Game:

Highly Responsive to Prayers (1996)

Duration: 17:12

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4

You know, other than the music, this is not a well-designed game at all. I think almost no one would be playing it if it weren't part of a notable series like Touhou, or at least if it didn't have its unusual gameplay system.

Anyway, in Touhou 1, there's almost no difference between Normal and Hard except stage 15 and 20 (and minor differences on stage 10). (I think the turrets in stage 6+ may also shoot bullets faster and/or more often, but that may just be rank.)

Anyway, since you gain an extra life every 400000 points, without there being a limited number of extends like in other games, scoring high is extremely helpful for completing this game.

Some random notes (more like a lot of random notes):
- Those teleporters on stage 1 really liked to shoot the orb quickly on this attempt...
- Stage 2 has no teleporters or turrets, so it can be entirely memorized.
- Planned bomb on stage 4. The Bomb Extend was just a coincidence. Also I have no idea how I managed to keep the chain going after the bomb.
- If you cross a multiple of 400000 after defeating a boss, you will not receive an extra life. Missing the 800000 extend after Shingyoku has happened to me a lot.
- For the Makai route, stages 6, 7, and 18 are especially good for scoring, but you can also get some decent chains on many of the other stages. It's generally not a good idea to die to keep a chain going, though. Unless you'll gain more than 400000 extra points by not dying (not sure if that's even possible), or you think your lives will reach 6+ before the next boss.
- 3:23 was luck. Specifically, that I managed to both dodge the bullet, and shoot the orb in a way I could "catch" it afterward and continue the chain.
- Planned bomb on stage 8, but it wasted the 2400000 extend (normally I don't do as well on stage 6 and 7 as I did here). I should have died for another bomb first. I realized that before the 2800000 extend on stage 9 though.
- YuugenMagan's missile-or-whatever-it-is attack (the one that comes from the lower two eyes) is annoying and can easily trap you. Starting directly below one of those eyes seems to give you a slightly better chance of dodging, though. Slightly.
- Also, YuugenMagan's phases seem to be based on health remaining, except for the final one. This means getting two hits on an eye at the start of a phase is sometimes enough to force YuugenMagan into the next phase before it becomes much of a threat.
- I try (and fail) to do the scoring trick on stage 11. I succeed with it on stage 13 and 14 though, bringing me back up to 6 lives. I guess all those bombs I got from the deaths on the first half of the YuugenMagan battle were actually helpful here.
- Those stage 15 and 20 bosses are probably some of the most unfair of any Touhou game...
- I bomb on stage 16, not because it has much scoring potential, but because I'd had several other attempts fail on that stage (it caused the most failed attempts of any stage, though most were indirectly due to Elis).
- In contrast, stage 18 probably has the most scoring potential, if you can get the orb to stay in that pattern I had it in. You don't even need a bomb.
- Stage 19 had an interesting ending...
- My Sariel strategy: Make sure you have full lives, and make use of them. Oh, and the first, third, and fourth lasers in the phase at 13:08 are aimed.

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