The Rage Phase: Touhou's Most Difficult Patterns

[@livegeoduck5798]

Byakuren has two rage phases? She must have a lot of rage from all that time spent as a rat in a cage.

[@user-tq1zv9hd1o]

fuantei's hijiri could be closer to canon than you might think

[@gunk7014]

despite all my rage

[@raikaria3090]

Devil's Recitation is a copy of Shinki's from MS.

[@CassiusStelar]

Despite all my beans I am still just a rat in some jeans

[@mikuenjoyerXD]

​@@gunk7014this made me choke lmao

[@StarryMirage]

I'm surprised Gengetsu's infamous timeout phase for her last attack in LLS Extra wasn't included in the video.

[@LushieTilde]

Oh yeah I'm surprised too, but I guess it makes sense since PC98 doesn't have many tools to make getting footage and finding patterns for this easier. Mugetsu and Gengetsu actually have a rage phase on every one of their patterns, Gengetsu's final is just the most insane one (not that the other ones are any more doable)

[@fabioalanmp]

The video is only for windows era patterns (as said in the description). There might be a video for the pc-98 era

[@solarsun5047]

Special shoutouts to Yuki's entire fight probably counting as a rage phase when you beat Mai first and Shinki's rage phase completely burning down Makai

[@raikaria3090]

@@fabioalanmp Not much point in a PC-98 video' that's just LLS Extra and MS.

[@Dreigonix]

GENGETSU R*PE TIME!

[@Suwawako]

Just play Phantasmagoria where you can always get rage mode on s9 Eiki on round 1... on normal mode

[@Rainbows3Dragonflies]

Murasa's rage phase is really just rain lol

[@johnathansfacew8528]

Devil's recitation is still the coolest spellcard. It's just so cool and memorable after MS. Also uncapped speed bullets from Murasa is terrifying.

[@hopper8514]

Im more scared of dragon eater timeout…jesus christ

[@teaconnoisseur3]

Mamizou’s rage phase is the only one I’ve gotten without trying for it. As Youmu, if you have 2.99 or less power, her attack range is too short to really hit the boss. This meant my first Mamizou clear with Youmu ended with a last spell timeout…

[@alexyz9430]

happened to me too, and that was the moment I realized Power in Touhou 13 also affects Youmu's sword's vertical range, which is one of the most questionable game design decisions to have ever come out of ZUN imo haha. Good thing he got rid of that in Touhou 17

[@kalenipclaw5683]

it makes sense for byakuren to have some pent-up rage, she spent so long sealed in makai, and then iirc the heroine (well, at least reimuA, idk about reimuB, marisa, or sanae) ends up expressing intent to reseal her right after unsealing her even if that latter bit didn't happen, there's still her imprisonment in makai also c4p is an absolute legend

[@Sottobil_Tispy]

07:00 Some bullets from spell 2 always spawn off screen, and they are not deleted by the cancel. This is an actual problem for non 3, it's common for LNB/LNN credits to wait for bullets to move down before killing murasa.

[@Bravidunno]

the funny part is that you can mess with the cancel range in the ECL

[@okuu_utsuho]

The real rage phase is when your try to do a 1cc run and fail at the final stage or final boss and your rage phase spell is slamming the desk (also possibly smashing the keyboard).

[@Alexs23743]

"Gamer Sign: Ultra Ragequit"

[@JonathanKanelis]

I’ve seen a few people actually clear Koishi by timing down her final spell exclusively.

[@CarmsCelestia]

Yup, all patterns might not be too bad individually, but remembering exactly how to dodge which during the stress of the last card can be a daunting task. So simply timing out 1 easy spell card is just much easier

[@Eradrazil]

Was hoping you'd show the utter clusterfuck that is timing out that one Gengetsu attack, if only as an honorable mention seeing as it does predate the Windows-era games. Other than that, good video. Only knew about the Grudge Bow and Yukari rage phases until now.

[@danteshi]

6:28 now the bullet is at the speed of light

[@Electrosa]

I'd be really interested to see you do a video on all spellcards that have anti-cheating mechanisms in them! This seems to be significantly rarer than rage phases - I can only think of one or two off the top of my head - but this usually presents in spellcards that suddenly spew out a huge barrage of bullets if you try to shotgun them. I've always loved when spellcards/patterns in general were modular like this and directly respond to player actions (outside of the standard examples like streaming, of course).

