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HS参謀

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HS参謀 (Japanese: HS-Sanbō, often shortened to HS or expanded to HardShooter) is a Japanese Touhou player who has played competitively since 2003. As of December, 2011, HS holds world record scores in all the 36 categories (6 difficulty levels * 6 characters) of Perfect Cherry Blossom. He is the only PCB player to have exceeded 3 billion points under any circumstances; furthermore, he has managed to do it with both Sakuya-B and Reimu-B.

Perfect Cherry Blossom accomplishments and legacy

HS参謀 raised to the peak of his prominence as a Perfect Cherry Blossom player in September of 2008, becoming the first player ever to attain 3 billion on Lunatic mode of the game despite similar attempts having been carried out by players such as ISO, ハセガー, and AM, who have all fallen short of the goal. Following that breakthrough he accomplished another feat unprecedented in Touhou scoring history by sweeping all 36 scoring categories. A screenshot of HS's PCB statistics revealed that he had played over 27,000 sessions in 1,880 hours.

HS参謀 has been responsible for finding or popularizing many effective scoring techniques currently used in the competitive PCB community. They include stalling the Supernatural Border at the start of stage 4 until the arrival of the first post-intro enemy formations, a trick that allows over 115k CherryMax to be gained just at the very beginning of the stage.

HS参謀's main competitors have included ISO and st. Based on his record history, HS has shown persistence rarely seen in other contenders: so far, he and ISO have been the only members of the Japanese scoreboards to have actively competed in Perfect Cherry Blossom for over seven years (since 2003). Each time HS had been knocked off the top spot in any category, he would usually reclaim his title within a short time (sometimes the same day), often accompanied by a somewhat sarcastic comment. For example, when かがみん posted a 1.187 billion replay with a score target of 1.2 billion, HS quickly retaliated with a 1.205 billion score and commented, "It took me only 1882 hours to achieve this target!"

Timeline of achievements in PCB

2003–2006: Early years

HS参謀 participated in LunarDial's Perfect Cherry Blossom score trials held in mid-2004. Back then he placed 1st in Normal mode, besting ISO's, SHIN's, and ASAPIN's efforts with a score of 1.69 billion. On Phantasm stage, HS's score of 1.3 billion was still better than ASAPIN's but came 2nd, losing over 40 million to R/. Finally, Lunatic mode competition was dominated by GIL's 2.54 billion score which was 725 million higher than HS's 2nd place submission. GIL's innovative strategies and aggressive play influenced the subsequent Royalflare score submissions from HS参謀 as well as other scorers.

2007–2008: Competition with ISO and rise to prominence

Throughout this period HS参謀 has actively competed with GFA2-ISO, a renowned Japanese superplayer who has mainly submitted Touhou scores under the names ZNA会長 and かがみん. In mid-2008 either player would update a score up to several times per week in attempts to edge each other out.

As other strong players have gradually been falling out of the competition, HS and ISO (and, to a lesser extent, クラエス) remained the only active contenders for #1 scores in any given category. By the end of summer of 2008, HS参謀 had prevailed in every category he and ISO were competing in, and shifted his focus towards besting the last standing Lunatic record by another player — ハセガー's 1.5 year old 2.97 billion score made with Sakuya-B. On 2008/09/13 HS managed to overtake it with a score of 2.99 billion, and a week later break the 3 billion barrier with a further improvement of 20 million. With the hardest challenge out of the way, he proceeded overtaking each of the remaining categories, eventually sweeping all 36 of them by October 24, 2008, securing his position as the strongest PCB player at the time.

Shortly after, on the 1st of November, he stopped submitting scores for a month, supposedly to relieve the pressure put on his opponents. On November, 28th, HS returned to retrieve 7 of the 8 records lost since then (the time stamps of the replays confirmed that he didn't stop playing during that time); the only category that remained unreclaimed was Easy/Marisa-A, usurped by クラエス with a record of 1.86 billion.

Scoring hiatus

In December of 2008, HS参謀 deleted most of his PCB records from Royalflare's PCB scoreboard, leaving only the selected six — his highest scores in each mode of the game. In the next 1.5 years he would sporadically appear on the Royalflare scoreboard to submit singular improvements to some of his old records, but remaining inactive otherwise.

On the 1st of July, 2009, he posted a new Lunatic Reimu-B submission of 2.72 billion. Nearly all of the scores he had achieved prior had stood during this time, barring some competition from his usual rival ISO. In November of the same year HS posted three more Lunatic records made with Reimu-A, Marisa-B, and Sakuya-A, propelling each to over 2.5 billion and suggesting that Sakuya-A score can theoretically go as high as 2.8 billion. The timestamps on these replays indicate that he has actually been playing throughout the year.

