Imperishable Night

Imperishable Night
Developer(s)	Team Shanghai Alice
Publisher(s)	Team Shanghai Alice
Series	Touhou Project
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	August 15, 2004 (C66)
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night. (Japanese: 東方永夜抄 〜 Imperishable Night., lit. "Eternal Night Vignette from the East") is the eighth official game of the Touhou Project scrolling shooter series by Team Shanghai Alice, and the third main Touhou game to be released specifically for the Windows operating system. It was first released at the 66th Comiket on August 15, 2004. The game introduces the 'partner' system, allowing the player to switch between two characters, each with their own shot type, in real time.

Gameplay[]

Imperishable Night is a vertically scrolling danmaku game, in which the player character is always facing towards the top of the screen, attacking enemies, dodging their attacks, and having to face a boss at the end of each stage.

Unique to Imperishable Night is the Last Spell system. Some of the bosses' last spell cards are called Last Spells, some of which are regular spell cards that require the player to deplete the boss of their life, whereas others simply require the player to survive until the time runs out. When a Last Spell is active, the player cannot activate their own Spell Cards, and will fail if they are hit, regardless of how many lives they have. The player also has access to Spell Cards referred to as Last Spells, which are secondary Spell Cards, which last longer and do more damage, but cost twice as much to use.

Time counter[]

Imperishable Night utilises a 'time' counter, which requires the player to collect a certain amount of "time points", which are acquired in the same manner as regular points – collecting point items, grazing enemy bullets, or killing enemies. The game begins at 11:00 PM, and with each stage, thirty minutes passes, or an hour if they fail to gather enough time points. The player will receive a bad ending if the clock reaches 5:00 AM. Time will also advance by half an hour if the player uses a continue, or fails any of the Last Spells of Kaguya Houraisan, the game's final boss, who is also the only character to have multiple Last Spells. Because of this system, Imperishable Night is the only Touhou game in which the player can use a continue, and still get the good ending.

Human-yōkai pairs[]

Imperishable Night features a total of eight playable characters, in pre-set pairs, and, upon completing the game with all teams, the game allows the player to select these characters individually. Each pair consist of one human, and yōkai, with the human being the player's unfocused shot, and the yokai as the focused shot.

A gauge on the lower left corner of the screen keeps track of how human or yōkai the player is, and affects the player's score accordingly. The gauge, ranging from -100% (human) to 100% (yōkai), is determined by which mode the player uses more. When the player reaches 80%, they can collect time orbs by hitting enemies (as a human) or by grazing against bosses and killing enemies (as a yōkai). Because Youmu Konpaku of the Netherworld Dwellers team is a half-ghost, their gauges are adjusted accordingly (-50% to 50% solo, -50% to 100% as the team), and the minimum values for time orb collection are reduced.

Some enemies use familiars that change their vulnerabilities depending on whether the player is playing as a human or a yōkai at the moment. These familiars are completely invulnerable when the player switches to a yōkai, but at the same time these familiars cannot collide with the yōkai player and do not shoot bullets when the player is on top of them. The enemies' alternating vulnerabilities in this game have been compared to Ikaruga.^[1] Bosses may also change their standard attacks depending on the orientation of the player, usually firing slower bullets and/or homing bullets when the player is a yōkai.

Spell Practice Mode[]

Eirin Yagokoro's "Last Word" in Spell Practice Mode

The Spell Practice Mode is unlocked by beating the game with the normal ending (i.e. before the game time reaches 5:00 am). This feature allows a character/team to practice any of the game's spell cards, so long as they have encountered them. In this mode, players have only one life and cannot use their spell cards. Clearing spell cards here will show the creator's own comments on the spell cards or the characters associated with them. The stage practice, allowing the player to practice an entire stage, provided they have completed it already, is also present in Imperishable Night.

Only available in the Spell Practice Mode are Last Words, which are typically the hardest spell cards in the game. These spells are earned by accomplishing certain feats such as beating the game using certain characters, or capturing a large enough number of spell cards.

Plot[]

On the eve of Gensokyo's Harvest Moon Festival, the moon has been replaced by a fake moon that can never become full. In order to find the real moon before sunrise, the protagonists search for the person that stole the moon, so they can return it, and prevent the possibility of an imperishable night.

