Drillimation Danmaku Universe

The Drillimation Danmaku Universe name in the Japanese Chuhou Joutai logo.

The Drillimation Danmaku Universe (ドリメーション弾幕(だんまく)ユニバース, Dorimēshon Danmaku Yunibāsu) is a media franchise and shared universe centered primarily on a series of manic shooters independently developed by Drillimation Systems. It is named for the company that develops it and what they specialize in. The shared universe, set within a version of Gensokyo originating from Team Shanghai Alice's Touhou Project franchise, was established by crossing over plot points, characters, and gameplay elements from it.

Since 2020, Drillimation has released eight games in the franchise. The first game in the series is Chuhou Joutai, which was released on May 22, 2020 on Steam. This also includes the Touhou Project fangames that Drillimation has developed, including Touhou 1: The Highly Responsive to Prayers NES Demake and Touhou 2: The Story of Eastern Wonderland NES Demake, which released the same year. One other game that is set within the universe is currently in development. The franchise has garnered a positive critical response, though some reviewers found oddities with the timeline of the original Touhou Project. Drillimation stated the Touhou Project fangames they produce are set in an entirely different timeline as they did not want to be put into a box of limited creativity.

Up until Phase Two, all games were scrolling shooters, except for one as it is a breakout-style puzzle game. Starting with Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria, the franchise has been diversifying into other genres, including role-playing games.

Series Comprising the Universe

Chuhou Joutai

Main article: Chuhou Joutai

Chuhou Joutai is the core franchise that makes up the universe. It is said to be the signature IP of Drillimation Systems and comprises of three installments.

Touhou Project NES Demakes

Main article: Touhou Project NES Demakes

The Touhou Project NES Demakes are a side project of the Drillimation Danmaku Universe, with an aim of remaking the first five Touhou Project games that were released for the NEC PC-98 in the late 1990s onto Windows. This series was started in January 2020 when the first Chuhou Joutai game was still in development, and concluded with the release of Touhou 5: Mystic Square NES Demake in June 2022.

History

In the mid-2010s, after Drillimation ceased producing GoAnimate videos, they decided to produce their own games independently. Drillimation wanted to gain profit for what they distribute while maintaining control over distribution. The game's creator, having played the Touhou Project games as a child, wanted to create a "shared universe" of bullet hell titles. To get started, the team decided to make an original title set within Gensokyo. After two and a half years of planning, Drillimation's first title, Chuhou Joutai, officially began development in the summer of 2018, when the Prophet Driller was 18 years old. Since Chuhou Joutai was a commercial title, Drillimation had to make changes to ensure they were in line with ZUN's distribution rules. Some of the names that originated within Touhou Project, such as Gensokyo to Land of Illusions or Kozan, were changed to avoid potential trademark conflicts. Drillimation previously had a controversial start through unauthorized use of pre-made assets that were protected by copyright, which Drillimation ceased to use upon receiving a DMCA notice from the original rightsholder.

Chuhou Joutai was released on Steam on May 22, 2020, to positive reviews. Following the good reception, Drillimation began work on its sequel, Chuhou Joutai 2: Paraided!, in December 2020. The demo for Paraided! was released on March 5, 2021 to overwhelmingly positive reviews, with the beta releasing on April 30, 2021 and the full game releasing on July 2, 2021.

List of games

Phase One

Game	Release date	Genre	Platform(s)
Chuhou Joutai	May 25, 2019 (demo) May 22, 2020 (official)	Manic shooter	PC
Touhou 1: The Highly Responsive to Prayers NES Demake	January 31, 2020 (official)	Action-puzzle	PC
Touhou 2: The Story of Eastern Wonderland NES Demake	October 2, 2020 (beta) October 16, 2020 (official)	Manic shooter	PC
Chuhou Joutai 2: Paraided!	March 5, 2021 (demo) July 2, 2021 (official)	Manic shooter	PC
Touhou 3: The Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dreams NES Demake	September 24, 2021	Versus shooter	PC
Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story NES Demake	February 11, 2022	Manic shooter	PC
Touhou 5: Mystic Square NES Demake	June 3, 2022	Manic shooter	PC
Chuhou Joutai 3: Three Nights of Scarlet Abscess	October 7, 2022	Manic shooter	PC (Steam only)

Phase Two

Game	Release date	Genre	Platform(s)
Touhou Meijinka ~ Song of Divine Tempest	December 8, 2023	Manic shooter	PC

Future

Game	Intended release date	Genre	Platform(s)	Current Status
Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria	May 3, 2024	RPG	PC, Nintendo Switch	Post-production
Touhou Kichouden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria 2	2025	RPG	PC	In development

Reception

All games in the franchise have garnered a positive critical response, with reviews averaging from 3 to 4 stars.

Copyright issues

When Chuhou Joutai: The Middle State of War was in development, Drillimation did not have the license to the Touhou Project franchise, meaning the Prophet Driller was limited onto what he could reference within the game. However, late in development, Team Shanghai Alice's Jun'ya Ohta had loosened his content usage rules for Touhou Project fangames released onto Steam, leading to the sequel Chuhou Joutai 2: Paraided! including many elements from the franchise such as the Hakurei Shrine and the Mini-Hakkero.

When Paraided! was released onto Steam, Drillimation was forced to put in a legal disclaimer stating that all elements originating from Touhou Project were for parody purposes and any resemblance being coincidental. It should be noted that using an element from a copyrighted work for parody purposes is considered Fair Use under US copyright law for transformative purposes. Drillimation chose not to release the Touhou Project NES demakes on Steam partly due to asset flipping, which ZUN prohibits in his content usage rules, even though they also fall under Fair Use.