~Hakurei Shrine~ > Help Me, Eirin!
Daily/Weekly Touhou Best revival
ZM:
UFO?s easily. Amazing music, great stage design for the UFOs, and a wonderful build-up. Only stupid section is the very end of the stage, but with good timing one should be okay.
CyberAngel:
What is your favorite stage 6?
Well, there's usually not much of a stage to speak of, so this is probably more about final bosses.
Anyway, I'll go with PCB. Patterns, background, music - everything still feels like the most epic fight in the series. Though I do have a soft spot for IN FinalA as well.
ZoomyTsugumi:
MoF probably, Kanako is quite possibly my favourite final boss fight, and the stage isn't a huge slouch either, being very packed w/ action and still requiring some decent skill to execute. VoWG is a perfect spell to cap off the fight, and that combined with Suwa Foughten Field sets the tone of the game in the single most epic way ever seen in the series.
UFO has one of the better stage portions for a stage 6, IN too has a short, simple and sweet stage portion on either route. Eirin is also a really nice boss fight, along with Byakuren having a really awesome atmosphere (but gosh if it isn't super difficult).
Mikuru:
Stage 2: This is tricky as they rarely stand out, and it's also the least-played stage in any game, since it's too early to need much practice but it's past the restart-fest of Stage 1. I'm going to go with EoSD as it's nice and relaxing, and Cirno's theme is the first really great theme in the series. (Not the best Stage 2 theme, though -- that goes to Parsee.)
Stage 3: MoF for this one. It's tricky to navigate the bullets and get a lot of items at max value, but it's a stage where you can feel the difference as your skill improves, and it's really satisfying to pull off. The Gensokyo the Gods Loved is outstanding. Nitori is a pretty decent boss, with only her midboss card and final being annoying.
Stage 4: This tends to be the most painful stage in any game. I'll go with PCB because it looks very intimidating, but a lot of it is just aimed stuff that's simple to dodge when you know what you're doing. Great themes for both the stage and boss, and some nice variety with the sisters' unique attacks.
Stage 5: Easily MoF, also my favourite stage overall. It's really fun to route this one and get a lot of items at max value, and Sanae has the best theme in the series. Her boss fight isn't the most fun, though, with most attacks either being too hard or too easy. At least her opening nonspell is extremely fun to dodge.
Stage 6: Also MoF. Another fun stage portion, most of Kanako is tricky but nothing over-the-top, and of course, the stage climaxes with Virtue of Wind God.
Karisa:
I thought I'd have answers for my favorite stages, but when I actually thought about it, I realized it'd been so long since I'd played them, it took a while to recall.
Anyway, going by the stage portions alone, I'd say SA for stage 4. There's something I like about the laser spreads and splitting amulets, and how due to the graze mechanic, the stage didn't need to leave room to PoC and just constantly continues the barrage of patterns. Also it's one of my favorite stage themes
UFO for stage 5. I'm having difficulty describing what I enjoy about it, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the music, and how the stage is synced to it, is a large part of it, actually.
As for stage 6... well most of the stage portions seem designed around giving the player large numbers of point items, so there's not much to the patterns... I tend enjoy almost every stage 6 theme (even in fan games), so I can't go by that either... Perhaps TD for its trancing back and forth, trying to kill the following spirits before the main fairies? IN has something similar, targeting the main fairies without hitting the familiars. Also notable mention to LoLK for including something different with a survival portion of the stage; it also has among my favorite stage atmosphere (though UFO is also up there as stage 6 atmosphere goes).