I fear and covet no videogame genre on this Earth like the bullet hell shoot ’em up. I find these scions of the arcades irresistibly beautiful. They look like how I imagine human nervous systems appear to thunder spirits. By the same token, I’m not sure they’re actually designed to be processed by the human nervous system. They’re the sort of game the androids will play, once they’ve hunted down and incinerated the last of our kind.
Within the shmup genre, the Touhou Project series stands as a diamond-hard constellation of electrochemical pizazz. Dating back to 1997, it spans 20 mainline games and 13 spin-offs, all created by Team Shanghai Alice, a studio that apparently consists of a single guy, Nagano, Japan-based Jun’ya Ōta. The series has spawned a vast cosmos of fanworks. Today sees the release of another fan game, Touhou Kouzougi ～ Flickerframe Shutter Festival from Brazilian game developer Ryann Thierry. ‘Tengu paparazzo’, you say? Seems worth a quick post. Here’s a trailer.
Watch on YouTube
I’m writing about Flickerframe Shutter Festival partly because I really like that trailer soundtrack – the game’s score is the work of Benji Tunez, and is apparently full of references to other Touhou productions – and partly, because this is my first exposure to the concept of a “photography bullet hell”. As in other shmups, the basic idea here is to survive on a screen that looks like a tornado full of stinging jellyfish. The twist is that rather than just shooting bullets back at the source of those projectiles, you’re trying for a Kodak moment.
“Use your camera to take shots of the bosses, while also clearing the projectiles shot by them!” explains the blurb. “Acquire new skills given to you by your clients to aid you in your sessions! Try getting the craziest shots to overcome your highest scores!”
Photographing bosses to death – what a concept! I actually think I might be able to master this one, inasmuch as a lesser-known vidyagame gurnalist skill is taking screenshots during fights. For the professional hack, there is no shame greater than having to illustrate a breathless description of a nuclear haymaker with a picture of the protagonist looking at a table, or something.
True, you can automate the taking of screengrabs nowadays, but I’ve always preferred the personal touch – and I’m sure that old school obstinacy will stand me in good stead as I try to beat Flickerframe Shutter Festival. Which you can find on Steam.