In February, 2010, HS参謀 posted a new Sakuya-B Phantasm score. An interim update which contained a serious mistake showed him gather over 30 million on Danmaku Bound Field's spellcard bonus. [1]

Return to activity

In June, 2010, HS returned to renew his past records, starting with Reimu-B on Lunatic. Throughout the summer, he successfully improved all of his Lunatic scores, propelling Reimu-A, Marisa-B, and Sakuya-A to over 2.6 billion each, Marisa-A to 2.72 billion, Reimu-B to 2.81 billion, and Sakuya-B to 3.07 billion, all the while communicating with other scorers via Twitter. Other than that, he also proved it possible to attain a 1600 point item extend, and recorded a no-miss/no-bomb/no-border break full-spellcard scorerun on Lunatic, attaining 1.63 billion. [2] [3] Meanwhile some of the other categories were overtaken by かがみん, who had bested HS's long-standing 1.60 billion Reimu-B score on Phantasm during that period.

In autumn and winter of 2010, HS参謀 took a break from Lunatic to renew some of the old scores on other modes. While at it, he pushed all the Hard scores to over 2.3 billion, made a few breakthroughs on Normal, and proved a possibility of 1.9 billion Easy scores thanks to new discoveries, with a hint at potential 2 billion. In the vein of a running joke originating on his Twitter, he started submitting Easy scores as ES参謀 and Normal as NS参謀, respectively meaning "EasyShooter" and "NormalShooter". He went as far as to actually change his Twitter account from "HardShooter" to "NormalShooter".

In spring of 2011, HS参謀 returned to polishing Lunatic records, particularly Reimu-A/B and Sakuya-B, showcasing highly refined standards of play. Reimu-A has been pushed to 2.7 billion, while Reimu-B score exceeded 3.02 billion on 2011/03/24 to HS's own surprise. This has been the second ever instance of a 3+ billion PCB score, and the first to be attained with Reimu. The current Sakuya-B record stands at 3.106 billion with no replay available, but HS参謀's recent history of Royalflare submissions suggests the reason for that being that his goal has not been met yet. A recent screenshot from HS's internal PCB scoreboard showed 7 out of 10 top Sakuya-B scores exceeding 3 billion. [4] On 2011/03/28 a new Marisa-A replay was submitted as well, scoring only 46 million higher than his previous effort due to poor performance on stage 4. Later that day a no-miss/no-bomb/no-border break full-spellcard replay was submitted as well, this time using Reimu-B and scoring 1.61 billion. [5]

A new round of competition

In summer and autumn of 2011 HS参謀 put significant effort into renewing his Extra and Phantasm scores, most of which had been bested by his longtime rival ISO by that point. This spurred a new wave of Royalflare submissions from the latter in attempts to push the scores further. The enterprise was successful as a whole, as Reimu-A records were improved by over 100 million on both Extra and Phantasm, Reimu-B scores broke 1.4 billion on Extra (thereby reaching another landmark) and 1.65 billion on Phantasm, and it was hinted that Sakuya-B can break 1.4 billion on Extra as well. During October, all Extra and Phantasm records were taken back by HS参謀.

At the same time, scoreboard newcomers こたぷ and clo-naga have managed to provide competition on Easy mode of the game, propelling Reimu-B and Marisa-A scores to over 1.9 billion each, and Marisa-B to over 1.7 billion. These scores have since been bested by HS who has also stopped using alternative monikers for easier modes.

On the 15th of November, 2011, three years after the original sweeping of the PCB scoreboard, HS参謀 has repeated his feat yet again. While doing so, he also uploaded some of the replays previously unreleased, including several Normal and Hard mode entries dating back to December, 2008. His most recent scoreboard entry is a Hard mode run made with Reimu-A, scoring over 2.54 billion.

Other Touhou efforts

HS参謀 has held two records on Imperishable Night's Normal mode: for Sakuya solo, at 3,013,899,190 points, and Marisa solo, at 3,472,487,910 points, both set on 2004/12. They have been bested by FRED and other players since then.

In mid-2009, HS was seen scorerunning Imperishable Night's Lunatic mode, with the highest completed scoring attempt netting 5.84 billion points, set on 2009/04/19 with Sakuya and Remilia, which was the second-highest score registered in the game at the time. According to his submission comments, failed 6.09 and 6.11 billion attempts have also taken place. HS expected 6 billion to be attained, providing equal competition to YASU, but since the latter managed to achieve 6.08 billion there were no news from HS.

HS参謀 has also been seen participating in several Immaterial and Missing Power and Phantasmagoria of Flower View tourneys against other Japanese Touhou players. In 2009 he managed to usurp misumi's champion's title in East Opera, the annual PoFV tournament, after placing 2nd in 2008 and 3rd in 2007. [6] He did not participate in East Opera in 2010.

Notable player records

See Perfect Cherry Blossom world records and Royalflare scoreboard's record history.

See also: HS参謀's replay list.

External links