Touhou 16 「東方天空璋(とうほうてんくうしょう) ～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons」 announced

[Suwako Moriya]

ZUN updated his blog today with some exciting news!

[moriya]This post has been edited with Drake's translation.[/moriya]
EDITED by cuc:
The main title can be translated as "Eastern Jade Scepter of the Skies" or "Eastern Jade Ladle of the Skies".
Background info here.
New character on the demo CD.


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It's been a while. The weather over here has suddenly gotten hotter.
On the last day of Golden Week (May 7), I will also be participating in Reitaisai.

The work I'll be presenting this time is below.



Touhou Project 16th
　「東方天空璋 (Touhou Tenkuushou) ～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons.」

I'll be selling the trial version at Reitaisai (if I make it in time). The full version is planned for Summer Comiket.
Please speculate about the story from the screenshots. Doing a 180 from the last work, I'm going for a really light and refreshing feeling, I guess?

The protagonists this time are; Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Tanned Cirno, and Aya Shameimaru.
What kind of adventure is this even supposed to turn into, I wonder.









Something like this.
Right now I'm in crunch time, so the screenshots are highly likely to change, but it'll probably stay an STG.
I'd sure like to release the demo for Reitaisai.

This time I'd like to return to my roots with something that simply aims to make you feel good to play. No twists; the somewhat fabled "ordinary STG" might be the thing we need right now!

And with that, IT'S TENKUUSHOU-TIME!

[Plubio]

Screenshots (and blog text) also show playable Aya.
According to ZUN, he thinks the story this time has a more light, refreshing feeling (unlike previous works).

[Romantique Tp]

Cirno had too much sun!

[HTFCirno2000]

Ya know, i'm extremely hyped for playable Cirno!

Also, seems like she finally grew back her bottom 2 wings, they were missing in DDC and ISC.

[Helepolis]

Is this really Touhou 16? Or is it like a dot version which we had for Fairy Wars and such.

Never mind, I am mega dumb for not reading ZUN's message.

> Playable character:  Hakurei Reimu, Kirisame Marisa, Tanned Cirno, Shameimaru Aya.

I am now extremely curious for all that artwork.

[Suwako Moriya]

ZUN refers to it using "16" in the blog post.

[Drake]

Good thing I checked twitter before going to bed!

[Arcorann]

Key points from the post:

* Yes, it is Touhou 16. The trial will be released at Reitaisai (assuming it's ready by then) and the final will be at Summer Comiket. 天空 (tenkuu) translates to "sky", but I haven't been able to track down a meaning for 璋 (shou).
* Four playable characters: Reimu, Marisa, Tanned Cirno (yes, the post actually says that) and Aya.
* The game is described as a "return to the beginning" with a "simple feeling" according to Google Translate (an actual translation would be appreciated). The only indication of what the system might involve is the meter on the lower left of the screen.

[Zigzagwolf]

This game looks interesting, can't wait to play it.

Also, tanned Cirno? I'm honestly giggling a bit here, this game looks really awesome and I'm already hyped up for it

[ZoomyTsugumi]

The title screen screams a gore game to me oh my. This aesthetic is very pleasant but feels very unfamiliar to the series. Interested in where this goes.

[~Shin Kuroi~]

do you think each character has a season associated with them? Marisa is dressed in winter gear, but Cirno is tanned and has "SUMMER" in the background in one of the pictures... maybe Aya is autumn and Reimu is spring? i wonder what it means, assuming i'm correct... hmm...

[jhun]

Brace yourselves on another round of "Mima is Back" lmao

[Shadowlupus]

Wow! I was not expecting such a quick tease of the game. I'm excited how this game gonna turn out!

The title screen is way too flashy imo, so it kinda looks like MS paint.

Is there gonna be a plot involved why Cirno is tanned? Was she cursed by Lily White? I can't wait to find out!

And don't forget the obligatory Mima is the hidden star.

[TresserT]

Now that I look, it seems that all four have a different symbol in the corner. Reimu has something pink (presumably cherry blossoms), Aya has a flower, Marisa has something blue (presumably a snowflake). I wonder if that'll have some gameplay aspect or if it's just aesthetic.

[ToyoRai]

Cirno being summer might be weird, but remember, the title is " Hidden Star in Four Seasons".

How more hidden can you be than an ice spirit during summer? :V

[Tengukami]

* The game is described as a "return to the beginning" with a "simple feeling" according to Google Translate (an actual translation would be appreciated). The only indication of what the system might involve is the meter on the lower left of the screen.

* Four playable characters: Reimu, Marisa, Tanned Cirno (yes, the post actually says that) and Aya.

I had just started playing LoLK again, too, and was speculating to myself yesterday that the next game will likely be some "back to basics" angle. But I was really not expecting an announcement this soon. Holy moly!

