Team Shanghai Alice’s Touhou Project series of bullet hell shooters have had a devout following ever since the first game released in 1996. In fact, the shooters have spawned over 2,000 d?jinshi (fan-made works) over the years, including anime, video games, and books. In 2014, Sony announced a collaboration with the series creator ZUN that would bring several fan-made Touhou titles to PS4 and Vita. It’s a really cool and unprecedented deal between the two, and the first of these games to make its way stateside is Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet.
NIS America, for whatever reason, has decided to bring this game to North America, and it’s the first title in the Touhou universe that a lot of console owners will ever hear about, let alone play. Staying true to the core series, Bullet Ballet plays like a bullet hell shooter ? albeit one with a pretty big twist. Players won’t be shooting waves of enemies as they scroll through stages, instead they’ll be taking on another character as if it was a fighting game. It’s an awesome concept, and as a fan of both genres it was one I was instantly enamored with. Sadly, this adoration ended about 10 minutes after I booted up Touhou Genso Rondo. It takes two genres I love, rips out a lot of the nuance to each side, and then mashes them together not unlike a toddler trying his damnedest to get the square block into the round hole. It’s a game that doesn’t succeed as a fighter, as a shooter...