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Hello, this is fsvgm777, and this is my first 1cc of PCB Normal.
As you can see, I used ReimuB.
And without further ado, let's start the replay!
This game features a mechanic called the Cherry system.
Every 50000 Cherry+ (gained through shooting at enemies or collecting Cherry items) will activate a Supernatural Border.
The border makes you "invincible" for about 9 seconds, unless you get hit or press the X key (or the bomb button on your gamepad).
While the border is active, you automatically collect every single item (Point, Power and Cherry).
It is also the core of the scoring system, and every point item you collect above the POC gives you the current Cherry value.
This makes for an interesting scoring system, to say the least.
For the rest... PCB's a fairly standard danmaku shoot-em-up.
It has some really good music, in my opinion.
It also features my 2 favourite characters in the series.
Why hello there, Cirno! Way to interrupt my rambling!
You're no match against me!
Anyway, Cirno's an ice fairy.
She returns from EoSD as the stage 1 mid-boss.
She can manipulate cold.
And she's defeated! What an easy mid-boss on Normal.
The rest of the stage is pretty straightforward once you know how to handle it.
Try to reach full or at least 96 power before reaching the first boss.
Just a recommendation I make.
And we've reached the first boss: Letty Whiterock.
She's a Yuki-onna, and she can manipulate chilliness.
She only appears during winter, because she's a seasonal youkai.
And we get a Supernatural Border for her first spellcard, which is straightforward.
What I forgot to say is that you get a Border Bonus when you don't break a Supernatural Border.
Told you it was straightforward.
This spellcard is straightforward as well.
And she's defeated! Onto Stage 2 now.
Stage 2 has some really nice music, in my opinion.
When you're at full power, you can go above the POC to automatically collect every point and cherry item.
Be careful to not ram an enemy or a bullet when you try to go above the POC, though.
And here's the Stage 2 (mid-)boss: Chen.
She is Ran's shikigami and a bakeneko.
As a bakeneko, she can surprise people, while possessed as a shikigami, she can handle black magic.
This spellcard is pretty staightforward.
Be careful, though.
And that's it for her mid-boss phase.
The rest of the stage isn't too difficult.
Time to fight Chen again.
This spellcard is relatively easy.
Don't get intimidated by the direction change of the arrowheads.
The real danger in this spellcard are the small white bullets which come from exploding the larger ones into these.
Other than that, not too difficult.
This spellcard isn't too difficult either.
And she's defeated! Time for Stage 3 now.
I don't know for you, but the stage's BGM, especially the beginning part, gives me some chills.
Whoa, isn't it a bit early for a mid-boss to appear?
Anyway, this is Alice Margatroid, a returning character from the PC-98 games.
She's a magician and can use magic and handle dolls.
She's the stage 3 (mid-)boss.
See you, Alice!
The stage isn't too difficult. Just don't do any really risky stuff.
Hello again, Alice.
Just a small fact: This is one of the only stages in the entire series to have 2 mid-bosses.
And that was her second mid-boss phase.
Reimu has such a short term memory...
Anyway, we start the boss fight with a Supernatural Border.
Her first non-spell can potentially kill you if you're not careful.
For her first spellcard... Just stay in the middle.
Trust me, it will make your life easier than just following Alice's movements.
I know it did for me.
Now, it's time for the best non-spell in the world!
Yes, the non-spell really lasted this long.
Anyway, this spellcard is really, really easy.
Like, if you do what I'm doing, it can't kill you.
Well... told you it was easy.
This spellcard... I recommend bombing it.
It has the potential to clip you.
If you want to try to capture it, stay in the middle.
Well... had no other choice there.
This spellcard is easier.
Be careful, though.
And that's it for Stage 3.
Onto Stage 4 now.
Stage 4 is where the game naturally becomes harder, so you may expect me to die a few times.
Like right there.
Oh well, doesn't matter too much... except that I lost 2 bombs.
Dying with bombs in stock is never good.
That was a bad border placement, in my opinion.
