Touhou main games ranked by difficulty (for a 1cc normal)

[@eris2576]

ahhh, seeing EoSD relatively high validates my constant Cirno deaths a bit...

[@topnep1]

Then you totally shouldn't look at my beating cirno with feet only vid :D

[@robotron6420]

Specially her's spellcards

[@KimMui_]

Icicle fall - "Easy"

[@hekirb3382]

Should I skip EoSD and try an easier touhou game until I improved?

[@KimMui_]

He Kirb if you think it's better for you sure, i would recommend PCB(th07) or IN(th08)

[@indeterminance3216]

Me yesterday: I want to play a Touhou game! Also Me: *downloads Subterranean Animism* Welp, I'm in for a good time!

[@topnep1]

You actually are! I noticed a good thing about th11 when clearing it on hard and lunatic: A lot attacks have learnable patterns. Some games like th12 are a mess of random stuff, but th11 has a lot parts where you aquire consistency by memorizing a strategy, which makes it one of the most satisfying games in terms of progressing.

[@indeterminance3216]

@@topnep1 Well, I'm not doing too bad so far. Managed to get about halfway through the third stage on Normal with Reimu A, and I didn't even lose any lives in the first two stages! Somewhat confident in my chances of getting through this! Update: Managed to 1CC Easy a while ago.

[@unovi8141]

I think it can definitely try your patience if you're at Normal 1cc level but beyond that and yeah I think you will be in for a good time. Really fun patterns throughout, enjoyable music, characters and a distinct lack of bullshit compared to a lot of other games. My personal favourite lol

[@EconomyCrashes]

Omg I’m doing subterranean Animism and I basically didn’t know I was playing the hardest Touhou game wtf

[@indeterminance3216]

@@EconomyCrashes Good luck with that! If you practice well, you shouldn't have too much of an issue with that. I should be proof of that, seeing as I've gone from SA E1CC and N1CC to doing an HSiFS HNBNR (my current project!) So yeah! Just stay determined, practice everything, and you'll get the clear eventually!

[@Frikiman_H]

I remember the first time I 1cc'd Subterranean Animism in normal. I was tired of seeing little to no improvement, so I started playing in hard mode. My logic was something like "if I'm able to unlock the first few stages for practice mode and I practice thoroughly, it'll be easier for me to deal with the patterns in normal mode, so I'll be able to breeze through the first stages and keep my resources for the end of the game". With A LOT of effort, I managed to unlock stage 5 in hard mode for practice. As you may imagine, that also means that I was able to see the stage 6 in hard mode... but that was way too much for me. I kept practicing the first 5 stages in hard mode over and over. My strongest memory of that was the time where I ALMOST timed out "Vengeful Cat Spirit's Erratic Step". That spell is INSANE. Somehow, it all worked out in the end. At some point I played the game in normal and I was able to 1cc it. It wasn't easy, but it was manageable. As for the extra... Yeah, fuck the extra.

[@joannamysluk8623]

Please don't say "F*ck the extra". Koishi is too much of a precious bean to be treated that way.

[@johnjoh2034]

The extra is way easier than a normal 1cc if you learn the patterns IMO.

[@RuV9999]

i still hate Rin until now.....

[@koishomeijii]

i feel like the SA extra is harder than LoLK stage 5 normal since i could still pass some of clownpiece's spell cards but can't even survive any koishi's pattern without losing a life

[@tarragon112]

koosh

[@Clownplease]

Though if you play 15 with reimu/marisa, it is by far the hardest game of the series. Maybe you should have chosen reimu for every game to only focus on the danmaku difficulty, without the bullshit around it.

[@topnep1]

Yeah, that would've been interesting too, but at the same time it's kinda obvious that the game gets harder when using a weaker character from the ones available.

[@Yatsuzume]

Idk, I think there are some issues with sorting a list this way. First of all, it's going to involve a lot of mind games on whatever you do/don't consider "ethical" or "not bullshit". The "broken" shot types are also just part of the game. If you let them out you're being selective on whatever you yourself personally consider "the right way to play the game". It would not be a sort of "what game is the hardest to normal 1cc" anymore. It'd become a sort based on self-made rules that I doubt many people think the same over. Of course you could let out MoF MarisaB because that one is so incredibly glitchy and broken I doubt many people consider a 1cc with her a legitimate 1cc, but Sanae/Reisen in LoLK are just really powerful. They're still part of the game and a 1cc with them is still a 1cc. Second, Touhou is more than just "danmaku difficulty". Resource management is huge in Touhou, and the reason so many """""""elitist""""""" STG players call touhou casual/easy: not because of the patterns having a lower difficulty (Touhou still has comparatively hard patterns afaik), but because Touhou FLOODS you with resources if you make decent routes, whereas in your usual "hard" shmup you're either going to get very little resources or you're forced to constantly use them as if you're playing Great Fairy Wars or Hidden Star in Four Seasons on Ultra. I think the most "pure" "looking at danmaku only" category you can get would be No Miss/Bomb (which is a very specific category that only a few people tackle), but otherwise resource management is always a very important part of the whole "difficulty" equation, I'd almost say more important than the difficulty of the danmaku itself. Finally, it's a really bad idea to "always pick reimu" because Reimu more than often turns out to be the best shot or a broken shot. Border Team in IN, ReimuB in MoF, ReimuC in SA and ReimuA in DDC are all either the best or just rightout broken shots, the same way SakuyaA would be in DDC or Youmu in TD.

[@Clownplease]

Yatsuzume I guess you're right. I definitly didn't put as much thought into it as you did. To come back at what i said: a no bomb run was more what i would have in mind when talking about difficulty. The reason i would prefer this is my bad experience with LoLK. I always felt like it was completely unbeatable on easy mode when playing Reimu. Then once i tried Reisen and suddenly I 1cc'd the game. With how many lifes left? All of them. My life bar was full because of an extend after the final spell card. I was able to 1cc the game with Reisen with full lifes, but not get much further than stage 5 as Reimu. That still bugs me to this very day. Soon after i beat normal too, and even Hecatia with Reisen. Having one character so overpowered just doesn't justify the pain I put into fighting clownpiece as Reimu. Also, Top Nep, please don't relate this discussion too much to your video because i really agree with your list from your criteria.

[@DeityDiz93]

Ironic that given Reimu's the only shot type in the game with a hitbox size that's small enough to actually get through Junko's micro-dodging patterns the best on the highest difficulties where the other shot types don't have that luxury.

[@combuf]

Clownplease! Luv u!

[@poisenbery]

"countless bullshit deaths from not bombing ANYTHING" "being as stupid as me is not a valid reason for calling it hard" im dying rn omg hahahaha subscribed!

[@pierremodat721]

hmm i see that you are a man of nep as well.

[@AnimaRandom]

*Stage 5 boss theme still haunts me in my nightmare*

[@cedricgabionza]

EosD?

[@AnimaRandom]

yes.....the night mare of clownpiece ..

[@factionalhitman]

@@AnimaRandom DO YOU HEAR THAT FREEDOM??!

[@royalepirate6083]

@@AnimaRandom OU FUCK!!!!!

[@dirtkiller23]

I'm haunted by Stage 5 boss themes from SoEW,MS,PCB,LOLK,HSIFS.

[@R24-m1k]

"MoF: It goes up to 5 power but you still do full damage at 4" Wow, never even noticed that

[@smilinggeneral8870]

5 power so you can bomb once without losing damage.

[@minhnguyenhoang7828]

And ZUN in SA be like: lets make the max power 4.00 so people won't get a "free" bomb. Result: the game became the hardest game while the exact last game was the easiest with some other stuff(changes) obviously.

[@Yatsuzume]

Really solid list, it's rare to see people actually being able to make a list like this and present their arguments this well for every game. Oftentimes it just boils down to whatever the person making the list got most frustrated at which tends to cause weird orders, but I saw very little of that here and you drew a very good line between objectivity/general consensus and subjectivity/personal preference. Probably better than I could do, honestly. I've been kind of "out of touch" for normal mode for a long time now, but since I've "researched" normal mode a little bit for my own next video I mostly seemed to have come to the same conclusions regarding the difficulty. I mostly agree with the order as well. It's nice to see that you took resource management into consideration a lot, as I see a lot of people underestimate the importance of it in 1ccs, especially on lower difficulties. I do have a few questions/remarks though: - What makes IN stage 4 worth noting in the table? I never really seen anyone say it's that much of a difficulty spike. - Did you not include Sanae in LoLK's "easier" side on purpose? I thought that her bomb could still be abused very easily on normal mode. - I remember a lot of things you said about SA from when I was playing normal mode, but later on I found out that SA actually has a lot of things that can be used to make the game easier. I noticed this only much, much later as it's all pretty hidden and not as straight forward as noticing how OP SakuyaA in DDC or Reisen in LoLK. ReimuC's bomb is REALLY strong. If you can somewhat deal with the weird orbitals, it's one of the best shots for 1cc simply because the bomb cancels out almost anything hard, whether it be a stage or boss portion. MarisaB has ridiculous stage performance with her water shot, you barely have to use anything else except on pretty specific portions. MarisaA's doll bombs are brokenly powerful if you put the doll on top of the boss. I feel a lot of people just go with ReimuA and don't dare to experiment too much with the other shots. I don't really know why, but ReimuA seems to be incredibly popular for basic 1cc survival when it really isn't that exceptionally good for it. However, ReimuA is really good for scoring and no-bomb survival. But for basic 1cc, it's better to acknowledge how much bombs matter, now that you can still liberally use them without "ruining" the category. And maybe it's also just the fact that SA's shot types take more time to get used to, and considering ReimuA is the most straight forward one that one latches onto people first. --- Aside from that though, I agree with how the list is made, and ESPECIALLY with how you approached it (because like I said, it's surprising how hard that is for people to do without personal bias taking over). I'll stop being a preachy cunt now.

