD so I can enjoy it story wise without missing to much references if there is some

[@gbc-cg1zw]

Thanks for the informational video! I started with EoSD a few months ago and quickly learned that playing it is way more difficult than watching others play it lol. I’m still a little stuck on completing SA, but its definitely been an enjoyable experience so far.

[@Lh0000]

Patchy is my hard counter... I don’t know WHY she just is, I can’t practice the later stages because she stops me dead... send help!

[@haniyasukookina]

@@Lh0000 practice mode can help you

[@Dukstless]

"a glowing enemy to show boss" the w h a t

[@RaKKiDei]

Since I'm the type of player that tends to be interested in story, when I started, the last one released at the time was MoF and I remember playing them cronologically from 1 to 10 including the spin-off games. Not necessarily beating them, but playing a couple of stages (up to the 4th mostly), testing the mechanics and seeing the characters. I don't remember exactly but I'm almost sure the first one I beat was IN (extra stage included).

[@decalcomanie123]

I think Wily Beast might be the best starting choice because roaring mode is actually a lot of fun, unlike gimmicks in other games which all kinda just exists, and has little to do with player experience. Also the main menu theme sets up the tone perfectly for the rest of the series XD.

[@Tycitron6000]

Started with 7 myself, just recently beat the extra and phantasm stages, dear god it was tough, havent beaten Flandre yet, the stage keeps kicking my ass. will probably now try to 1cc touhou 8 a few times.

[@crustacean78]

I attempted a 1cc earlier today on normal and made it to stage 6, on my last life. I forgot that on kaguya's path, you cant continue and I was really sad lmao, Ive never gotten close to kaguya (only eirin) until today

[@TheDarkArcherz]

Flandre? Don't you mean Ran? 'Cos Flandre is the extra boss in six, not seven.

[@Tycitron6000]

@@TheDarkArcherz Yeah i was talking about 6 right after i said i have beaten Ran and Yukaris bosses. Flandres level kicks my ass.

[@jordanscholes9571]

Thank you for this video! You've helped me and many others get into this amazing series of games!

[@zizzwinghi]

Touhou 18 coming soon! (Demo 21 March, Full game in May)

[@GeneralVan]

I started with EoSD two months ago (and is so far the only game I’ve played) and while it is difficult it is also very fun to play. I felt so great after finally 1cc’ing it and I recently beat Flandre as well. My advice: be patient and practice

[@Raltze_]

how did you download it?

[@GeneralVan]

@@Raltze_ Bought a physical copy online and followed a guide to get it working for Windows 11

[@derpyfailz572]

Gotta say I really love the way you’ve done this. You objectively mention each games pros and cons then give a recommendation rather than a ranking. I especially love that you’ve mentioned the patches because they really do help compensate for some of Touhou’s weirder choices.

[@koishiwii8370]

My father once has taken interest in playing the Touhou bullet hell games because he has mistaken these for flash games and that he was a fan of playing shoot 'em ups before. Not to mention that he has found these to be fairly challenging and forgiving like the good old TMNT beat 'em ups and Super Mario World and he even has considered lunatic to be the Donkey Kong Country difficulty equivalent.

[@EightyFourThousands84000s]

I got into Touhou through the fan music. 8ish years ago I randomly found "Beautiful Trick" by FELT. I was listening to all the circles for a while without knowing all the compositions were based off of scores from Touhou. I'm pretty sure the OG creator, Zen(?), made the music CC-BY. Pretty cool

[@Darkusaido]

who's zen? or is it zun?

[@Azure9577]

@@Darkusaido ZUN is the guy who created touhou

[@Darkusaido]

@@Azure9577 ikr

[@allenearl1514]

LoLK was my first, and it was a phenomenal time for me. Having the checkpoint system of Pointdevice Mode let me gradually get used to how the game works, all without making me start from scratch just because I'm so new to shmups.

[@okuu_utsuho]

35:04 Tanned Cirno!

[@shrimpfry880]

i got into touhou in early february and it took around 2 months to "get comfy" in the fandom, get familiar with the characters, and play with every mainline game (pc98, windows, and the spinoffs). faster than i've expected also, newcomers: start with EoSD since it has the most fan related artwork to it and then work your way up. only get into the spinoffs after you've played every mainline windows game. PoFV is also a great starting point if you want to get into the fandom since it has a ton of lore, easier gameplay, and flowering nights.