What you want to do here is to try to kill as many fairies as possible, because they drop a lot of point items.
The section that's coming up now is pretty much streaming.
And naturally, I had to mess up. Oh well.
This is actually a decent border placement.
I knew I was going to die here.
Just before Lily White, a fairy who can sense the arrival of spring.
I got a little bit surprised there, so I bombed, because the red arrowheads are aimed towards your position, I believe.
Well, that was a rather shoddy performance against Lily White.
This is a rather decent border placement right there.
This section is rather easy once you know how to do it.
Feel free to bomb it, though.
It's time for the death fairy!
It's a completely static pattern, but it's not too difficult to learn.
This is a horrible border placement right there, in my opinion.
Now, it's time to fight the Prismriver Sisters.
They're poltergeists and can perform on musical instruments without hands or feet.
Each character gets to fight a different sister at the beginning.
That was a rather stupid death right there.
Anyway, Reimu gets to fight Lunasa, the eldest sister, who can perform melancholic notes.
She's a poltergeist violonist.
Marisa gets to fight Lyrica, the youngest sister, who can perform illusionary notes.
She's a poltergeist keyboardist.
Sakuya gets to fight Merlin, the middle sister, infamous for having a difficult opener, who can perform maniac notes.
She's a poltergeist trumpeter.
This spellcard isn't too difficult, but... be careful.
Merlin is at the left, Lunasa is in the middle and Lyrica is at the right when you play as Reimu.
The red arrowheads are always aimed at your position.
Whoa, that was lucky right there.
By the way, I'm making a video series called "Touhou - Dodging like a boss", which is a compilation of lucky/insane dodges made by various Touhou players, myself included.
Go check it out, if you haven't yet.
Anyway, enough shameless self plugging, time to focus on the game!
This non-spellcard can potentially wall you if you're not careful enough.
This spellcard requires a bit of practice.
Some red arrowheads are aimed at your position.
Try to do what I'm doing right now.
By the way, the Prismriver sister you fight for the second non-spellcard and spellcard is the one you dealt the most damage to during the first spellcard.
If you dealt the most damage to Lunasa, you'll fight her, and so on.
For this spellcard... I recommend bombing it, because it can be very clippy.
Oh hey, bor--
..der.
Wow, I broke it as soon as it came up.
Isn't this wonderful?
Anyway, for this spellcard, I recommend bombing it as well, because it can be really clippy sometimes.
Well, that's it for Stage 4. Moving on to Stage 5.
This stage's BGM is one of my favourite songs from this game.
It's really atmospheric and fits the stage really well, in my opinion.
The stage, however, is difficult, which is to be expected.
I, for one, really love the transition from darkness to light, which is right on cue with the BGM.
Adds a bit of magic to the stage, in my opinion.
As I said, though, the stage isn't a cakewalk at all.
For this part of the stage, I suggest sticking to one side and make short movements to dodge the bullets.
Oh cool, this is actually a good placement of the supernatural border.
Bah, I wanted to kill the fairy before it could shoot the danmaku.
Which then leads to me dying. That seriously is an avoidable death.
Anyway, this is our first encounter with Youmu Konpaku, a half human and a half phantom.
She can handle sword techniques and can wield two swords: The Hakurouken and the Roukanken.
She's the first of my two favourite characters as well, but that's subjective.
Well, I don't think I had any other choice but to bomb here.
This spellcard can potentially clip you, so feel free to bomb it.
Youmu has a special gimmick spread across almost all of her spellcards: She "slows down" time before performing her action.
Well, saved by the deathbomb... but a general advice: Don't rely on them too much.
I forgot to mention that Youmu's the Stage 5 (mid-)boss.
Well, that's it for her mid-boss phase in this stage.
What a convenient border I have right there.
Had no other choice but to break it, to be honest.
Sort of panicked there.
Anyway, it's time to fight Youmu again.
Youmu is a quite challenging Stage 5 boss.
As I said before, she can wield the Roukanken, a sword claimed to have been forged by youkai.
