Touhou is a phenomenon in the realm of otaku and has rejuvenated the dying shoot ‘em up (shmup) genre. It’s hard to believe that Touhou had such a humble beginning and has been already been around for 12 years. The series has become such a juggernaut that even people that don’t normally play shmup games have dabbled in the depths of bullet hell.
The shmup scene was all but dead when Touhou hit the scene in 1998, and even then the series didn’t truly become a phenomenon until its sixth entry, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. Touhou really set itself apart with its well known ‘bullet hell’ gameplay and some semblance of a story, but a big part of its success lies in the numerous moe girls featured throughout the series. Classic shmups typically tossed the player into fighter planes and space craft, whereupon you would fight off legions of enemies until you finished the game. However, Touhou places you in the shoes of magical girls that have to traverse through screens riddled with colorful bullets and quirky villains. While the entire cast is female, it’s not just the main heroines and villains that have their fans. Strangely enough even one-shot sub bosses have their own followings for some reason.
This brings me to the point of this article. Would Touhou be popular without relying on moe? How many otaku can honestly say they were fans of the shmup genre before playing Touhou? How many Touhou fans played shmup classics like R-Type, Ikaruga, Rez, and Bangai-O before playing Touhou? My bet is not many. The shmup genre is very niche. Among all the people I personally know, only one of them is a long standing fan of the genre. Touhou would not be where it is now without the moe girls. Sure the gameplay is unique and revolutionized a dying game genre, but it needed something to lure in unwary otaku. A catch.
Moe.
Moe is a powerful thing. It can turn crappy anime into gold. It can make crappy games print money. In the case of Touhou, it’s actually a very good game. I don’t think Touhou would be too popular without relying on moe though. It would be just another niche shmup game series in the vein of Bangai-O and Ikaruga. But Touhou is not just another shmup. Touhou has made the genre trendy and relevant again. And it’s all thanks to moe.
gretchen on 
Entries (RSS)
I don’t think there is a reason to argue with the point I do think moe plays into it for most people. However I played R-Type, Ikaruga, Thunder Force (which I all played before touhou, I had the cheep SNES Super R-Type with no level checkpoints); though I just love shooters, and I find the idea of there being millions of bullets on the screen and the characters having a kill box, that one pixel where if you get hit there you die I very interesting idea. Though the shoot um’ up genera is dead, and this played off current trends to make it hip and now. This isn’t a bad thing though, there have been other games that tired this and didn’t have good gameplay with it so they died. So while it is the moe that draws in the crowd, I think its the gameplay that keeps them their.
I’m not a fan of bullet hell games, the last of which I played was Square’s Einhander way way back in PS1 times. And even with Touhou having moe~ and all that, I don’t intend to play the games. I think Touhou already transcended from a doujin shmup to a doujin multimedia franchise. It’s possible to enjoy Touhou without even touching the original game series, and instead watching random flash vids, listening to terabytes of custom music, enjoying Reimu’s armpits in pictures, etc.
So I’m at the extreme end of things (I only go to Gensokyo for the moe~).
I personally suck major ass at bullet hell games, yet I STILL love touhou, partially for moe~, partially for the diverse characters and partially for the game itself.
But you can’t deny that Touhou has become what most doujin games (or shmups, whatever) will never be, a franchise. All you need to do is to take a look at the IOSYS or Alstroemaeria albums, doujins ABOUT touhou, memes like tsurupettan…..etc.
Maybe it’s the moe or ZUN’s storytelling, I have no idea personally . >_>
C.I.s last blog post…[Off-topicy] The Xbox 360’s Dashboard update – Just the (Drastic) facts and maybe a (leaked) hi~mi~tsu?
I will admit, I was never a fan of danmaku until Touhou came in. However, ever since it did, it helped open up a whole new world (albeit a really small one) of twitch gaming, colorful bullets, beautiful patterns, and so on.
I guess what I mean is that if it weren’t for Touhou, I probably would never have even willingly touched most STGs. Thank God I did.
Zeroblades last blog post…Misc. Updates Again
If you mean moe in terms of girls with God-like powers, than sure!
But if you mean more in the “I want to protect her” vibe, that’s not what hooked me on to there, although that is an apparently powerful selling point.
TheBigNs last blog post…Thoughts on Hidamari Sketch x365 Episode 5: Homecoming
@Shadro: Yep, moe is the lure but the gameplay is admittedly solid and addicting.
@bluemist: So you’re a Touhou spectator fan?
@C.I.: Touhou is so popular that it’s insane!