[@Cholincy]

Imo, imperishable Night is better to start with, has alot of lore, More Character Variety, Marisa's Line, One of the more easier games to practice with, and probably one of my favorate 2hu games with its music.

[@Carpatouille]

@@Cholincy It's the best Touhou game, but there's a risk it might be too much for a newcomer. So many features, things to unlock and understand, it can easily be too overwhelming for a beginner. Also starting with 7 lives might give you unrealistic expectations of how difficult a Touhou game should be overall, unless you consciously decide to only start with 3 lives, but it's too tempting to start with 7 when you start. It's still a good game to start with, but I wouldn't recommend it to a complete beginner, unless he really wants it.

[@thetacticianmusician6565]

Something I think gets overlooked a lot is that although PCB is relatively easy (compared to the rest of the series) on Normal and above, it has one of the hardest Easy modes in the series. Stages 5 and 6 in particular feel nearly indistinguishable from Normal mode.

[@Darkusaido]

Nice to hear cuz I completed pcb in 2 days on ez mode

[@patriongodoffinancialgainf6301]

I started with UFO actually and so I can't bring myself to hate that game. But even then I'll admit it's not the best, getting the big UFO you'd want (in most cases the red ones) after stage 3 is utter hell

[@Carpatouille]

Yeah, TH12 would probably be top 3 best Touhou games on my list if it wasn't for the UFO ressource system which ruins the fun for me

[@catboywizard]

UFO was actually the first touhou game I cleared back in the day, story and music wise it's still my favourite game in the series 🛸🛸🛸

[@Eddiegames9]

Great video, personally I started with DDC and had a really great time with it due to the interesting shot type variety the cast has with straightforward mechanics. And personally, while I wouldnt recommend it as a first game, I had an absolutely incredible time playing Impossible Spell Card, which also has the perks of showing off a lot of characters from other games, helping you pick which games you want to play next.

[@poledra4153]

I can understand your fun with ISC. Shoot the Bullet and Double Spoilers are my favorite games

[@acrux1918]

Someone who just decided to join this fandom here, thanks for the video. Had no idea where to start or where to get the games.

[@acrux1918]

Update: installed 6, 7 and 8, recently started playing with 7.

[@shishirraut3262]

Finally, a proper video explaining how to get into touhou. I wish I had seen this way before, would have made it easier for me to get into Touhou. Hope this video helps new players.

[@SinNombre-_-]

My first touhou game was SA and I loved it. I got hard-stuck on stage 4, and kept using continues because I thought it was the last boss and I really wanted to beat it x)

[@haniyasukookina]

And the final boss is her pet

[@Carpatouille]

Yeah, everything was so well done and beautiful, stages, bosses, music, even the story, and for a Touhou game the story gets kinda dark, not only because of the fact you're entering Gensokyo's hell, but also because Utsuho is actually out of control and an actual real, dangerous threat to the world with her nuclear power. Most of the final boss musics in Touhou are beautiful and epic, mixing some moments calm in it, but this one trully does feel like a more standard final boss theme, with a lot of danger and epicness in it, you feel like if you lose the world will be on fire and it won't be easy to stop her, as the chaos reigns, both in the music and in the form of bullets with nuclear dangers signs appearing. Wish I could 1CC and beat her in normal for the first time again, one of the most satisfying victories I've ever had in a videogame in a normal difficulty setting and at all

[@xoantwist]

now sanae can hold another jewel case on thumbnail

[@palapapa0201]

7:57 The name of the replay is ARMPITS

[@touhoufan7061]

I started with subterranean animism Yeah I’m stupid

[@_snake]

LOL me too, the retry of a stage from the beginning was so frustrating to noob me

[@greyslime]

25:46 Yes, "What the hell?" indeed, Marisa.

[@Maguspwns2]

Thanks for this. Touhou's always been intriguing and intimidating but now it's a little less intimidating. You explain things well and you're pleasant to listen to as a bonus. Really appreciate it.

[@SerialExperimentsKon]

I really needed this Video since I'm really interested in touhou but never knew what game I should start with. I first considered EoSD but now I think I might start with PCB or IN. I played some Touhou games before but none were main games

[@dionysos7735]

Why are so many people getting into touhou right now? Not that I'm complaining. I even love to see that!

