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[[File:Th07SC140.jpg|300px|thumb|[[Yukari Yakumo|Yukari]]'s Danmaku in [[Perfect Cherry Blossom]]]]
[[File:Th07SC140.jpg|300px|thumb|[[Yukari Yakumo|Yukari]]'s Danmaku in [[Perfect Cherry Blossom]]]]
{{nihongo|'''Danmaku'''|弾幕||"bullet curtain" or "curtain fire"}}, also known as "Bullet Hell" in English, is a Japanese term for "barrage", as in a barrage of bullets. They are shoot 'em ups similar to regular shooting games, but focus more on weaving through complex patterns containing anywhere from dozens to hundreds of bullets; the genre is considered the hardest genre for a shoot 'em up.
{{nihongo|'''Danmaku'''|弾幕||"barrage", lit. "bullet curtain"}} refers to a style of shoot-'em-up video game featuring complex patterns of dozens to hundreds of enemy bullets. The ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games are a prim example of the subgenre.


The comparison often used is that bullets in traditional shooters are aimed at the player, fast, but relatively infrequent. Bullets in danmaku games tend to be slower, but much greater in numbers: depending on the attacks, enemy bullets can be scattered all over the screen, covering the major part of the playing field. They aren't necessarily aimed at the player, and can be aligned indiscriminately, or in movement-restrictive patterns. The patterns themselves can be intricate and complex, giving the barrage a beautiful, if deadly, nature. The danmaku genre has attracted many fans who enjoy either the inherent difficulty, the beauty of the enemy attacks, or both.
The term is also sometimes used more literally in reference to the barrages of bullets themselves. For consistency with the transnumerality of the Japanese usage, this article will treat this sense of ''danmaku'' as a mass noun.


''See [[General Strategy]] for a bit of general advice for playing this type of game.''
For a bit of general advice on playing this type of game, see [[General Strategy]].


==Terminology==
==Genre Overview==
The term ''Danmaku shooting game'' has an equivalent English term popular in some circles: ''Bullet hell''. There's also the term ''Manic shooting game'', which can be used synonymously with the previous, although some ''shmup'' enthusiasts insist that these two terms denote different shooting game subsets that don't always overlap.
In traditional shooters, bullets fly swiftly toward the player, but are few in number. In danmaku shooters, patterns of many bullets fill the screen, controlling space and limiting the player's movement as they bloom into intricate shapes of deadly beauty. Commonly called ''bullet hell'' in English, the subgenre is notorious for its difficulty.


In this context, "bullet hell" denotes a high density of enemy fire that doesn't always require one to move or react fast, but rather to be calm and precise in order to navigate the bullet mazes efficiently. The examples of such games are the ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games, ''Mushihime-sama'', ''Espgaluda'', ''DeathSmiles'' (all three latter by [[Wikipedia:Cave (company)|Cave]]), etc.
A related term is ''manic shooter''—this is sometimes used synonymously with ''bullet hell'', but some shoot-'em-up enthusiasts draw a distinction: ''bullet hell'' simply denotes a high density of enemy fire, which doesn't necessarily require quick movement or reactions to avoid, while ''manic shooter'' communicates a frantic, fast-paced game that does demand quick reactions, regardless of the number of bullets onscreen.


"Manic", on the other hand, denotes high gameplay dynamics where reaction times are rewarded (as opposed to slow/methodic dodging) due to extremely frantic nature of the games. The examples are ''Raiden Fighters'' series ([[Wikipedia:Seibu_Kaihatsu|Seibu Kaihatsu]]), ''Dangun Feveron'' ([[Wikipedia:Cave (company)|Cave]]), ''Battle Garegga'' ([[Wikipedia:8ing/Raizing|Raizing]]).
Non-manic bullet hell shooters typically emphasize calm precision in navigating complex mazes of predictable, slow-moving projectiles. ''[[Touhou Project]]'' is such a game series, other examples being ''Mushihime-sama'', ''Espgaluda'', and ''DeathSmiles'' by [[Wikipedia:Cave (company)|Cave]]. Manic shooters instead tend to feature fast-moving bullets in chaotic patterns that must be dodged on reaction. Examples of non-bullet-hell manic shooters include the ''Raiden Fighters'' series by [[Wikipedia:Seibu_Kaihatsu|Seibu Kaihatsu]], ''Dangun Feveron'' by Cave, and ''Battle Garegga'' by [[Wikipedia:8ing/Raizing|Raizing]]. Many games do of course fully adopt both approaches, such as ''[[Wikipedia:DoDonPachi DaiOuJou|DoDonPachi DaiOuJou]]'', again by Cave, while others may favor one style but selectively incorporate elements from the other for particular sections: the [[extra stage]]s in ''Touhou Project'', for example, are often a good deal more manic than the main modes of their respective games.