[@DJruslan4ic]

I can think about ghost's night story (where kogasa pichuuns you if you go above her) and Yuyuko's non in ISC

[@GarryDumblowski]

One of the most interesting of these I've seen is Patchouli's Trilithon Shake which shoots aimed bullets at you if you're too high on the screen. It's still actually possible to dodge up there since you can just carefully stream.

[@valivanvan]

I’d only really accessed the rage phases through thprac so I was surprised by how strangely some of these patterns progressed with time, like what the heck is going on with hecatia and junko lol

[@geiser1474]

A video on rage phases was unexpected and cool to see. There is at least one rage phase that was missed which is with Ran's final. Thprac doesn't even recognize it though so I don't blame anyone for not knowing it exists. It's also just much less interesting than Yukari's variant. While not at all rage phases and more so just product of using timelock, locking down midbosses causes them to pool over into the stage section and even into the boss which can result in some weird things.

[@LushieTilde]

Oh that's a cool idea for a video! It's a shame ZUN rarely does these anymore (outside of unintentional timeout shenanigans and Momoyo's final, most of them are just a skip to last phase). Seija's nons are pretty funny if you time them down, especially if you time lock them. The length of the bullet lanes increases by 1 every time she fires with no cap. The bullets spawn more and more inward with each bullet in a lane, until eventually they spawn so inward they actually go outward into the other direction. And on time lock it will end up spawning across the entire screen. (Also good music choice for DDC, really underrated track!)

[@valivanvan]

I found out about the seija midnon shenanigans by complete accident when I was trying to timeout her first s6 midnon, they’re real goofy

[@413rb]

Echo Chamber gets very funny on timelock too

[@korelore8841]

Gengetsu's last spell rage raping all the livin being: 6:29 *It's raining men*

[@Bravidunno]

The term "rage phase" came from thprac, before that it was usually called timeout phase. You can also get the spell bonus from timing Grudge Bow out, that's funny to note. Also, please don't mix the fire rate with the speed of the bullets (11:20), those are two different things. Futo's final becomes weird when you time down phase 2. Otherwise the video is pretty exhaustive, nicely done!

[@animeking1357]

Flan in the thumbnail: *Literal demon* Byakuren in the thumbnail: *Angy*

[@dracosteven4524]

Yukari in the thumbnail: *Fan*

[@lazydelibird]

Because of this video I now appreciate MinusT’s subterranean stars even more for adding that Utsuho bit.

[@SomeGuyParadise]

There's a funny attack in ISC that serves as a sort of unintentional "anti-rage" phase. In Day 8-1 (I believe) Sukuna's attack loop is capped at a value such that it runs out before the spell is timed out. Around 30 seconds remaining, Sukuna simply does not shoot any more bullets, but still moves around the screen as normal. There are also many attacks in 100BM (usually after 4th Market) that gradually increase fire rate or density of attacks as the spell goes along for around 50 seconds, such as Youmu's spell. This can get disastrous if your card loadout doesn't have enough fire-power for these beefier-than-usual bosses.

[@koishiwii8370]

Thank gosh, I've never raged at any of these bullet patterns thanks to some words of wisdom from my father based on his fond memories of playing the original TMNT arcade beat 'em up.

[@BergmitetheBlueandPointy0712]

They sure are more easy to anger than we expected.

[@SusScrofus]

Love you. Thank you for making touhou content that we all can enjoy

[@BethAlpaca]

Imagine one day being hit with a baseball and suddenly you can time out Rans Illusion God.

[@akenohononiku916]

I actually knew about most of these rage phases, mainly because I played these games so much that sometimes I get bored and try a Pacifist run I actually have captured a lot of these, most of em are pretth fun

[@Jimmy--Little]

In Rabi Ribi there is an attack which I am 99% SURE that it is a reference to Moses Miracle (the boss I am referring to in Rabi Ribi is Rumi, on of the DLC bosses)

[@InktheImpassive]

It is said that the Spellcard system was made to even the power gaps, so that the weak can stand against the strong, and goddamn you are expected to dodge this much barrage, rage mode spellcard are essentially just impossible spellcard when it goes on for too long.

[@raikaria3090]

Rage Phases are intended to prevent you from cheesing spellcards which ramp up as you damage them.

[@yellowberryHN]

Interesting video, I don't think I could do any of these patterns.

[@raikaria3090]

You missed Miko's Wild Dance. Every wave adds more arrows to Futo and Tojiko's rings, and eventually they become borderline walls and to have any chance you basically need to bait one of them offscreen. Not a true Rage phase but works like Tongling and Moses.

