Imperishable Night is the 8th game in the Touhou Project, released on the Windows OS in 2004. The game features unique elements such as pre-set character pairs and a "Time" system which affects gameplay.
Plot
The Harvest Moon Festival is drawing near in the land of Gensokyo, when youkai sense that something is wrong with the moon. It seems that someone has replaced the real moon with a fake one, meaning someone must freeze time in order to find the real moon and ensure that there is a full moon on the night of the festival.
Gameplay
Imperishable plays out like many other vertically scrolling Danmaku shooting games, with your character always facing the top of the screen, shooting at anything that moves while avoiding and weaving through the many bullet patterns, and facing bosses at the end of each stage.
There are four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard and Lunatic. Each difficulty affects the number of bullets fired by each enemy, the rate of fire, the movement patterns of them, and the number and type of enemy Spell Cards used.
There are 6 stages in the game, each more difficult than the last, and after clearing the game without the use of a continue on any one difficulty, an Extra Stage will be unlocked. The Extra Stage features significantly stronger and faster enemies, an extremely hard mid-boss and boss battle, and no option to continue once all of your lives have been used up.
A new feature in Imperishable Night is the "time system", which makes the game start at 11:00pm, where 1:00 is added after each stage, although this can be reduced to 0:30 if the player collects enough time orbs in that stage. If the player decides to continue, an additional 0:30 is added, and if the time reaches 5:00am before the end of the last stage, the player will recieve a game over.
Defeating Enemies
Imperishable Night features many different enemies which you must defeat in order to progress through the stages. The player can do so through the use of the following abilities: The Shot The shot is the basic way of defeating an enemy. A shot's attack area and behaviour will vary depending on the character you have chosen, and you can also power up the shot by filling the Power Level through the collection of power items, where small power items increase your power level by 1, and large ones by 10. The shot will gradually become more powerful as the player reaches the Power levels of 8, 24, 48, 80 and 128 (MAX). When the player reaches MAX power, all onscreen bullets will cancel out and turn into star items, which are automatically collected, and during the time the player has MAX power, the player can auto-collect all onscreen items by moving their character close to the top of the screen, however, if the player does not have MAX power, they can still collect all onscreen items through going past the point-of-collection (POC) and shifting into Phantom mode.
Bomb Last Spells are extremely powerful, and are a valuable resourceBombs can be used to get out of desperate situations. A bomb's attack area, duration and power will vary depending on the Attack Type you have selected, but most of the time, it will deal heavy damage to every enemy onscreen, as well as cancel out any onscreen bullets and automatically collect every onscreen item, however,enemies defeated through the use of a bomb will not drop anyitems. While a bomb is activated, and a short period after it has finished, the player's character will be invincible. At the beginning of the game, and after every respawn, you will have 3 bombs. You can increase your bomb supply through the collection of bomb items. You can carry a maximum of 8 bombs at a time, and if you collect a bomb item while at the limit, that bomb will be lost.
Imperishable Night also features Last Spells, which can be used to avoid losing a life.A Last Spell uses up 2 bombs (or one, if that is all the player has left in stock), but is more powerful and lasts longer.To use a Last Spell, the player must activate a bomb within 0.1-0.9 seconds (an interval referred to as "The Border Between Life and Death") of getting hit.
Phantom Gauge
The phantom gauge ranges from -100% (human) to 100% (youkai). If enemies are killed as a human (unfocused), the phantom gauge will move towards -100%. If enemies are killed as a phantom (focused), the phantom gauge will move towards 100%. As the player become more human, shots become blue, while they turn red as the player becomes more phantom.
Some teams have limited phantom gauges:
Teams
Ghost team (Youmu/Yuyuko): -50 to 100%
other teams: -100 to 100%
Solo
All Phantoms: -20 to 100%
Youmu (half-human, half-ghost): -50% to 50%
other Humans: -100 to 20%
Destroying enemy slaves will increase the gauge toward 0%. Slaves may only be hit while the player is in human form. The automatic destruction of a slave due to its master being defeated does not cause this effect (it instead causes the slave to become some time orbs).
Collecting purple time orbs will increase the gauge toward 100% of whatever form the player is in. Two possible sources of these are spell card bonuses and enemy slaves (when they are detonated due to their master being defeated).
When the gauge reaches 80%, the player can collect time orbs by hitting enemies (as a human) or by grazing against bosses and killing enemies (as a phantom). Since it's important to collect as many time orbs as possible (to slow time and get high scores), the player must try to keep their gauge either below -80% or above 80%. If the gauge can't ever reach 80%, time orbs are collected when it reaches 30%.