There are numerous games that fully adopt both approaches, though, like ''[[Wikipedia:DoDonPachi DaiOuJou|DoDonPachi DaiOuJou]]'' (also by Cave). Same could be said about some of the Extra stages in the ''Touhou Project'' games.
==Game Mechanics==
Danmaku shooters usually feature the following game mechanics. They are described here with specific reference to ''Touhou Project'', but are typical of the genre.


==Usage in Touhou==
===The hitbox===
[[File:SSiB_Danmaku.jpg|300px|thumb|A generic [[Rabbit|Moon Rabbit]] firing danmaku against a generic [[Fairy Maid]] in Silent Sinner in Blue chapter 13.]]
In any shoot-'em-up, a projectile is considered to have hit the player if and only if its area intersects with a region of the screen called the ''hitbox'', which rests on top of the sprite representing the player character. In danmaku shooters, the hitbox is typically much smaller than the sprite itself, sometimes as small as a single pixel. This undersized hitbox allows bullets to seemingly pass right through the character without causing harm. This is called a ''graze'', and many games, including those in ''Touhou Project'', award points for it.
Danmaku plays a big role in the ''[[Touhou Project]]''. In a typical game, the complexity of bullet patterns start of rather easy in the first, and as the player processes onto the next stage, they get harder to dodge. The Extra stage tends to have the most complex patterns. The complexity also depends on what difficulty the player wishes to follow: Easy, Normal, Hard and Lunatic. As obvious, Lunatic is the hardest, right from state one it involves serious madness of danmaku.
 
===Lives===
In most Japanese shoot-'em-ups, players begin play with anywhere from one to five ''lives'', each representing one hit the player may sustain from enemy fire. There are no hit points or health bar: each hit received deducts exactly one life, regardless of whether it was from a tiny [[fairy]]'s equally tiny orb of energy or from the [[EX boss]]'s gigantic red laser. When a life is lost, the player character vanishes and reappears at the bottom of the screen, and is given a few moments of invulnerability to get into position before the dodging must begin again. Confusingly enough, Japanese usage refers to getting hit and losing a life as a ''miss''.
 
In many games, lives may be restored by collecting items dropped by certain enemies—often bosses—and sometimes also by scoring points. This is called an ''extend''.


The player can touch the outer layer of a bullet and gain points; this is called ''grazing''.
When all lives are depleted, the player is offered the option to quit playing or to continue immediately from where the player was defeated, with as many lives as the player started the game with. The latter option may only be taken a number of times limited in the arcades by money or game tokens and limited arbitrarily or not at all on home computers and game consoles. When all continues have been exhausted, the player is forced to accept game over. ''Touhou'' games let you continue three times, but do not grant you access to the game's final level or allow you to save replays if you have continued.


Danmaku also play a major role in the [[spell card]]s used in the series. They show what pattern the spell card holds and gives indication on how that spell card can be completed without losing a live. Danmaku tend to also play in the fighting spin-offs: ''[[Immaterial and Missing Power]]'', ''[[Scarlet Weather Rhapsody]]'', ''[[Touhou Hisoutensoku]]'' and ''[[Hopeless Masquerade]]''. Although danmaku is used, they aren't as complex as the shoot 'em up] games and are very easy to dodge due to game facilities.
===Bombs===
In 'many other shoot-'em-ups, the player has a primary weapon with unlimited ammunition and a few powerful ''bombs'', used at will by pressing a button to the right of the "shoot" button. This damages every enemy and destroys every enemy bullet on the screen, and usually makes the player briefly invulnerable as well. Their basic use is as an emergency escape tool, but skilled players may put them to other uses as well.


