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Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream
The Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream | ||||
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| Developer | ||||
| Publisher | ||||
| Released |
Trial: Unknown | |||
| Genre |
Competitive Vertical Danmaku Shooting Game | |||
| Gameplay |
Single-Player Story Mode, 2-Player Vs Mode | |||
| Platforms |
PC-98 (NEC PC-9800 / EPSON PC-486/586) | |||
| Requirements |
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Touhou Series chronology | ||||
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Touhou
Gameplay
This game is a vertical danmaku shooting game, where two characters engage in danmaku gameplay within individual and separate play areas (aka. split-screen). Upon meeting certain conditions, players are able to unleash a variety of character-specific Spell Attacks upon their opponents in an attempt to whittle down their remaining health points.
In Story Mode, the player will face nine opponents, each more capable than the previous. Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream also features a Match Play Mode where the player may face off against AI opponents or compete against other players, as well as watch AI vs. AI matches.
Concept
At the time of Comiket 52, when Highly Responsive to Prayers and Story of Eastern Wonderland were first being sold, ZUN stated in the manual of Story of Eastern Wonderland that the third game was about 48% complete. However, the title for the game at the time was "Touhou Yumejikan" (東方夢時館, lit. "eastern dream time mansion"), and was originally supposed to be a horizontally-scrolling shooting game, similar to Gradius. No further mention of this idea is made in the files included with this game, however. Interesting to note, Yumejikan was the name of an editorial company that published a manga magazine titled "AppleMystery" (アップルミステリー) in the early 90s. Izumi Takemoto was a prominent member of Yumejikan. Given the other obvious references to Takemoto's works in the game, the name might have very well been yet another nod to Takemoto. Coincidentally, Yumejikan has reformed under the name "Mugenkan" (夢幻館 lit. Dream Mansion) in the 2000s.
ZUN does suggest that people familiar with Twinkle Star Sprites would have an easy time getting into Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, because the gameplay is very similar (though this game has more bullets).
Story
While enjoying a quiet morning walk, the local shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei stumbles across some curious ruins a short distance from the Hakurei Shrine's gateway. As only one person is allowed into the ruins - and will be well-rewarded for doing so - seven characters engage in a big battle.
When the winner enters the ruins, however, they find Chiyuri Kitashirakawa and Yumemi Okazaki, residents of another world who have come to Gensokyo in their Probability Space Hypervessel. Their motives turn out to be less than acceptable for the heroine.
Music
Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream originally contained 21 different tracks. Many of them were designed for one of the player characters specifically, due to the nature of the game. It also has the first song dedicated to Reimu, Eastern Mystical Tale of Romance. Later on, however, three more unused tracks were revealed and included on Akyu's Untouched Score vol.4. All three songs were unused because according to ZUN, they didn't fit any character in particular. The music was then compiled into Akyu's Untouched Score vol.4, which was released at Comiket 73 at the end of 2007, ten years after the game was first sold.
ZUN also rearranged Reincarnation, Mima's theme, and posted it on his old music page. A version of this arrangement re-recorded with another synthesizer would later be included in his first CD, Dolls in Pseudo Paradise.
The staff roll theme, "Maple Dream...", was also arranged into "Eternal Dream ~ Mystical Maple" for Imperishable Night, and then into "Mystical Maple ~ Eternal Dream" for Changeability of Strange Dream.
Press
The game was under development for most of the latter part of 1997, and was released officially at Comiket 53 on December 29, 1997.
On September 19, 2002, shortly after Embodiment of Scarlet Devil was released, all five PC-98 games officially stopped being sold.
External links
Official
- Team Shanghai Alice
- Amusement Makers Official Site
- Selection of PC-98 game music (PMD)
- PC-98 Touhou music arranged for the SC-88Pro (MIDI)
Unofficial
- ZUN's MIDI files played on a real SC-88Pro, including his Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream arrangements
- Hoot Multisound Emulator
- Touhou Project PC-98 Complete English Patch Pack by xJeePx
Additional Information
- The game's Japanese name (夢時空) contains the character for "dream" (夢) in Yumemi's given name (夢美), following the trend of mainline games' names referencing their final bosses or other important characters.
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