Touhou Project

See also: Touhou and Japanese culture

The Touhou Project (東方Project), or Project Shrine Maiden, is a collective term for a series of 2D (with 3D background) vertically-scrolling danmaku shooting games as well as related print works made by Team Shanghai Alice, with three fighting game spinoffs co-produced with Twilight Frontier, called "danmaku action games." The works of Touhou Project are also called Touhou Series (東方シリーズ) for convenience.

The Guinness World Records named the Touhou Project as the "worlds most prolific fan-made shooter series".

Name and Concept

Touhou (東方) means "Eastern" and can refer to some or all of the areas, cultures, or histories within East Asia. Historically the term "the Orient" was widely used to refer to trade goods, artwork, literature, or other items or topics related to countries in East Asia such as China, Japan, Korea, or Vietnam. According to the Music Room Special in Mystic Square, the naming scheme of 東方ＯＯＯ originally came from one of the first songs he composed for Highly Responsive to Prayers called 東方怪奇談 (Touhou Kaikidan). The games of Team Shanghai Alice became widely known as "the Touhou series" due to that naming scheme.

Works

Games PC-98 東方靈異伝　～ Highly Responsive to Prayers 東方封魔録　～ Story of Eastern Wonderland 東方夢時空　～ Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream 東方幻想郷　～ Lotus Land Story 東方怪綺談　～ Mystic Square Windows 東方紅魔郷　～ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil 東方妖々夢　～ Perfect Cherry Blossom 東方萃夢想　～ Immaterial and Missing Power 東方永夜抄　～ Imperishable Night 東方花映塚　～ Phantasmagoria of Flower View 東方文花帖　～ Shoot the Bullet 東方風神録　～ Mountain of Faith 東方緋想天　～ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody 東方地霊殿　～ Subterranean Animism 東方星蓮船　～ Undefined Fantastic Object 東方非想天則　～ 超弩級ギニョルの謎を追え (Touhou Hisoutensoku) ダブルスポイラー　～ 東方文花帖 (Double Spoiler) 妖精大戦争　～ 東方三月精 (Fairy Wars) 東方神霊廟　～ Ten Desires ZUN's Music Collection 蓬莱人形　～ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise 蓮台野夜行　～ Ghostly Field Club 夢違科学世紀　～ Changeability of Strange Dream 卯酉東海道　～ Retrospective 53 minutes 大空魔術　～ Magical Astronomy 未知の花　魅知の旅 鳥船遺跡　～ Trojan Green Asteroid Akyu's Untouched Score 幺樂団の歴史1　～ Akyu's Untouched Score vol.1 幺樂団の歴史2　～ Akyu's Untouched Score vol.2 幺樂団の歴史3　～ Akyu's Untouched Score vol.3 幺樂団の歴史4　～ Akyu's Untouched Score vol.4 幺樂団の歴史5　～ Akyu's Untouched Score vol.5 Danmaku Action Game soundtracks 幻想曲抜萃 東方萃夢想 ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK 全人類ノ天楽録 東方緋想天 ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK 核熱造神ヒソウテンソク 東方非想天則 ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK Written Works 東方文花帖　～ Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red 東方紫香花　～ Seasonal Dream Vision 東方求聞史紀　～ Perfect Memento in Strict Sense The Grimoire of Marisa Comics 東方香霖堂　～ Curiosities of Lotus Asia 東方三月精 Series 東方儚月抄 Series 東方茨歌仙　～ Wild and Horned Hermit

System

Absence or presence of fundamental controls

	HRtP	SoEW	PoDD	LLS	MS	EoSD	PCB	IN	PoFV	StB	MoF	SA	UFO	DS	FW	TD
Player Character selection	×	×	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	×	○	○	○	○	×	○
Weapon choice	×	○	×	○	×	○	○	×	×	×	○	○	○	×	×	×
Slow movement	×	×	×	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Shot change during slow movement	×	×	×	×	×	○	○	○	×	×	○	○	○	×	×	○
Bomb: Bomb gauge consumption	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	×	×	×	○	×	○	○
Bomb: Power gauge consumption	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	○	○	×	×	×	×
Extend: Points	○	○	○	○	×	○	×	×	○	×	○	×	×	×	×	×
Extend: Special Item Collection	×	×	×	×	○	×	○	○	×	×	×	○	○	×	×	○
Extend: Other	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	○	×
Continue: recover on-spot	×	○	×	○	○	○	○	○	×	×	×	×	×	×	○	○
Continue: from beginning of stage	○	×	○	×	×	×	×	×	○	×	○	○	○	×	×	×
	HRtP	SoEW	PoDD	LLS	MS	EoSD	PCB	IN	PoFV	StB	MoF	SA	UFO	DS	FW	TD

Trivia

• All of ZUN's print works of the Touhou world include all the characters re/appearing in the Windows series at least once showing that the Windows games have a direct connection to the literature.
• The game Uwabami Breakers and the Seihou Project series have some relation to the Touhou Project, although they aren't part of it.