If a bomb is used, the gauge will increase towards 100%(focused) or -100%(unfocused). If the player dies, the gauge will either increase or decrease towards 0%. If nothing is done, the gauge will slowly move to 0% (this effect may be avoided by constantly switching between human and phantom forms).
Boss Battles
Each boss has multiple lives, which are represented by multiple health bars, and they will normally switch between Spell Cards and normal attacks once with each lifebar.
A boss' Spell Cards will often comprise of complicated patterns which will involve projectiles and magic made especially for each Spell Card. If the player manages to defeat an enemy Spell Card without getting harmed or using a bomb, a substantial score bonus is awarded.
Both a normal and Spell Card phase of a boss battle will be accompanied by a timer. When the timer runs out, the boss will switch their next attack pattern, even if theirhealth bar isn't empty, althoughdoing this without being hit or using a bomb will provide no score bonus.
Many spellcards require quick thinking and reactions to avoid them
When fighting a boss, a position marker shows up on the bottom margin of the screen, indicating where the boss is on the horizontal axis. Since the target can be completely obscured by bullets or darkness at times, this marker can be used to help the player aim their shots. The marker will dim when the boss is being hit, and will flash red when her health bar gets sufficiently depleted.
If the time orb requirement for the stage is met, and the player is not on Easy difficulty, the boss will finish off with at least one last spell. These spells are significantly harder than the main spell cards but are a way to earn bonus points. Bombs cannot be used during a boss' last spell, nor can any life be lost (it simply fails if the player is hit).
Characters
Imperishable Night features 4 teams, with 2 characters each, and later on, 8 individual characters. The player decides which team/character to play at the beginning of the game:
The Illusionary Border Team
A balanced team comprised of (human side) and (phantom side): Reimu Hakurei
Normal Speed: ★★★★
Focused Speed: ★
Special Skill: Doesn't get hurt when colliding with an enemy familiar.
Shot: Mind Amulet (spread homing, medium strength)
Spell Card: Scarlet Sign "Red the Nightless Castle"
Last Spell: Scarlet Magic "Scarlet Devil"
Team Characteristics:
Large hitbox for grazing.
A bomb item is released when hit, if the previous life had unused bombs.
The Netherworld Dwellers' Team
A team recommended for more experienced players due to the powerful yet hard to control familiars, comprised of (half-human side) and (phantom side):
Youmu Konpaku
Normal Speed: ★★★★★★
Focused Speed: ★
Special Skill: Youmu's ghost half fires in the opposite direction of the player's last button press (i.e. if the player moves left, it will fire to Youmu's right).
An extra bomb is rewarded for each completed stage (if the current number of bombs is less than 3).
Scoring
Scoring works similarly to many other Touhou games.
Enemies
Any damage dealt to an enemy, whether it be dealt by a shot or a bomb, will increase the player's score, Cherry, and Cherry slightly. Defeating enemies will award the player with a slightly more points, although these tend to range in the hundreds, per enemy.
Grazing
To graze a bullet, the player must come dangerously close to an enemy's bullet.. Depending on the phantom gauge, the points for grazing differ. Starting from the left, grazing while the meter is dark blue (-80% or -30%) each graze is worth 2000 points and adds three to the graze counter (for a total of 6000 points for each bullet grazed). Between this and -20%, each graze is worth a total of 4000 points and adds two to the graze counter. From here on out, grazes increase your graze counter by 1. From -20% to 20%, each graze is worth only 2000 points and adds one to the graze counter. From 20% to 80% (or 30%, for Youmu) grazes are worth 4000 points each. And when the gauge is above the last threshold, grazes are worth 6000 points each. The graze counter is used to calculate the Clear bonus and star item bonuses. It is possible to graze a bullet only once, meaning there will not be any additional points or grazes if a bullet is followed, although lasers can be continually grazed throughout their duration.
Point Items
Whenever an enemy is defeated, there is a chance that it will release a point item. Whenever a point item is collected for maximum value, the number will be shown in yellow.
Mini-point items (little blue circles) are worth about 1/10 of a regular point item. A regular point item is worth the amount listed under the phantom gauge. This amount goes up by 10 for every 2 time orbs that are collected.
Picking up point items while the gauge is above -80% (or -30%, with Youmu) will double the value of the point items.
Power Items
Whenever an enemy is defeated, there is a chance that it will release a power item. These increase the player's shot power, as well as give 10 points per item. When the player's shot is fully powered up, all onscreen power items become point items, and instead of power items being dropped, point items will drop instead.
