Touhou: How did it get popular?

While it may not necesarily be mainstream, Touhou seems failry popular in mostr fanart cirlces. How did it get so popular in the first place? I know it is probably the characters but other than that the games are nothing more than bullet hell shooters with fancy patterns. Still, how did it get so popular thaty I see fanart, fan games and doujins all over the place?

Ahother question, what if Touhou went mainstream?

The answer to the first is piracy of the games.

As for the second question, Touhou will go mainstream very soon, it's going to happen in a year or so because an official anime is in development.

Probably because of moe and music. The Bad Apple video was pretty cool, but apart from that, I don't get it either.

I say it's because of all the Touhou doijins that are around.

Now that I think of it, I've seen Touhou figures all the time, if you know where to look you can buy them even Play Asia has them at times, but you must be quick and order the one you want ASAP as they sell out FAST!!!! Touhou might already be mainstream to an extent but not completely mainstream.

IOSYS helped in making it popular too.

A lot of mentioning of the effects rather than the cause.

The creation of Touhou is due to a power of the fist of the classic otaku. Something that worked from the DIY "nerd" of Japan. The purist, and so forth. And ended up spawning an earthquake throughout otaku culture from it's small, meager team of dedication.

Let's start with the 1980s. The "professional" divisions between big developers and users were much weaker. Computers were much weaker, and a human was excited to simply do as much as play a video game and have a working computer. Most computer fans were also well versed and close to their creators. The gaming community was a tightly knit groups of nerds around the world.

While many of us today hearken for an older time, when gaming companies weren't trying to make consoles that weren't computers. The Computer Gaming Machine and the Console were indeed heavily one and the same as the norm. Nintendo made the "Family Computer", Sony made the MSX. And the NEC console was called the "PC Engine". The computer was the console, the console was the computer. And then also, was the NEC-98 of the same era. Comparable to the TurboGrafx-16.

Programmers and fans took every meager system they had, the NEC TurboGrafx-16, or the NEC 98, and used it to their limits, hurdingly up their otaku tastes to the maximum the world of digital could offer them.

Enter Kiki Kaikai. A reminiscently Japanese video game. About a Shrine Maiden, in a world of unruly Youkai. It's story of a moe little miko inspired many. The hearkening of an "older time", and also firmly entrenched in otaku culture. Made for the MSX, the PC-..engine, and the "Family Computer". All of the computer systems. Not even considered a powerful or notable title. It was already a hardcore niche of a game for the hardcore gamer. A perfect "Japanophile" title. In an age where classic gaming is already considered heavily niche. Kiki Kaikai was a true unique wonder, of the limited gamer's delight and tastes. Filled with Japanese mythology, like an Okami of it's day. And alongside as a variation of STGs, which are a stable of the classic gaming niche today. Being almost like an "Action-STG".

Shooters and different classic gaming fans have had a different kind of niche subculture of their own to many others. Being a very hardcore otakudom and niche, left enough of an imprint, that the inspiration of this girl, surely birthed the Eastern Adventures of Hakurei Reimu. A distant relative of Sayo.

People created a many things, doujin works for the NEC 98-PC. Where gamers were creators and creators were gamers and arm in arm, Touhou was one of those games. A staple of classic gaming, and a staple of doujin, indie creators. While others were making Dating Sims for the 98, simple titles for the MSX. Touhou was ZUN's doujin answer to Kiki Kaikai. A continuation of that spirit. On that would be harvested even greater than it was in Pocky & Rocky.

The doujin community was the continuation of that near communal niche. Of gaming's origins and classicality. And the STG fandom also. All niche classics develops a vivid following. But STGs and Doujin works creators especially. And ZUNs was vibrant. A king of legend in the area, a Team, or a person? Dedicants became a part of a shady, hazy team of fandom. Something they could hold on to when big companies took away their franchises. They would never have someone give them a cease and desist letter for making a Chrono Break. This was theirs, a hardcore gaming fandom that catered to many of their tastes unwavering, that could always be theirs. That kind of fandom breeds a dedicated knighthood. And the Touhou fandom had naturally become an important figure in the hardcore gaming niche mafia.