[@FiveBagsOfNasu]

@@dionysos7735 possible reason is the relatively recent boom of vtubers, many of them know touhou and talks about it occasionally, some also played fangames

[@zanwrightmfwr756]

Me, who played Touhou 15 as his first experience: cries in clownpiece

[@nerow_51]

You poor soul

[@haniyasukookina]

Hint:Graze a lot and use bomb

[@zanwrightmfwr756]

@@haniyasukookina instructions unclear: the clown throws moons at me

[@haniyasukookina]

@@zanwrightmfwr756 first spell try ur best to avoid moon (I said try ur best because it's very hard without bomb) Last spelk chase the moon,if you're too slow bomb it

[@haniyasukookina]

@@zanwrightmfwr756 also th15 is my first experience too,and reisen's bomb make me still 1 life and 1 bonb left LOL

[@dracmeister]

My first introduction to Touhou was 12.8, Great Fairy Wars, one of the hardest Touhou games out there. Escalation in difficulty? What's that? ...and I've been a fan ever since.

[@auroricaura]

Man I technically "got into" touhou earlier than you but I dropped it VERY EARLY because I was too bad at the gameplay and got frustrated. Time to get back to it!

[@LukeeGD]

25:05 "Let me explain why I HATE THEM" I felt that haha

[@brunop.8745]

KZbin sure took its sweet time to recommend this channel to me huh

[@bakubread9308]

I started playing in release order (starting with EoSD obv) after playing Luna Nights, which I happened to see as a huge fan of Metroidvanias (that game is absolutely fantastic by the way, one of the best Metroidvanias I've played). My friend actually recommended that I start with EoSD purely because "That's the one I started with" and honestly it got me hooked. So far I have finished 6, 7, and 8, skipped 9 becuase it's a VS game, got to the end of 10 and then accidentally hit "return to title" upon losing to the stage 6 boss, and briefly started 11, and noticed that (probably due to the unlimited continues) the difficulty spiked HARD starting with 10. Stage 4 of 10 specifically was more difficult than any stage (barring extra) in 6-8 for me.

[@Carpatouille]

Yeah Touhou 10 is kinda slept on difficulty wise because of the Marisa bug exploit, but it's definitely not an easy game to 1CC for a beginner if you're not cheesing through it

[@WoodlandMorning]

UFO was my first touhou, and I loved it. Almost beat the extra stage back in the day.

[@user-rh4qd6se9n]

2:36 when you think you can auto collect but you actually can’t

[@haniyasukookina]

True,127 point is pain

[@an_enigmaticdream]

“SA is a tough game” Oh,, so it was a mistake playing Subterranean Animism as a first game into the Touhou project-

[@konaplays1920]

SA was my first game and 6 months in and I still can't 1cc it on Normal (Furthest I got was to Utsuho's 2nd to last spell) I then started PCB and was amazed at how easy it was in comparison. Cleared Lunatic 1cc in less than a day

[@flip.flap.]

@@konaplays1920 What character/shot type do you use?

[@konaplays1920]

@@flip.flap. Been mainly using Reimu A (PCB) and Reimu/Yukari (SA)

[@flip.flap.]

@@konaplays1920 Gotcha. I've put probably around 10-15 hours into SA myself as my first Touhou game (I've been playing on Normal), and I've only managed to make it to Stage 4 once or twice without continues. I mainly use Reimu/Yukari, but I've started considering using Marisa/Patchouli after seeing in a video how effective she can be at clearing enemies in the stages, which is something that I tend to struggle with. One thing that I really need to work on in my gameplay is not being so conservative with using bombs. I often try not to use them even in really tough sections because I don't want to lose the power, but end up dying anyways.

[@konaplays1920]

@@flip.flap. Understandable. I got pretty good at keeping all my lives til Orin who usually whittles me down with her spellcards then me dying to Okuu's red/blue ball spam. Definitely try deathbombing and getting used to it, every death is a waste of bombs. I usually work on a path of guaranteed survival and make a checklist as I reach each part. Also improved a lot on the hand/eye/character coordination to dodge random attacks. I haven't touched the game since, but will try again at some point (maybe will be motivated when MinusT uploads the next one xD)

[@wideclide42069]

I started with the PC98 games. Fight me.

[@Choompert]

His reimu save file was named Armpits in touhou 7

[@koishiwii8370]

I've used to enjoy playing the Touhou mainline games as a kid. It was more like how people grew up childhood playing good old fashioned games like the Donkey Kong Country and Pocky & Rocky ones.

