Honestly, when I made this in 2007, I was good at Touhou and I could consistently play these cards without getting frustrated at all. Now, in 2009, not so much. You need to
want to do this, and not just end up doing it because you want to achieve a high level of play. Practice really does make you better, but if you quit or take a break (weeks or more), you're going to notice it and you aren't going to progress. It's more or less a running obligation to continue playing if you wish to accomplish everything Lunatic has to offer, and while my suggestions aren't necessarily the best ones, they're still up for people to use to their own advantage.
My suggestions would be to use a keyboard or Saturn pad. Touhou was made with keyboards in mind, even though all these replays are done with a Saturn controller. Another suggestion is to play the games on a CRT monitor, as stretched 640x on LCDs is blurry as hell and it's not going to enhance your play at all, only worsen it.
It's also very strange that I just happened to have a backup of this on an external HDD, since my HDD crashed recently and all replays were thought to be lost. Since I now have my own host, I can keep these replays up for much longer. Might as well use them for the new forums.
Stage 1 ~
Card: Firefly Sign "Comet on Earth"
Number: 003
REPLAY Comments: Focus on staying on the enemy marker here, and pay attention to where the bullets are being placed and disappearing at. The large bullets aren't as threatening as they seem, much like the majority of large bullets in touhou games. The trick here is to concentrate on staying in between the walls of bullets from the sides, as the bigger bullets will be easier to pass through knowing you're safe from everything else. Just be careful of the streaming bullets repositioning themselves.
Card: Lamp Sign "Firefly Phenomenon"
Number: 006
REPLAYComments: This card is pathetic, even on Lunatic mode. Focus, then move slowly either to the right, or left, watching out for green bullets. That's all there is to it.
Card: Wriggle Sign "Nightbug Tornado"
Number: 010
REPLAYComments: Don't even worry about the enemy marker here, Wriggle doesn't have enough time to do any real damage. Get Ran on her then worry about your own hitbox.
Card: Hidden Bug "Hermit of an Endless Night"
Number: 013
REPLAYComments: This is the fastest spell in Stage 1. Don't worry about the enemy marker, in fact, I'm willing to bet that's what screws so many people up. Worry about the flow of the bullets, and dodge with the flow. Moving sharply to the left as displayed in the replay is advised.
And there's stage 1 done! Nothing too spectacular here, just a bit of insect buggery.
Stage 2 ~
Card: Vocal Sign "Howl of the Horned Owl"
Number: 017
REPLAY Comments: Hahaha, oh brother. Nothing special here at all. This card's all bark, no bite. The card can be easily dodged horizontally-only, and even that's completely without effort. The beginning strategy of "don't move at all" works quite well too, so use it as much as possible to your advantage.
Card: Deadly Toxin "Poisonous Moth's Dance in the Dark"
Number: 021
REPLAYComments: This card's pretty annoying. The big purple bullets will shoot directly at you, so position yourself so that they aren't a problem. Listening for the "pew" noise helps too, because that's when Mystia's shooting the purple wall of bullets at you. Personally, I like to manipulate the wall and stay as close to it as possible while watching out for the smaller red bullets.
Card: Hawk Sign "Ill-Starred Dive"
Number: 025
REPLAYComments: This is a great card to practice learning criss-cross patterns on. It'll help you with the next couple of cards, plus it's good experience for touhou in general. Get close to bullets and learn how. Alternatively, not moving much at all helps too, as displayed in this replay.
Card: Night-Blindness "Song of the Night Sparrow"
Number: 029
REPLAYComments: Oh no, darkness! Thankfully this card has the same style as the previous one, and the bullets are very slow. Keep still, don't worry about your enemy marker, and don't freak out just because you can't see your own surroundings.
Card: Night Sparrow "Midnight Chorus Master"
Number: 032
REPLAYComments: See, this is why you need to learn how to deal with darkness. If you haven't, this card will mess you up. You're going to need fast reflexes on the green lines of bullets, and it pays to avoid getting yourself trapped in an abyss of round bullets too. This is another one of those cards which doesn't require much moving at all, just fast positioning.
Stage 2 presented more of a challenge, but we're not done yet.
Stage 3~
Card: Spiritual Birth "First Pyramid"
Number: 036
REPLAY Comments: Very fun card, which is odd because it's Keine who holds it. I'd definitely recommend sticking close to the larger bullets (if you don't know what the large bullets are on this card, you're blind). Only good dodging is suggested here, there's no trick to this. Just pure, pure dodging.
