In the lore, danmaku battles in the Touhou prioritize beauty above all else. This is the first game in the series that really feels like that's the case.

The game opens up on this beautiful, welcoming tune as you fly through a blizzard, seeing an old face in Cirno and a new one in Letty. This start is really imprinted on me, I don't know why. But anyway, as you'd expect, this follows the standard Touhou formula - 6 stages, 4 difficulties, and you have to get a 1 credit clear to get the good ending and bonus stuff. In that sense, this isn't breaking new ground, but I think for what it is, this game is special.

The back half of the game is what really sells me. Stage 4 is this really well made section with a fantastic music loop ending once you break through to see the clouds and are given a moment of calm before being tossed into an awesome boss fight with the Prismrivers. Stage 5 is short but damn is it majestic with the stairs in the background and the temple music. I just really dig this game, can you tell?

The big big big big one though, the big thing that makes me love this game, is the last stage. The cherry blossom trees in the background and Yuyuko's beautiful spell cards are so memorable, and once you beat her, I won't say what happens, but it is honest to god one of the most hype things I've ever experienced in any game.

I really struggle to find things to say about this game other than "it's beautiful." Go play it!

Game Review - by Kitsune Sniper (aka Foxhack)

The game seems to be a vertical shooter, similar to the latest Cave offerings. The screenshots at the site show 80-90% of the playable area covered in bullets, so this is one of those insane games that only hardcore shooter players will touch. Seems fun, but as it is not a free game, I cannot test it.

The game’s homepage is located at http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/th07.html.

(editor's note: hard to remember back to a time where people didn't know what Touhou was, this was written back when the game came out)

Enjoyed it but way too difficult for me even with practice. One of those games I like but feel like because the difficulty I'm locked out of and that always just frustrates me more than anything the difficulty actually throws at me.

I'm aware this is the easy one or whatever but that stage 4 boss would just not budge even after getting there with only one life lost in the prior stages. No way to practice without playing the entire thing again and I know there'd just be some huge difficulty spike in stage 5 that I'd have the same problem with anyways so I'm pretty done.

One of the best Touhou games yet. It has everything Touhou has to offer and then some. Plus, it has a ton of good improvements since the last game in my opinion.
The music is much, MUCH, better than the last game for one. It actually reminds me of the PC-98 games which had leagues better soundtracks than Touhou 6. The gameplay is also better with multiple characters and play styles to offer that are all very enjoyable and fun. Though the game is definitely on the easier side. The characters and the storyline are as silly as always. And that's one of the things I just love about this series.

So, yeah, play this game no matter what!

My eyes are way too weary and my consciousness has drifted far too apart for me to care about my brain repressing the oh-so-famous embarrassing memories of my life.
As the images get exponentially faster, there's one that pops up every 6 months or so to crush any bit of effort I put into sleeping : my thirteen-year-old ass watching Touhou videos for hours because "it's pretty".

This is a checkmate to my younger self, and more importantly, an apology to all Touhou players for putting this away for so long.

I want to lose myself in waves upon waves of colors, let my mind bend at blossoms of bullets and stare for hours at the thousands of lights dancing toward me.
This is not just "pretty" and hypnotic, this is beyond beautiful.

Both a really good entry point for beginner fans, and one of the best games in the franchise overall.

Resources are plentiful, and the cherry point system is quite nice. The ost is incredible, and the bosses are quite fun. The spell cards can be challenging though. This game has one of the harder easier modes [but this also means that normal mode is easier once you've cleared it]

This game has not one, but two "extra" style stages, the second unlocked by capturing a large section of spell cards. So there's a good bit of replayability to this game in particular!

Overall, very much recommend it.