For the next few weeks, I’ll be covering a selected number of my personal favorite doujin games, starting with Team Shanghai Alice’s 9.5th Touhou game, “Shoot the Bullet.”

Originally released at Comiket 69 -Winter- , Shoot the Bullet continues the tradition of unique 2D scrolling shooting gameplay mixed in with creator ZUN’s dynamic synthesized soundtrack that has made Team Shanghai Alice what they are today, successful Japanese doujin game developers, (or should I say developer since most believe it’s a one-man team.)

In ZUN’s latest installment, we have Aya Shameimaru as the lead role. She’s on a mission to take pictures of these stage bosses for her newspaper. However, doing so possesses a great challenge as she’s confronted by a overwhelming number of bullets, dolls, and pellets, all clouded around mist, smoke, and extravagant patterns of blinding light.

The gameplay has you using a camera as your main method of defense and offense. First off, you’ll need to charge your camera to 100% before taking action. From there, you’ll be able to either clear bullets from the screen or focus a good shot of the boss sprite. Aya is also capable of moving at three different speeds, (normal, focus, and charge), a first for Touhou games. Scoring is based on the contents of each photo, boss location, number of bullets, and your position. There are a total of 10 stages in the game, though a varied number of scenery levels are applied to each. EX or ‘extra’ stages are also there in case you finish the game.

Extremely difficult yes, but surprisingly fun and addicting.

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Here are a few demo clips to see just how awesome this game really is: