Th14/omake.txt/en

--- ○東方輝針城 (Touhou Kishinjou: Eastern Shining Needle Castle)　～ Double Dealing Character

Character Settings and Afterword

Team Shanghai Alice Leader ZUN 2013/08/12 ---

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======================================================= ■1. Afterword

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Hello, this is ZUN. It's the time just before burning the CDs after all the work. I feel an excitement that I cannot describe with words. After all, for this game I have been doing similar tasks repeatedly for a few months, and it's now leaving my hands. Because I have not told anyone about the content (not even to my wife), I feel a bit lonely when it comes to releasing it.

Well, how was the content? While it looks difficult at first, if you chain patterns well enough, you will gain many lives, so it's not that hard right? For people who think "the second half is hard, it's too hard to gain extra lives," please use bombs. Use them generously. The game this time is about collecting lives in stages and ruthlessly battling the bosses. If you use bombs in places with lots of items, you can collect life pieces easily. Once you get used to it, it's possible to reach max lives by stage 3. Look, isn't it easy? Hmm? You want to no-miss, no-bomb clear it? That's really hellish...

People who have played it should understand, but the stage 5 boss is a character who actively does things that people dislike. Getting irritated in that situation is probably what the boss was hoping for.

I think that attack is quite a roadblock so I'll give a hint.

Do not panic or get flustered, and instead of pressing all directional keys - up, down, left, right - try dodging with only left and right movement. I dodge it like that.

Anyways, I'm excited to jump into video games and hot springs once I submit the master. Enough so to make me think that I'm developing these games so that I can have the maximum amount of fun during my vacations.

ZUN (I enjoy alcohol while developing as well)

Careful: Contains post-Ending spoilers and more.

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======================================================= ■2. Extra Story

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It was the influence of the Miracle Mallet that caused tools to start moving on their own and the normally quiet youkai to rampage. While the amanojaku who persuaded the Inchling to act had silently run away, since the Inchling was the only one who could actually use the Miracle Mallet, Reimu decided to watch over her carefully so that she could not plan anything outrageous.

However, soon after, strange clouds appeared in the sky once again. It was a magical storm, like the one from when the Inverted Castle appeared.

Even when Reimu asked the Inchling about it, the only response was because the power of the Miracle Mallet was recharging, it wasn't her doing.

There's only one thing to do if you don't know the reason: look for it. It's time to pick up your weapons and fly into the storm personally!

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======================================================= ■3. Character Settings

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◇Player Characters

The Shrine Maiden of Paradise

Reimu Hakurei

Species: Human Ability: Flying in the air

The all-too-familiar shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine.

Her weapon's called a purification rod, but its formal name is the oonusa. It chases enemies on its own to purify them, but since its homing speed is somewhat bad, she has more success carrying it up to the enemies and then throwing it.

Somehow, it doesn't seem to be very satisfactory as a purification rod.

An Ordinary Magician

Marisa Kirisame

Species: Human Ability: Ability to use magic

An ordinary magician living in Gensokyo. She also has a mania for collecting things.

Her Mini-Hakkero shoots intense flames. Fearing that it might start emitting fire on its own, she has to keep it outside of her house. The Forest of Magic is quite humid, so there shouldn't be much danger of starting a forest fire, but...

The Devil's Maid

Sakuya Izayoi

Species: Human Ability: Capable of manipulating time

The human head maid that lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Recently, she has obtained knives that will aim towards enemies by themselves. Since this is much easier than throwing them herself, they're quite enjoyable.

Not long afterwards, rumors surfaced that youkai were acting rowdy at the Misty Lake near the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Sakuya goes to fight to try out her new knives.

◇Enemy Characters

Stage 1 Midboss: The Ice Fairy of the Lake Cirno

Species: Fairy Ability: Ability to manipulate ice

A fairy that lives on the Misty Lake. Treated as no better than the grunts.

Stage 1 Boss: Mermaid Living in Fresh Water Wakasagihime

Species: Mermaid Ability: Ability to grow in strength when underwater

A quiet and composed freshwater mermaid. Normally a quietly living youkai that sings songs and picks up stones. They are not an enemy of humans.

She was affected by the Miracle Mallet's magic power, became ferocious, and was punished by Reimu and company.

She's behaving herself once again by now.

Stage 2 Boss - The Rokurokubi Horror

Sekibanki

Species: Rokurokubi Ability: Ability to make her head fly

A youkai who lives in the Human Village, taking the guise of a human. Her ability to make her head fly is convenient in various ways.

Her personality is slightly prideful, and she's recalcitrant towards both humans and youkai. It seems she takes a somewhat cynical view of things.

The previous summer, the religious leaders had been causing riots in the Human Village. While the humans and youkai had been rising up, though, she was living quietly by herself, viewing the fads in a negative light.

She was affected by the Miracle Mallet's magic power, became ferocious, and was punished by Reimu and company.

She's behaving herself once again by now.

Stage 3 Boss - The Bamboo Forest's Loup-Garou Kagerou Imaizumi

Species: Wolf-woman Ability: Ability to transform into a wolf on the night of the full moon

A person with a calm personality. Even when she transforms into a wolf, her composure isn't lost.

It seems that there are many youkai related to the moon in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, perhaps because people from the moon built a mansion there. She is one of those youkai.

By the way, she is a were-Honshu wolf, a species extinct in the outside world.

She lives quietly, hiding her skin as if concerned that she'll turn all hairy on the night of the full moon.

She was affected by the Miracle Mallet's magic power, became ferocious, and was punished by Reimu and company.

