Unconnected Marketeers

東方虹龍洞 (とうほうこうりゅうどう) Unconnected Marketeers
Developer	Team Shanghai Alice
Publisher	Team Shanghai Alice
Released	Trial: 2021-03-21 (Reitaisai 18) Full: 2021-05-04 (Steam) Retail: 2021-05-13
Genre	Vertical Danmaku Shooting Game
Gameplay	Single-Player Story Mode
Platforms	Windows 8/10
Requirements	Processor: Core 2 Duo or faster Memory: 1024 MB RAM Graphics: Shader Model 2.0 compatible DirectX: Version 9.0 Sound Card: DirectSound compatible
Touhou Series chronology
Sunken Fossil World Unconnected Marketeers (2021) 100th Black Market

Touhou Kouryuudou(Rainbow Dragon Cave) ~ Unconnected Marketeers (東方虹龍洞　～ Unconnected Marketeers) is the eighteenth official installment of the Touhou Project. It was announced by ZUN on the Touhou Project news blog Touhou Yomoyama News, February 2021. A playable demo was released on March 21st the same year, at Reitaisai 18, with the full version being released on May 4th on Steam, while the retail version was released on May 13th.

Gameplay

Main articles: Gameplay, Strategy, Spell Cards, Ability Cards, and Achievements

There are four main characters: Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Sakuya Izayoi and Sanae Kochiya.

The game features 56 ability cards that can either be equipped before starting a playthrough (with some exceptions), or bought at a shop menu after each stage. While only a few are initially available to be equipped in advance, others can be unlocked via successive playthroughs.

An example of the Ability Cards

There are four subcategories of ability cards:

• Active cards can be used at will with the C key (and switched between with the D key, if several are equipped at once). Most active cards have cooldowns which prevent them from being reused until enough time has passed.
• Equipment cards give the player extra options which fire additional shots or erase enemy bullets they come in contact with.
• Passive cards give the player miscellaneous gameplay perks, such as increased shot or spell power or the ability to gain resources under certain circumstances.
• Item cards serve to increase the player's money, power, or resources when purchased or collected from enemies that drop them. Item cards cannot be equipped by default.

Concept

Production of the game started around the end of 2020. This game is described as a poppy, rainbow-colored shooting game with a refreshing atmosphere.

Story

Main articles: Story, Translation, and Characters

The story revolves around the circulation of mysterious cards, which seem to contain the secrets of various humans and youkai.

Music

Main article: Music

Press

Unconnected Marketeers was first announced on Touhou Yomoyama News on February 27, 2021, along with information about the characters and story, and several in-development screenshots. It officially released on May 4th, 2021 on Steam, a departure from its usual physical release at the summer Comiket event, due to the international COVID-19 crisis. It is the first ever mainline Touhou Project game, including the PC-98 games, not to be released at a Comiket event.

Freebie for Participants of Comic1 BS Festival Special

Chimata's Participation Certificate for Free Market

Those that bought the game at the doujin event Comic1 BS Festival Special in May 2021 received a special ability card featuring Chimata Tenkyuu and ZUN's signature.

千亦の自由市場参加証 市場にて売買を満喫できるようになる天弓千亦の能力 このカードを持っていると、市場での売買が楽しくなり、将来の市場にも楽しく参加出来るようになる。 ネット通販が当たり前のこの時代、 直接売買する市場なんて、もう消えゆく存在なのか？ いや、人間がビットの集合体では無い限り、 市場の神の許可無き売買では決して満足できないだろう。 ＊このカードは購入後、強制的に装備させられます。

Chimata's Participation Certificate for Free Market With this card, you will have fun buying and selling in the market and will be able to participate in future markets. In this era when online shopping is commonplace. Will face-to-face market transactions disappear? No, unless humans are a collection of bits, we will never be satisfied with buying and selling without the permission of the god of the market. ＊This card will be forcibly equipped after purchase.

English patches

Touhou Community Reliant Automatic Patcher / THCRAP

• Community translations from the Touhou Patch Center wiki.
• Select lang_en during patching.
• Video walkthrough
• Also available as a pre-packaged standalone (not recommended).

These patches are a community translation based on Touhou Wiki and the English Touhou Patch Center Portal.
Visit the thpatch game page to find the specific patch contents for Unconnected Marketeers.

Additional Information

• The game's Japanese name (虹龍洞) contains the character for dragon (龍) in Megumu Iizunamaru's given name. The character for rainbow (虹) may also reference Chimata Tenkyuu's surname, which means rainbow in literary and dialectal Chinese. This same kanji contains the radical for bug (虫), character contained in Momoyo Himemushi's surname (姫虫), and if the full kanji for rainbow is split into its components (虫工), it can vaguely mean "bug's labor" or "bug worker". This fits with the trend of game names making reference to their final bosses and other important characters.

External Links

• ZUN's release blogpost
• Steam