Touhou Project

Touhou Rei'iden
Japanese Title: 東方靈異伝

English Title: Highly Responsive to Prayers

Airdate: November, 1996

Plot
As we first get a glimpse of Gensokyo, we are introduced to Reimu Hakurei, the Shrine Maiden of the Hakurei Shrine. The Shrine is located near the gate to Hell and the gate to Makai, the Demon World.

Exiting the Shrine, Reimu is tested by her gatekeeper, Shingyoku.

If the chosen path is Makai, our heroine battles the mysterious evil eyes- YuugenMagan. She then is encountered by the not-so innocent devil, Elis. At the edge of Makai, Reimu enters the Fallen Shrine and battles the Angel of Death, Sariel. Sariel may have led Reimu into the Fallen Shrine wishing to trap her in Makai forever. Our heroine defeats Sariel and escapes Makai, proud of her abilities with the Yin-Yang Orb.

If the chosen path is Jigoku, our heroine meets the vengeful ghost, Mima for the first time. The ghost was possibly murdered, for she holds a blood-stained blade. After defeating her, she comes across the nearly anonymous Kikuri. Finally, deep within Hell, Reimu enters the Silent Shrine and encounters Konngara, who may have destroyed Reimu’s shrine out of pure sinful jealousy. The heroine defeats Konngara and leaves Jigoku, hoping to repair her shrine as soon as possible.

Gameplay
Highly Responsive to Prayers introduces the Shrine Maiden Reimu Hakurei, who frantically attempts to persuade a bouncing Yin-Yang ball to hit various on-screen targets, "cards" and "bosses" alike. Reimu can knock and maneuver the ball around by whacking it with her gohei, slide-tackling it, and firing shots at it. Enemies will be trying to hinder your progress by firing at you, but you can cancel out their shots with your own, or even deflect them by swinging your gohei. Only the Yin-Yang ball can damage the enemies, however, so simply firing your shots at enemies will have no effect whatsoever. As a last resort, Reimu can use a "bomb", once per life, to hit all cards on the screen. There is no guarantee that any given card will be hit. Bombs will often fail to damage a boss.

The game consists of several fixed-layout levels which increase in difficulty, with a boss fight occurring every fifth level. To complete a level, the player should disable all cards or strike the boss of that level a certain number of times. Reimu will lose one of her lives whenever she is hit by an enemy's bullet/laser/magic or gets hit by her own ball.

There are two selectable paths in the game: the Jigoku (Hell) path and the Makai (Demon World) path. Each route features unique stages, bosses, and endings.