It should be noted that danmaku fights aren't for the sake of killing each other – it is a girls' play-fight.<ref>[[Perfect Memento in Strict Sense]]: Draft of Spell Card Rules</ref><ref>[[Silent Sinner in Blue]]: Chapter number needed</ref><ref>[[ZUN/ZUN's reply to messages on the former Gensou Bulletin Board 3|ZUN's reply to messages on the former Gensou Bulletin Board 3]]</ref> The beautiful danmaku with plenty of useless bullets is verification of the fact that opponents don't really want to kill the player, and in the archives, [[ZUN]] has said that if they truly wanted to kill, a ratio of 10:1 bullets wouldn't be necessary.
Similarly to lives, bombs may often be replenished by collecting an item called a ''bomb extend''.


[[File:CoLATornclothes.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Reimu with torn clothes]]
==Danmaku in ''Touhou Project''==
It's shown in various games that the most damage done by danmaku battles is tearing the opponent's clothes, and in Reimu's case, they are usually repaired by Rinnosuke.
[[File:SSiB_Danmaku.jpg|300px|thumb|A generic [[Rabbit|Moon Rabbit]] firing danmaku against a generic [[Fairy Maid]] in Silent Sinner in Blue chapter 13.]]
''Touhou'''s treatment of danmaku is unique not in its implementation of the gameplay mechanics, but in the way that danmaku is incorporated into the setting itself, where it is essentially a supernatural martial art practiced by the inhabitants of Gensokyo. The word ''danmaku'' appears in the games' dialogue. Under the [[spell card]] rules, danmaku duels are not to the death, but are ritualized and aestheticized sparring matches with agreed-upon conditions for winning and losing.<ref>[[Perfect Memento in Strict Sense]]: Draft of Spell Card Rules</ref><ref>[[Silent Sinner in Blue]]: Chapter number needed</ref><ref>[[ZUN/ZUN's reply to messages on the former Gensou Bulletin Board 3|ZUN's reply to messages on the former Gensou Bulletin Board 3]]</ref> This evidenced by the beautiful patterns of many useless bullets: if enemies really wanted to kill the player, a 10:1 ratio of bullets wouldn't be necessary.


Of course, danmaku fights also exist outside of games, mostly in the manga, where there's no player to control the fight and it's based on a story of who wins or loses. In ''[[Silent Sinner in Blue]]'', [[Sakuya Izayoi]] stopped time to evade [[Watatsuki no Yorihime]]'s attacks, but since the point came up that there was no opening for her body to pass through the danmaku, she was defeated. Of course, danmaku without openings is fundamentally unfair and considerably makes a game almost impossible to beat; it can be said that it can be harder than Lunatic mode, but there've been no official statements saying it's against the rules of the ''[[Touhou Project]]''. [[ZUN]] has however said that he could only get away with putting Yorihime in a manga.<ref name="SoPmInterview">[[Symposium of Post-mysticism/Interview]]</ref>
Danmaku battles occur outside of the games, mostly in the manga, where it works mostly the same way, although some things do happen in the manga's danmaku battles that are not seen in the games. In ''[[Silent Sinner in Blue]]'', [[Watatsuki no Yorihime]] threw a barrage of danmaku so dense that [[Sakuya]] was unable to avoid it even by stopping time, as there was no opening in the danmaku large enough for her to pass through. No game to date has featured such undodgeable danmaku, but it is not against the letter of the spell card rules.


''[[Impossible Spell Card]]'' however contains a lot of spell cards that are considered impossible to dodge, and therefore indicate that these are breaking such rule. However, since the player can get a trophy if they cleared all spell cards without cheating (i.e. using any items), then the spell cards are still at a degree of being defeatable and are still following the rules.
[[File:CoLATornclothes.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Reimu with torn clothes]]
It is shown in various games that danmaku battles tend to damage the character's clothes. In Reimu's case, they are usually repaired by Rinnosuke.


