Undefined Fantastic Object

Undefined Fantastic Object

Title screen

Developer:	ZUN (Team Shanghai Alice)
Release date:	Demo 0.01: March 8, 2009 0.02a: July 19, 2009 Full Game 1.00a: August 15, 2009 1.00b: August 27, 2009 Steam: June 6, 2020
Previous game:	Subterranean Animism
Next game:	Double Spoiler (spinoff) Ten Desires (main series)

Undefined Fantastic Object (Japanese name: 東方星蓮船, Touhou Seirensen) is the 12th main series Touhou Project game, developed and released by the one-person doujin circle Team Shanghai Alice in 2009. UFO is known in the Touhou community for its unique resource system and high degree of difficulty relative to the other Touhou games.

The game was added to Steam along with Mountain of Faith and Subterranean Animism in 2020.

Controls

UFO uses the standard Touhou control scheme. The controls are designed for keyboards, but the game supports controllers with remappable controls.

• Z: Shoot
• X: Bomb
• Shift: Focus

On keyboard, movement can be done using either the arrow keys or the number pad.

Playable Characters and Shot Types

Undefined Fantastic Object has 3 playable characters, with 2 shot types each. Each shot type has different shot behavior and a different bomb.

This game is also notable for being the first appearance of Sanae Kochiya, the Mountain of Faith Stage 5 boss, as a playable character.

Reimu Hakurei

Reimu Hakurei			A	B
			Shot: Persuasion Needle Bomb: Dream Sign "Wild Exorcism Dance"	Shot: Homing Amulet Bomb: Spirit Sign "Fantasy Seal"
			Description: Reimu A uses a high damage forward focus shot, which is excellent for bosses. Her bomb is similarly designed, only covering a narrow area of the screen but dealing a lot of damage.	Description: Reimu B is a homing shot, which has a relatively low damage output but makes stage portions much easier. Her bomb also has homing properties, and does less damage than Reimu A's bomb as well.
			Strenghts: High damage output Best shot type for No Bomb play Weaknesses: May struggle on certain stage portions, like the Stage 4 spam section Low scoring potential	Strenghts: Great for stage portions Requires less advanced routing Weaknesses: Low damage output Homing shots can struggle to break UFOs at times Low scoring potential
			General Information: Reimu has the smallest hitbox and the slowest movement speed. While the small hitbox is an advantage for survival, it makes Reimu the lowest scoring character in the game, because graze box size is tied to hitbox size.

Marisa Kirisame

Marisa Kirisame			A	B
			Shot: Illusion Laser Bomb: Love Sign "Master Spark"	Shot: Super Shortwave Bomb: Magic Sign "Ultimate Shortwave"
			Description:Marisa A is a forward focus shot like Reimu A. Her lasers are piercing, which allows for damaging enemies when they're behind other enemies. Her bomb covers a large area of the screen and does a lot of damage, but she moves at 25% speed while bombing.	Description: Marisa B is quite an unusual shot type. She's a spread shot, and her back options, while unfocused at 3 or 4 power, shoot behind her. Marisa B is hindered by her low damage output, especially at the bottom of the screen where you can't take advantage of most of her spread hitting one enemy. Her bomb prioritizes clearing the screen over dealing damage.
			Strenghts: Highests damage output at the bottom of the screen Highest theoretical scoring potential Weaknesses: Massive speed reduction while bombing Large hitbox makes her hard to use	Strenghts: Decent scoring potential Weaknesses: Low damage output Bomb does very little damage and has very few i-frames Hardest shot type to 1cc with
			General Information: Marisa has the largest hitbox and the fastest movement speed. This means she gets the most graze naturally, increasing her scoring potential. However, the larger hitbox also makes her harder to use for survival.

