Visceral yet charming.
-Abstract-

Ah, ZUN's first PC offering. And what an offering it is! Although lacking in polish compared to later Touhou games, EoSD stands very well on its own as a premier example of the best the danmaku shmup genre has to offer, despite the occasional flaw. In addition, it does it all with a uniquely captivating aesthetic.

-Gameplay-

EoSD is a fairly typical vertical shmup at its core. Thus, one could consider the basic act of dodging bullets to be the main focus of its gameplay. However, ZUN has clearly created his own take on the formula, which mostly works out for the better.

Okay, so you have your basic choice of characters and setups for each, along with a range of difficulties. Nothing too innovative there. The first level is a nice introduction to the basic feel of the game, but it's not terribly impressive. However, upon reaching the first boss, one can immediately see where ZUN has practiced some admirable innovation.

ZUN has decided to employ a unique system for boss fights in this game (as well as later games in the Touhou series) - namely, the Spell Card system. Any shmup buff is familiar with the wide range of bullet patterns that various bosses employ across games. However, these patterns rarely tend to have an obvious, or, indeed, sensible delineation. ZUN fixes this by assigning each pattern (Spell Card) its own name, lifebar, and timer. This smoothly divides boss fights into more manageable chunks, personifies and identifies patterns, and generally makes things more manageable and interesting for the player. The Spell Card system is a fantastic gameplay device that really livens up the danmaku experience.

Spell Cards also play into the scoring system. By "capturing" a Spell Card, a process defined as clearing a Spell Card without losing a life or bombing, the player obtains a great increase in score. Score is also increased exponentially by grazing, or coming close to bullets without letting them destroy your character - a concept not original to Touhou, but one executed well nonetheless. Score increases the stock of player lives, so playing either conservatively (capturing many cards) or riskily (grazing many bullets) can work out in the player's favor.

The patterns themselves are all quite well-done as well - ZUN has obviously put much thought into a wide variety of factors regarding the patterns, including difficulty scaling, playability and readability, and intensity. The progression of Spell Cards tends to be very logical as well.

However, EoSD's gameplay is not without its flaws. Although a few of the stages are quite fun (stages 3 and 4), the other stages are fairly uninteresting or simply not fun (stage 5 comes to mind for the latter). The polished fun of the bosses mostly makes up for the somewhat lackluster stage design, but I'd still prefer some more interesting level layouts - ZUN employs absolutely no obstacles other than bullet-firing enemies. Lots and lots of them. This would be fine, but the level layouts obviously lack the polish and ingenuity of ZUN's later works.

EoSD also employs a rather interesting, though perhaps unnecessary system known as "Rank." Rank is an invisible (to the player) variable that has a range of 0-32. It is set to the default level of 16 at the start of each level, increases over time as the player survives and captures Spell Cards, and is decreased by 16 when the player character is hit. Well, that's all fine and dandy, but what does Rank do? Rank is essentially a variable difficulty-within-a-difficulty. As Rank goes up, patterns become faster and more intense. Conversely, the lower the Rank drops, the slower and less intense patterns become. Personally, I am fairly ambivalent towards this system. ZUN included it in his later games, but with a much-reduced impact upon gameplay - perhaps meaning that he, too, feels that Rank is very much an unneeded complication. Rank rarely intrudes upon gameplay to a great extent, due to the pacing and natural progression of the game, but can occasionally present some difficulties to the player. Thus, if I had to make a judgment call on it, I would say that EoSD is slightly brought down by the presence of Rank; or, at least, the presence of a Rank system with such a profound impact upon gameplay.

Two small annoyances present themselves if one is playing EoSD after experience with ZUN's later danmaku games: there are no boss or hitbox indicators. Their nonexistence can easily be adjusted to, however; it's more of a simple reminder that this was ZUN's first foray on PC hardware.

All in all, EoSD's gameplay feels the most intense out of ZUN's Windows games, due to the Rank system, score system, overall presentation, and level design. However, from this intensity is born an endearment. Of course, the aesthetics play a great role in this sense of endearment as well, so let's look at them!

-Aesthetics/Presentation-

ZUN's Touhou series is immensely unique upon shmups in that it has a wide range of (at least somewhat) developed characters, an immense amount of background material, and a good deal of conversation and story during the games themselves. ZUN's extremely charming characters and art synthesize with the gameplay to make the Touhou series remarkable, rather than simply notable. EoSD is certainly no exception to this rule, boasting, as always, an impressive number of characters and an utterly astounding presentation. ZUN's stylish presentation really makes this game, as well as later games in the series, a stand-out.

EoSD's graphics and artwork are not on par with ZUN's later works by any means. However, they get the job done handily and never detract from the experience, so I have no real complaints.

Finally, it would be a sin to write a review of a Touhou game and not mention the absolutely sublime music. Although ZUN's EoSD score could be considered one of his weaker ones, the music is still wonderful. Every track really adds to the impact this game has, and the majority of them are extremely listenable and highly enjoyable outside of the game as well. ZUN's unique musical style shines through in all of his games, and EoSD is no exception. One complaint, however, is that the synths used for instrumentation here are a bit low-quality.

-Conclusion-

EoSD is not a flawless game. However, its overall presentation and mostly well-polished gameplay make up for its few flaws in spades. It is certainly not ZUN's best effort to date, but it is still an admirable one, and one worthy of a play by any danmaku or shmup fan.

Rating: 8/10