Touhou Fangame Cover and Synopsis

Finally, I decided on a cover page, and title, and plot, for a Touhou Project fangame. Since the OC Club pushed the end date of their contest back, I figured I'd cast it as an entry, although I was planning on uploading all of this anyway, simply because I've grown fond of the idea. First off, I'm not entirely fond of this cover. I rushed it, and it was the latest out of a bunch of failed designs, but I like it enough to use it, and I'm extremely lazy, so...

Secondly, I never intended for this game to play as a vertical shooter like the main series Touhou-games, and if it is allowed in the contest, it would have to be as a fighting game, like Hisoutensoku or IaMP. However, its story mode will feature a lot of side-scrolling like an adventure game in between boss fights, and it still maintains 6 stages and an extra stage in its story, making it a fusion of different Touhou elements. Here goes:

NAME: (東方将来の侵略) Future Invasion of the East ~ War Machine from a Teary-Eyed Tomorrow

GAMEPLAY: The game has 4 different modes of play; Story Mode, in which players control Reimu Hakurei or Marisa Kirisame in a side-scrolling shooter intertwined with boss fights, where they must save Gensokyo from certain destruction at the hands of the futuristic army of Dr. Itamu Kajiya. Story Mode +, which is accessible after completing the story mode, and features extra content piled onto the original story, new boss fights and enemies, and the additional Phantasm difficulty setting. Boss Arcade, which plays out like a standard fighting-game arcade mode, where players, controlling any of the playable characters, must battle through 7 randomized bosses at harder and harder difficulties, aiming for competitive high scores. And finally, VS Mode, which is a competitive 2D fighting mode where players control any of the playable characters in combat with one another, or against a computer-controlled character (this is the mode that would qualify it as a fighting game in the contest).

From the beginning of the game, Reimu, Marisa, Suika, and Keine are playable in VS Mode and the Boss Arcade. There are 14 more characters to unlock by playing through the Story Mode and/or the Boss Arcade.

Story Mode Synopsis:
What is seemingly just another "boring" day in Gensokyo for our heroines becomes a catastrophe when the Hakurei Border that divides the Land of Illusions from the outside world is ripped open by a mysterious old man and his army of mechanical minions. After the invaders obliterate the Hakurei Shrine and knock Reimu out of action for a few days, Gensokyo changes for the worse, with the Hakurei Border weakening and dissipating, and new boundaries appearing out of thin air, throwing the land into chaos. Reimu and Marisa spring into action, and must use everything at their disposal, and the help of their allies, to defeat this villain and stop his wicked schemes before it's too late.

From the start, Reimu and Marisa split up to tackle the issue from different angles, enabling you to play as one of them throughout the story. Regardless of who you play as, you are joined by several partners that alter your abilities in combat. In each stage you choose 1 partner that will lend you their abilities, expending them after the level is completed. There are 6 partners that you get that will assist you in the first 6 levels of the game: Suika Ibuki, Keine Kamishirasawa, Alice Margatroid, Nitori Kawashiro, Sanae Kochiya, and Aya Shameimaru. In Stage 6, you will gain Reimu or Marisa (whoever you aren't playing as) as a partner as well, and in the Extra Stage, you are allowed to choose any of your partners to help you, and have the option of taking Yukari Yakumo as a partner for that stage.

In Stage 1, You are joined by Suika or Keine, in the Human Village, when it is invaded by Kajiya's drones, and a nefarious hakutaku named Sakui Kageki. After saving the human village, you must do battle with the stage boss, Tamaishi Muteki, who challenges the player in the misunderstanding that you are the cause of the problems facing Gensokyo. After defeating Tamaishi and setting him straight, you press on, after Sakui, and towards the Mountain of Youkai.

