Ya know what fuck it why not make my last review of the year the first Touhou game? I'm taking my sweet time with Final Fantasy 16.

So in my excitement to get more into Bullet Hell games I finally found ways to play the early Touhou Project stuff along with picking up and being gifted a lot of other stuff from rad people/friendos as well!

So when I heard this one wasn't really anything like the other Touhou games I was absolutely fascinated. I love seeing where series start and how they can possibly grow and change from that but especially when people say this game is far more like breakout than anything which is really fascinating. It feels like a basic concept that should be pretty cool!

Unfortunately after playing it it just really isn't in the full execution! It's not like the worst thing ever but it feels like breakout if your ball in breakout killed you for not being precise as hell with every hit with the paddle AND if the ball had more physics based momentum to it. As it goes around it loses its bounce and ya gotta kick and slide your way around which feels good sometimes actually!

But then ya gotta fight bosses that shoot back at ya, so not only do ya gotta worry about their projectiles but ya also gotta worry about not fucking up and accidentally killing yourself in the process which feels real bad at points, so bad that I honestly just kinda gave up. One day I may come back to this and really try harder to push through but honestly I just can't see myself enjoying much more of it.

It feels off in a way where like it's almost to something really interesting but something about it doesn't click and that's a shame. Still glad I at least tried it though!

I can appreciate that this was ZUN's first game, developed entirely in his free time, but man this game sucks. Playing this feels like the prototype for a concept you'd make before realizing that the concept isn't fun. The Ying-yang orb probably killed me at least 5 times more than any bullets did. The game is also a bit of an eyesore, there's a copious amount of dithering on almost everything, which I suspect is from bit-crushing images with higher color depth? Either way it doesn't look good. The only saving grace of this game is having unlimited continues and no content being locked behind 1CCing it besides the ending cutscene (though why you'd want to play more of this I have no idea). If you're getting into Touhou and want to see where the series started, just play like 5 minutes of this or watch a playthrough before skipping to Story of Eastern Wonderland.

(written by someone who has 1cc'd this game on lunatic, both routes)

an amazingly competent game considering it's ZUN's very first entry! this game can be very frustrating at first but becomes a lot of fun the more you play and the better you get! for a very simple concept it feels great to truly get a grasp on the game, and the bosses are pretty cool too! they progress from being very telegraphed to testing out how well you can manage the orb and dodging at the same time. Also, the music and the background art make the game is in my opinion a very cool aesthetic that I can't really find in other games. Only real complaint are the awful flashing lights on bombs.