[@topnep1]

Thanks for the detailed reply, really appreciate it! The difficulty in stage 4 isn't the stage part itself, but the boss in it. Could've worded that better. Reimu not that much, but definitely Marisa. Even I usually have to use a few bombs, meanwhile the stage 5 boss Reisen is no problem for me. So that's a spike. Now imagine someone who is still working on his first 1cc normal. I haven't listed Sanae in LoLK because I tried to utilize her bomb on hard a few times, but still couldn't get past stage 5. So for normal, Reisen should be the easier pick. I don't have that much experience with Sanae in LoLk though. Your points about SA are interesting. Reimu C's shot style was too weird for me. Changing the shot for Marisa B is so clunky and her bomb is weak, so I didn't play both more than once or twice. Marisa A's bomb is strong in the offense, but doesn't last long and doesn't erase much bullets. The bombs doll sprite looks too much like a character, so I confuse them occasionally; but that's just me being me.

[@ing5998]

And the fact Reimu A is super broken in SA thanks to her very high shootpower,nice bomb that gives you invincibility while deleting bullets upon it's end also dealing damage to all fairies in the stage (or the boss itself) and the fact her hitbox is way smaller than Marisa's also helps,but another very powerful shootype is Marisa C,while having standar shoottype her bomb is very very good for survival,being the possible predecessor of Reisen's bomb in LoLK and possibly sakuya A bombs in DDC,and a strong point of marisa b is the strength of some of her shootypes,The water one is a great wide spread that deals huge damage at point blank,and the ground type also does a lot of damage but sadly it won't be used very often

[@Celebrancik]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds Reimu A unhandy in 1CC attempts in SA. For me, Marisa A was the best one, followed by Reimu B probably (even though their bombs aren't that strong), and Marisa C works for me too.

[@alicemargatroid6758]

@@RIAN10287 Pretty much. Thousands over thousands of Hakurei orbs are one of the roadblocks that people can go past EASILY and I mean EASILY just because you can use the Youkai girl. Aside from that , pretty reasonable statement.

[@Latency345]

Yatsuzume that’s most people. People like Reimu because her shots home in so that you can focus more on dodging than attack. Not only that her hitbox is small. Before I even play a Touhou game that I’ve never tried. I see what they’re shots can do. While reimu is good for survival. Marisa is meant for attack. Which is why I like her.

[@topnep1]

I now have cleared every game on hard, so I want to give a short comment on a hard ranking: I'd rank PoFV higher due to the amount of randomness and absurdness you have to deal with. EoSD loses some ranks, but maybe that's just for me, cause I've played it the most (even got it on lunatic, hehe). As expected, SA loses two ranks, being overtaken by UFO and LoLK. There's no big difference between normal and hard for SA, so once you know it on normal, it becomes doable on hard too. For reference: Clearing all hards and extras took me nine months, or somewhat around 300 hours playtime.

[@smilinggeneral8870]

100 hours and only got 1cc normal on PCB and MoF (god, this one gave me nightmare), and FDF too (if you count fangames). my next target would be IN and TD but however, TD looked like UFO with half the bullet density. still, UFO is the only easy mode i haven't beat (even with continues).

[@smilinggeneral8870]

@Ross the Chihuahua 2 1 year of play, managed to 1cc every normal except LoLK. i play SA normal as daily training though. but still can't manage to finish kanako final spell at hard. need recommendation for the hard diff

[@leemeyer9395]

If I was to get into the series I would go with EoSD

[@parupuri4993]

I found PCB easier than all the other Touhou games I played on normal mode because I used Sakuya A... Then Stage 5 happened.

[@samyen3210]

poppieseekle is sleepy just beat it today on easy with her

[@parupuri4993]

You got past Yuyuko?

[@samyen3210]

poppieseekle is sleepy sorry I'm still a noob pbc is my first touhou game so I don't know everyones name yet. I completed easy mode pcb today with the maid chracter first weapon

[@parupuri4993]

You got past the final boss (Stage 6 boss)? wait crap that means you did how did you get past the final boss (yuyuko) lol

[@gypsysprite4824]

@@parupuri4993 probably by waltzing through hell about half a dozen times until you have enough resources left over after youmu's meat grinder to get through yuyuko

[@randomweeb3923]

I'm pretty new to Touhou and I've been jumping around every game, but boy every gane just messes me up some way or the other c,: I'm getting really close with IN using Yomu/Yuyuko though. Also really great video, its helpful!

[@ciranopunalesvigliarolo3788]

mmm i'm curious ,who's your favorite character?

[@luthierisbestboy8177]

You use the Ghost Team, too? I see you have good taste.

[@jyll]

Ooooh haven't tried the ghost team yet. I've only tried border and vampire team (though I haven't beaten even easy mode with the latter yet).

[@poidachi6003]

my reaction from th4-16.5(and some spin-offs) LLS: One Flowery B0i MS: S h i n k i EoSD: The thot and the librarian, ZA WARUDO, and that guy from PC-98 who got recycled PCB: God dang and she's just a gardener who didn't finish her sword skill training IaMP: "Missing Power" IN: Stage freakin 4 PoFV: the attorney who keeps lecturing you and those little coin b0is MoF: FAITH IS FOR THE TRANSIENT PEOPLE and also stage 4 SWR: Z A W A R U D O SA: this is the part where you get thrown to Hell UFO: this is the part where even the main menu haunts you UNL: Fantasy Haven GFW: Flashlights TD: The DJ Saint and her followers, in a boat, with LASERS HM: Hata no Kokoro's LW DDC: A W O O O O O O ULIL: one WEEB G0rl LoLk: this is the part where even the application and the icon haunts you AoCF: Tenshi HSiFS: Stage 5 VD: Where the Weeb G0rl finds evidence that Gensuccyo exists

[@jadeng.s.2549]

HRtP: SoEW: MIMA & One swordy boi PoDD: S T R A W B E R R I E S

[@Izangy]

WBaWC: Reimu gets possessed by furries and goes to hell again

[@captaintsubasa7430]

@@jadeng.s.2549 HRtP: GOOOOOOAAAAAL!

[@captaintsubasa7430]

@@Izangy More like: "Reimu & Co. invades a wicked farm and destroys another domain"

[@YourCoolFriendKoriko]

I regret playing Touhou 11 as my first time playing a touhou game

[@Juleszzzzz]

Well at least for me, I don't get tired of stage 1 because of the sleepy OST. Even the fairies are vibing through it.

[@AgentSapphire]

11 has some positives. life piece gain is very straightforward and you get them consistently even if you bomb. Using caution can net you a consistent trickle of lives. Additionally, even if the patterns are very hard there isn't that much straight up bullshit with the exception of Orin's zombie fairies. Other than that I'd have to agree with this list overall. Though I'd imagine it would look very different if Lunatic spells were gauged.

[@topnep1]

Hard already changes the list a bit. I feel like I'm close to beating SA, but LoLK and UFO are totally out of question.

[@AgentSapphire]

UFO is such bullshit xD But I actually like LoLK. Even if it murders me. A lot.

[@ciranopunalesvigliarolo3788]

@@AgentSapphire you think UFO it's bad ,or you think it's easy? also ,who doesn't love the themes and the difficulty of LoLK?

[@captaintsubasa7430]

Lel, you guys worring about Orin's fairies, while I am still trying to deal with fucking Parsee 2nd and 3rd spells overrall.

