Touhou 07.5 - Immaterial and Missing Power

Overview

Immaterial and Missing Power is the 7.5th game in the Touhou Project, released for the Windows OS in 2004. Chronologically, it takes place between the events of Touhou 07 - Perfect Cherry Blossom and Touhou 08 - Imperishable Night which is what lead to it being named the 7.5th game.

Unlike other games in the series, Immaterial and Missing Power is a versus fighting game instead of a Dankamu shooter.

Plot

Spring has passed in the land of Gensokyo, however, the flower viewings continue, with feasts being hosted everyday, and there's no apparent end in sight. What's more is that everytime a feast is hosted, an unknown spiritual aura in Gensokyo also increases. Although nothing happens whenever this aura increases, no one seems intent on stopping the feasts, which ends up making everyone who attends these feasts seem very suspicious.

Three days before the next feast, each of the heroines sets out to investigate the matter at hand.

Gameplay

Immaterial and Missing Power is a unique game within the fighting genre as it has a heavy slant towards projectiles.

Basic Moves

All characters have a set of standard moves, ranging from fast melee attacks to the use of projectiles. Most of the standard moves have different version when performed in mid-air.

Special Moves

All characters also have a set of special moves unique to them. These moves vary greatly depending on the character.

Bombs

There are two types of bombs: Offensive and Defensive.

- Offensive

These bombs are generally used during the recovery of a ground-based attack, cutting the recovery short and activating on its own. The bomb will launch the opponent up in the air if they are hitstun, which can help when aiming to extend combos.

- Defensive

These are generally used when attempting to bomb out of a neutral state. When the bomb is activated, the player will be invincible during the first frame of the activation until the bomb actually hits. Bombs will not affect an opponent who is using a move with invincibility frames, which leads to the player being open to attack.

The bomb's range is actually rather short (about a character's width), as opposed to the flash released when they are activated, which tends to trick people into believing that that is it's range. You can carry a maximum of two bombs during a match, and the number of bombs the player has does not reset per round, instead, they are awarded every three times you receive spirit tiles (point items) from an opponent (they appear as green tiles with a "B" on them), although if the player has 2 bombs already, that bomb is lost.

Spirit

The Spirit is a limited resource which is used up whenever a character performs certain actions, such as

• Using projectiles
• Using special moves and spell cards
• Blocking projectiles
• Blocking in the air
• Invoking autoguard

Spirit normally regenerates over time once the character has not consumed any Spirit for around a second. The recovery can be sped up through gaining spirit tiles through either hitting the opponent while they have projectiles onscreen or through knocking them down, while hitting the opponent with a defensive bomb will restore all of the character's spirit.

If any of these moves are performed while there is not enough Spirit remaining to cover the cost of the action, the Spirit Gauge will be emptied and the character will become "spirit drained". In this state, the character's Spirit will restore at the normal rate, however, none of the aforementioned actions can be performed until all of their Spirit has returned.

Spell Trance

Spell Trance is the state a character enters when a Spell Card is declared. During the animation shown when entering Spell Trance, the character will be invincible.

When Spell Trance entered, two things happen: the character instantly restores any recoverable life, and Spell Cards-specific moves become available for a limited amount of time. The time is shown as a number counting down in the upper right hand corner of the screen, right below the health bar. The amount of time available during Spell Trance is based on the amount of magic the character had when Spell Trance was entered.

Spell Cards

During a fight, a character will obtain up to a maximum of 9 Spell Cards. These Spell Cards can be chosen before a match (1 out of normal Spell Cards and 1 out of 3 overdrive Spell Cards). Overdive Spell Cards will replace normal Spell Cards whenever a character has been defeated once.

During Story Mode, there are Spell Cards that are only available to the player's opponents, which can be "captured" when the player defeats the opponent in a limited amount of time while the Spell Card is in effect. The "captured" Spell Card then appears in a gallery.

Autoguard

Autoguard is activated whenever a character is in a valid blocking state on the ground, but happen to be blocking at the wrong level (e.g, if an attack that hits high is blocked using a crouching block, Autoguard will kick in and the character will block high), although this comes at the cost of some Spirit.

Grazing

When a dash or super jump is performed, a character can graze bullets (although not all of them can be grazed). When a bullet is grazed, the character will pass through it without receiving any damage, and in some cases, the bullet will be destroyed.

Game Modes

Immaterial and Missing Power features many game modes to choose from.

Arcade Mode

During arcade mode, the player will select a character and Spell Cards, and will then fight opponents in a semi-random order. The last four opponents in arcade mode will always be Remilia, Yuyuko, Yukari and Suika, in that order. Both the player and the opponent have one life only, and no continues are provided. No scores are recorded in arcade mode.

