Touhou 06 - The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil

Overview

The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is the sixth game in th e Touhou Project, released on the Windows OS in 2002. It was the first to be released on the Windows OS, and the first to be published by Team Shangai Alice.

Plot

All is well in the land of Gensokyo , that is, until one summers day, a thick scarlet mist begins to cover the land. The mist is thick enough to block out the sun, so the affected areas quickly become dark and cold. Reimu Hakurei , the resident Shrine Maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, decides that it is her duty to investigate the cause of the scarlet mist and put an end to it, while Marisa Kirisame, a powerful witch, believes that she might discover some interesting items and powers if she finds the root.

Gameplay

The Embodiment of Scarlet plays out like many other vertically scrolling Danmaku shooting games, with your character always facing the top of the screen, shooting at anything that moves while avoiding and weaving through the many bullet patterns, and facing bosses at the end of each stage.

There are four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard and Lunatic. Each difficulty affects the number of bullets fired by each enemy, the rate of fire, the movement patterns of them, and the number and type of enemy Spell Cards used.

There are 6 stages in the game, each more difficult than the last, and after clearing the game without the use of a continue on any one difficulty, an Extra Stage will be unlocked. The Extra Stage features significantly stronger and fast enemies, an extremely hard mid-boss and boss battle, and no option to continue once all of your lives have been used up.

Defeating Enemies

The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil features many different enemies which you must defeat in order to progress through the stages. The player can do so through the use of the following abilities:

The Shot
The shot is the basic way of defeating an enemy. A shot's attack area and behaviour will vary depending on the character you have chosen, and you can also power up the shot by filling the Power Level through the collection of power items, where small power items increase your power level by 1, and large ones by 10. The shot will gradually become more powerful as the player reaches the  Power levels of 8, 16, 32, 48, 80, 96, and 128 (MAX). When the player reaches MAX power, all onscreen bullets will cancel out and turn into star items, which are automatically collected, and during the time the player has MAX power, the player can auto-collect all onscreen items by moving their character close to the top of the screen.

Bomb
Bombs can be used to get out of desperate situations. A bomb's attack area, duration and power will vary depending on the Attack Type you have selected, but most of the time, it will deal heavy damage to every enemy onscreen, as well as cancel out any onscreen bullets and automatically collect every onscreen item, however, enemies defeated through the use of a bomb will not drop any items. While a bomb is activated, and a short period after it has finished, the player's character will be invincible. At the beginning of the game, and after every respawn, you will have 3 bombs. You can increase your bomb supply through the collection of bomb items. You can carry a maximum of 8 bombs at a time, and if you collect a bomb item while at the limit, that bomb will be lost.

Rank

The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil features a ranking system where, as your rank increases, enemy bullets will have their speed and numbers increased. The effect the ranking system has on the game can be seen most prominently in boss battles, where the bullet difference between minimum and maximum rank can differ by a factor of 4 or more, and bullet movement speeds can double.

The players rank ranges between 0 to 32, and is reset to 16 at the beginning of each stage. It slowly increases with survival time, and it jumps up noticeable when the player defeats an enemy Spell Card, until the cap of 32 is reached. It will also be decreasedby 16 everytime the player is hit.

Boss Battles

Each boss has multiple lives, which are represented by multiple health bars, and they will normally switch between Spell Cards and normal attacks once with each lifebar .

A boss' Spell Cards will often comprise of complicated patterns which will involve projectiles and magic made especially for each Spell Card. If the player manages to defeat an enemy Spell Card without getting harmed or using a bomb, a substantial score bonus is awarded.

Both a normal and Spell Card phase of a boss battle will be accompanied by a timer. When the timer runs out, the boss will switch their next attack pattern, even if their health bar isn't empty, although doing this without being hit or using a bomb will provide no score bonus.

Characters

There are two playable characters to chose from in The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, each with two attack types. The player decides which character to play and which attack type to use at the beginning of the game.