[@PodajPiwo]

Proud to be a part of SA normal 1cc gang, funniest part was I went totally blind on last two Utsuho's spells (I didn't make it that far in any of previous runs) and actually cleared one while losing only one life on subterranean sun, my hands were shaking like hell and my heart rate was faster than bugatti chiron xD

[@hijiri2460]

Trying to 1cc Touhou 12 right now and I already have an aneurysm. I got through 6-8 without much problems after v-patch, but the limited amount of lives + UFOs (and them changing colors and sometimes end up in shitty spots) makes it so hard, you have to keep track of several things at once. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has trouble with lasers, though. And screw that final boss (jk I love her but still the hardest encounter for me so far, even when counting in some of the bosses on hard difficulty of the previous games...)

[@smilinggeneral8870]

add 1 more "+" MoF : "Marisa B bug"

[@royalepirate6083]

???

[@smilinggeneral8870]

@@royalepirate6083 dont tell me you don't know what bug it is

[@randomchannel1519]

I wonder if it'll be on the steam release.

[@josexp1323]

@@randomchannel1519 spoiler: it is

[@墨竹-o1j]

@@josexp1323 Good! It's shouldn't in the game

[@FJGenso]

DDC and its surprising moments. Touhou 14 is not only about a girl with flipping screen ability and a smol character with both tiny and oversized bullets with massively growing hitbox. don't forget - a girl with multiple and moving heads - a werewolf that move to the bottom of your screen - another musical sisters with their weird musical notes danmaku

[@topnep1]

Yeah, those musical notes danmaku have weird trajectories. They ended quite a few runs when I was working on my first normal 1cc. Btw, you can misdirect some of them in the non-spells by being on one side of the screen when they spawn and then dashing to the other.

[@abarette_]

Literally every Stage except 2nd is problematic in DDC, like holy shit lol

[@seb3082]

Kagerou on lunatic oh my god :( nightmare fuel of rng

[@konstantinsotov6251]

Mof - 1:08 Pcb - 2:01 In - 3:04 Pofv - 3:53 Td - 4:37 Hsifs - 5:11 Eosd - 5:48 DDC - 6:29 Lolk - 7:58 Ufo - 8:55 Sa - 10:26 from easy to hard

[@nexieterithu1073]

I would add the "Spirits are Deathtraps" on TD. Plus, I find the UFO's useful for life farming.

[@parupuri4993]

i used to constantly run into danmaku trying to get those pink spirits

[@smilinggeneral8870]

@@parupuri4993 how did you run? they're supposed to appear on top of you and shot you at point blank range.

[@jyll]

Yeah the spirits caused me so many deaths hahaha

[@abarette_]

The fucking Stage 5 fairies dude, most frustrating thing beside Reimu A shottype in DDC

[@fassad5768]

I started playing Touhou a few days and chose a game random ... It was Touhou 15 , despite me being a newbie i finished Normal mode in Absolute perfection mode , i died only 730 times :))

[@huytrandang277]

Embodiment of Scarlet Devil + :Well balanced game, many safe spot - :Sakuya

[@raphaelsanchez7386]

- Stage 5 as a whole - Water Sign “Princess Undine”

[@abarette_]

@@raphaelsanchez7386 YO THIS SPELL. I remember playing on every shottype, and when I got to 1cc with MarisaB (after every other character), THIS SPELL came out of nowhere, literally never saw it before lol I was like: "w-what? why the fuck am I playing LoLK Stage 3 now"

[@raphaelsanchez7386]

@@abarette_ Do ya mean ReimuB?

[@huytrandang277]

@@raphaelsanchez7386 That spell is stupidly awful, but i think sign of water and wood and mercury poison is still harder

[@hiroaritillwhen4581]

Nice work. 8 was way easier than 7 to me.

[@phasingecho700]

I've been trying to practice Kaguya becuase that's the last speedbump I've got in beating it, though Marisa deserves spotlight for having the possibility of taking 5 misses from me, and in my opinion, PCB is too hard for me, the moment I reach Youmu that's practically where my run ends, but I can 1cc EoSD

[@SUPERNOOB20]

Yeah, I agree, Reimu-Yuyuko TH 8 is, to me, the easiest TH 1CC in Normal. Then the phantom and scarlet team are quite more complicated... and the magician team is just insane haha Also, I know these are old comments but don't worry about PCB being hard, I got my PCB 1cc fairly soon after 1cc EoSD so you should be good, cheers! :3

[@OmegaMetroid93]

​@@phasingecho700 Yeah, stage 5 and 6 of PCB are just insane haha

[@SaintCharlos]

10:35 *Cannot even beat Touhou 11 in Easy mode*

[@Alienrun]

Like...even with infinite continues? I currently haven't 1cced Touhou 11 on any difficulty...but I at least managed to BEAT IT! lol :D

[@touhoufan7061]

I FEEL YOU edit: I HAVE FINALLY 1CCED SA YASS AFTER SO LONG

[@VividVoid]

@@touhoufan7061 Congratz to your grand victory

[@abarette_]

@@Alienrun Same lol. I had to learn everything from Stage 6 to beat it with continues (Normal), I let my computer running during three days dude... Not to mention that my run without continues ended on Stage 5 midboss lol

[@xx4931xx]

I'm still trying to beat SA on Easy with as many continues as I can. It's the Final Boss's spellcards I wish I could practice, so it's annoying me that I have to play the entire stage all over again if I want to use another continue. Is there some way to practice spellcards? If it doesn't show, I'm still kinda new to Touhou, SA being my 2nd game to try, right under MoF being the 1st

[@-storm7-969]

Wow, a civilised Touhou controversy comment section? Amazing.

[@KiraGoro]

Love how he put *Lasers* 3 times at UFO

[@auriidraws5563]

“you grow bigger” was an extremely cursed spell card and i can absolutely agree with this chart

[@kartofffrae4786]

HAHAHAHA! I knew that Touhou 11 would be hardest! Edit: Ended up crying from fighting Utsuho

[@SUPERNOOB20]

Nooo, poor dude D: Also edit: Utsuho was the first 1cc I cried after beating it, and then I started crying after every unique 1cc I achieved haha :O

[@silversabre2537]

I only play Marisa so my list is different :( T o u h o u 1 5

[@AA-dq5jd]

Marisa is useless character in Touhou 15

[@monopurple]

Dude, just use sanae, reisen or reimu in LoLK. I use marisa and her shoot type is okay, but her goddam thiccbox

[@Jacobsladder734]

Same. I love marisa xD

[@BknMoonStudios]

Me, a Marisa main in all Touhou games: *_"I'm here to live a good life, not a long one."_* Keep on Pichuun-ing, my brothers and sisters. 🍷

[@SleepDeprivation7066]

The reason why reisen increases the difficulty, Is because she's a former-lunarian resident. Which means, Junko, clownpiece, and hecatia go: *T i m e T o D i e*

[@theaznbob]

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember the number 119. That was the number of times It took for me to beat Normal mode (or easy mode? I honestly don't remember) TH11 back when I first tried a Touhou game back in like 2013.

[@abarette_]

1/119 sounds like my tries on "Hellfire ~ Graze Inferno" spellcard lol

[@animan8192]

For me it was a fun (and a bit traumatizing) experience going after relatively easy touhou games (7,8,9,10) straight into the hardest ones (11, 12). The fact that i cleared EoSD and PCB extras helped me a lot because other way I would be in need to practice too much just to "git gud" enough.

[@wannabecinnabon]

Perhaps I'm just weird, but I'd consider EoSD to be a lot lower than where it currently is, because the bullet patterns are so simple to understand for the most part. The biggest wall in the game for a 1CC by fair is Remilia, because she irritatingly goes invincible whenever you bomb in her later spell cards, but I still think her patterns are relatively easy when compared to the likes of IN's obnoxious bullet density. (Just compare Patchouli's omnidirectional laser to Marisa's...sheesh.) Red Magic completely shut me down on my first few attempts that got me that far, but when I came back to TH06 following skipping to TH07 and getting a normal 1CC there, I managed to get my 1CC on the very second attempt coming back.

[@longlivethe9989]

IN's density may be high, but most of the patterns are almost fully static - all of Keine, except Ephemeralty, Marisa non 1, non 2 (almost), spell 2, non 4, almost whole Reisen fight (minus Tuning and Indolence). That means, even if it IS high, you can memorise a path that works 100% of the time

[@wannabecinnabon]

@@longlivethe9989 Marisa alone is harder than anything in EOSD normal. Plus, EOSD normal is pretty static as a whole too to my knowledge, the game only becomes an RNG hellscape on higher difficulties. Sakuya is hard and a real bomb sink, but the rest aren't so bad.

[@longlivethe9989]

@@wannabecinnabon EoSD has little to no static patterns, almost all of them have an RNG element. Marisa is... pretty easy, because most of her attacks are static, even if they look random, there are 100% consistent routes.

