Touhou 3: The Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dreams NES Demake

***Touhou 3: The Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dreams NES Demake***, known in Japan as ***Touhou Yumejikuu Famicom Demake*** (東方夢(とうほうゆめ)時(じ)空(くう)ファミコンディメイク, **Tōhō Yumejikū Famikon Dimeiku**?), is a freeware parody game developed and published by Drillimation Systems. The game is a complete remake of the Team Shanghai Alice game of the same name but is replicating the hardware of the Nintendo Entertainment System, specifically the Japan-exclusive Famicom Disk System to take advantage of improved hardware. Despite including "NES Demake" in the title, it is not a homebrew project, and as the Prophet Driller notes in his demonstration video, the game is actually made in GameMaker Studio 2. The game was released on September 24, 2021, and is the fifth installment in the *Drillimation Danmaku Universe*.

The source code for the demake was released in 2023.

## Gameplay

The gameplay differentiates from other games in the *Drillimation Danmaku Universe*. Players can face off against the AI or go head-to-head with another human player. The primary goal is to drop an opponent's health to zero before their opponent does. Players have a spell gauge they can charge up to unleash more powerful attacks, or in some cases summon a boss version of themselves, though they must have enough power to be able to do so. Unlike the original, matches are timed and players must win two rounds in order to win a match.

The game's single-player mode has players facing off against ten opponents. As the player progresses, the enemies move faster and as players increase their spell and boss levels, the faster their danmaku becomes and the more powerful their boss summons are. The main goal of the story mode is to be able to fulfill a character's dream by entering a secret ruins and defeating its gatekeepers.

## *Chuhou Joutai* references in this game

Kagami Ochiai makes an official appearance as a playable character, complete with her own scenario. She has equal stats unlike the rest of the other playable characters. Kagami retains her appearance from the second *Touhou Project* NES demake, *The Story of Eastern Wonderland*. In addition, a number of other references to *Chuhou Joutai* are present in Kagami's dialogue; Kumiko Uchida is mentioned in her victory quote after she defeats Reimu Hakurei, while Kozankyo is mentioned during the cutscene before the fight with Chiyuri Kitashirakawa. Lastly, in Kagami's ending, her mermaid appearance that first appeared in *Chuhou Joutai 2: Paraided!* can be seen. Some of the same suggestive humor from *Paraided!* is also here, such as her low-cut swimsuit exposing part of her cleavage.

## Reception

The demake was initially met with mixed reviews from critics, partly due to the AI making the game too easy to play. Drillimation took this complaint and released a new version eight months after the game released that featured improved AI, and was met with a much better response.

## Behind the Scenes

* This is the first Drillimation game to:
	+ Use a new design for bullet sprites.
	+ Win an award of some sort.
* This is also the only Drillimation game to be a versus shooter, and is also the second game to not be in the traditional danmaku format.
* This is the only demake in which Kagami Ochiai is a playable character.

## External links

* The game's itch.io page
* The game's homepage on Drillimation's website

## References

1. ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv16107887 【鼓哥】带你玩东方-外传（十九）（飞行射击游戏篇） - 哔哩哔哩 (in Chinese)