Duel Human

Duel human allows two human players to fight against each other with one life each.

Duel CPU

Duel CPU is the same as duel human, except the player fights against the AI instead of a human player.

Story Mode

Story mode is the main mode for single player within Immaterial and Missing Power. In story mode, the player selects a character and 2 Spell Cards, and then proceeds to fight seven different opponents in order to further advance the story. The characters fought depends on which character the player has chosen, and there is a fair bit of dialogue in between each fight.

Practice Mode

In practice mode, the player can test out various Spell Cards and strategies found in the game. During practice mode, the health bar will auto-heal.

Music

In Immaterial and Missing Power, every stage has different music that is mostly based on a certain stage or character's theme from previous Touhou games. Also the time of the day affects to what piece of music is played during the stage. The translated name and composer of each theme is provided below the original version:

- Title Screen Theme

萃夢想

Memory of Forgathering Dream

(U2)

- Hakurei Shrine Theme (Reimu)

東方妖恋談

Mystic Oriental Love Consultation

(NKZ)

- Hakurei Shrine Theme 2 (Reimu - night)

少女綺想曲 ~ Capriccio

Maiden's Capriccio

(U2)

- Forest of Magic Theme 3 (Kirisame's House: Marisa)

恋色マジック

Love-coloured Magic

(NKZ)

- Forest of Magic Theme 4 (Kirisame's House: Marisa - night)

魔女たちの舞踏会

Dance of Witches

(U2)

- Clock Tower of Scarlet Devil Mansion Theme (Sakuya)

メイドと血の懐中時計

The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood

(NKZ)

- Clock Tower of Scarlet Devil Mansion Theme 2 (Sakuya - night)

月時計 ~ ルナ・ダイアル

Lunar Clock ~ Lunar Dial

(U2)

- Forest of Magic Theme (Margatroid's House: Alice)

ブクレシュティの人形師

The Doll Maker of Bucresti

(NKZ)

- Forest of Magic Theme 2 (Margatroid's House: Alice - night)

人形裁判

Doll Judgment

(U2)

- Great Library in Scarlet Devil Mansion Theme (Patchouli)

ラクトガール ~ 少女密室

Locked Girl ~ Girl's Secret Room

(NKZ)

- Great Library in Scarlet Devil Mansion Theme 2 (Patchouli - night)

ヴワル魔法図書館

Voile Magic Library

(U2)

- Graveyard Standing a Big Tree Theme (Youmu)

広有射怪鳥事 ~ Till When?

Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When?

(NKZ)

- Graveyard Standing a Big Tree Theme 2 (Youmu - night)

東方妖々夢 ~ Ancient Temple

Mystic Oriental Dream ~ Ancient Temple

(U2)

- Lobby in Scarlet Devil Mansion Theme (Remilia)

亡き王女の為のセプテット

Septette for the Dead Princess

(NKZ)

- Hakugyokurou Theme (Yuyuko)

幽雅に咲かせ、墨染の桜 ~ Border of Life

Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of Sumizome ~ Border of Life

(NKZ)

- Hakurei Shrine Theme 3 (Feast Day)

Demystify Feast

(ZUN)

- Hakurei Shrine Theme 4 (Border: Yukari)

夜が降りてくる ~ Evening Star

Night Falls ~ Evening Star

(ZUN)

- Gensokyo Theme (Suika's Theme)

御伽の国の鬼が島 ~ Missing Power

Onigashima in the Fairyland ~ Missing Power

(ZUN)

- Ending Theme

夏明き

End of Summer

(NKZ)

- Credits

東方萃夢想

Oriental Memory of Forgathering Dream

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme

魔所

Demonic Place

(NKZ)

- Pre-battle Theme 2

月輪

The Moon

(NKZ)

- Pre-battle Theme 3

遍参

Wanderings

(NKZ)

- Pre-battle Theme 4

裏心

Inner Heart

(NKZ)

- Pre-battle Theme 5

Intermezzo

(NKZ)

- Pre-battle Theme 6

あゆのかぜ

Eastern Wind

(NKZ)

- Pre-battle Theme 7

森閑

Silence

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme 8

仰空

Skygazer

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme 9

幽境

Solitary Place

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme 10

珍客

Unexpected Visitor

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme 11

紅夜

Scarlet Night

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme 12

戦迅

Swift Battle

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme 13

禍機

Bad Omen

(U2)

- Pre-battle Theme 14

砕月

Broken Moon

(U2)