[@wannabecinnabon]

@@longlivethe9989 If I need to spend hours practicing an absurdly precise pattern to do something in comparison to just being able to dodge it intuitively on reaction, I'll take the intuitive dodge any day. all but one of Marisa's spell cards are really fucking difficult for me to dodge consistently. Maybe if I looked up strats on the internet instead of trying to figure things out myself I'd do better but I never needed to do anything like that for EOSD. The only boss I can't handle well is Sakuya, which means I can just spend all my bombs on her and not worry about anything else. This list is for doing normal 1ccs, not nmnb lunatic runs or whatever.

[@longlivethe9989]

@@wannabecinnabon indeed, but if a pattern is static, you can memorise a path in like 5-10 minutes. Like, it took me 6 minutes to find out Marisa's first non can be done in 5 taps to the right done at proper timings.

[@tsuki2045]

Damn i was trying to finish every touhou game starting from touhou 6 and when i tried Touhou 11 i literally got demolished, I even stopped trying to play other touhou games because I though 11 was not a hard one and the next one will be a lot harder. I guess I was so wrong. You gave me hope to play new touhou games again, thanks

[@glowfly5314]

I'm surprised you didn't include 12.8, as it is very similar to the other main series games beside the ice mechanic, which is similar to the low level spell cards from other games, and the motivation mechanic, which is basically just a glorified health bar.

[@topnep1]

I was pondering about that too. In addition, TH 9 shouldn't be considered a main-game. But I just went with the official declarations.

[@mikubrot]

i wonder where WBaWC, UM, and UDoALG would rank here

[@Bashamo257]

Bendy-lasers are the death of me. Except for Shinki's, her cheeto lasers are actually a lot of fun. Great ranking, this definitely matches my experiences.

[@FiveBagsOfNasu]

I remember there was a Japanese video that ranks the most difficult spellcards, that list came out back in when UFO (or SA?) was released. Ironically some of the most difficult ones came from the easiest games, e.g. Kanako's last spell as No.3, and Yuyuko's last spell and its IN lastword counterpart as No.1, most of them were extra/stage 6 spells too. If we were to make that list again, I am sure that the later titles will have a lot of exposure and they will be mostly from LoLK, WBaWC will also have some (Curse you..."Geometric Creature")

[@pierremodat721]

MoF was the second game i have beaten on normal mode 1cc, an yes, it definitively seems to be one of the easiest to me, but the last spellcard was never a problem in any of my runs, it would seem that it's the kind of spellcard i'm really good with, and never died on it. PCB is the first game i have 1cc. There is some weird bullshit that can happen on the prismriver sisters an youmu has weird paterns, but youmu's paterns can be trivialised with a bit of memorisation and it's not a big deal to lose a life like an idiot on merilin, since the game showers you with lifes. IN my 3rd 1cc clear, looks extremely hard, but i think it's the game that get the most trivialised by memorisation. the enemy spellcards are impresive, but have huge weakenesses, with the number of lives this game gives you and 2 hours of spell practice, anyone can 1cc this game. it's the third game i finished. FoFW is weird, it's the 15th game i finished, and i did it immediatly after booting up the game after 2 months of not using it. Eiki Shieki can obliterate you, but if you have two lifes, you should be ok. TD is the 10th game i finished, and yes, the game is easy, and have spell practice, but trance is unreliable, completely destroy my focus when i use it, and the game really dosen't want you to use bombs or waste lifes, as it dosen't gives you many. overall a good game to get gud. HSiFS is the 13th game i finished, simply because i thought "you have to much bombs in this game, what if i just don't use them ?", wich made this game hell for me, really, the season release and bombs make this game look easy, but a no bomb run is extremely hard. i still think you're placement is right, because stupid chalenges dont cont. (and the backgrounds don't exist to me anymore, so it's fine, but the 3D backgrounds (the doors to be precise) have a tendency to make my computer lag) EoSD is the 12th game i finished, and i really can't understand why. really, i can't even beat it on hard mode (i'm a hard/ lunatic player), and i can't understand why. it isn't the itboxes, because i have beaten the pc98 games without that much trouble, and i know the game isn't that hard. maybe it's because the character's movements are weird, sometimes they feel slugish and other times i go too fast and kill myself on random unmoving danmaku, so i can't really rate this game. in DDC, the 4th game i finished, i refuse to use sakuyaA, so the game is way harder, and i have a tendency to not use bombs. in this game, it's fatal. if you don't use bombs, you get 3 times less bombs and 5 times less lifes, and you are not protected for the entirety of the stage, hoping that you're bomb run out to use another one. LoLK is the 16th game i finished, and if it was'nt for 17 coming out this late, it would have been the 17th. again, may just be my stupidity, but since i loved this game on the first glance, i decided to no bomb this one to. hardest touhou. UFO is the 4th game i finished, and i dont understand why, it was with a no miss clear at that. murasa can woop you're ass in seconds with her weird trap paterns, but her two ancors attacks seems to be her easier spells to me, shou bending lasers are again the types of attacks i'm naturally good with, so it has allways been fine to me. byakuren asks great knowledge of touhou in general, and a good perception of bullets trajectory, 1 hour of practice mode and a bit of experience of touhou in general should be enought to beat her with 2 lifes. i'm good at the hardest bosses paterns and catching UFO's, so it's easier to me. and now, to subteranean animism. my experience of "not bombing like an idiot" finally paid of, as i am a master in the art, making the bomb power problem unrelevent. yuugi and satori are, again, the types of enemies i deal with extremely easely, making the practice mode problem less of a problem. rin kaenbyou is a real roadblock and is a threat that should never be underestimated, and anyone that use rin safesposts are a disgrace to humanity and should disapear from the earth surface. if you don't fear trying again and again, in a week of tryharding you should be able to luck out of utsusho and snatch a win, but the real strategy is to beat the 5 first bosses with as much lifes as possible and have a heart attack on ustusho at the end (as for the anectdote, i have a weak heart, and the first time i have beaten this game, i had a heart attack, i did her last two spellcards with no lifes). overall, this game is insanely hard, but at least, it rewards well thoes no bomb players. 11h game i finished my verdict is : ? HRtP easiest 1 MoF 2 PCB 3 IN 4 PoFW 5 SoEW 6 PoDD 7 TD 8 LLS 9 EoSD ? 10 WBaWC 11 UFO 12 DDC 13 HSiFS 14 SA 15 MS hardest 16 LoLK

[@OmegaMetroid93]

I don't know why, but I had a much harder time with 7 than both 6 and 8. I'm about to do 10 and what little I played of it seemed a lot harder than you're giving it credit for here. Lol Maybe (hopefully), there's just something I'm missing, but even after clearing that, I know 11 is waiting for me after that. Great. XD

[@Petrico94]

Even though TH11 is like walking through the hell even gods abandoned, I still love the music, the characters, the shot system is honestly really creative taking what MoF started and making it more personal. Patchouli's shot is unusually wonky, but with more power it could be like Aya's where it's strange to use but good vs Parsee or some of Rin's more fairy based spells. I still do agree it can get brutal if you spam bombs and a lot of Marisa's aren't even that good. Nice list and I can agree with all your points. 17 Wily Beast is probably around EoSD and HSiFS, the UFO mechanic is back but it's a bit easier to use and you get plenty of spirits that stick around for a while so you shouldn't have to chase them, also Wolf Youmu is a beast. It does start to spike at stage 4 but that's not too unusual.

[@danmario246]

