Stage 2: The Village of Mayoiga
♫ BGM: The Fantastic Legend of Tohno ♫

It wavered in the village in which people are not.
"MAYOIGA" (apparitional village) refused human always.

You might be wondering why our heroines have moved from a mountainside to a creepy village in the middle of nowhere. An excellent question with a simple answer- they have no idea where they're going. See, most of the Touhou games start like this- Reimu and company go around beating the snot out of everyone they come across until they start getting answers as to who or what is causing the problem. We may laugh at this crude method of detective work, but it's worked for them so far...



Stage 2 is barely a step up from Stage 1. Initially, a load of fairies show up, and they'll fire a few bullet spreads at you, but it's really nothing to worry about, eventually forming a small battalion which you can take down before they even think of firing. From there on, the majority of the enemy forces here are the spinners, and they'll move in from the sides of the screen in straight lines- they're easy pickin's, rip for getting some items from. However, you'll notice these eerie balls of light that float around, then multiply- these are fairies in disguise! When there's enough of them, they'll materialise and start launching big bullets at you, then scarper away. Use the floating light orbs to gauge when to go for the Point of Collection, and when to lay low- these fairies will definitely catch you out if you're not careful.

Oh, and in this section, we're formally introduced to the nefarious homing bullets- ordinary bullets that lock on to your current position. They showed up in the battle with Letty in a easy-to-avoid way, but here, they take the form of two columns of big bullets which the light-ball fairies fire, and while there's a lot of them thrown at you, you can take advantage of them- wait until they're fired, move slightly to the left/right, then graze 'em for points. If you can get a Supernatural Border here, that's even better. This first segment fits nicely into a simple pattern- a couple of spinner waves, then fairies, spinner waves, fairies, spinner waves...



... Complete bullet insanity for a couple of seconds...



... Oh, and then Chen shows up, dispelling the bullets and commencing her defense of Mayoiga.

Chen... Isn't very interesting. She's only a Stage 2 boss, after all. So, let's skip the character history.

Her first attack wave seems tough. She'll launch a load of green sphere bullets, each in a rough triangle formation, then charge up for a second, and fire a load of diamond bullets in tightly-packed lines before starting her pattern again. Dodging your way through the initial triangle pattern can seem pretty difficult, as there often isn't much space to do it in... Until you realise that it's actually easier to just make your way up the screen and, rather than go through the triangles, go around them. Chen takes so long to charge up her next attack that you can be at the bottom of the screen again before she's ready to fire. You can even do this with Reimu, which goes to show how pathetic this attack is.



Chen's first Spell Card, 'Phoenix Egg', is nothing to worry about either, unless you're still getting used to this bullet-dodging nonsense. Before she even does anything here, she'll spend a good couple of seconds charging this attack up, remaining motionless while she's at it. There's no code of honour in the world of Gensokyo (aside from the First Rule of Touhou: 'A person with no shame is living on Easy mode') so don't feel the need to hold back- keep shooting her to get that life bar down! When she's finally done letting you get your cheap shots in, she'll launch out a load of bullets in circular shapes that, initially, resemble the unmistakable visage of Goucho Marx. Then they'll head to the bottom of the screen, curving around a little, and... Well, that's it. There's no special trick or anything here, so quit looking for one. Just don't be an idiot- look for the gaps, because sometimes the bullets clump together, making escape impossible.



The Lunatic Spell Card here, 'Phoenix Spread Wings L', is similar to the normal one, except the arrow bullets are launched out in bunched rows and there's a hell of a lot more of them. They're also in much prettier colours, which only adds to the humiliation of running into one of them. Fortunately, Chen never learns her lesson about standing completely still before starting her attack, so feel free to go nuts and whittle her health away before she layeth the smackdown and kills you horribly.

When Chen goes off to lick her wounds, she'll drop a Bomb- get it!



The next section of the stage is... Well, it's basically identical to the opening, fairies-posing-as-light-orbs and all. The only difference is that the spinners are gone, and there's just a load of fairies in your way that drift on-screen and actually fight back with spread shots, and the light-orb fairies put up more resistance, appearing in greater numbers. I've got nothing else to say about this bit, except that for those score-whores among you, this is the single most frustrating part in the game. It doesn't matter how long you've been playing this game, it doesn't matter how much of the stage you've committed to memory, and it certainly doesn't matter who you're playing as. When you get to this bit, you are guaranteed to get your Supernatural Border too early, and it'll end just as the light-orb fairies show up to launch their aimed shots at you, depriving you of a huge CherryMax profit. It will happen, and you will cry real tears (and you will take your frustration out on the upcoming boss).



You'll also certainly miss getting a Supernatural Border here, where you can graze so much (the red shots are aimed at you) but only if you're lucky.

Well, unless you're me in the screenshot above.

I'm just that rad.

Anyway, it's time for Marisa to get chatty with the boss. Hopefully, this should demonstrate why Marisa is pretty bad-ass.



I just hope it isn't Man-Bear-Pig.



Oh, wait. It's just a cat. Or is she a cat-person? Or maybe just one of those weird Japanophiles who wear cat-ears?



I'm sincerely glad it isn't. This isn't that kind of game!



As it's clear to see, Marisa doesn't give a shit about Gensokyo's spring- she just wants to blow up some fools with Master Spark.



We didn't see this, but this is exactly what Letty says to Marisa on Stage 1.

Neither of them seem to have cottoned on to the fact that Marisa isn't lost- she's a witch without a cause.