And yes, given the "SUMMER" in the background of Cirno, I'm guessing each character has its own season. Aya will likely be autumn.

[TresserT]

WAIT I just realized I was right...

TD: PCB, DDC: EoSD, LoLK: IN, HSiFS: PoFV

Which means...

Spoiler:

No Mima this game, but TH17 will be a return to MS!!!

[binbinbake]

Maybe ZUN wants to go back to the usual Shmup-system he used, so there might not be a Pointdevice Mode in this one...?

[Suwako Moriya]

Sir Amat, do you happen to have the Smug Aya Face handy? I need it for reasons.

[Drake]

It's been a while. The weather over here has suddenly gotten hotter.
On the last day of Golden Week (May 7), I will also be participating in Reitaisai.

The work I'll be presenting this time is below.
[]

Touhou Project 16th
　「東方天空璋 (Touhou Tenkuushou) ～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons.」

I'll be selling the trial version at Reitaisai (if I make it in time). The full version is planned for Summer Comiket.
Please speculate about the story from the screenshots. Doing a 180 from the last work, I'm going for a really light and refreshing feeling, I guess?

The protagonists this time are; Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Tanned Cirno, and Aya Shameimaru.
What kind of adventure is this even supposed to turn into, I wonder.

[]
[]
[]
[]

Something like this.
Right now I'm in crunch time, so the screenshots are highly likely to change, but it'll probably stay an STG.
I'd sure like to release the demo for Reitaisai.

This time I'd like to return to my roots with something that simply aims to make you feel good to play. No twists; the somewhat fabled "ordinary STG" might be the thing we need right now!

And with that, IT'S TENKUUSHOU-TIME!

[Drake]

how am i supposed to go to bed now argh

Maybe ZUN wants to go back to the usual Shmup-system he used, so there might not be a Pointdevice Mode in this one...?

Pointdevice was explicitly a one-off for kicks. It probably won't happen again (at least in a main title).

[Marron]

I think that all characters represent a season, or at least it seems so if we look at the screenshots. From Reimu's shoot, I'll say that she represent spring, while Cirno seems like to be associated with summer.(sunflower) Marisa wearing a pear of gloves and a scarf obviously represents winter while I think Aya will be the autumn one.(Because the other three already show a season + Aya usually carries an autumn leaf)

[binbinbake]

Something about Cirno bugs me and it's not the tan...  xD

If she really represents summer, then why would she wear a vine with flowers and a sunflower on her red ribbon?

[Tengukami]

Sir Amat, do you happen to have the Smug Aya Face handy? I need it for reasons.

I do, of course.

[~Shin Kuroi~]

hey, hey~

i was thinking about it, and it makes sense, so i guess i'll share it if thats alright !!

do you think this will be, story-wise, a "disconnect" like it used tew be back in the days of EoSD, PCB, etc, where the stories only happened consecutively but were not exactly directly correlated or caused by each other like with 10-15.5? after all, ZUN said hes gonna "return to basics" and that it is a 'fresh start'...!

plus, going from what we know of 15.5, i can't think of anything correlating for "perfect possession" with the four seasons... especially anything directly involving aya or tan-no (tanned cirno)... but then again, we don't know much of the story, but that's the conclusion i can draw from all of this so far!

[Suwako Moriya]

I do, of course.

Much appreciated!

[Marron]

Isn't sunflower supposed to represent summer though ? While I agree that the vine with flowers bugs me too. It would have been fun if Marisa would carry that vine, it would be like a pc 98 reference, since Marisa used to "transform" her broom into a vine when she fought during SoEW and LLS.

Damn, it's beginning to look like a "Mima's back" thing but with Yuuka now, I mean, a fighting game about flowers, a shooter about the four seasons while Yuuka is known as the "flower master of four seasons"...what the hell ?

[Zelinko]

Please speculate about the story from the screenshots. Doing a 180 from the last work, I'm going for a really light and refreshing feeling, I guess?

Why do I feel that this is completely not true and we're getting more of the same depressingly overly dragged out Sumireko/Lunarian plot?

But with 'going back to basics' didn't he say that before DDC?  And that was the complete lie.

[N-Forza]

Marisa's complaining about how hot it is and either blaming someone for it or just venting.

It's extremely hard to read the text in the character select screenshot, but Cirno's title is probably "The Unmelting Ice Fairy of the Blazing Sky" but also phrased to imply that she is (naturally) the strongest.

[Iced Fairy]

At last.  With tanned Cirno I can play as a character who's danmaku skills match my own in a main storyline game.

Liking the idea of a return to an old style shmup as well, though it's been a while since I've had to collect lives or points the old fashioned way.  Gotta bust out PCB and get some practice in or something.