My personal list on normal so far (stuff with ? at the end mean I haven't played them, EXPECT THEM TO CHANGE IF I DO PLAY THEM) Key: An extra plus or minus means its a really big pro/con. #12: Imperishable Night? [++] Loads of extra lives [++] Spell practice [++] Lenient death bomb timer [-] Knowing when to shoot focused & unfocused [-] Death-bombing takes up 2 bombs rather then 1 [--] Stage 4 #11: Perfect Cherry Blossom [++] A ton of extra lives and bombs [+] Cherry borders [-] Longer then most Touhou games [--] Yuyuko is REALLY difficult to learn [-] The last timeout spell #10: Ten Desires [++] Really easy game (except for Seiga) [++] Spell Practice [+] Trance (combined with the fact that it doubles the value of spirits) [+] Stage 6 gives tons of power & other resources (especially useful when you only have 1 out of 4 power) [-] 2 Bombs per life [-] Knowing when to shoot focused/unfocused [-] You need full trance bar to do manual trance [--] If you die, you lose 1 power [--] Little resourses (you can only obtain around 3-4 lives per run) #9: Mountain of Faith [++] Near free bombs [+] A few extra lives [--] Hard to unlock stage 6 practice start [--] Bosses can easily starve you of power (Kanako especially) [---------------------------------------------] Kanako's last spell card (combined with the fact that she briefly disappears when you bomb) #8: Embodiement of Scarlet Devil [+] Well balanced game [-] No hitbox indicator [--] More RNG then that of the usual Touhou game [--] Sakuya (the stage 5 boss) [--] Only 3 lives on practice start #7: Wily Beast and Weakest Creature [++] Getting hit in roaring mode doesn't kill you [++] Spell practice [-] Backgrounds make it difficult to see the bullets [-] Knowing when to shoot focused/unfocused [--] Beasts can end up being a death trap if you don't know what you are doing [--] Stage 4's massive difficulty spike #6: Unconnected Marketeers [++++++++++++++++++++++] Ability cards [++] Spell practice [-] Knowing when to shoot focused/unfocused [--] If you die, you lose 1 power [--] Overall difficulty past stage 2 [---------------------------------------------] Misumaru (the stage 4 boss) #5: Hidden Star in Four Seasons? [++] Spell practice [++] Tons of extra lives (but not as much as PCB) [+] Season releases [--] You can only obtain 1-2 lives at most per stage [--] Overall Difficulty [--] The last spell where Okina steals your season equipment and uses it against you #4: Double Dealing Character [++] Spell practice [+] PoC pieces [-] You mostly get bomb pieces from PoC instead of lives [--] PoC can end up being a death trap if you don't know what you are doing [--] Very weird spell patterns [--] Stage 4's massive difficulty spike BONUS ENTRY: #3.5: Great Fairy Wars? [++] 3 Stages instead of 6 [++] Freezing [---------------------------------------------] Overall difficulty #3: Unindentified Fantastic Object? [++] You can gain as much lives as PCB [-] 2 Bombs per life [--] Difficult to collect UFOs without dying [--] Hard to unlock practice start [--] Overall difficulty [---------------------------------------------] Unbombable lasers #2: Subterranean Animism? [++] Less rng then the usual Touhou game (I could be wrong, but I think so) [++] You get loads of power back if you die with under 2 power [--] Overall difficulty [-] Bomb-power issue [-] Not much power items [--] Overall difficulty [--] Very hard to unlock practice start [--] Bad shot types #1: Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom? [---------------------------------------------] Overall difficulty EXPECT THIS LIST TO CHANGE AS I 1CC MORE OF THE GAMES IN NORMAL

[@OmegaTaishu]

Touhou 8 isn't so easy imo. When I first started, the peculiar "continue" system was a pain for me.

[@topnep1]

Continues were of no concern for this video because it is about 1cc's.

[@PurpleRupees]

Back when I played touhou, I remember doing getting a 1cc on normal of EoSD, PCB, IN, and MoF in a row. But I've never even cleared SA because that game is brutal.

[@e.sanghvi5657]

Take a shot every time he recommends you play as Reimu. You'll be on the floor by the end of the video.

[@KageRyu798]

This was a nice video and it was nice to hear some thoughts the various difficulties throughout the games. I might have to go back to TH10 after seeing this and give it another shot, since I've yet to beat that one. But I will say there is a clear pro for Subterranean Animism: Marisa & Alice's dialog. They treat the whole trip like an RPG and it is glorious. Also just Utsuho in general since she's the first legitimate villain, in my opinion. Side note, SA was actually the first of the games I 1cc'd on Normal. But that was on a really slow computer that cut the frame rate in half and essentially made it much easier to play, and I've not done it since on a faster computer. So I'll agree that it's normally quite difficult, but its story is the one I enjoyed the most out of the main danmaku games.

[@jedharendstrash]

I’ve been playing touhou for a few weeks and have done a perfect NN clear on lolk’s stage 2/3/4 bosses. They were all REALLY difficult because of my lack of experience in touhou. It actually really surprised me that LoLK was considered easier than UFO (which i’m trying to 1cc without bombs atm lol) Shou, Murasa and Byakuren are quite difficult bosses, but I found all the LoLK bosses being much harder. All of UFO’s stage 5 + stage 6’s midbosses are total 1cc killers too! It’s going to be really quite a difficult task to 1CC it

[@pseudologiafantastica5392]

I know this video is 2 years old but I think you should do the same thing for PC-98 games. I would love this

[@bitchynowiishere6404]

Uhm, holy shit? This is like, literally, my exact order.

[@pixelsilzavon77]

Touhou 16 additional negative: The ear rape during the Stage 6 boss. I just wanna blast the music and every time I beat a spell card, my ears cry.

[@brickstonesonn9276]

I started playing Touhou by playing Touhou 11 nonstop on Lunatic difficulty only(because it had my favourite songs in it). Couldn't get past first stage for like a month(the first faries of stage 1 was hell. I kept dying over & over again before even getting to the stage title. My brain constantly overheated). It took me like 3 months just to get to stage 3. Couldn't get past Stage 3 Boss. So I gave up on the Lunatic only thing & 1cc it on easy modo easily. Still my favourite game in the series tho. I liked Marisa-Patchy(I wish the other games had that system). And I also liked the Bomb-Power system(I'm probably the only one that actually likes it though). Also, the second Touhou game I ever played was Touhou 12 because a piano arrange of Byakuren's theme was what introduced me to Touhou. Rip. (Third game I played was Ten Desires. Was Disappointed.)

[@samuelbarker6755]

Nice to know the first (and so far only, until I manage to complete it) one I played is the 5th hardest Touhou game out there

[@raihanmiftah6076]

10:27 To be honest, I almost play that game as a newcomer 😂 (Touhou 8 is my first Touhou game btw)

[@jyll]

Same! IN is also my first game.

[@keylimepie3602]

Ok op for subterranean animism with each character comes a power Yukari can go to the other side of the screen Suika can collect all items Aya is fast Alice lets u collect 2 times more bombs Patchy has so many attack options And nitori bomb power op

[@longlivethe9989]

first of all, nitori bomb power is the LOWEST. Secondly, Alice only increases bomb gain by 1.5, only the bomb cap amount is increased by 2.

[@Nick-ob3yf]

Cool list. For my personal experience for a first 1cc I found UFO harder than SA. But now that I actually know how to collect the UFO's without dying so much SA is indeed more difficult overall.

[@deividymario2408]

SA and LoLK here. "Why?!" Because I have 1CC Normal (1CC Lunatic in EoSD) IN ALL OTHER MAIN GAMES!

[@LKBACKUP]

I just can't get past UFO's stage 5, and the fact that it's one of the three games that makes you restart at the BEGINNING OF A STAGE really doesn't help. I very much dislike this game, which is a shame since I'm fond of the characters. SA positive point: Stage 5 theme, but then the mood is kinda ruined as Rin barges in.

[@HyperVanilo]

Wait what? I thought that's a good thing, because you dont have to restart the game all over again when you die

[@clydeasd3341]

I had beaten up nue with almost every character,im only missing marisa with spread attack,i think it was B...it isnt actually a good choice xd (yep,i decided to clear that extra stage 5 times because i loved the music from the stage and from the boss XD)

[@Eradem]

Yea, MarisaB I believe is the worst shot type you can possibly choose in UFO.

[@THRWOW]

I find UFO (and SA) requires alot of memorization of patterns, AI paths, etc. I would try to unlock it in practice then run it again and again.

[@niklasstg6957]

Right now im grinding for Touhou 12 1cc. And i have a few things to say while i am Training (yes i am not ready for 1cc yet). Step 1: Grind Red UFOs in Stage 1 - 3. Dont do it in Stage 4 you will die. If you havent full live in stage 4 try to get the extra live from the mid Boss if you already have full live just bomb on the last part. PS: I like stage 5... not as hard as stage 4

[@DarkCT]

i just checked back over my games i have and the saves... i am amazed then i beat so many of the harder ones. my moment of glory was beating touhou 12 with Reimu. whenever i see curvy lasers, i panic now. but you are SO.BLOODY.RIGHT. about 11. i just... what? i can't understand that game, ive smashed my head on it so many times, its like going theough needle-laden torture to bust past Stage 4 and 5. once Yuugi does her mass bubble storm technique (whatever it's called) my brain goes "welp, thats it, games gonna screw you from now on. i just checked... my 14 progress is missing. im angry now, because i need to finish 16 and 14 (AGAIN) because i can't remember if i beat 14.. i THINK i did...

[@xerneis743]

Played and 1cc'd only EoSD, so I'm glad to see it pretty high on this list ^^

[@Devyatto9]

I have to be from another dimension because for me UFO was one of the easiest games in the franchise while PCB was one of the hardest (I could easily get up to 8-9 lives by Stage 4, but then Prismriver Sisters and Youmu would beat the shit out of me). Also, SA does give you a LOT of resources if you manage to survive each non and spell card, which is not very hard (specially on the first four stages) if you use either ReimuA or MarisaC. The last two stages and Orin are probably the only really difficult part of that game. But then again, this is just my opinion.