Card: Origin Sign "Ephemerality 137"
Number: 039
REPLAYComments: This is where Keine isn't so much fun. Stick as close to the enemy marker as possible throughout the entire card and you should be fine. There's many ways of doing this card, but this is probably the easiest method.
Card: Ambition Sign "General Headquarters Crisis"
Number: 043
REPLAYComments: Bah, more criss-cross crap. You can get a good amount of time by keeping still at the beginning of the spellcard, then dropping to the bottom of the screen and dodging.
Card: Land Scheme "Three Sacred Treasures - Country"
Number: 047
REPLAYComments: Oh hey, no huge bullets for Lunatic! Don't be fooled with this card, the little daggers spread themselves into two. Still, it isn't very threatening, as you can tell by the replay. Stay slightly above the bottom of the screen, and you shouldn't have any issues with this card. Which is a good thing! Because Keine sux. :G
Card: Pseudo-History "The Legend of Gensokyo"
Number: 051
REPLAYComments: Stick to the center, dodge.
Card: Future "Gods' Realm"
Number: 054
REPLAYComments: Oh, look what we have here. It's Keine's last spell. Yeah, I'm glad this is optional, because the majority of the time I end up messing it up. The best method I've found is sticking to the middle. I haven't found a fantastic strategy for this, and lasers are my weak point. Then again, this card's entirely optional, so unless you're going for score you don't need to worry about it at all.
And that concludes Keine. Good. Now it's time for Stage 4, which is where the game really kicks off.
Stage 4 powerful
Card: Magic Space "Asteroid Belt"
Number: 081
REPLAY Comments: Oh god, not this card. This is Marisa's hardest card, which just happens to be her first. You may check the replay if you wish, but my actual strategy for this involves bombing. Strategically bombing is a much wiser idea, specifically for Lunatic, because it beats dying. I'd recommend waiting until the burst of small, green stars pass, then going as long as possible before you feel the urge to bomb. Even using two bombs on this card would be better than dying.
Card: Black Magic "Event Horizon"
Number: 85
REPLAYI absolutely love this card. It's beautiful. Position yourself so you can go downwards, while staying under the enemy market. Move down when the bullets start moving, then move slightly up. The bullets come to you almost entirely on this one, so you just need to amke the appropriate movements.
Card: Love Storm "Starlight Typhoon"
Number: 089
REPLAYComments: This replay was designed specifically for border team, and for Ran. Going middle left and slowly up, then down and across is the easiest way. Actually, going down and across is optional, but beware that Marisa will shoot faster bullets at you if you reach a certain height on the screen. This replay displays this, too.
Card: Loving Heart "Double Spark"
Number: 093
REPLAYComments: Learn the depth of Marisa's Master Spark with this card. It's huge, but not as huge as many make it out to be.
Card: Light Blast "Shoot the Moon"
Number: 097
REPLAYComments: This card's really easy for the border team. Slow movements from left to right is the trick here, but don't get cocky with it, or you'll end up getting yourself trapped by a swarm of yellow bullets (dodgable yellow bullets, but still).
Card: Magicannon "Final Master Spark"
Number: 100
REPLAYComments: Make Marisa shoot her Master Spark upwards. This video shows just exactly what you can get away with in terms of Master Spark's depth. Make her shoot it from left to right, right to left, as the video displays.
Well, that's it for stage 4 powerful. By far one of the most intense (and longest) stages out there. But.. we're not done.
Stage 5~
Card: Visionary Wave "Mind Blowing"
Number: 104
REPLAYComments: I have my own way of doing this, which looks weird but works on practically all teams. Basically, if you find that one spot I keep going to and do diagonally down with it, it'll be like that for the entire card. Just keep doing it and eventually it'll end.
Card: Lunatic Gaze "Ilusion Seeker"
Number: 108
REPLAYLearn how the bullets freeze and move to new destinations. Also, keeping under the enemy marker is also useful here. It isn't required, but useful if you're not good at this type of danmaku, and want it to end faster. You can easily get trapped with no escape if you choose a free spot which is too close to the bottom of the screen.