..and I had to die. Oh well, doesn't matter much.
Anyway, it has been claimed that the Roukanken can cut 10 phantoms in one slice.
How is that possible? No one knows.
The Hakurouken is seemingly the heirloom of the Konpaku family, and can slice through people's confusion.
For this spellcard... Feel free to bomb it if you're getting walled.
No other choice but to bomb here.
That's what I get for trying risky stuff.
For this spellcard... Try to do what I'm going to do.
...and try not to mess up, like I did.
This spellcard is pretty much streaming. Watch out for the bullets coming from below, though.
This spellcard... try to follow Youmu's movements. Feel free to bomb it, though.
And that's it for Stage 5! It's time for the final stage.
This section is pretty much just dodging.
Horrible border placement right there.
Anyway, we have to fight Youmu again.
Don't worry, though, this non-spellcard has become easier.
For this spellcard... Stay below Youmu, dodge the arrowheads.
Surprisingly not too difficult for a spell this late in the game.
OK, I have 5 lives and 1 bomb remaining. This looks pretty good.
Now, it's time to fight the final boss, who, incidentally, is the second of my favourite characters of the series.
Her name is Yuyuko Saigyouji, and she's a ghost (of the bourei kind).
She can manipulate death and departed souls.
She was driven to suicide after she found out she could control death, and her body was used to seal the Saigyou Ayakashi, a youkai cherry blossom tree believed to drain the lives of humans.
Sad backstory, eh?
Anyway, or all of her attacks except her final non-spellcard: Feel free to bomb them, and I wouldn't blame you if you did.
Her theme, though, is one of the best final boss themes of the entire series, in my opinion.
Oh hey, convenient border.
For this spell, try to dodge the arrowheads and the big laser.
And try not to mess up, like I just did.
What a horrible death.
Don't think I had any other choice but to bomb there.
For this non-spellcard, try to stream the bubble bullets.
I wanted to break the border by hitting one of the smaller bullets, but I somehow didn't.
I forgot to say that much earlier on: Breaking a border clears all the bullets on the screen.
For this spell... don't try what I'm about to do. It will very likely lead in failure.
I'm very sure I'm doing this completely wrong.
By the way, what I forgot to mention is that in this game, Yuyuko tries to get the Saigyou Ayakashi into full bloom in order to resurrect the soul that is sealed within the tree and to see its legendary blossoms by stealing Gensokyo's spring.
However, she's unaware that the sealed soul is, in fact, her own.
This non-spellcard is quite tricky.
For this spellcard... try to do what I'm doing and don't mess up.
Like this, for instance.
Oh dear, 2 deaths to this spellcard. This isn't looking too great for the rest.
In this non-spell, you must dodge the dark blue arrowheads and green butterflies.
You can ignore the light-ish blue arrowheads 99.9 percent of the time.
For this spellcard... Try to remember the static pattern and stream the 4 streams of butterflies Yuyuko shoots after shooting the static pattern.
And don't mess up, of course.
Hooray for deathbombs!
For this spellcard: First, dodge the wave of bubble bullets that's coming at you.
Then, try to dodge the butterflies and the bullets as good as you can.
Welp, deathbomb.
Oh dear, now I'm on my last life.
Alright, the game is now cleared.
Right?
WRONG.
If you have at least one life remaining, go ahead and try to capture it (as in, don't die, don't bomb and don't break any border).
Try to do what I'm doing right now... but be careful.
If you have no lives remaining and have at least one bomb remaining, use the bombs for safety measures.
If you have no lives and no bombs remaining... do your best and don't die.
Well, there goes one bomb.
Better bomb here to assure the win.
This is entirely a safety measure, because I didn't want to take the risk of dying this far in.
Anyway, the game is now finally cleared for good!
I think I made the fight against Yuyuko anti-climatic, though, especially near the end.
I know the score isn't great, but hey, a clear is still a clear, and that's all what matters to me.
I know, crappily "written" "YES", haha.
This has been fsvgm777. See you later!