Star Items
A star item will appear anytime an enemy bullet has been cancelled out, which can happen when the player defeats the Spell Card/attack pattern of a boss, reaches maximum power, defeats a certain type of enemy, or when a bomb erases the enemy bullet. The value of a star item is based on the number of grazes the player has, as shown in this formula:(graze/40)*10 300.
Time Orbs
Exclusive to Imperishable Night, time orbs are believed to slow the passing of the night, and are essential to scoring in the game. The value of a time orb depends on the number of total point items that the player has collected. They are worth [# of point items / 2] X 10, and the minimum value of a time orb is 100 points.
Time orbs appear in one of five ways:
Collecting a spell card bonus
Firing at enemies while in -80% human mode
Grazing during bosses while in 80% phantom mode
Causing enemy slaves to be detonated by destroying their master
Destroying enemies while in -80% human mode or 80% phantom mode
The effects of collecting them are:
If a certain number is collected in a stage, the game clock only advances 30 minutes, as opposed to an hour. The player will also have a chance to face the stage boss' last spell.
For every two orbs collected, the point counter increases by 10 points.
Each time orb that is collected in human mode bumps the phantom gauge toward the human side. The reverse happens when a time orb is collected in phantom mode.
Collecting a time orb during a spell card will increase the spell card bonus by 8000 points.
Enemy Bullet Bonus
Whenever a boss or mid-boss' health bar is reduced by one, or their Spell Card is defeated, all onscreen bullets are nullified, and they are tallied up to calculate the enemy bullet bonus. The more enemy bullets onscreen at the time, the higher this bonus becomes.
Spell Card Bonus
Whenever a boss or mid-boss' Spell Card is defeated within the allocated time limit, without being hit or using a bomb, the player will recieve a Spell Card bonus, which is added to the total score. The intial value of the Spell Card bonus will vary depending on which Spell Card is being used, however, as the timer decreases, so will the value of the bonus recieved as well, which is usually rounded to the nearest five-thousand, however, it will increase by (Cherry / 1,500) x 20 2,500 for every graze the player has.
Clear Bonus
At the end of each stage, you will be provided with bonus points based on how well you performed. The bonus is calculated like this:
Point x 50,000 (point items collected in the stage) Graze x 500 (graze count for that stage) Time Orbs x 1,000 (time orbs collected in the stage)
In addition, if the stage happened to be the last stage, the following is added:
- Player x 25,000,000 (lives in stock, not including the current one) - Bomb x 5,000,000 (bombs in stock) - Night Bonus x 20,000,000 (every 1/2 hour left before 5:00 am)
Finally, depending on the conditions played under, the result is multiplied by these modifiers, rounded down to the nearest 10:
- 4 Initial Lives: x 0.5 - 5 Initial Lives: x 0.2 - 6 Initial Lives: x 0.1 - 7 Initial Lives: x 0.05 - Easy Difficulty: x 0.5 - Normal Difficulty: x 1.0 - Hard Difficulty: x 1.2 - Lunatic Difficulty: x 1.5 - Extra Difficulty: x 2.0
The end result is then added on to your score.
Music
In Imperishable Night, every stage has different music, while every boss has their own theme. The translated name of each theme is provided below the original version:
- Title Screen Theme 永夜抄 ～ Eastern Night Imperishable Night ~ Eastern Night
ZUN note: This title song conjures up the same images as previous games. I feel it's more fantastical, but it's very Gensokyo. Does "fantastical" really convey "Gensokyo-like"? Well, as far as title themes go, this is one of my favorites.
ZUN note: In a way, I think it's a jazzy little number. But, while it's pretty upbeat, it is somewhat dark. But Imperishable Night is about night and youkai, so it's dark, too. This song is part of "Ghostly Field Club," so many of you might know it. The darkness in Stage 1 doesn't bode very well.
- Stage 1 Boss - Wriggle Nightbug's Theme 蠢々秋月 ～ Mooned Insect Stirring an Autumn Moon ~ Mooned Insect
ZUN note: It always feels so explosively Eastern. I created it with the innocence of an expressive child mixed with the images of night and insects. 40 small, wriggling insects. All the MIDI versions are extras, not just this song. Please listen to the WAV if possible. There's an element of fantasy that just isn't in the MIDI.
- Stage 2 Theme 夜雀の歌声 ～ Night Bird Song of the Night Sparrow ~ Night Bird
ZUN note: It peaks quickly, but the franticness leaves a lingering little something. That's how I wanted this song to feel. It was meant to be my ultimate blend of Japanese and Western styles. On an unrelated note, there's nothing wrong with the Gensokyo girls. They just enjoy living dangerously...