[@valivanvan]

eh, you can fairly easily encounter this in a standard attempt. i'd consider it moreso a logical extension of the card than an actual punishment for taking too long, usually. there's a bunch of very similar attacks like this, such as junko's Trembling Shivering Star becoming progressively denser on easy/normal/hard, shou's 2nd non progressively getting faster, kagerou's 2nd spell spawning further out, or resurrection butterfly becoming denser over time. one spell this did make me think of that i would definitely consider belonging in the video would be satori's version of Mercury Poison, that gets ludicrously dense if left alone for too long

[@LavaCreeperPeople]

I'll watch this once i beat all the games, lol Currently on Touhou 7 (game) and on Touhou 9's OST

[@hassanico9999]

I think Orin has something similar to this that is entirely proximity based? It's not exactly a "phase" but one of her stage 5 spellcards has her go totally ballistic and release WAY more bullets if you get / stay close to her.

[@valivanvan]

There are a few attacks like this in the series. They’re pretty neat, but I don’t think Orin had one like this. In fact, most of her attacks are cheesed specifically by being very close to her. I’ll check just to make sure, though.

[@Dukstless]

There's a spellcard that is supposed to have anti-cheese bullets but it's apparently bugged.

[@lyn100]

i'm sorry, your description of fairy destruction ray has me giggling so hard. i'm just imagining marisa getting right into cirno's face turning a flashlight on and off as quickly as she can

[@NatureAngel-z2i]

I remember having a dream where I survived nue's rage phase and I was so happy

[@MrsSurrealista]

God I love touhou gameplay content.

[@Boobusmcscoobus]

Really wish touhou mainline had console ports. My only experience with official touhou are the spin offs on switch so hyouibana and goyoku ibun.then again all the projectiles would probably make any switch combust into flames.I have played Luna nights and in the middle of scarlet symphony though

[@HyperVanilo]

You sure about that? Mushihimesama is available on Switch

[@Boobusmcscoobus]

@@HyperVanilo damn. Well in that case chop chop zun

[@lpfan4491]

Most of these are games for very early Windows. The Switch is literally not that weak.

[@Boobusmcscoobus]

I always assumed they would have to render all the forty quintillion bullets so I thuaght any switch would just self destruct

[@Dukstless]

@@Boobusmcscoobus There was that one shmup made for NES. Sure, it wasn't as flashy as like the arcade shmups, but it still could do something resembling bullet hell.

[@_Compound_]

what about timing out the touhou 4 extra stage final?

[@XquizetBlix]

My motivation to continue playing Touhou games has gone down

[@EEErmine]

My determination to try a Touhou game has practically died

[@spoonSTGfan]

I haven't finished the video yet but these rage phases are intentionally made to game over you for spending an amount of time you 90% wouldn't activate accidentally. Keep going.

[@CerealKiller]

You need to go for a time out in order to see any of these in game, most people don't bother.

[@creeperizak8971]

Yeah, in order to see these you need to stop shooting your opponent.

[@lpfan4491]

I'm too bad for TH. I only beat one of the TH1 routes due to infinite continue spam and got yeeted off Remilia's property by Meiling after huge struggles to even get there.

[@AniematedSteph]

Miko’s 3rd Non has an anti-Rage Phase, Miko becomes to high and the bullets become easier to dodge as a result

[@kirimusse]

So spin-offs aside, Imperishable Night and Hidden Star in Four Seasons are the only windows games in the series without any rage phases? That's kinda odd, ngl.

[@AspreyFM]

To be fair to IN, it does have the Last Words, though 16 is interesting. I guess Okina is simply unshakable

[@Erik_Emer]

Zun was like: this is NOT Undertale, get on with it!

[@valivanvan]

small addendum to the Border of Life and Death rage phase, there is actually at least one (potentially two, according to second person's description) other person who has captured it, one being @ A_kotiya who has a channel on youtube. the video is in Japanese so it's difficult to find unless you know what you're looking for, and i currently have no leads as to who the "third person" is.

[@sumemereko-on5yk]

every touhou girl raging until doom guy with the beserk kick in

[@taxidriver6739]

15:15 I recall hearing nobody has managed to clear this even with tool assists.

[@IvanBaAl961]

I play Reimu-A in PCB and the rage phase of Ran's final spell easily achievable because of low damage. Still, got ExNM here.

[@julianseph842gamez5]

I still consider Junko`s PDH by far the most difficult rage phase in the official Touhou franchise.