After multiple battles, including one with Reimu or Marisa (depending on who the player character is), who was also searching for the answer, the protagonists reaches Eientei, the mansion of the perpetrator. Once inside, they find that the mansion is guarded by the moon rabbit Reisen Udongein Inaba. From here, the team may either choose the path that leads to the fake moon conjured by Eirin Yagokoro, or the real moon, where the exiled moon princess Kaguya Houraisan is hiding. People from the moon wanted Kaguya to return Reisen to their home planet, and so, she created the fake moon in order to sever the link between the earth and the moon, meaning they would not be able to find either Kaguya or Reisen. The team then accepts Kaguya's "Five Impossible Requests" and fight until daybreak.

Having completed the Five Impossible Requests, the team is given another challenge by Kaguya in the Extra Mode: defeat her rival, Fujiwara no Mokou. Afterwards, the moon is restored, and Kaguya, Reisen, and Eirin continue to live in Gensokyo peacefully.

Characters[]

Playable characters[]

Initially, the player must play with one of the four preset teams. After the player has beaten Kaguya with all four teams, then it is possible to play the characters individually. Playing as individuals instead of teams does not change the story.

• Illusionary Border Team (幻想の結界チーム) — Ever since the moon got replaced with a fake one, Yukari hasn't been able to sleep. Because Yukari doesn't go out much, she had to rope Reimu in as a guide.
  • Reimu Hakurei (博麗 霊夢 Hakurei Reimu) — Attacks using homing amulets.
  • Yukari Yakumo (八雲 紫 Yakumo Yukari) — The yōkai who controls boundaries. Attacks using needles and her shikigami Ran, who targets and attacks onto enemies.
• Aria of Forbidden Magic Team (禁呪の詠唱チーム) — Annoyed at how the humans are oblivious to what's going on, Alice tried to solve the mystery by herself, but she ended up bribing Marisa with books to make her tag along.
  • Marisa Kirisame (霧雨 魔理沙 Kirisame Marisa) — A witch who lives in the Forest of Magic. Attacks using magic missiles.
  • Alice Margatroid (アリス・マーガトロイド) — Marisa's fellow magician who also lives in the Forest of Magic. Attacks with her doll, Shanghai, who fires a laser.
• Visionary Scarlet Devil Team (夢幻の紅魔チーム) — Remilia sent Sakuya to investigate, but she failed to notice anything wrong. Remilia then went out to deal with the incident herself, with Sakuya following behind.
  • Sakuya Izayoi (十六夜 咲夜 Izayoi Sakuya) — The maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Throws her knives over a wide area.
  • Remilia Scarlet (レミリア・スカーレット) — Mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Can station her shots in one place while she moves elsewhere.
• Netherworld Dwellers' Team (幽冥の住人チーム) — Yuyuko and Youmu both sensed something was wrong from the Netherworld, but Yuyuko wasn't too confident in Youmu to let her investigate by herself, since someone who could manage to seal the real moon away must be very powerful, so both Yuyuko and Youmu set out.
  • Youmu Konpaku (魂魄 妖夢 Konpaku Youmu) — Half-human half-ghost gardener of the Netherworld. Fires with her ghostly half, which acts as an option that fires opposite to her move direction.
  • Yuyuko Saigyouji (西行寺 幽々子 Saigyouji Yuyuko) — Ghostly princess of the Netherworld. Attacks with ghost familiars with wide shots.

Boss characters[]

