Immaterial and Missing Power

TH7.5 Immaterial and Missing Power (東方萃夢想, romanized Touhou Suimusou, meaning Gathering Fantasy) is different from the rest of the Touhou series in that it is a fighting game. It was made through the work of both ZUN and Tasogare Frontier, the creators of Eternal Fighter Zero and Higurashi Daybreak. The game takes place between TH07 Perfect Cherry Blossom and TH08 Imperishable Night.

While making preparations for the feast three days away, Reimu is distracted by a strange powerful mist that is covering Gensokyo. She and many other inhabitants of Gensokyo (such as Alice and Patchouli) go to investigate.

Suika Ibuki is an oni. Although legends say all the oni are gone, Suika has decided to reunite the humans and oni by attracting them through partying. Using her special ability to spread across the land, she causes the humans and youkai to have feasts and parties. The more drunk she gets, the stronger she becomes, and she carries a gourd treasured by the oni, which never empties of sake.

-Touhou Wiki (Immaterial and Missing Power)

With that being said, IaMP introduces Suika Ibuki, the loli oni!

Wait.. how old is she!?

Suika is an interesting character. She seems to be the last of the oni race and it shows through her insane strenght. In IaMP, she is the freaking Juggernaut with her combos doing up to 4.5k damage without the use of a bomb. Her main ability is the manipulation of densities. This is evident in Story mode in which she turns into mist during her final Spell Card. She also has the ability to turn into a giant through the use of her SC and go on a rampage.

Now a little bit more info into IaMP gameplay. If you ever played Marvel vs Capcom or any fighting game similar to that, then you have a little bit of info on the IaMP system.

Xenozip's IaMP blog explains the nature of the game pretty well:

The game generally plays like a cross between Guilty Gear and Marvel, except without all the ridiculously long dial-a-combos. However, the strong emphasis on controlling space, zoning, trapping, baiting, and momentum exists in IaMP.

The game aesthetics are rather deceptive. At first glance it appears that a bunch of chibi lolita girls "farts rainbows and sneezes pixie dust" at each other, then "shit out stars and spin around like crazy bitches on counter hits" (quotes taken from Bellreisa and Lovely_K, respectively). However, there's quite a bit more to it than just the aesthetics, actually playing it is quite a different experience.

-Xenozip's IaMP Blog

Before going into detail with the IaMP fighting system, Ill list some differences that IaMP has in regards to other fighting games of its type...

Actually, instead of listing the differences from my mind, Ill put in another quote. This time it comes from the IaMP Wiki. I was thinking about linking it but I know you guys are too lazy to click a link. That being said, I opted to quote the specific section instead of linking.

• How can I tell if this game is for me or not?

Do not play Touhou Suimusou...

• if you are averse to playing a fighting game with chibi/loli characters.
• if you are not good a spotting situational combos.
• if you go in expecting this game to play like any other fighting game.
• if you do not like the idea of not being able to kill someone by chip damage.
• if you are easily discouraged or prone to game rage.

You should play...

• if you want something different in the fighting game field.
• if you are a fan of the Touhou franchise.
• if you can wrap your mind around the concept of full-screen footsies.
• if you like being immune to chip damage deaths.
• if you enjoy fighters that are more about depth in simplicity.

• What are some basic things I should keep in mind while learning the game?

• IaMP is a game of bad habits. You will develop them easily and not even recognize it, and you will have to fix them.
• It is very easy to rush that shit down in IaMP. Being able to do that in a measured and not easily escapable or counterable fashion is the difficult part.
• Movement, above all, is the most important aspect of this game. Knowing how grazing works and how you can manipulate your character'smovement to graze is essential, more than anything else.
• Very few non-situational BnBs exist in this game. Learning to spot situations and being comfortable enough with your character's moves that you can adjust the combos on the fly is important.

-FAQ - IaMP Wiki

That explains alot I believe. IaMP is different from other fighting games because it incorporates some Touhou danmaku elements to it. When watching IaMP gameplay videos, you would often see the whole stage fill up with projectiles. This really changes some strategy while playing the game since you not only have to worry about the speed and range of melee attacks, you also have to factor in projectile cover for attacks. Its kind of hard to understand when trying to explain it with words so I instead point to IaMP videos to let you guys understand what Im talking about.

Crazy Marisa and her Final Spark

Theres also the whole spell card system. Each character has a set of spell cards that are unique to them and the player has to choose which spell card to use. Once your character has enough "energy" to use a spell card, you can declare SC by pressing 22D (down down D). When declaring, you recover some HP lost. You can then use the spell card attack by pressing 236 D (down-forward D) or 214 D (down-away D) on some occasions. You can use your SC attack until your timer hits 0 or you are out of SC to use.

OMG I actually took screenshots!

I rather not explain story mode since its almost impossible, if you do try it (especially on Lunatic) then may God help you. Your enemy basically has unlimited SC. Not only that, their SC attacks simulate danmaku to the point that the whole stage will be filled with bullets.

It was a little bit rushed though..

There are 11 characters available to for play as of patch 1.11 with only Hong Meirin being the only character without a story mode. The characters are fairly balanced which is a hit or miss to some people. Personally, I get tired of seeing the same top tier characters in SSBM being used over and over again. At least in IaMP, all characters have a good chance of winning (except Patchouli vs Remilia). Of course, that means you dont see something like Pichu beating Fox, but you usually dont see something like that in tournament games.


Controls

The controls are responsive enough. The only problem is the timing of HJCs (High Jump Cancels) and combos.

You need to have very accurate timing! I cant even pull off Reimu's basic BnB (Bread and Butter [Basic]) combo of [5B 6B 623B 22C jB 236A 6D jB 236B 4D jB j5C] properly because I cannot get the timing between 6B and 623B. Hell Patchy's timing for [5A(enemy in air) 5B 236B] is pretty tight to start with.

Once you do get the timing right then you'll have an easier time playing the game since your gameplay would be smooth. Look at a couple of Patchy vs Patchy games to see what Im talking about.


Other features

Just like other Touhou games, you are able to save replay files of games played (including online games). This helps you learn from your mistakes and it also allows you to watch replays of games played in tournaments.

Online play is available with the download of Caster. Theres also a better version of Caster out there called CowCaster which has more features including instructions in English. A download is also available that allows you to "train" the CPU AI through watching replays. If you watch the right replays, you could end up with a really insane CPU to go against.

Want to change the color of the characters? Theres also a Palette Editor that changes the color of your characters.

Most of these downloads are available through the IaMP Wiki. The IaMP wiki is basically your one stop source for all things IaMP so its definitely worth the visit if your interested in the game.


IaMP Gameplay Videos
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Baazgkh2KLM (Yuyuko vs Patchouli)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fIA6L_yWzts&feature=related (Marisa vs Sakuya)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kKlW7bxdi-0&feature=related (Sword vs Butterflies)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RqitQxA-I6A (Remilia Lunatic Story)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=glEqdzLY2f0&feature=related (Patchy war)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=387Hf-4Sgkw&feature=related (Kansai Taikai 3rd Finals)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=82doXUWrgYQ&feature=related (Combo movie)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=y1KxdbhLU0k (Tohgeki Finals)