[@caio7208]

i wish i could have more time to practice danmaku

[@the1truepickaxe298]

Ahhh, I understand why these exist. Let me explain, from a game design standpoint: Notice how these rage phases only occur on patterns that increase in intensity the more damage the boss takes. On these patterns, a cheeky player might think to avoid damaging the boss at all, and then time out, in order to avoid increasing the difficulty. Rage phases seek to punish these players who think they can beat the system. "Oh, you're going to time out the pattern so you dont have to dodge the hard version? Here's an EXTRA hard version"

[@raikaria3090]

Yep; that's the point of the Rage Phase.

[@Animarux_]

The real rage phase that i have with touhou is try to 1cc IaMP on lunatic

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

Anyone doing "pacifist" runs would have likely seen a lot of these too, since that involves winning w/o attacking at all. But, good luck dodging all this crap. I know I'm nowhere near good enough to do stuff like that, especially on Lunatic.

[@ZaTimou]

Murasa has just a _tad_ too much speed

[@cspcchcody]

My eyes hurt watching this😂😂

[@Wielblad95]

Touhou Pacifist Runs when? In all seriousness though with those patterns I do not know how possible it would be. But fun nonetheless 😅

[@allenko1122]

It is not common since extremely difficult and you have to do boring easy parts for long, but, touhou 6 extra pacifist no miss no bomb has been done, the only one I know of for now.

[@baotan774]

Now the ternm *Touhou isn’t the hardest of it’s genre* Really echos in my mind

[@damnedtosuffer666]

whats that small yellow thing i kept seeing around reimu in these clips? They always look like she got hit and lost a life but she doesnt .3.

[@ultimapower6950]

Are rage phases the endless now?

[@NovaDelta]

as a person whos only played LLS and MS, windows touhou games have such confusing mechanics

[@IvanBaAl961]

SoEW even more simple. Anyway, after I spent a month in PC-98 Touhou, EoSD looked as a modern game.

[@NovaDelta]

@@IvanBaAl961 SoEW is pretty simple but hitboxes feel wonky and i have to set up a weird controller bind just to use it with the game lol

[@IvanBaAl961]

@@NovaDelta Oh, I use keyboard. I do prefer newer games (4-5) but visit SoEW once in a while.

[@gunk7014]

how do you pronounce "kirisame marisa" with 100% phonetic accuracy but tie your own tongue into a knot at "kochiya sanae"

[@GarryDumblowski]

Something I find absolutely hilarious about Dragon Eater is that it's not even possible for TAS, as far as I can tell. There's a video of a TAS doing it and they die despite having nine of the strongest bullet-clearing cards.

[@Dukstless]

It's probably possible, but it's the kind of shit you need to re-record several times to finally find the way out.

[@OneOfTheLoveless]

Didn't know you were still alive.

[@danteshi]

There's a thing called twitch, you might want to check it, youtube is not the only video platform in this universe

[@creeperizak8971]

He streams on Twitch way more often than he uploads to this channel, he's also got a vod channel here on yourube.

[@raikaria3090]

So; for those wondering: "Where is Gengetsu!" Firstly; it's a Windows-era video. Secondly... there is so much more to Gengetsu than that single meme. Go search "No Shooting Lotus Land Story Extra". It's not JUST Gengetsu's final. It's not even just Gengetsu; Mugetsu does it as well on her final. LLS Pacifist [so you can't even use bombs like this video] is perhaps the single hardest thing in Touhou. It's worth noting as well that LLS was the debut of Rage Phases. SoEW didn't have them. It also makes it pretty clear that the PC-98 games basically do have "the spellcard system" in terms of gameplay [it even trends towards easy attack - hard attack] just not named or with visible timers like we know now. This is most obvious with Alice Extra where she goes in colors with a "non" and "spell"

[@IvanBaAl961]

So, where is Yumemi?

[@CerealKiller]

'sup asprey

[@nekoxscarlet]

How can you stop the timer and not die

[@Boobusmcscoobus]

Also I thought hecatia was pronounced (hu-kay-shuh)

[@VekhGaming]

I mean, her inspiration is he-Cat-e iirc, so I'd expect her Touhou version to be not that dissimilar.

[@orcinus2104]

It's simple: ZUN hates the showoff-ish masochistic players who would attempt passive timeout gameplays

[@rogonbrazus6491]

can I ask which patch that let you get hit but still can continue the practice without resetting. i need it

[@lazydelibird]

Th prac

[@AvitheTiger]

I DIDNT KNOW THIS WAS A THING IN ALL MY YEARS OF TOUHOU?! OMGGGG?!

[@dylancharlesharlington7045]

Thank god im not the only one that thinks the Touhou 6 Ex stage is bullshit

[@littleanvil2164]

kirimi m