- Stage 2 Boss - Mystia Lorelei's Theme もう歌しか聞こえない Deaf to all but the Song
ZUN note: She's just the Stage 2 boss, but this song makes her sound badass. It's a departure from all the songs about mystery and birds and night and all that weird junk. This one just conveys cute and badass. It's sort of laid back and doesn't make her seem too evil.
- Stage 3 Theme 懐かしき東方の血 ～ Old World Nostalgic Blood of the East ~ Old World
ZUN note: This one is so nostalgic... I'm sure those who are familiar with Touhou will recognize it, but it sounds like a song I did a few years ago. I made it the same way, so it's very nostalgic, but what good is it if it's only nostalgic to me? (Haha) This theme is a bit out of place. It has some of my 80s flavor in it.
- Stage 3 Boss - Keine Kamishirasawa's Theme プレインエイジア Plain Asia
ZUN note: It's both serious and mysterious. I really like the striking melodious feeling conveyed by the piano in the intro. To me, Japanese culture is sort of a natural progression in East Asia. So Japanese-English music certainly shouldn't be reduced to fluff.
- Stage 4 Theme 永夜の報い ～ Imperishable Night Retribution for the Eternal Night ~ Imperishable Night
ZUN note: This song is an arrangement of the game's title screen theme. It has a nice short tempo. For the end, I put in a laughing sound, like that of a youkai. However, it's unnatural to hear it in such a mundane way. Altogether, the rhythm is odd. I feel there's a hint of madness in it.
ZUN note: If you're wondering why this theme is nostalgic, it's an arrangement of an older song. My 4th version was for the Stage 4 boss of Lotus Land Story (Reimu). The pattern in Stage 4 closely resembles that of Lotus Land Story, so I thought I'd do a similar song and give some people deja vu. The other theme for this game is "An Old Memory Called Genso".
ZUN note: At this point, this song isn't all nostalgic and stuff. Wonderland was my 2nd shot at arranging this particular tune. I was wondering if this theme still suited Marisa, and what shocked me is that it totally did. It's rare to see someone so unchanged. Marisa has 5 themes, but I think this one suits her best.
ZUN note: Asian, Western, old, new-- This song isn't one or the other. The boss seems that way, too, but the stage itself is based in Japanese horror. Each song has a theme, but the theme of this one is simply Kagome Kagome. This song was created with no particular arrangement of theme. I didn't want to get caged in on a theme for this one.
- Stage 5 Boss - Reisen Udongein Inaba's Theme 狂気の瞳 ～ Invisible Full Moon Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon
ZUN note: When you think of the final boss of Touhou, this is what comes to mind. Guess some things never change. (Haha) After the wild intro, there's a mournful melody in the middle that exudes delicate beauty. Everyone seems to like it.
- Final Stage Theme ヴォヤージュ1969 Voyage 1969
ZUN note: The 20th century voyager-- The Noah's Ark of the 20th century flew into space, carrying with it hopes and fears. And yet, were its hopes left behind on the moon? Here in the "future", in the 21st century, only fears and a handful of illusions seem to be all that were brought back.
- Final Boss A - Eirin Yagokoro's theme 千年幻想郷 ～ History of the Moon Gensokyo Millennium ~ History of the Moon
ZUN note: Impossible courage, ferocity, and vigor-- This theme combines all of those, making for a ridiculously upbeat song. All the upbeat goofiness culminates in the final boss, (Really?) so shooting to a song like this gets downright insane. I didn't want to get caged in on a theme for this one.
- Final Boss B - Kaguya Houraisan's theme 竹取飛翔 ～ Lunatic Princess Flight of the Bamboo Cutter ~ Lunatic Princess
ZUN note: Smooth, huh? (Haha) This song brings out a feeling of aloofness. I don't express emotions through songs, I make songs with emotions. And really, the game makes the songs. They're not very cool and modern, are they? (Haha) I'll admit I'm no pro.
- Eirin and Kaguya's Last Spell Theme ヴォヤージュ1970 Voyage 1970
ZUN note: All it inspires is a frantic feeling. It's seriously fast. It's the constant repetition of a short phrase that makes it so fast. Man, I'd hate to wake up that way. (Haha) Of course, it is fast, but it also has a mysterious kind of nostalgia.
ZUN note: Kinda laid back for an extra, huh? Sorta feels like a test of my courage not to scare anybody. (Not) I'm actually a little unsure about it, but I extended it. I took Extend and extended it.