[@R24-m1k]

I kinda agree with your view on UFO and SA being not as hard. Once you know the trick to managing the resources, I.e. How to correctly use the UFOs to gain lives, and to survive the spell cards in SA, they aren't that hard. But their initial difficulty still trumps me over. As for PCB, I DO find the Prismrivers and Youmu very stress-inducing, but somehow, I got through them without many deaths. (Maybe cause I was really determined to get my first normal 1cc) The spells in later stages of PCB are quite wacky and tricky, but at the same time it gives you adequate time to react to them (e.g. Youmu's slowdown, Yuyuko's slow-ish bullets). I remember getting thrown off by Yuyuko's Ressurection Butterfly spell and dying at the last few seconds though. That was heart-breaking.

[@YuiroAoba]

I started playing touhou on UFO, have to say one of my favourite despite being kinda difficult. My usual strategy is to use SanaeB and to focus for green UFO for bombs since the green UFO are more generous than red UFO. Although, so far I'm only able to beat past Murasa. Some of the main reason I started on 12 is because there's Murasa, Nue Byakuren. Also the themes throughout UFO is a banger

[@YuiroAoba]

Also I liked the SA Reimu and Marisa gimmick, one of my favourite is the MarisaPatchouli since being able to change shot pattern is really interesting gimmick

[@kiro2278]

Although I only played EoSD, PCB, IN, PoFV, MoF, SA, DDC and HSifS I want to let you and other people on the internet know my opinion nobody really cares about. Thank me later. I'm going to focus on these games and just comment on personal experience. Mountain of Faith is pretty easy. I needed a few tries, but after a while I achieved an 1CC while being tired and almost falling asleep. That should be enough to tell that that game isn't that difficult... But because of the last spell I became awake. That spell played with my concentration and mind... Perfect Cherry Blossom also easy. It was my first Touhou (actually, it was PoFV, but back then I did not now that this is Touhou). This is the Touhou I played the most. It took me while to achieve an 1CC, but that's because I was new to the genre. Now, the game is pretty easy on normal mode. Imperishable Night first looked like an unbeatable game for me. I don't know why, but at my first attempts just came to stage 4. With continues... That was after my 1CC in PCB, so I wasn't to bad... Maybe I was just a scrub. Now I also achieved an 1CC in this game. But still, Marisa's stars are pain in the ass for me... Phantasmagoria of Flower View. Well, I did try to get an 1CC. I think I tried it twice. I have never touched it again... The battle against an AI enemy is just too random for me. And in the last few stages it feels like the enemy just spams his strongest attack while I having a hard time getting my level 4 attack once... Maybe I just don't understand the game, but I do not like this game. I would rank this game higher on the list... I played Hidden Star in four Season not that much, but a good amount of time. I have not 1CC it yet, though. But because of season release I think that the game is not that difficult. If I practice a bit more I will be able to do the 1CC. Embodiment of Scarlet Devil... Among the games I llayed so far, this is my weakness... I practiced and tried and practiced, I just can't achieve the 1CC. I think it's because of the controls. Compared to the other (newer) Touhou games, they feel weird. In cannot explain how, but they are different. Also, Sakuya and her damn time stopping is unbeatable for me without losing lifes. I played it a long time already, but it simply won't let me get this 1CC I desire so bad. Double Dealing Character... The game, that let me say 'What the heck?!' several times. Seija and her screen flipping screwed up a few tries of mine. The bullets are not too dense, so you're only problem are the controls. It's a game with your mind. Concentrate on your inverted controls and you'll be fine. My biggest problem is when the screen is upside down, because I always think the hitbox is on the lower side of the sprite... The final boss is not that difficult (except 'You grow bigger'. I don't even know how to do this, and I watched many replays of this...). I achieved an 1CC as I only wanted to try SakuyaA and didn't even aim for it. SakuyaA is the best shot type, by far! Personally, I would rank DDC lower on this list. Definetly behind EoSD and PoFV. Subterranean Animism is my favorite Touhou game and one of my favorite games of all time. The pattern are amazing! Stage 3 against Yuugi with 'Storm on Mt. Ooe' and 'Knockout in three steps' is one of favorite fights in Touhou. I like stage 4. Not just the boss, the whole stage. I don't know why, but I like it :3 'Lullaby of Deserted Hell' is one of the best songs in Touhou, in my opinion, and so is 'Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom'. And Okuu, the final boss, is the most intense boss in Touhou I fought against. She trows litarally suns! I could go on and on how good this game is, but I should say something about the difficulty, because that's what we're talking about. Maybe it's because I played it for many hours, but I feel like it's not that difficult. But I tell you, stage 5 is hard... Because I don't wanna die to 'Cat Walk', I timeout Orin's nonspell as midboss. Then the screen gets filled with little bullets, to which I lost a good amount of my lifes... And the boss isn't much easier. Some attacks are relativly hard to understand and to dodge. But after that stage, you survived the most difficult part of the game. But from the games I played so far, I would also rank it as the most difficult. Most difficult and most awesome :3 (But from what I saw from replays of other Touhou games I have not played yet, it seems like other games are harder. But to say which one is the most difficult I first have to play all a good amount of time.) It was a good ranking. Well sorted and also a reasonable explanation why the game is ranked where it is. I have often see people say that EoSD is one of the more easier Touhou games, so I'm glad to see it this high on this list. It makes me feel not that bad for don't being able to beat it :D EDIT: Nevermind what I said about PoFV. I tried to beat it the last two days and did it, eventually. But the AI... It is pretty broken sometimes... It just rushes through the bullets. Sometimes it gets hit several times so it can only get hit one more time, but then the enemy activates god mode and just survives for like ten more minutes. It was the most satisfying victory I ever experienced. I feel like my skills improved by about 100%. Still, I think PoFV deserves to be higher on this list, alone for this broken AI. (By the way, I find it kinda funny that I tried almost every character and failed and ended up beating it with Cirno.)

[@Anonymous-jo2no]

EoSD is hard to you but SA is your favourite? I only play EoSD, but when I saw people playing SA on KZbin... Me: "I... think I will just stick to playing EoSD... Don't wanna lose my sanity..." ( ; .__.)

[@kiro2278]

I still think that SA is easier than EoSD on Normal. After every spell and nonspell you captured you get a lifepiece. After the first few stages, you can have a lot lives already. To that, the visable hitbox and smoother controls makes it much more enjoyable. But I think, in the end it comes down to one's own personal opinion and playstyle. On Hard, on the other hand... Orin still destroys my tries.

[@Anonymous-jo2no]

I see. Since I only play EoSD the control is obviously not a problem for me... and I always thought "visible hitbox" = "cheating" lol Seriously though... I don't even want to imagine playing SA... Seeing that last boss was like WTF Not to mention I heard the stage 4 boss copies some of EoSD Patchouli's most hellish spells like Princess Undine and Philosopher's Stone (haven't tried the former, but definitely have played extra stage and got slaughtered by Philosopher's Stone XP)... If I am going to play some other Touhou games I'd consider IN... but SA? No thanks...

[@kiro2278]

A visable hitbox cannot be considered cheating if it is originally in the game. Using the hitbox patch for EoSD is considered cheating by some people, other people say it isn't, because it became standart for later games. I personally play without hitbox. The final boss isn't that hard, in my opinion. The second spellcard can be painful, but there are alot of easy spells andg nonspells. Believe me, stage 5 is like ten times harder (at least on Hard). And Satori (stage 4 boss) only copies Patchy's spells if you use MarisaB. In SA, you select a partner (Yukari, Suika and Aya for Reimu; Alice, Patchouli and Nitori for Marisa). Satori copies the attacks of the partner you've chosen. IN is a good game! You should definitly play it somewhen! :D It has spellpractice, two stage 4 bosses, two final bosses and Last Words. It is quite easy (IN Hard might be the easiest Hard 1cc) and has alot of fun spellcards. And Youmu is a playable character, which is always something good.

[@Anonymous-jo2no]

Maybe I will play it after I take some chips... and eat it... Ah I am hopeless quick do something about it.

[@Wrulfy]

I kinda wished more games had pointdevice mode. It really forces you to clear spellcards, at progressively worse fire power, and keep all of your bombs for the last spells

[@memeyartist5591]

Thats a bit of a bruh moment, the first three games I downloaded were my favorite games, which are the top 3 hardest :'D

[@marx4538]

SA has great shottypes though imo UFO is the hardest just due to it's main systems and 1.00 power loss

[@Wei-HsuLin]

Me after watching this: I think I should get MoF, surely it is easier than EoSD right? Stage 6 boss last spellcard? It’s just one spell card! Kanako: I am gonna destroy this man’s whole career.

[@abarette_]

This spell is fucking anxiety incarnate lol.

