Touhou 12.5 - Double SpoilerThis article will cover the release of Th12.5 on the event day of Reitaisai 14th of March 2010. While half the universe was speculating about Touhou 13, ZUN surprised the entire community once more by announcing another
Shoot the Bullet style game. Please read warmly.
IntroductionThere isn't a plot to this game. Like Shoot the Bullet, this game is a "boot-and-play" game. You don't need a reason to play this game. You just do it. But never the less, for newcomers to the world of Gensokyo: In this game you play the role of
Shameimaru Aya, a crow Tengu who is the news reporter in Gensokyo. She is known for spreading rumours and has the ability to see from great distant and manipulate the wind. As you can already guess, she is a troublesome character.
In a nutshell this game explained: Your job is to capture the most beautiful danmaku with your precious camera. You will be flying around, dodging and waiting patiently to snapshot that precious panty pa--- eh I mean spell card pattern.
Like Marisa did in UFO, Aya seems to have improved her fashion and her gear. Equipped with a possibly new camera (Red lens! Increases pantyshot abilities by 300%!!). Her little crow friend seems to be missing in her new portrait though. Many people speculate her hairstyle is different, judge for yourself.
Aya in 9.5 --------------------------------------
Aya in 12.5
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Most people speculate that she has pointy elf ears like Parsee, but actually it was never officially confirmed that Parsee has pointy ears as well. So there are rumours going around it is either ZUN's drawing style again or just pointy ears. Either way, I my self have taken a look in ZUN's data (th12.5.dat) and took a look at the face portraits so I got my own ideas about it, but that is not the point of this article. Let us carry on.
CharactersZUN has announced various characters would appear covering the games from MoF all the way up to UFO including few characters from IaMP and SWR. Because this game is a "spoiler" game, spoiling the list of characters here would be lame. Therefore
click here to read the list of characters so far being confirmed. (spoiler warning)
Of course the characters like the Aki Sisters, were already spoiled with the screenshots on ZUN's blog.
There
is however a secret second character who seems to be a potential rival to Shameimaru Aya. But that is all I will spoil now! To discover her, you better do your best to work through all stages. Ayayayaya!
GameplayI played 9.5, so writing this article isn't going to be difficult in comparing the various things in between. First impression when I started the game was the EXTREME smooth appearance. Really, the frame rate was sweet and movement and controls felt exact. ZUN has been definitely polishing up the engine and it has become something fantastic. More will be discussed in the looks section.
In Double Spoiler, you again fire a snapshot with the Z button. The SHIFT button allows you to focus and reveal your hitbox. Holding SHIFT + Z charges up your camera faster to 100%, but you are sacrificing all your speed to achieve this. New comers will have somewhat difficulty in getting used to this, but it is not hard to learn. Just like in 9.5, your camera 'gun sight' is showing all the time. It is though upgraded to form the full camera sight. It is not disturbing your overview so ZUN did a good job here. Holding down the SHIFT button will not only focus your movement, but also 'aim lock' your camera sight onto the boss.
Normally the boss position is shown with the 'Enemy Marker', but neither 9.5 and 12.5 have this, so you need to pay attention to the boss location. And let me warn you already, some bosses in this game move around a lot!
The game play adds a very interesting new feature which is very handy in some scenes and gives the game a dynamic feeling. The X button is introduced which tilts your camera sight. Now you can choose whether to snapshot a wide image or a vertical image.
Together with these new features you will be facing exactly 108 different patterns, and ZUN warned the fans that the game won't be easy. Prepare to
Pichun a lot!
Looks, sounds, musicAs said in the gameplay section, the appearance was smooth. ZUN most likely is using the UFO engine combined with the mechanics from StB resulting into a very pleasing game. He even replaced the 'bullet death' animation which looks like mini explosions into tiny particles. Will you all be happy if I report that ZUN uses curvy lasers in this game? No? Well too bad. I hope you all are able to withstand the terrifying, annoying, stomach turning curving lasers. They seem to appear often in the scenes.
The music in the opening scene is again a remix of the famous song <forgot the name orz>, which ZUN has been using throughout all his games. He seems to have dropped the standard Aya theme which played over and over in StB. Now you are granted with several BGMs that change after a few chapters.
The data from ZUN shows various new sound effects. Most of them are standard from Touhou (famous Pichun sfx) but the new ones help you guide through certain attacks. So besides looking, also carefully listen to the sound effects.
ConclusionCombined with the beauty and smoothness of the UFO engine and the mechanics from StB another brilliant game has been produced by ZUN. The 108 scenes will keep you busy for quite a long while, so don't think you can finish this game that quickly! With the new camera sight function and a red lens you are ready to go.
As I said in the introduction, there isn't a reason to play this game. So just do it! When you are bored at home, or travelling by bus/plane/train; grab your laptop, boot this game up and go for it. Don't forget to also read
ZUN's afterword which has been already translated!
So, control our BunBunMaru Tengu and capture pantyshots on photo. This is: Touhou 12.5, Double Spoiler! Ayayayayayaya!
Helepolis