==Usage in Seihou==
==Danmaku in ''Seihou Project''==
Danmaku also plays a big role in the ''[[Seihou Project]]''. Just like Touhou, danmaku starts off easy on the first stage and hardest to the last, along with choosing a difficulty. The differences however is: there tend to not be as many danmaku on the screen, the speed of the danmaku is faster, and there isn't a use of the [[spell card]] system. Also, ''grazing'' on bullets is more important than Touhou and it's instead called ''evading''.{{reference needed|where it says 'evading'.}}
Danmaku also plays a big role in the ''[[Seihou Project]]''. Unlike in ''Touhou'', there tends not be as much danmaku on the screen, the speed of the danmaku is faster. There is no [[spell card]] system. Grazing on bullets is more important to scoring than in Touhou, and is termed ''evading'' instead.{{reference needed|where it says 'evading'.}}


Danmaku fights tend to be a bit more vigourous to the extend of literally killing each other due to the power of machinery, but it doesn't seem like that in ''[[Kioh Gyoku]]''. The danmaku sometimes are literally bullets and other dangerous weaponry like a flame-thrower used by [[Gates]]. There are, however, danmaku that appears to be similar to Touhou, such as [[Hirano Sakurasaki]] that doesn't use machinery and relies on spiritual power like [[Reimu Hakurei]].
In ''Seihou'', danmaku is fought with lethal weapons, though fatalities are not guaranteed, and don't occur at all in the competitive two-player shoot-'em-up ''[[Kioh Gyoku]]''. Supernatural danmaku as seen in ''Touhou'' also exists, used by characters like [[Hirano Sakurasaki]], who wields spiritual powers similar to those of [[Reimu Hakurei]].


==Usage in Project Blank==
==Danmaku in ''Project Blank''==
{{stub|section}}
{{stub|section}}
Again, Danmaku has got a big role in the ''[[Project Blank]]'' series. Similar to Touhou and Seihou, Project has complex bullet patterns; they tend to be fast, but has the screen covered in bullets. Again, it doesn't have the [[spell card]] system.
''Danmaku'' again plays a major role in the ''[[Project Blank]]'' series. Bullets are swift and many, making the games manic bullet hell shooters. There is no [[spell card]] system.


Like Seihou, danmaku tends to be a bit violent in terms of killing, again due to the use of machinery.
As in ''Seihou'', danmaku battles in ''Project Blank'' are fought with lethal weapons.  


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 05:28, 28 October 2020

Danmaku (弾幕, "barrage", lit. "bullet curtain") refers to a style of shoot-'em-up video game featuring complex patterns of dozens to hundreds of enemy bullets. The Touhou Project games are a prim example of the subgenre.

The term is also sometimes used more literally in reference to the barrages of bullets themselves. For consistency with the transnumerality of the Japanese usage, this article will treat this sense of danmaku as a mass noun.

For a bit of general advice on playing this type of game, see General Strategy.

Genre Overview

In traditional shooters, bullets fly swiftly toward the player, but are few in number. In danmaku shooters, patterns of many bullets fill the screen, controlling space and limiting the player's movement as they bloom into intricate shapes of deadly beauty. Commonly called bullet hell in English, the subgenre is notorious for its difficulty.

A related term is manic shooter—this is sometimes used synonymously with bullet hell, but some shoot-'em-up enthusiasts draw a distinction: bullet hell simply denotes a high density of enemy fire, which doesn't necessarily require quick movement or reactions to avoid, while manic shooter communicates a frantic, fast-paced game that does demand quick reactions, regardless of the number of bullets onscreen.

Non-manic bullet hell shooters typically emphasize calm precision in navigating complex mazes of predictable, slow-moving projectiles. Touhou Project is such a game series, other examples being Mushihime-sama, Espgaluda, and DeathSmiles by Cave. Manic shooters instead tend to feature fast-moving bullets in chaotic patterns that must be dodged on reaction. Examples of non-bullet-hell manic shooters include the Raiden Fighters series by Seibu Kaihatsu, Dangun Feveron by Cave, and Battle Garegga by Raizing. Many games do of course fully adopt both approaches, such as DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, again by Cave, while others may favor one style but selectively incorporate elements from the other for particular sections: the extra stages in Touhou Project, for example, are often a good deal more manic than the main modes of their respective games.

Game Mechanics

Danmaku shooters usually feature the following game mechanics. They are described here with specific reference to Touhou Project, but are typical of the genre.