[@marthedge]

My touhou experience was starting with SA and UFO because I found the soundtracks jammin' and they were the only ones I recognized a chunk of music from. Toured the rest, found EoSD and PCB's soundtracks dreary and/or soothing enough that I lost focus constantly. They're good compositions (I still listen to the remixed music made by fans using the same melodies) but I can't stand them in-game and trying to play other music throws me off because of how it desyncs with the gameplay (which ZUN incorporated into his games, that whole sense of progress/memory via music). The latest touhou game at the time was Ten Desires and I haven't really looked into any of the later ones. Practiced for months on end to beat any of them, more time devoted to UFO because of the soundtrack and it got so bad that I couldn't/can't boot up the game without feeling anger or remorse (6+ months of every day practice). Turned me into an angry, awful person from obsession with getting a normal 1cc so I'd quit getting badgered about being a loser casual. Never normal 1cc'd a game. Hated the series for a good year or two until I just casually started playing PoFV. Now all I do is play the story occasionally while primarily playing Vs. against lunatic CPUs and I've had more high moments from that than any of the other games (even from my beginning barely scraping a win from an easy 1cc of SA after weeks of trying, which got me hooked in the first place). Overall I would say that my positive experience from PoFV is that you can get the rush of a difficult game within the bite-sized portion of trying to survive a couple minutes with a lunatic CPU. I've even squeezed a win (best of two) a couple times. I think PoFV is the best for a casual player in this way, because you're not expected to win against the computer unless you tone down the difficulty (I can't normal 1cc the beginner-friendly touhous to save my life but PoFV is rather effortless due to how the CPU sandbags when you start dying, and it is typical to die to the last couple/few bosses). There's a different sort of mentality to it that I enjoy more than trying to keep myself awake and focused for 20-30 minutes straight for a 1cc. I don't think I'm a typical player by any means, as I can't seem to learn the reflexes/awareness needed to do a 1cc without burning out long before the run is over. Either I lose focus early on and lose resources to stupid deaths and kick myself or I lose focus later and sink all my lives on one spellcard. Deliberate practice just made me lose harder and made the series unenjoyable. I have to use continues on friggin' Cirno (TH06, normal) to this day and I turn right around and beat a lunatic CPU on PoFV simply because I adore PoFV gameplay enough that I don't really mind losing, because I don't really have a strict goal of winning for progress. TL;DR don't go "white whale" for the 1cc it's not worth it. Find one you can enjoy playing for a long period of time without it being work. Even if that means beating the game on easy modo.

[@DGP406]

Ah, I see you're a fellow Reimu's armpits enjoyer.

[@houndoomrulz]

which is the best written work to start with, fancy touhou man? great video! definitely worth the wait

[@dionysos7735]

13.5, 14.5 and 15.5 even though the story mode in this is very short. Also Cirnos story in th 16 is absolutely hilarious.

[@dionysos7735]

th 9s dialoge is also absolutely perfect. Also touhou dialouges rely more on character quirks, than actual story. (just to warn you)

[@houndoomrulz]

@@dionysos7735 I 100% appreciate the reply, but I'm talking specifically about the written works of Touhou such as CoLA and the mangas, sorry

[@dionysos7735]

@@houndoomrulz Yeah CoLA or FS are a great start. You also can't go wrong with WahH.

[@CaMypau]

My first Touhou game was Mountain of Faith some 12-15 years ago. Still love it to this day.

[@kingslee4850]

素晴らしい動画だ！ Great video!

[@seminark]

Me starting with SA: *Klaxon noises and permanent trauma*

[@an_enigmaticdream]

You poor soul-

[@nochill1003]

Me too, the final boss has style but I never get to see her my self.

[@Petrico94]

Very well ordered info. I agree 6 is basic but missing some vital features, 7+8 are great to give yourself extra lives though 8 is tough to learn, 10 is also very forgiving though 14 is rather straight forward too with some investment. I love 11 and 12 has it's charm past the UFOs but only play those when you're ready to suffer and have some experience, would recommend 17 for a less frustrating UFO experience or 15 for increased difficulty but you're allowed to use your motivation as lives if you're used to high difficulty though I was never the most daring grazer. 18 is looking very promising for future proofing. Can't wait to see how the cards get expanded on in the full game

[@basementrat7068]

Can we all just sit down and take a minute to appreciate the thumbnails? The characters hold up the games they are playable in, such as Reisen with LoLK, Sanae with UFO, etc Then there’s minor details like Reisen crying (probably due to LoLK’s difficultly, let’s be honest) and Yonmu holding up TD, possibly offering it to her instead (because TD is known for being one of the easier Touhou games) Your art needs more appreciation imo

[@CakeSenpai50]

Great video! Ive been trying to help some newer players get better at the games since I have been playing the series for many years now. I recommended them to play 8 first. With me showing them how to do the harder portions and helping them by telling fairy spawn locations, they both beat both 6A and 6B on east. One wanted to continue to play 8 to get better at it and the other went to 7. Thats currently where we are at. I have started to show some of the fighting games off to them becuase they were interested about them. Overall I do agree with your recommendations for what games a new player should start with. I may use this list to tell them their options in what games they could try instead of me telling them which game they should go to next.