Normal people would probably try to help this poor, confused witch out of whatever hell-hole she's walked into... That's not how things work here.

Time to put this kitty to sleep.


♫ BGM: Withered Leaf ♫

Chen's first attack sees the return of the triangle formation, and this time, there's no easy way out of it. She starts with some pretty circles of arrow bullets that dance around her for a bit, then start heading your way, slowly and with loads of gaps in-between. It's when they're halfway down that she'll send out her triangles, so you can't cheat and go around them anymore, you'll have to go through them. I know, that's lame, but hey, sometimes the best approach is to take your problems head-on. As long as you're not an idiot and you don't let a bullet drill itself into your side, you'll be fine. Death will only happen here if you get complacent... Which is actually good advice for the entire game. Especially on the last boss. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself...



Chen's first Spell Card in this encounter, 'Pentagram Flight', seems to be standard fare when it starts- she'll charge up for a second or so (not nearly as long as before) and when she's done, she'll dart around in a pentagram shape, unleashing circle clusters of arrow bullets that fan out, spreading pretty far. In fact, aside from the pentagram movements, this is suspiciously similar to the 'Phoenix Egg' Spell Card from earlier in the stage! What a cop-out! Ah, but there's a twist here. She'll perform her little pentagram dance twice, and then suddenly...



?!?



Chen makes the screen shake violently, and all the bullets on screen change trajectory- the blue ones lurch to the right, and the red ones curve to the left, heading down to the bottom-middle of the screen... Which is probably where you are anyway. Fortunately, since she makes it pretty obvious that she's going to do something when she shakes the screen, it's easy to see this one coming. Just try and remember that the bullets are going to come in from both sides, so don't focus on dodging all the bullets from the left- there's ones on the right, too! This Spell Card's over pretty quickly, since Chen doesn't move around much, so don't worry about it too much.



Oh, and here's the Lunatic version, 'Large Pentagram Crest'. I'd love to describe it to you, but I can't.

Seeing such a brutal display of bullet hell on the second stage, Lunatic or no, made me sob horribly.



Having dealt with her first Spell Card, Chen now starts using homing bullets at you- she'll fire two waves of arrow bullets at you that lock on to your last position, and while you're dodging them, she'll spit out a load of big yellow bullets. One set of these yellow bullets moves slowly, but the other's really fast, so it can catch you out! If you want to make this section really, really easy, then you'll have to start exploiting these homing bullets. Lure the first set of aimed bullets to one side of the screen, then when Chen's preparing the second set, move to the opposite side, giving you a huge gap in the middle for avoiding the yellow bullet barrage... Or, if you're hardcore, you can edge slightly to the left/right to graze the aimed bullets, making them cover less of the screen, then you can deal with the yellows. These two techniques are part of a strategy called streaming/herding- the art of luring bullets to certain parts of the screen to give you an advantage- and it'll get more coverage on the later stages. Since Chen only really moves around when firing the yellow bullets, you can take her down pretty quickly. Don't underestimate this pattern, though- it's one that has a habit of ending a perfectly good run for me with a silly death.



The next card, 'Immortal Sage's Rumbling', as well as having a completely ridiculous name, is a pretty annoying Spell Card, considering how early it is in the game. Chen does a little charging up again, then dashes across the screen, launching really slow bullets behind her. She'll zip on and off the screen, making it really difficult to hit her (unless you've got a homing shot) so, unless you really need to get some extra Cherry points for a Supernatural Border, it's pretty futile. After she's done zipping about, she'll stop at the top of the screen, and you'd think this is your perfect opportunity to lay into her. It is, but after a little charging on her part...



?!?



Yup, it's that screen-shaking nonsense again! All bullets on screen turn into the dreaded ping pong balls and make their way down the screen. The ping pong bullets are a little different from normal bullets, as it's almost like they adhere to gravity- they'll increase in speed as they fall down, and they'll move slowly to the left or the right, just like in real life. Needless to say, these can catch you out the first time you see then, but fortunately they'll only appear one more time in the game. When you adjust to how these bullets move, though, there's so many gaps that it's hardly a threat. Regardless, Chen repeats the pattern for the rest of this Spell Card, although the bullets she launches initially have a different pattern the second time around. This second pattern seems better suited to grazing, so if you hate these ping pong bullets as much as I do, get a Supernatural Border ready- partly for the points, partly for the protection...



Finally, Chen unleashes 'Incarnate Immortal Sage' (what's with this Sage business, anyway? She doesn't look like a wizard to me. Just a homeless cat that needs to be put down) and it's weak. Weeeak. She'll start spinning in a small circle while unleashing red and blue arrow bullets that vaguely look like a pair of eyes, at slightly different angles each time. This is definitely one of those bullet patterns where your brain completely switches off, and you just dodge left and right without really thinking about it. The only way you'll honestly get killed here is if you panic and suddenly become stupid, or if you get caught in the tightly packed bullet bunches that show up every now and then. Seriously, though, I could capture this Spell Card in my sleep. Poor Chen, she never stood a chance.

You know, now that I think about it, the only advice I really need to give for all of Chen's attacks is 'dude, don't be an idiot".

Her attacks can take you off guard sometimes, and it's the most infuriating thing in the world, so you have to keep focused.



And there you have it- the best line of dialogue in the game. I might as well stop now... But let's carry on.

On the next page, Marisa Sakuya steals a precious thing.