Reimu Hakurei

Basic Performance
- Movement Speed: ★ ★ ★
- Attack Range: ★★★★
- Attack Power: ★ ★ ★

Attack Type A (Spirit Spell Card)
- Main Firepower: Homing Amulet
- Bomb: Fantasy Seal
 -Summary: An excellent choice when faced with a swarm of enemies, as her widespread and homing attacks deal with them rather quickly. However, her attacks aren't as effective against bosses.

Attack Type B (Dream Spell Card)
- Main Firepower: Persuasion Needle
- Bomb: Evil-Sealing Circle
 -Summary: This attack type is good if you wish to balance out a good attack range with good attack power, at the cost of a weak bomb.

Marisa Kirisame

Basic Performance
- Movement Speed: ★ ★ ★ ★
- Attack Range: ★
- Attack Power: ★ ★ ★ ★

Attack Type A (Magic Spell Card)
- Main Firepower: Magic Missile
- Bomb: Stardust Reverie
 -Summary: This attack type is perfect when facing bosses, as it deals heavy damage. However, the attack range is rather small.

Attack Type B (Love Spell Card)
- Main Firepower: Illusion Laser
- Bomb: Master Spark
 -Summary: Although the Illusion Laser is a little lacking in damage and attack range, the bomb more than makes up for that with its incredible power.

Scoring

Scoring works similarly to many other Touhou games.

Enemies

Any damage dealt to an enemy, whether it be dealt by a shot or a bomb, will increase the player's score slightly. Defeating enemies will award the player with a slightly more points, although these tend to range in the hundreds, per enemy.

Grazing

To graze a bullet, the player must come dangerously close to an enemy's bullet. Each graze will add 500 points to the player's score and will add 1 point to the player's "Graze number", which is used to calculate the player's final clear bonus. It is possible to graze a bullet only once, meaning there will not be any additional points or grazes if a bullet is followed, although lasers can be continually grazed throughout their duration.

Point Items

Whenever an enemy is defeated, there is a chance that it will release a point item. The higher up the screen they are collected, the more points that will be awarded, up to a defined maximum based on the diffuculty the player has chose. Whenever a point item is collected for maximum value, the number will be shown in yellow. The auto-item-collect line is in the same location as where point can be collected for their maximum value. The number of point items collected in a stage is also used to calculate the Clear Bonus.

Power Items

Whenever an enemy is defeated, there is a chance that it will release a power item. The number of points gained for these will remain at 10 per item, until the player's power level reaches MAX, where each additional power item collected will then be worth more than the last, until the maximum value per item, which is 51,200, is reached. Unlike point items, the points gained from power items will always be the same anywhere on the screen. However, if a life is lost, the points earned per item will revert back to 10, and the player will have to restart the process to reach the maximum of 51,200 per item.

Full power items award 1,000 points.

Star Items

A star item will appear anytime an enemy bullet has been cancelled out, which can happen when the player defeats the Spell Card/attack pattern of a boss, reaches maximum power, defeats a certain type of enemy, or when a bomb erases the enemy bullet. Each star item is worth 500 points 10 points for every 3 grazes the player has in that stage (i.e: if the player has 9 grazes, a total of 530 points would be awarded for each star item), although there is an exception, which is when a star item is created through the use of a bomb, in which case it will only award 100 points.

Enemy Bullet Bonus

Whenever a boss or mid-boss' health bar is reduced by one, or their Spell Card is defeated, all onscreen bullets are nullified, and they are tallied up to calculate the enemy bullet bonus. The more enemy bullets onscreen at the time, the higher this bonus becomes.

Spell Card Bonus

Whenever you defeat a boss or mid-boss' Spell Card within the allocated time limit, without being hit or using a bomb, you will recieve a Spell Card bonus, which is added to your score. The intial value of the Spell Card bonus will vary depending on which Spell Card is being used, however, as the timer decreases, so will the value of the bonus recieved as well, which is usually rounded to the nearest five-thousand.

Clear Bonus

At the end of each stage, you will be provided with bonus points based on how well you performed. The bonus is calculated like this:

- Stage number x 1,000
- Power x 100
- Graze count x 10

This combined total is then multiplied by the number of point items the player collected during that stage.