Card: Indolence "Mind Stopper"
Number: 112
REPLAYComments: This is a "easy when you know how" type of card. The basis of this is to stay in the middle when the extra set of bullets shoot at you, then go down to the bottom middle of the screen at first. Then, work your way back to the center of the screen. The second time, go to the bottom middle, but slightly to the right, then left and once again work your way to the middle. This way the extra bullets won't get in the way of your progress.
Card: Spread Sign "Invisible Full Moon"
Number: 116
REPLAYComments: Really easy. Find and learn the ring of blue bullets which shroud Reisen, because the burst of bullets will always be slightly past that. All you need to do is be above this line of fire when the bullets unfreeze and you'll be fine. Repeat until dead.
Card: Lunar Eyes "Tele-Mesmerism"
Number: 119
REPLAYComments: I dunno, this one seems luck based. I can't find a consistent pattern anywhere, aside from going far right or far left of the screen against the opposing bullets. Thankfully, it's her last spell, so it isn't necessary unless you're up for scoring.
Are you getting tired?
Final B
Card: Medicine Sign "Galaxy in a Pot"
Number: 151
REPLAYComments: This isn't that hard. Stay under the enemy marker as much as possible, but the most important thing here would be staying inside the ring of fire, as that's the only threatening thing here. If you somehow get outside it and it starts to go off, you're dead. So don't do that. Keep in mind the pot forms around your current location. Also, this is incredibly easy if you use ghost team, because Youmu can kill the spirits extremely fast.
Card: Divine Treasure "Brilliant Dragon Bullet"
Number: 155
REPLAYI fucking
hate this card. So much. The strategy shown in the replay is difficult, and not recommended. Basically: Stay centered, move down, stall, bomb, repeat. I wouldn't suggest "moving right, but moving right
accurately" as demonstrated in the replay, since it's most likely not going to work out for you.
Card: Divine Treasure "Buddhist Diamond"
Number: 158
REPLAYComments: This card is eaiser than the previous one, but still annoying. Note that the blue chain of bullets will shoot to whereever you are at the time, so make sure you don't trap yourself. Try manipulating the row of blue bullets so they aren't an issue, and concentrate on the red stars and lasers.
Card: Divine Treasure "Salamander Shield"
Number: 163
REPLAYComments: This is one card which looks threatening, and is easy to mess up. It isn't all that hard, but if you can't make the massive reposition from mid-to-right or mid-to-left, bomb on it. This card consists pretty much of tapping slowly from the right or left - positioning yourself so that the fireballs aren't an issue is essential. They unfold the closer they get to you. When you're going from left to right, when you reach the middle, go far right. This can be done either way, it doesn't matter, just make sure you do it, otherwise you'll end up trapping yourself and receiving one (1) death. At this point the red dagger things can be quite threatening, so like I mentioned before, bomb if you don't feel confident that you'll make it.
Card: Divine Treasure "Life Spring Infinity"
Number: 167
No replay.
Comments: There's no replay nor strategy here. Why? Simply, I can't beat this on Lunatic without bombing. If Kaguya positions herself wrong (which is random), you're screwed and can't do anything but bomb. That said, strategic bombing is definitely recommended.
Card: Divine Treasure "Hourai Jewel -Dreamlike Paradise-"
Number: 171
REPLAYComments: Ah, Hourai Jewel. This is Kaguya's last actual card, before additional crap which isn't necessary. If you beat this card, you've beaten the game. That said, this is definitely the hardest card in the game, which I've cleared about 5 out of 200 attempts. Watch the replay, study it, and study it hard. At the beginning, sit still and tap right or left. Go bottom left, and slowly make your way right. The bullets coming to you diagonally top-left and top-right are constantly on you, and if you move at the wrong time, they'll form into a spray which is practically unavoidable. You need to listen out for when they're being shot out, and move sharp left/right as soon as they stop. If you've done it right, you'll be able to move slowly in the opposite direction you've just taken, before having to do it again. There isn't any simple way of beating this card, you just need to practice it.
The chances are you'll end up bombing on this, more than once, which is definitely recommended. But don't think it'll save you if you don't know the card. Stall as long as possible, make some sharp moves, and if you really do need to bomb on this card (chances are, you will), position yourself bottom left and slowly continue the pattern. Good luck!
All 32 replays of every single Lunatic spellcard of IN can be downloaded in this
handy, single .rar file.
Images and spellcard names are provided by
Touhouwiki. Replays hosted thanks to me.