[@Winu-bignsmall]

“Touhou 11 took place in former hell and that is fitting because this game is livingn hell” omg im cackling at that sentence XD

[@kozakos1999]

EASY #11 TH10 - Mountain of Faith Advantages - Free bombs - Lots of power items Difficulties - Stage 6 boss' last spell Recommended shot type: Reimu A #10 TH07 - Perfect Cherry Blossom Advantages - Cherry borders - Lots of extra lives Difficulties - Long game Recommended shot type: Sakuya A #9 TH08 - Imperishable Night Advantages - Long death bomb timer - Lots of extra lives - Spell practice Difficulties - Timing of focused/unfocused - Stage 4 Recommended shot type: Reimu/Yukari #8 TH09 - Phantasmagoria of Flower View Advantages - Misses make stage easier - Level 2 spell spam Difficulties - Luck dependent Recommended shot type: Aya or Medicine #7 TH13 - Ten Desires Advantages - Overall easy game - Trance - Spell practice Difficulties - Few resources Recommended shot type: Reimu or Sanae NORMAL #6 TH16 - Hidden Star in Four Seasons Advantages - Season releases - Lots of extra lives - Spell practice Difficulties - Background distraction Recommended shot type: Reimu D #5 TH06 - Embodiment of Scarlet Devil Advantages - Balanced game - Many safe spots Difficulties - No hit-box indicator Recommended shot type: Reimu A HARD #4 TH14 - Double Dealing Character Advantages - Point of collection bonuses - Spell practice Difficulties - Point of collection death traps - Lots of weird patterns - Your hit-box might grow bigger Recommended shot type: Sakuya A LUNATIC #3 TH15 - Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom Advantages - Lots of extra lives Difficulties - Overall difficult game Recommended shot type: Reisen #2 TH12 - Undefined Fantastic Object Advantages - Decent shot type Difficulties - Overall difficult game - Lasers - Just 2 bombs per life - Trivial enemy death traps - Hard to unlock practice start Recommended shot type: Sanae #1 TH11 - Subterranean Animism Advantages - Something to boast about Difficulties - Overall difficult game - Bomb-power problem - Few power items - Awful shot types - Hard to unlock practice start Recommended shot types: Reimu A or Marisa

[@babydragon4412]

Touhou 10 recommend shottype should be marisaB(Broken 3.00)

[@UmaryJpj]

Easiest To Hardest- PCB TD IN EoSD WBaWC UM HSi4S DDC UFO SA LOLK

[@Gejam_GameDev]

so the very first touhou game i tried was actually the hardest one. proud of myself who made it to stage 5 without dying in normal mode.

[@satyman08]

my dumbass somehow beating SA on lunatic is truly a moment for the history books

[@randomnico6250]

Really good video, althought this depends on each persons perception.For example, for me th 12 and 11 are pretty easy, and imperishable night and hsifs are hard

[@parupuri4993]

ahhaha i go back to this video to see which game ill try to 1cc next i originally thought that ten desires was the easiest but god dang it give you so little bombs (also the stupid spirits can sometimes be death traps) id say that mountain of faith would be easier because its way more resourceful than ten desires lol Edit: i kinda changed my mind on this one, because TRANCE MODE. if you press c while your trance gauge is full, you can enter trance mode without losing a life, unless you get hit immediately after it ends so watch out the spirits are (kinda?) easy to get, especially in stage four so when in trouble, enter trance mode!

[@nuetella9764]

In th14 i cant quite agreed with sakuya, i would recomend reimu with her magic broom, cuz that thing chunks a ton of damage when you put it right, and her spellcard i would say that is a better version of master spark ( cuz u don't have to aim) and is a little bit easier to handle than master spark. Also in th13 u forgot to mention yoomoo the lord of power and destrucción.

[@topnep1]

I don't like Reimu A's bomb in th14. If you activate it while hugging the bottom, you don't even hit enemies in the upper half. The gohei may deal a bit more damage, but not significantly. Or do you mean the focus/unfocus abuse? For a beginner, it makes things harder instead of easier. Compared to Sakuya, she also starts with 1 bomb less and has no slowdown effect. Youmu in th13... Nah, hard to learn. That's a huge minus. Haven't even beaten normal with her because she's so weird.

[@小彭-t5n]

Top Nep Btw Youmu is the biggest shit ever in TD extra, because she is broken.

[@jeanegreene374]

If you can time it, Youmu can nullify some spell cards

[@Levonshi]

Its been 5 years... "Its long and hard and will destroy you mercilessly from the inside, but once it finishes its a great pleasure"

[@adambai8927]

Personal ranking Normal 1cc: UM < HSiFS < WBaWC

[@luthierisbestboy8177]

I just 1cced a game for the first time this morning! It was Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Normal Mode, Yuuka). And even though I played pretty badly, I feel proud for beating it with no continues! I will say that I've also 1cced a Touhou fangame, Thousand Nights Anamnesis, before. I have 1cced the Subterranean Animism and Imperishable Night levels in it so far.

[@NeiroYT]

TH11 is my first full passed game, wtf. Very easy bosses, bombs count = infinity, very easy extra. That's crazy

[@DeityDiz93]

Excellent coverage of the main games! I was a little disappointed to not see Touhou's 1 through 5 covered as the PC-98 has it's interesting points to make, but I don't blame you for leaving it out; plus, you have to deal with emulation stuff, in which I recommend Neko Project 2 or T98-Next over the widely distributed Anex86 emulator which is god awful as an emulator to play Touhou games with especially. It was nice to see Touhou 7 ranked easier than Touhou 8 for once, as I absolutely agree it's mechanics are much more friendly on a player. I would have still recommended Reimu's A shot type as well because it's really strong for a homing shot, and how it can be mentioned that Reimu's hitbox is super friendly not just in PCB, but all of Touhou's games (outside of Touhou 2). Still, Sakuya A is also fantastic shot type so I didn't mind as much; also, her B shot is also very technical, but absolutely amazing too if used right. I was surprised you didn't dock Touhou 8 as heavy though for it's punishing death bomb mechanics though, the game frankly encourages bad bomb habits with that long death bomb timer for other Touhou games, and punishes people with good bomb habits by making the powered-up death bombs cost that extra bomb with this only not a problem when you do this on one last bomb; it is clear this was designed for folks to take that extra second to bomb so they didn't lose that life they were about to, but it does it's job of saving a life well enough I suppose. There's that, and the fact that Touhou 8 hides a lot of neat things behind unlockables such as an absurd starting lives count, and solo shot types which are neat as all get out to do a run with, but like you said with UFO, this is fixed if you get a fully unlocked save file, but I'd rather earn it like ZUN intended, but that's just me. Another point I think you should have covered is with Touhou 14 Double Dealing Character. Simply put, the game is more than just mechanically broken with some shot types, but in regular use, some shot types are still solid over just Sakuya A. Sakuya A in regular use is the best shot, yes, but Reimu A's shot is also excellent and is the shot type that makes "You grow bigger" trivialized because Marisa and Sakuya suffer from that attack the most because of the way the hitboxes are bigger on them compared to Reimu's, so she counters that negative you brought up very much so. I was actually surprised you didn't mention Marisa B's bomb at all in this video which is, bar none, the *best* bomb in the game even beating out Sakuya A's excellent bomb. Marisa B's bomb is so absurdly broken and it not only provides a shield form all bullets for long after the invincibility frames end, but a free point-of-collect and power items, so that counters the PoC death trap negative you brought up. With a lot of those negatives being countered if you use different shots, I was surprised to see DDC higher in terms of difficulty than Ten Desires. I'd honestly recommend you look at a "Double Dealing Character is Broken" to see just how mechanically broken the game is like I was mentioning before though, it's quite amusing, but it overall would have made DDC a lot easier than Touhou 16 for sure; I wish DDC was better covered in this video in that respect. I guess the biggest thing I did have issue with in this video was the lack of shot type coverage and explanation of them since even in your first choice of MoF, what shot you pick is very dependent on how easy the game is or isn't, but otherwise for the things you did cover, it was a really nice look into each game from a normal 1cc perspective. ^^ Edit: Made a correction to the quote: "[...] with this only not a problem when you do this on one last bomb; [...]" for that Touhou 8 bit because I said "last life" like an idiot before this edit.

[@topnep1]

Reimu's little hitbox is nice, but the bullet density in normal is not that high, so it doesn't matter that much. The extra bomb timer in IN has no backdraws. You can still do the normal deathbomb timing. Using that "last spell" bomb for the cost of two will at least safe your current life. If you don't use it, you'll lose all bombs anyway. And players will notice soon enough that the other games aren't as forgiving when it comes to timing. They'll adapt. I didn't mention DDC Marisa B's bomb or the broken dmg from Reimu A because they require to know how to use them. Trying to use it caused more fails than wins for me, so while it may break the game if done right, it's not suited for everyone. "You grow bigger" is still horrible with Reimu :-/ thx for the detailed reply!

[@samuffert]

Positive about Touhou 11 Reimu-Yukari Helps you in the final stage ... But border of wave and particle

[@MattJDave]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one that found Touhou 11 to be absolutely horrifying. Not only is it willing to punch you in the face from stage 1's boss onwards, its bombs are easily the most underpowered in the series, especially given they also cost power, not a separate resource.