She's behaving herself once again by now.

Stage 4 Bosses

Tsukumogami of an Aging Biwa Benben Tsukumo

Tsukumogami of an Aging Koto Yatsuhashi Tsukumo

Species: Tsukumogami Ability: Capable of making sounds and performing on their own

A pair of tsukumogami, each created from a traditional musical instrument. Benben plays the part of the cool, grown-up older sister, and Yatsuhashi plays the part of the hot-blooded, reckless younger sister. They're said to be sisters, but it's just because they became tsukumogami at the same time. They're not blood relatives.

They realized that the source of their power was the upside-down castle floating in the sky, and set their sights there.

Their goal was to conquer the world with their fellow tools. Social upheaval, in other words. They dreamed of an utopia where tools could move freely, and display their abilities to the fullest.

However, that dream was prevented by Reimu and company.

They still didn't give up, though. When they realized that their thoughts had been influenced by the Miracle Mallet's magic, they tried using incantations to replace their power with a different magic power.

Stage 5 Boss - The Counterattacking Amanojaku

Seija Kijin

Species: Amanojaku Ability: Capable of turning over anything

An amanojaku who plots social upheaval. Amanojaku aren't oni, but just a particularly twisted type of youkai.

She's always thinking the opposite of what other people think. She likes what people hate, and falls into self-loathing when she makes them happy. She never listens to orders. Even if she profits off something, she doesn't give anything in return. It was only natural that humans and youkai disliked her, but she was happy to be disliked.

Her ambition was to turn Gensokyo upside-down. She wanted to smash the current, stable Gensokyo where the strong ruled the land, and change it into one where the weak had more value.

However, she didn't have the power to do that. Then, she laid her eyes upon the treasure of the inchlings, the "Miracle Mallet".

Stage 6 Boss - Descendant of the Inchlings Shinmyoumaru Sukuna

Species: Inchling Ability: Using the Miracle Mallet

A descendant of Issun-Boushi. She's able to use the Miracle Mallet.

Her ancestor Issun-Boushi exterminated an oni, and obtained the oni's treasure, the "Miracle Mallet". That ancestor used it to gain a large body and a princess, just as the stories say. He didn't use the Miracle Mallet for anything more than that.

The Miracle Mallet was an oni's tool, and the miracles it caused were also a result of the oni's power. Using it recklessly would bring ruin upon oneself, he thought.

However, after several generations passed, Issun-Boushi's mindset soon faded away. Then, at one point, an incident occurred.

The Miracle Mallet can grant any wish imaginable-- so why aren't we using it? One of Issun-Boushi's descendants thought this, and at last broke the taboo. They lived in the lap of luxury thanks to the mallet's magic power, and then made one final wish.

"I want to build a luxurious castle, and rule over the people!"

In a flash, a castle called the "Shining Needle Castle" appeared, as the Miracle Mallet's power ran out. And then, tragedy struck.

The Shining Needle Castle turned on its head, and was confined to the world of the oni, taking the entire inchling race with it. They sank down to a world where the people they wanted to rule over didn't exist... Thus, the existence of the inchlings passed out of human knowledge.

The Miracle Mallet was an oni's tool. In exchange for granting a wish, it would extract a payment equivalent to it. A wish that was too big could have its payment occur even before being granted.

The inchlings realized this, and the Miracle Mallet was sealed once more.

A long time passed since then, and we now come to the present day. All the people among the inchlings who spoke of the past had long since passed away. As a result, Shinmyoumaru Sukuna didn't know about the mallet.

An amanojaku, Seija, then laid eyes upon her.

In order to satisfy her ambition, Seija planned to utilize the Miracle Mallet. Because only the inchlings could wield the mallet, she decided to use Shinmyoumaru, who knew nothing of it.

A humiliation suffered by the inchlings, the power of the Miracle Mallet, and the youkai of Gensokyo who were responsible for that humiliation-- Seija was always a well-spoken amanojaku, but she fed Shinmyoumaru a false history. The two of them swore to take revenge.

"Now, let's build a paradise where the weak won't be disposed of!"

However, Shinmyoumaru still didn't know about the Miracle Mallet's price.

Extra Stage Midbosses - The Tsukumo Sisters

The two learned that the source of their power was the magical power of the Miracle Mallet. What were they going to do? At this rate they would return back to being mere tools.

A hand of salvation reached out to this panicking pair. It was the tsukumogami of a percussion instrument that they had never seen before.

EX Stage Boss - Phantasmal Percussionist Raiko Horikawa

Species: Tsukumogami Ability: Capable of making anything follow a rhythm

She's a tsukumogami created from a Japanese taiko drum. She lived for a while, feeling joy when struck by people.

However, she began to feel a strong, new magical power within her. At the same time, ferocity flared up in her mind. "Now is the time for the tools to take revenge," she thought.

She was wise, though, and quickly realized that this power was that of an oni (i.e. that of the Miracle Mallet).

She felt that at this rate, she'd be completely taken over by it.

She took a big gamble. She threw away the taiko drums that made up her body, and the drummer that held the magic power, and sought a new magic power of her own. This was in the forbidden outside world, as well.

Thus, she obtained a new drum kit, and a new drummer as well. Thanks to the outside world's magic power, obviously.

None of the oni's power is left in her body any more. Even if the Miracle Mallet enters its re-absorption period, she won't turn back into a regular tool.

She taught this method to the other tsukumogami around her.

Even if we're tools, we want to have fun of our own will! Now, shall we go build a paradise for tools?