@Zeroblade: Bullet hell has consumed your soul~
@TheBigN: Moe moe? Moe~
I’m guessing that storytelling might have quite an involvement in the Touhou franchise, looking at some of the official Touhou light novels (Curiousities of Lotus Asia, etc) and manga (Silent Sinner in Blue, etc). Not to mention, nowadays quite a number of danmaku games are dabbling in moe, but none have reached the popularity of Touhou. Then again, I suppose it has the benefit of a large fanbase and a long history.
Is the shmup genre trendy and relevant? It still seems pretty unknown in the big scheme of things (although we did get a release of Bangai-O in the states recently), but I guess that it is making a name for itself among serious gamers and especially anime otaku.
I think Touhou has evolved past being just a shmup at this point, just look at the fandom and you see random games (Tetris spinoffs, Dr. Mario clones, RPGs), fanart, doujinshi, music, and even a few mutant creations of its own (hey, I like Yukkuri, but the point stands), so much that it’s absolutely overwhelming to a newcomer.
It’s probably gone beyond being just a shmup, as ZUN’s actual games aren’t even the biggest focal point of the series for a lot of people nowadays. Personally, I like the games, but I’m equally entranced by the amount of effort that the community can put out in random fanworks.
So in conclusion, Touhou is a good gateway to shmup-land, and I’ve played a few good bullet hell games as a result, but I think it’s much more than a shmup now, thanks to moe.
CCYs last blog post…Lost my Magic: Why I suddenly went missing from ItaKiss and the shoujo scene
@Sylon: Touhou’s influence has definitely leaked into other shmups like Trigger Heart Exelica and Cave’s newer shoot ‘em ups like DeathSmiles. Like you said, Touhou’s story and established fanbase ensure the success of the franchise. I think the imitators do enjoy moderate success but nothing remotely on the level of Touhou.
@CCY: Touhou is an unstoppable cult franchise. The otaku dedication for it borders on scary sometimes.
Well think about it, Touhou Brought something more then simply having Moe in it, I am a really big fan of touhou but, i don’t do it for the Moe in all. Touhou insipired and created alot of songs many arrangements and vocal BGMs were created thanks to Touhou, alot of beautiful arrangements should i even say. In a musical point of view i think touhou has it all regardless of the moe i may say.
the music is amazing, one reason to stick around
The music got me into it too
also, wth does moe mean, i always wondered
It’s not moe that makes Touhou popular, though it helps.
What makes Touhou popular is that once it somehow caught on, it became a signifier. To be a Touhou fan marked you as part of a specific group. Just like wearing a 3 Wolf Moon T-shirt, or getting all the jokes in The Big Bang Theory.
Guy´s last blog ..Figure Friday – August 28th-September 3rd in Review.
And yes, the music
Then again, the size of the music files in the one I have is so overblown, like, 80 MBs for one music bit? Heh.
Guy´s last blog ..Figure Friday – August 28th-September 3rd in Review.
I only like touhou cause it’s a whole diferent world.
It haves lots of references to the japanese culture, wich I apreciate.
What made me play the games was actually the music from IOSYS, INOCENT KEY, COOL&CREATE, SOUND HOLIC. But since I would not understand the music, I had to play the games. Also, the games are simple, but really addictive.
Even more than that, the fighting games are AWESOME!
And for the last one: Gives exelent wallpapers =D
Oh, and sorry my english.
I mainly did it for the music :O
Touhou reee~ally are the most popular game nowadays despite its appearance in old-style game. One could not sell something that are related to Touhou and bring profit to themselves without ZUN’s permission, in my humble point of view. But still, we will NEVER make profit out of Touhou (again, in my humble point of view).
But the funny thing that I’ve read about comment(s) on “why is Touhou popular” is:
- Playing the game is fun which had very difficult bullet pattern, unlike spaceship shmup.
- Playing the game because of the music.
- The plot is great.
In my argument, Whatever Touhou fans stated the reasons for liking the game is still half true. For example, they like the game because of the music. The funny thing is they wasted their money to buy Touhou costumes, Figma, dolls and other items related to Touhou rather than wasting their money to buy some musical instrument to play the actual music itself. I can only see few people that are playing Touhou music such as Tanuki and TAM.
People played spaceship shmup but they didn’t bother buying spaceship models. But as for Touhou shmup, They bother to nag their parents to buy them Touhou figma (same as other animes).
About the plot, there are many games or story including anime that have great plot (and I know its even better than Touhou). For example, Threads of Fate (Dewprism in JP). The plot is great, but does anyone bother to make some fanarts and stories (fanfic or something) for the game. By statistics, Touhou images in an image site is about 160, 368. Whereas Threads of Fate (Dewprism), the image on the site is only about 44.
So this shows that Touhou will never be too popular if there’s no 30+ moe girl (and having no love relation with some man). Count Rinnosuke out (since his true characteristic is only as a shopkeeper) and fanbase of him.