In Stage 2 you meet Alice and Nitori, who join you as partners, and assist them in clearing out the forest of Magic of Sakui's extremist youkai that have been camped there. You will run into the midboss of the level, Myco Houshiko, one of Sakui's elite lieutenants. After chasing her off, you must press on through Kajiya's robots, which have entrenched themselves in kappa territory, after Nitori's rival machinist, and Stage 2 boss, Teishi Kansougia sold out to Kajiya for power. After defeating her, you are clear to begin ascending the Mountain of Youkai.

Stage 3 nets you Sanae and Aya as partners, who are both fleeing after Kajiya's forces overwhelmed them and took over the tengu lands at the mountain summit, and Moriya Shrine. Most of the schemes of the principal villains, Kajiya, and Sakui, are explored in this stage, and it is revealed that Kajiya is working to restore his daughter, Taihou, to life through a combination of his advanced technology and the magic of Gensokyo. Continuing to follow Sakui, you encounter more of his extremists and do battle with the midboss, another extremist officer, Kasei Jukusu. After forcing her to flee, you must fight through a coalition of robots and youkai, before being confronted by the stage boss, Bianca Felsina, who seeks to stop the player because she sympathizes with Kajiya and hopes to give his daughter the same chances at a new life that she has. After defeating her and revealing the depths of Kajiya's scheme, the players are allowed to move on, towards the summit, and Moriya Shrine.

Stage 4 sees the player finally reaching Moriya Shrine, which has been transformed into the headquarters of Sakui's extremists. Sakui confronts the player and reveals his intentions; using the magic absorbed through Kajiya's drones to power up Taihou so he can use her undead form as a weapon to take over the world. He thanks the player for their usefulness, and attempts to kill them, now that you have outlived your use to him. He serves as the midboss of this stage, and is forced to retreat after you repel him once again. Further into the shrine, you encounter the duo of Myco and Kasei, who team up as the dual stage bosses of the level, hoping to cover Sakui's escape. After defeating them, Sakui's interference is repelled by either Reimu or Marisa (whoever you aren't playing as), and the duo reunite. Planning to attack Kajiya's forces from two sides, whoever you aren't playing as attacks from above while you and the 2 partners you still have left chase after Sakui through the front of Kajiya's fortress.

In Stage 5, Sakui's remaining extremists are being gunned down by Kajiya's drones and you must battle with everything in your path as you chase Sakui through the outer defenses of Kajiya's base. Sakui is the midboss of this stage again, but he refuses to surrender and keeps going, blasting into Kajiya's fortress, where you must engage more drones. Eventually, you corner Sakui, and engage him as the stage boss, where he fights you with all of his power, fully transformed into his hakutaku form. After defeating him, he is betrayed by Teishi (the kappa boss of stage 2) who returns to reinforce Kajiya's forces. Before being able to execute Sakui, Teishi is attacked by either Marisa or Reimu (whoever you aren't playing as), who joins your front of the assault as an optional partner for Stage 6, the final battle against the evil invader.

Stage 6, the final push against Kajiya, begins with you chasing Teishi through Kajiya's laboratory and wave after wave of his drones. After cornering her in the inner sanctum, Teishi becomes the midboss of this stage, and after knocking her out, you proceed through the last defenses of the laboratory, and finally confront Kajiya himself. With only a little more energy needed to revive his daughter, Kajiya enters his exoskeleton to fight you as the stage boss, wielding power harnessed from his captives, Yukari, Kanako, and Suwako, and the remaining army he still commands. After defeating Kajiya, he, in despair, purges himself of his last energy, effectively sealing his fate, transferring it to the Revenant system, which enables his daughter to possess the futuristic war machine as the true final boss of the stage, Revenant Taihou. After finally besting this destructive power and liberating Kajiya's prisoners, Taihou's soul is freed and she is propelled into the afterlife of the present-day, giving her final goodbyes to the heroines, and her dying father, who passes away with a smile, having accomplished his mission to the past. Taihou takes her father's machines and weapons, her "inheritance" with her to heaven, and invites the player to give her a rematch soon, enabling the player to pursue the Extra Stage.