Sanae Kochiya

Sanae Kochiya			A	B
			Shot: Sky Serpent Bomb: Snake Sign "Orochi of Ancient Times"	Shot: Cobalt Spread Bomb: Frog Sign "Wily Toad"
			Description: Sanae A is a homing shot. She shoots snakes, which will turn to hit an enemy when it reaches said enemy's horizontal position. This shot type has a similar damage output to Reimu B. She has a very similar bomb to Marisa B, in that it doesn't do much damage but it clears the whole screen.	Description: Sanae B is a spread shot, but with a high damage output as well. Her options deal splash damage, with the explosions dealing 4 points of damage per frame of contact. Her bomb starts off in a small area before exploding to clear the whole screen. During the entire time the bomb is active, the player is invincible. This bomb can deal a ton of damage, especially when placed on top of a boss right at the start.
			Strenghts: Better version of Marisa B's bomb Weaknesses: Low damage output Homing snakes can miss if you're very close to a boss	Strenghts: Bomb clears the entire screen and has a high damage output Bomb has an activation delay allowing for free graze before the screen is fully cleared Easy to use Highest damage potential 2nd highest scoring potential, just barely behind Marisa A Weaknesses: Not great for No Bomb runs
			General Information: Sanae is in the middle in both hitbox size and speed.

Difficulty Modes

Undefined Fantastic Object has 4 difficulty modes. The higher difficulties are, of course, harder, and also have higher scoring potential. The difficulty modes are:

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Lunatic

The game also has an Extra stage, which is treated as its own difficulty. Extra must be unlocked by getting a 1cc on Normal Mode or higher. This is one long stage with one long boss fight, and the difficulty of clearing it is somewhere between a Normal and Hard 1cc.

Basic Mechanics

Power

Undefined Fantastic Object has a power up system. The game starts you at power level 1.00, and power can not drop below this value. You gain power by collecting the red power items. Each new integer is a new power level, ie. 1.99 is the same as 1.00, 2.00 is a new power level. Power maxes out at 4.00, and you lose 1 power level when you die.

Lives and Bombs

UFO starts you out with 2 lives and 2 bombs. More lives/bombs can be gained by collecting life or bomb pieces, which are mainly gained through summoning red and green UFOs, explained in "The UFO System" section of this article. To get an extra life or bomb, you need to collect 4 life or bomb pieces. You also get a life piece after each boss/midboss, except for the Stage 4 and 6 midbosses, and the final boss. Without summons, you can get 3 extends.

Point of Collection

When moving above a certain height on the screen, all items will automatically be collected, with the exception of UFO tokens. All point items collected via this method will also be worth their max value.

Items

Undefined Fantastic Object has several items

Power Items

Item	Name	Value
	Small Power Item	0.01 Power
	Big Power Item	1.00 Power
	Full Power Item	4.00 Power

Point Items

Item	Name	Value
	Point Item	Current point item value

Resource Items

Item	Name	Value
	Life Piece	1 life piece
	Bomb Piece	1 bomb piece
	1-Up	4 life pieces (1 extend)
	Bomb Item	4 bomb piece (1 full bomb)

Trivia

Undefined Fantastic Object has several references to other shmups. A few examples:

• Sanae A's shot behavior is almost identical to Bornham's homing shot in Mahou Daisakusen
• The name of Shou's first spell card, Jeweled Pagoda "Radiant Treasure Gun," is a reference to Treasure's 1998 game Radiant Silvergun
• The small fairy section in Stage 6 is a reference to Space Invaders
• The Stage 4 and 6 midboss is a reference to the Extra stage midboss in Lotus Land Story
• Byakuren's 4th spell card, Great Magic "Devil's Recitation," is a reference to a pattern used by the final boss of Mystic Square

Despite requiring 4 life pieces for an extend, UFO reuses the life counter sprites from Subterranean Animism, which requires 5 pieces for an extend. This has caused many players to erroneously believe UFO requires 5 for an extend as well.

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References & Contributors

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External Links

UFO leaderboards on Royalflare

Resources for learning the game

Commentary on a former world record by Mino, ZM, and Zengeku