[@VividVoid]

And now we have Touhou 18, which is probably around #4-5 for difficulty or so.

[@longlivethe9989]

bruh it can be beaten while fully AFK if you use a certain card + autofire, so it's #12 for sure

[@sugarymess708]

I still take Touhou 11 as my favorite despite it being one of the hardest ones. Legit, I only bothered to learn to play 11 the best because of Satori. She's my favorite character in the series, so I learned to get to her stage comfortably. Though, Yuugi still likes to curbstomp my ass back to the title sometimes. Great stuff though.~

[@Silenthunter199]

Just started some days ago with Touhou 16 on Steam... I know this fandom and how it's very popular I wanted to try. Just some main concerns are: - There is no proper game tutorial or something like that to even explain basic mechanics of lives, bombs spells, characters etc. Everything is a learning curve on your own. It has pros and cons - The problem with mixed english/japanese/chinese(? idk) - finding anything to mod this is just hard. There was a patcher but for normal windows version with just get deleted I think? nothing for steam for now :/ I also like to read this small talks between characters, just impossible due lack of language patch. - Started on normal still it's little hard. Yea I can go at the beggining to stage 3 even 4 I think until I get continue screen, so I think with a great practice is managable to beat game. I will see. Still can't understand differences between characters, played only with Reimu. But I love concept of this game! It must be very rewarding when you beat it.

[@mousysaint9143]

I mostly agree with this, except I would say that ten desires is just straight up the easiest game. I have difficulty with at least 1 boss in every other touhou game, but Ten desires only has a slightly tough stage 1 boss and easy everything else.

[@parupuri4993]

agreed, most of the spells are easy to dodge and trancing is extremely useful

[@smilinggeneral8870]

let me ask you : how do you collect stuff on TD?

[@SUPERNOOB20]

I 1cced Normal IN and MoF in less than 24 hours each (time goes from trying the games for the first time to 1ccing them), and I've 1cced Normal like 6-7 Touhous so far, but then I got to TH 11... it's been a couple days and I can't even beat it in Normal WITH continues, omg (got stuck on the final boss)

[@ThePrastomo]

Nice List, but subterranean Animism has a marisa nitori shield which is by now the most advantageus power use after reisens triple shield. It protect you and wipe all danmakus on the screen wich is superior than reisens shield, and their half power return if ur shield is not needed which compensate your bomb power usage. In later stage, power is common item. And UFO let you choose your bonuses. I use my retry on byakurens last spell in my first time play, tough death bombing is a critical skill to use this advantage, plus u can easily generate lives by collecting the ufos that means 3 bomb.

[@justasteamplayer7542]

*meanwhile touhou Highly Responsive to Prayers and Story of Eastern Wonderland:*

[@Antsaboy94]

Now that you mention it, I did do better on Mountain of Faith, than on Subterranean Animism. I still felt much more comfortable with the latter, though.

[@flariz4824]

2:34 "You can fly straight into the bullet right before the border ends" Or you can just press X as if it was a bomb and force the border break. People should do this instead of intentionally getting hit lol. You probably already knew this though, just forgot about it...Most newbies might not know though. Hmm, well I am past Normal modes by this point (Nowadays I usually beat them blind 1st try), so this was a pretty interesting list since I actually wouldt know how to rank most of these... I would argue Ten Desires deserves to be put at least a couple of places higher. Sure its an overall easy game alright, but it gives you almost no resources if you dont know Trance Routes- and chances are a Normal player wouldt really pay much attention to that or if they do, be successful at routing them (I know my 2014 self couldt do it and had a harder time than most other Normals). Furthermore, a Normal level player most likely isnt very good at the whole "not dying with bombs in stock" thing just yet, and this hurts on TD more so than in most other games as well. Thus, I believe TD Normal should be around 3-4th place IMO. 5:30 You have no idea how much I agree with this. I seriously dislike how distracting the backgrounds are in this game. Half of them cripple your reading and its honestly a very shit way to add difficulty. Its the only game in the series that does this, I never had a visual problem like this in any of the others... EoSD is a well balanced game? Hmmm... Well, thats probably the case on Normal. I think it should be fine on Normal, yes. Reimu A suggested character... well if you are only just starting and really need, like, REALLY *_NEED_* Homing, I suppose it is alright... beware, it is one of the weakest homing shots in the series though. I would say LoLK PointDevice mode should be a plus. It DOES let you practice in a way no other game lets you, not just spellcards, everything. Grind in this mode for some time and you will be ready for Legacy in no time, especially if you use Reisen or Sanae. SA first place? Thats interesting. Honestly I dont remember having that much trouble with its Normal. UFO Normal gave me the most trouble out of all Normals back then (IIRC I had to do around 5-6 runs to get it), and would be my number 1 pick. This was a great list and very well made. You made a lot of very strong and true points! This will be useful to use as a guide for other people who are on Normal level! Will you later do a list of all Extras from easiest to hardest? Now thats a topic I definitively know more about! (Well, I still need to clear TD Extra at some point, its the only one I havent cleared yet but... hopefully I will do it before you make said video)

[@topnep1]

Nope, actually didn't knew that you can end a border with x. Never tried it. Good to know :D TD doesn't even need trance. When doing the run for this video, I did it with no miss and even the bombs I used weren't really necessary, just used to ensure the no miss run. So there's room for a hit here and there, even with a bomb left in stock. EoSD has many bosses that like to move left and right frequently, so that's why I suggested homing. Yup, PointDevice is good practice. After beating it the first time on easy (with 300 misses), I felt a sudden increase in my overall abilities when playing the other games. But it can be quite frustrating, so I forget it even exists. I still haven't beaten four of the extras (PoFV, SA, UFO, LoLK), so I'm not quite ready to talk about them.

[@yuwyu4841]

honestly i beat touhou 13 on easy with all the retries and that is the best ive done, but seeing touhou 14 higher on the list makes me feel scared but proud ig? because i went through it on easy and got pass seija without using any retries. ive never and probs will never in the near future aim for a 1cc before but i really felt like i was on power that night...

[@ddd-op5wy]

LoLK is one of the easiest, if not the absolute easiest, game to 1cc if you use Reisen and just bomb at the start of every stage from 2 onwards. You get way too many lives to fail, and you don't even need to pay much attention to get the lives from stage 3 onwards (have to try a bit to get all of the lives on the stage 1 and 2 bosses since their healthbars are a bit too short). I also 1cc'd it yesterday on Hard with 2 lives left, and that was my first ever hard 1cc. The difficulty is way too low.

[@topnep1]

Sure, but pressing the bomb button is harder than it sounds if you're a newby, hence the perspective from a first time 1cc.

[@SentinelProxima]

Very nice list! I agree with most of what you say, but not everything :) Kanako's final isn't all that hard :) Sure, new players should try to reach it with a couple of spare lives for their first 1cc, but that's probably true of the final spells of all games. Kanako's real monster card is Misayama Hunting Shrine Ritual, but every game has a couple of out-there spells, so I would agree with the assessment of MoF as easiest game overall. I'd definitely put PCB above IN, because Youmu. I'm glad to see HSIFS in the middle of the ranking. Sure, the releases are powerful, but you have to put yourself in danger to make the best use of them, which the game heavily encourages with its score-based extends. It took me a lot longer to 1cc this game than I expected.

[@combuf]

There is a mod for 6 that changes the Sprite to include the hit of indicator. I didn't figure it to ruin the gameplay, just to give you the advantage that the later games give you.

[@user-mg1ic2fi1d]

Stage 5 of UFO.... *shudder*

[@Flowery0]

IN gives you a lot of hits you can take due to the absurdly long deathbombing window, but its patterns are way harder than in PCB. Hell, i felt like i did better in PoFV, even though in both i only got to the final bosses and didn't defeat them. And, like, PCB is my first game, PoFV is second, IN is third and i didn't play any other touhou(aside from the fanmade TNA, which is my actual first). And the reason why i have 2 unfinished and 1 un1ccd is because i got kinda sick of pcb, PoFV didn't scratch the correct itch and IN is the last one i started, lol

[@Juleszzzzz]

I... I came to SA and UFO for the OST.... coming from EOSD & PCB. That explains the difficulty spike. My logic was if I could 1cc EOSD hard modo, then it's the same for the other games, but NOPE, I get stuck on stage 2 & 3.

[@Ikarus568]

Came here just to validate my misery against Murasa in T12 Stage 4. I died at 0.20 seconds left on her final spell card.

[@Carpatouille]

Reimu A trivializes some fights with her TP on the borders in TH11, it was my very first touhou game 1cc'd on normal, and while it's not the easiest i don't feel like it's the hardest either if you play Reimu. Some safespots also exists and once you know them the game gets significantly easier.