[@shubaduc9486]

if you don't mind me asking where can i download 8?

[@jayjaytheairplane963]

I heard U.N Owen was her quietly in the bacground, and i went crazy thinking my phone was ringing

[@testhekid]

started with 6.. the jankiness of the artstyle isn't as comparable to the rest but also very distinct and the story sorta begins there i am also very excited for touhou 18

[@TheVermilliaFamily]

This is an incredibly good guide. You explain each game as simply as one could, sharing the advantages and disadvantages of each game. I'll share this with anyone who is interested in starting Touhou.

[@refuregu_6677]

Well i started with EoSD 0 regrets

[@ShyGuy261]

Hey, My first TouHou game was Subterranean Annimism and it still is my favorite out of all of them. I guess miracles do happen, huh... Anyway, I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone else as their entry point into the series. I just fell in love with the super gimmicky shot-types in this game. That is also probably the reason why Youmu is my favorite character in 13 and 17. Great video btw! I agree with all the points made.

[@poledra4153]

I love gimmicky shot types

[@justshan2413]

I started playing touhou 15 (Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom) and 18 (Unconnected Marketeers). I wasn't disappointed at all.

[@ashimochi]

I picked LoLK up just because I love the final boss and honestly I think it was a good call. The inclusion of pointdevice allows me to practice the entire game through, I've made tremendous advances in my legacy runs once I've gone through stuff in pointdevice I did hear it was hard, though lol, but starting off with a little more than what you can chew is not a bad thing, I would probably have an easier time with games with easier patterns

[@randomlad7851]

Me when i recommend Touhou 15 for my beginner friend:

[@melodylai2397]

Wait.......so which game should I start with??

[@skittlesmoo5881]

To explain the ranking, its a number that goes from 0 to 32, and at specific points in the game, adds 1 to that counter. Rank will increase bullet speed, and increase the amount of bullets at 32, getting hit will reduce this by 16, but death bombing will reduce it by 8 instead, it also gets harder to death bomb in that stage until the next stage.

[@jadebayoba7073]

2 things 1- Begin with PCB, believe me 2- I did actually start when the very 16th game was out after a month or a year a believe, like you!

[@jadebayoba7073]

2:46 you actually lied, since Touhou 2 (or 4 probably, but its more believable since the 2 Game of the series) has the smallest hitbox in between all the characters, it doesn't matter what game you play, Reimu is going to have the smallest hitbox you ever seen

[@danielip7154]

To anyone who said touhou 15 is the one to introduce newcomer into the series, 面白い。→_→

[@marisanya]

Generally speaking, I'd recommend IN first

[@joeapau5043]

I started with Touhou- Luna nights

[@firesaiyan12]

Same here.

[@technicolormischief-maker5683]

You get lives from score alongside the stage lives in EoSD, just to give a bit of extra clarification. Great video, I’ll have to use this whenever I wanna get my friends into Touhou!

[@antares2953]

imagine the poor soul who chose violent detector first.

[@Naglfar94]

Oh god Lol or even shoot the bullet or double spoiler hoo boy

[@viktorichannel2116]

Hi I am that poor soul

[@armythecat]

I kinda hate that ZUN spent so many games with thr continue system that forces you back to the beginning...they are the games I hate the most to play because of that because it is frustrating, there is a point where you better off restarting to have more lives to said stage than trying to continue and it takes the thing of being able to practice and beat the whole game easily with continues to try a 1cc later on...I would unironically prefer if they didn't have continues instead of that bad version of them, personally It is a shame to me because I would defo love to play a few of those games more frequently but the continue system turns me off a lot and makes things way too frustrating Edit: I LOVE that you also hate UFOs as much as me, I despise that gimmick with all my might

[@jess648]

lmao Reisen holding LoLK and crying is a nice detail in the thumbnail

[@lisapalmer8683]

7:15 ok BUT it has rumia, so everyone should play it