As time when on, this "Password" of Hardcore gaming spread. It's fandom spread. And eventually, technology opened the curtain on a fandom to all otakudom. Came to light the many numerous works of Touhou over the years by dedicated followers. The cat was out of the bag, and Chen was delighting hundreds of thousands of NicoNico viewers constantly.

The small works that represented them faithfully, were now becoming a cover and face of otakudom in general. An all for one and all for one. Representing nostalgia, origins, and what being an otaku means for many people who are young and new to these things. It's like a kind of heritage that a big company need not necessarily represent for them. The prosperity of the otaku phenomenon itself. As a moe boom came about, if anything represented it, surely it was things such as this. So as a fan-to-fan idea, with more people using the internet and high technology than ever before, the virus infected. A secret wonder that everyone had known about, Touhou was a curious meme of sensation. So why is Touhou so famous? Why does Touhou represent otaku? Because it, more purely than nearly anything, was theirs to begin with.

But I'm just telling stories... what is the true face of the Touhou Mythology?

Well, I saw some Nico Nico MAD, then one of the songs used had a nice beat to it, so I decided to look it up. Eventually led me to the whole Touhou Sensation. I would say it's the music but then again, it's got the characters and game series.

moe+awesome music+curtain shooter+wtfdifficultyforsome=EPIC

Imo, touhou became this popular due to the mo~e factor mostly.

Also, it has a HUGE cast of female characters (even the Chinese gatekeeper, whose name I could not remember even though I am also Chinese, has a fan-club...) that caters to anyone's preferences (we have Tsundere(s), Masochist, idiot(s), "hardcore journalist", just to name a few...you all know who they are).

Unfortuantly I knew Touhou from being McRoll'd on niconico way back then... the remixed U.N. Owen got me hooked.

Well I have to say its the original music, not the doujin music. If doujin music made it popular then what made so many doujin circles want to arrange/adopt from Touhou? Isn't the answer to tht the real answer to why it's so popular?

Hong Meiling is the gatekeeper.

I think it got popular because of the pretty patterns. I found out about this game when my friend showed me it a few months ago and it looked insanely hard but I decided to give it a try... didn't do great but got better later on.

I'll just leave that here.

I have to believe it was because of the music that it become so popular with so many circles.

Personally for me, I was looking for a real hard video game to play on youtube and I saw a video of some Japanese guy doing a perfect clear on Flandre from Touhou 6. From then on I decided I was going to have a go at these myself.

It's probably the same for a good few people.

Now I like it more, more because of the fan base than the actual games.

Personally for me was the videos, music, characters and difficulty.

Touhou is not actually that popular compared to other games as people may think it is, specially worldwide it does not even come close. There are 127 million Japanese people in Japan I'd say it has 4 million fans mostly made up of otaku's at best which is good but still that's hadn't anything.

I like it because it's fun and has great music. I actually find the fan scene a bit obnoxious, I bet most "fans" who like the remixes and doujins and whatnot don't even play the games.

Touhou is still popular? I thought Kantai Collection replaced it as the new fad

Welp, /thread.

I guess it became popular because of the music, the gameplay and the characters. It also wasn't moe back in the day.

And apart from that, Sony was simply a manufacturer of the MSX. Microsoft were the ones that made it.

I guess that is mostly the reason.

3 years later.

Well, it was because of this, I think.

At first, Touhou wasn't popular yet and it was inspired by KiKi KaiKai. The computers are most interesting, and Touhou was in development.

Like KiKi KaiKai, Touhou was based on Japanese mythology and it was more than just an otaku culture game. Unlike many modern and past games, Touhou is more like cultural and good for outer Japanese Touhou Fandom to know more about Japanese culture.

Also, I would like to say something so it won't spoil the fandom, (sorry if sound rude) if you see another bullet hell game don't blame them.