- Extra Boss - Fujiwara no Mokou's Theme 月まで届け、不死の煙 Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
ZUN note: I tried to bring out a bit of creepiness, to present a restrained sense of power and overwhelming cool. And even if the song isn't a little dubious, the character certainly is. I always like kicking it old school for the Extra Boss song. This time around I'm really going to kick it old school.
- Ending Theme 月見草 Evening Primrose
ZUN note: It's still the same. All laid back. The ending song is never all that upbeat. And this one is no exception.
- Staff Roll Theme Eternal Dream ～ 幽玄の槭樹 Eternal Dream ~ Mystic Maple
ZUN note: I added a little nostalgia to this one. "Maple," such an old memory. This theme is loaded with old memories, and there's not enough staff.
- Last Word Theme 東方妖怪小町 Eastern Youkai Beauty
ZUN note: I wanted it to invoke feelings that deviate from the frame of the story. I'm not trying for coolness. I'm not trying for cuteness. I'm not even trying for creepiness. It may come across that way, but it's really not my intent.
Secrets, Unlockables and Bugs
Imperishable Night features a number of secrets and unlockables, ranging from unlocking extra lives to using individual characters instead of teams:
Solo Mode
After earning good endings for all four teams (on any difficulty), the player will gain the ability to use all eight characters individually. The only major difference is that the girls' shots stay the same whether they are in focused or unfocused mode, and some of the movement speeds (Remilia's, for example) are different than when they were on a team. Furthermore, Youmu gains the ability to keep her ghost half's direction of fire locked while holding the slow button, while Remilia gains the ability to keep her familiars in front of her while moving when not using the slow button. Other than that, any characteristics they had as part of a team (counter-bomb time, automatic item collection, automatic bomb replenishment) will be retained. To select an individual girl, keep scrolling past the teams at the character selection screen.
The Phantom Gauge will be reconfigured depending on which girl is selected, since it is impossible for a human to be fully phantom or a youkai to be fully human. Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya's Phantom Gauges have a range between -100% and 20%; Yukari, Alice, Remilia and Yuyuko's Phantom Gauges range from -20% to 100%. Youmu is a special case, due to her unique nature; her gauge has a range between -50% to 50%.
View More Than 15 Replays
The Malice Cannon in action
If replay files are renamed to "th8_ud*.rpy", where * is any string of characters, they will be accessible in the "Replay" menu, and they won't take up any of the 15 slots for saving replays. However, the first 4 characters of the * in "th8_ud*.rpy" must be unique from any other * in the replay folder, or else that replay won't be recognized by the game.
Malice Cannon Glitch
When using "The Aria of Forbidden Magic Team" (Marisa and Alice), pressing the shift button every half second keeps both Marisa's and Alice's shots onscreen at the same time, resulting in the "Malice Cannon", which inflicts the most amount of damage in the entire game.
Endings
Perfect Cherry Blossom has 9 different endings, each one being triggered through meeting a certain criteria.
Bad Endings
The bad endings are achieved when the player runs out lives during Final Boss B, Kaguya - Bad Ending 1 Use "The Illusionary Border Team", or either Reimu/Yukari.
- Bad Ending 2 Use "The Aria of Forbidden Magic Team", or either Marisa/Alice. - Bad Ending 3 Use "The Visionary Scarlet Devil Team", or either Sakuya/Remilia.
- Bad Ending 4 Use "The Netherworld Dwellers' Team", or either Youmu/Yuyuko.
Normal Endings
The good endings are achieved when the player beats the Final Boss A, Eirin (continues are allowed, as long as the timer doesn't reach 05:00am), and then losing against Final Boss B, Kaguya.
- Normal Ending 1 Use "The Illusionary Border Team", or either Reimu/Yukari.
- Normal Ending 2 Use "The Aria of Forbidden Magic Team", or either Marisa/Alice. - Normal Ending 3 Use "The Visionary Scarlet Devil Team", or either Sakuya/Remilia.
- Normal Ending 4 Use "The Netherworld Dwellers' Team", or either Youmu/Yuyuko.
Good Endings
The good endings are achieved when the player beats the game without using any continues:
- Good Ending 1 Use "The Illusionary Border Team", or either Reimu/Yukari.
- Good Ending 2 Use "The Aria of Forbidden Magic Team", or either Marisa/Alice. - Good Ending 3 Use "The Visionary Scarlet Devil Team", or either Sakuya/Remilia.
- Good Ending 4 Use "The Netherworld Dwellers' Team", or either Youmu/Yuyuko.