By meeting certain conditions, such as beating the game with a high enough score on normal difficulty, or beating the game at all on hard or lunatic difficulty, the player is allowed to enter the Extra Stage, about a week or so after the time of the game's story. You find yourself in Valhalla, warrior heaven, and can choose your partner out of any of your previous partners, or Yukari, who is available for this stage. The midboss of this stage will vary depending on who your partner is, so it's sort of important who you select. If your partner is Suika, you will fight Tamaishi as the midboss. If your partner is Nitori, you will fight Teishi. If your partner is Keine, you will fight Sakui. If your partner is Aya, your opponent is Kasei. If your partner is Alice, your opponent is Myco. If your partner is either Marisa or Reimu, Bianca is your opponent. And if either Sanae or Yukari is your partner, the midboss is (SUPRISE) Kogasa Tatara! After the midboss battle, and fighting through several of Kajiya's repurposed drones, now under Taihou's control, you battle the Extra Stage Boss, Taihou Kajiya, who has since become a valkyrie. After finally defeating her, you have successfully completed story mode, and have opened up Story Mode + from the main menu.

Story Mode +
Is something I won't get into right now, but it's basically a replay of story mode... where everyone knows what's going on and keeps the story fairly relaxed. Even Kajiya is more lighthearted and is going with the deja-vu of the mode rather than his original schemes, especially since Taihou isn't in this game. The main differences are the different character and boss locations, different dialogue, more humorous storyline, and the ability to select any of your partners throughout the game without losing them after each stage. You also get Yukari and Reimu/Marisa as a partner from the beginning, however, Yukari is not a partner for the extra stage, and in fact replaces Taihou as the Extra Stage Boss. Story Mode + can be played on phantasm difficulty, which is the only setting above lunatic for this game. Completing Story Mode + gets you Yukari as a playable character for Boss Arcade and VS Mode and gets bonus spell cards, power ups, play styles, and customization options for all of your characters.

Boss Arcade
Is another way besides Story Mode to unlock characters for VS Mode. Anyone you beat in Boss Arcade becomes a playable character. Otherwise the mode is simply a randomized series of fights where players tally up high scores based on the combos and special moves and statistics they meet in each battle, like a classic arcade fighting game.

VS Mode
Along with Story Mode is the meat of the game itself, and is probably what most players will be entertaining themselves with after they've obtained all of the characters. There are two different types of VS Mode you can play: 1 on 1 or tag-team. 1 on 1 fights are, as the name implies, classic 1 on 1 2D fights between either 2 players or 1 player and a computer. In tag-team mode, however, players unite characters as teams to engage other teams in 1 on 1 fights. Each team has 1 character on the screen fighting the enemy counterpart, and characters can tag in and out with each other as they see fit. Every character has a partner ability that activates as long as they are offscreen to benefit their on-screen partner. Pairing up characters based on the synergy of their abilities can make or break a team in this mode, so it will be important to take note of. I suppose this is the only way you could have 4-players fighting against each other, but that depends on what the game is played on. otherwise, I assume you could at least have player vs. player teams, or a team of players vs a team of computer characters.

The characters available to play as in VS Mode and Boss Arcade are: Reimu, Marisa, Suika, Keine, Nitori, Alice, Sanae, Aya, Tamaishi, Teishi, Bianca, Myco, Kasei, Sakui, Dr. Kajiya, Revenant Taihou, Taihou (valkyrie), Yukari, and Kogasa. NOTE this list is not final, and if I get enough votes from anyone to add a character to this list, it shall be so.

Otherwise, I hope you guys like the idea, and as always, feel free to ask questions, because I love talking about this stuff. If you have any advice, leave a comment, I'm sure this game could be improved in some way. Otherwise, I'll be uploading more scripts for the stages, hopefully soon, because some of them will have some really awesome dialogue. Stay tuned.

Touhou Project is owned by ZUN