If the difficulty is anything other than easy, and if the stage happens to be the final stage, the following is added:

- Player x 3,000,000 (Lives in stock, not including your current one)
- Bomb x 1,000,000 (Bomb stock)

Finally, depending on the conditions you played under, the result is multiplied by these modifies, rounded down to the nearest 10:

- 4 Initial Lives: x 0.5
- 5 Initial Lives: x 0.2
- Easy Difficulty: x 0.5
- Normal Difficulty: x 1.0
- Hard Difficulty: x 1.2
- Lunatic Difficulty: x 1.5
- Extra Difficulty: x 2.0

The end result is then added to your score.

Music

In The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, every stage has different music, while every boss has their own theme. The translated name of each theme is provided below the original version:

- Title Screen Theme
    赤より紅い夢
    Scarlet Beyond a Crimson Dream

ZUN note:
    It's Japanese, because it's Touhou (Eastern). No, really. However, it's not like the game is (^^;
    This doesn't sound like a shooting game piece. Furthermore, is a title theme really necessary at all? :)

- Stage 1 Theme
    ほおずきみたいに紅い魂
    A Soul as Red as a Ground Cherry
 
ZUN note:
    The image of a midnight forest. As it's the first stage, I aimed for something a little energetic, so hopefully people would get into it.
    But isn't it something a little more comical and hectic?

- Stage 1 Boss: Rumia's Theme
    妖魔夜行
    Apparitions Stalk the Night

ZUN note:
    Not just this, but all the music this time is meant to be light. This comes from an image of youkai in night... or, at least, I hope so (^^;
    It's fairly relaxed and a little silly.

- Stage 2 Theme
    ルーネイトエルフ
    Lunate Elf

ZUN note:
    I thought of water and mist, and mixed an omen or two. In many ways, it resembles the feel of older titles. I don't really know why there's a Stage 2 anyway (^^;

- Stage 2 Boss: Cirno's Theme
    おてんば恋娘
    Beloved Tomboyish Girl

ZUN note:
    I actually did think of a dim-witted girl for this. However, I don't know if what came out can be considered bright or dark. The tempo is pretty fast, but... Well, it's stage 2. (ha)

- Stage 3 Theme
    上海紅茶館　〜 Chinese Tea
    Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea
 
ZUN note:
    I intended to make it more Chinese, but it didn't quite work out. (^^;
    However it's still Oriental, because I knew it would be hard to put Oriental songs past stage 4 (^^;
    It's more New Age rather than Fusion, I guess?

- Stage 3 Boss: Hong Meling's Theme
    明治十七年の上海アリス
    Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17

ZUN note:
    A hint of Europe, mixed with game music. (a 2:8 ratio) It's strange that it's not more Chinese, but that's because it's composed with the image of the French settlement in Shanghai in mind. But, Meirin looks like she's not human. Then what is she... (eh)

- Stage 4 Theme
    ヴワル魔法図書館
    Voile, the Magic Library

ZUN note:
    From here, the game moves indoors, so it's composed with indoor atmospheres in mind. Its tone shifts to something more ominous halfway through the song, where you would normally meet the mid-stage boss.
    Other than that, there's nothing special about this theme, but really, it's not a shooting game piece :)

- Stage 4 Boss: Patchouli Knowledge's Theme
    ラクトガール　〜 少女密室
    Locked Girl ~ The Girl's Secret Room

ZUN note:
    Again with this sick feeling...
    It's a dark song, without any light or bright moments, despite its quite fast-paced nature. It could stand to be a little less heavy, as listening to this piece could drag someone down :)


- Stage 5 Theme
    メイドと血の懐中時計
    The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood
 
ZUN note:
    A very mysterious song. Its unusual beat toys with your sense of speed, sometimes seeming to go faster. I was trying for a rock piece, but as I don't listen to rock much, it's quite possible that I have no idea what I'm doing (^^;

- Stage 5 Boss: Sakuya Izayoi's Theme
    月時計　〜 ルナ・ダイアル
    Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial

ZUN note:
    You can't have a maid without hard rock (j/k) It's quite driving, fitting for the second-to-last stage.