• Wriggle Nightbug (リグル・ナイトバグ) — Stage one mid-boss and boss, a firefly youkai who happens to be in the way.
• Mystia Lorelei (ミスティア・ローレライ) — Stage two mid-boss and boss, a night sparrow preying on humans.
• Keine Kamishirasawa (上白沢 慧音 Kamishirasawa Keine) — Stage three mid-boss, boss, and Extra stage midboss. A teacher of the terakoya in the Human Village who turns into a hakutaku during full moons. Keine returns as the midboss of the extra stage in her hakutaku form.
• Reimu Hakurei — Stage four boss when playing as Marisa/Alice or Sakuya/Remilia. Reimu is looking for the one who stopped the passage of time.
• Marisa Kirisame — Stage four boss when playing as Reimu/Yukari or Youmu/Yuyuko. Like Reimu, Marisa is searching for whoever she thinks is the one lengthening the night.
• Tewi Inaba (因幡 てゐ Inaba Tewi) — Stage five midboss, a youkai rabbit based on the "White Hare of Inaba" story who has taken residence in Eientei. She is the leader of the earthly bunnies of the Eientei. Despite her deceitful personality, she is also considered a bringer of luck.
• Reisen Udongein Inaba (鈴仙・優曇華院・イナバ) — Stage five boss, a moon rabbit who deserted from the Moon when it was at war with Earth, now a disciple of Eirin. She has the power to drive people mad with her eyes — mainly in the form of hallucinations — as well as communicate telepathically with her kind. She also has control over waves of all kinds, such as light waves, brainwaves, electromagnetic waves, as well as sound waves.
• Eirin Yagokoro (八意 永琳 Yagokoro Eirin) — Stage six midboss and boss of path A and stage 6 midboss of path B. A master pharmacist who, long ago, produced the elixir of life for Kaguya, causing Kaguya to be exiled from the moon. She is the brains of Eientei. Based on the Shinto deity Omoikane.
• Kaguya Houraisan (蓬莱山 輝夜 Houraisan Kaguya) — Stage 6 boss of path B. Her character is based on Kaguya-hime from Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (also known as Tale of the Princess Kaguya), who was originally from the moon but now lives as a commoner in Gensokyo, hiding from the Lunar emissaries who want her back.
• Fujiwara no Mokou (藤原 妹紅) — Extra stage boss, a girl who, by some chance, swallowed the elixir of life and became immortal. She held a millennium-long grudge against Kaguya for humiliating her father when he was seeking Kaguya's hand in marriage. Unable to die by any means, she and Kaguya attack each other and reincarnate on a daily basis.

Development[]

Imperishable Night was created by Team Shanghai Alice, which consists of a single member, who goes by the pseudonym of ZUN. ZUN had interest in making a danmaku game in which the player can switch between two characters easily during the game, as he believed there weren't many games that incorporated such a system. The idea for Imperishable Night started with this desire, and the plot was written later to justify this system. ZUN had considered the idea for Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, but he felt that having playable characters that had not previously introduced would be unnatural. Thus he decided to make the system in Team Shanghai Alice's third game, Imperishable Night, so he could introduce new characters in the first and second game.^[2]

ZUN found it particularly difficult to find a youkai character to pair Reimu and Marisa with. In the end, ZUN picked Alice from the pre-Windows games to be Marisa's partner since he thought Alice was a "Youkai version of Marisa", and thus reintroduced her in Perfect Cherry Blossom. Yukari was selected to be Reimu's partner because their personalities were similar, making them a natural fit.^[2]

Reception[]

Writing for Gamasutra, Michael Molinari singled out an aspect of Imperishable Night's stage design for analysis: the stage two boss had a gimmick that limits the player's field of view and "bring[s] the most tension, excitement, exhilaration, etc., despite it simplifying the game and bringing me to the most primitive of mechanics (the process of movement)". He then goes on to say that the presentation and the mechanics of the bullet patterns not only make it possible for this to happen, but also make the gimmick "worthwhile and memorable".^[3]

Related media[]

Touhou Bōgetsushō (東方儚月抄) is an extension of the story in Imperishable Night, split into three parts, each carried by a different Ichijinsha magazine. The main component, Silent Sinner in Blue, is a manga serialized in the monthly Comic Rex; it is through Silent Sinner in Blue that the main plot progresses. Cage in Lunatic Runagate is a novel being serialized in the quarterly ; it centers on the viewpoints of the characters around the story. Finally, The Inaba of the Moon and the Inaba of the Earth (月のイナバと地上の因幡, Tsuki no Inaba to Chijō no Inaba) is a lighthearted yonkoma focusing on Reisen and Tewi Inaba. The plot of Touhou Bōgetsushō overall revolves around the disturbances on the lunar capital, Yukari's plans to invade the moon, and Remilia's rocket trip to the moon.

Ichijinsha sought ZUN for this venture before he started to work on Mountain of Faith, and ZUN once had thoughts to make the manga about the upcoming game. However, as development of Mountain of Faith progressed, ZUN decided that he should base the story on something that Touhou fans were already familiar with.^{[citation needed]} He turned to Imperishable Night because he felt the game did not provide much room for character development despite having such a rich cast. With the three-part media blitz, ZUN hoped to expand on the characters' inner thoughts.^[4]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Imperishable Night on Touhou Wiki