The hitbox

In any shoot-'em-up, a projectile is considered to have hit the player if and only if its area intersects with a region of the screen called the hitbox, which rests on top of the sprite representing the player character. In danmaku shooters, the hitbox is typically much smaller than the sprite itself, sometimes as small as a single pixel. This undersized hitbox allows bullets to seemingly pass right through the character without causing harm. This is called a graze, and many games, including those in Touhou Project, award points for it.

Lives

In most Japanese shoot-'em-ups, players begin play with anywhere from one to five lives, each representing one hit the player may sustain from enemy fire. There are no hit points or health bar: each hit received deducts exactly one life, regardless of whether it was from a tiny fairy's equally tiny orb of energy or from the EX boss's gigantic red laser. When a life is lost, the player character vanishes and reappears at the bottom of the screen, and is given a few moments of invulnerability to get into position before the dodging must begin again. Confusingly enough, Japanese usage refers to getting hit and losing a life as a miss.

In many games, lives may be restored by collecting items dropped by certain enemies—often bosses—and sometimes also by scoring points. This is called an extend.

When all lives are depleted, the player is offered the option to quit playing or to continue immediately from where the player was defeated, with as many lives as the player started the game with. The latter option may only be taken a number of times limited in the arcades by money or game tokens and limited arbitrarily or not at all on home computers and game consoles. When all continues have been exhausted, the player is forced to accept game over. Touhou games let you continue three times, but do not grant you access to the game's final level or allow you to save replays if you have continued.

Bombs

In 'many other shoot-'em-ups, the player has a primary weapon with unlimited ammunition and a few powerful bombs, used at will by pressing a button to the right of the "shoot" button. This damages every enemy and destroys every enemy bullet on the screen, and usually makes the player briefly invulnerable as well. Their basic use is as an emergency escape tool, but skilled players may put them to other uses as well.

Similarly to lives, bombs may often be replenished by collecting an item called a bomb extend.

Danmaku in Touhou Project

A generic Moon Rabbit firing danmaku against a generic Fairy Maid in Silent Sinner in Blue chapter 13.

Touhou's treatment of danmaku is unique not in its implementation of the gameplay mechanics, but in the way that danmaku is incorporated into the setting itself, where it is essentially a supernatural martial art practiced by the inhabitants of Gensokyo. The word danmaku appears in the games' dialogue. Under the spell card rules, danmaku duels are not to the death, but are ritualized and aestheticized sparring matches with agreed-upon conditions for winning and losing.[1][2][3] This evidenced by the beautiful patterns of many useless bullets: if enemies really wanted to kill the player, a 10:1 ratio of bullets wouldn't be necessary.

Danmaku battles occur outside of the games, mostly in the manga, where it works mostly the same way, although some things do happen in the manga's danmaku battles that are not seen in the games. In Silent Sinner in Blue, Watatsuki no Yorihime threw a barrage of danmaku so dense that Sakuya was unable to avoid it even by stopping time, as there was no opening in the danmaku large enough for her to pass through. No game to date has featured such undodgeable danmaku, but it is not against the letter of the spell card rules.

Reimu with torn clothes

It is shown in various games that danmaku battles tend to damage the character's clothes. In Reimu's case, they are usually repaired by Rinnosuke.

Danmaku in Seihou Project

Danmaku also plays a big role in the Seihou Project. Unlike in Touhou, there tends not be as much danmaku on the screen, the speed of the danmaku is faster. There is no spell card system. Grazing on bullets is more important to scoring than in Touhou, and is termed evading instead.[Ref. Needed]

In Seihou, danmaku is fought with lethal weapons, though fatalities are not guaranteed, and don't occur at all in the competitive two-player shoot-'em-up Kioh Gyoku. Supernatural danmaku as seen in Touhou also exists, used by characters like Hirano Sakurasaki, who wields spiritual powers similar to those of Reimu Hakurei.

Danmaku in Project Blank

Attention: This section is a stub and it needs expanding with more information related to the section's topic. If you can add to it in any way, please do so.

Danmaku again plays a major role in the Project Blank series. Bullets are swift and many, making the games manic bullet hell shooters. There is no spell card system.

As in Seihou, danmaku battles in Project Blank are fought with lethal weapons.

References