    ...Guess I still don't know much about rock (^^;
    Let's just say it's poetic rock, done my way.

- Final Stage Theme
    ツェペシュの幼き末裔
    The Young Descendant of Tepes
 
ZUN note:
    The final stage themes have always been loaded, so I made it upbeat this time.
    As the final stage itself is quite short, I made this piece not as assertive.

- Final Stage Boss: Remilia Scarlet's Theme
    亡き王女の為のセプテット
    Septette for the Dead Princess

ZUN note:
    With this, I tried for a "This is the end!" feeling. I didn't want it to be regal or ominous, which is normal for a final stage, so I made it Jazz-Fusion based with a hint of loli... wait, that's not any different than normal.
    Its melody is easy for even me to get, so I like this song.

- Extra Stage Theme
    魔法少女達の百年祭
    The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls

ZUN note:
      Sometimes it's Chinese, sometimes it's New Age. Why? This is what happens after messing with my keyboard. It's like an accumulation of my laziness. If you listen closely, there are many strange rhythms in this song. In other words, my toy-box.

- Extra Stage Boss: Flandre Scarlet's Theme
    U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？
    U.N. Owen was her?

ZUN note:
    I liked this one the best out of the whole game. It depicts a devilish girl in an Oriental and mysterious way. Loli-tastic melodies like this are what I'm best at, so I had a lot of fun composing this.

- Ending Theme
    紅より儚い永遠
    Crimson Beyond a Fleeting Eternity

ZUN note:
    As you can guess from its name, this is an arranged version of the title theme. So it's also in a Japanese style.
    Well, not that there's anything wrong with that.

- Staff Roll Theme
    紅楼　～ Eastern Dream...
    Crimson Belvedere ~ Eastern Dream...

ZUN note:
    The staff roll has always been dark and desperate, so I made it a bit more happy and hopeful this time. I think. As the staff list is always short, I couldn't write a long piece. I could have made it more magnificent, but it ended up a little dry. That was not my intention (heh)

Secrets and Unlockables

The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil features a number of secret and unlockables, ranging from discarded characters to replay exploits:

Rin Satsuki

If a text search of the EoSD data files is performed, you'll come across the name "冴月麟" (Satsuki Rin) near the other playable characters. Associated with her are the attack types 花符 (Flower Sign) and 風符 (Wind Sign). There have been many theories about this mysterious character, including that she is a Kirin (due to the matching character in her name) and that she is a nurse, which is based on a remark made by Marisa during the Extra Stage. There has even been fanart drawn of her.

Practice Start: Unlocking Stages

Stages can be unlocked in Practice Start at a specific level and for a specific character and type when they are completed in the standard "Start" mode on the same difficulty and using the same character and type. The stage will unlocked even if continues are used.

View More Than 15 Replays

If replay files are renamed to "th6_ud*.rpy", where * is any string of characters, they will be accessible in the "Replay" menu, and they won't take up any of the 15 slots for saving replays. However, the first 4 characters of the * in "th6_ud*.rpy" must be unique from any other * in the replay folder, or else that replay won't be recognized by the game.

Endings

The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil has 6 different endings, each one being triggered through meeting a certain criteria.

Normal Endings

The good endings are achieved when the player beats the game without using any continues:

- Normal Ending 1
Beat the game without using any continues, using Reimu Type A.

- Normal Ending 2
Beat the game without using any continues, using Reimu Type B.

- Normal Ending 3
Beat the game without using any continues, using Marisa Type A.

- Normal Ending 4
Beat the game without using any continues, using Marisa Type B.

Bad Endings

The bad endings are achieved when the player beats the game, but has used one or more continues:

- Bad Ending 1
Beat the game using one or more continues, using Reimu (any type).

- Bad Ending 2
Beat the game using one or more continues, using Marisa (any type).