The nonsensically named Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers comes to the Switch a mere month after the release of the previous outing in the series of Touhou “official fangames”, Gensou Skydrift. After playing a dungeon crawler with cute waifus and loud music, as well as a Mario Kart: Double Dash clone with cute waifus and loud music, it’s time to see if the franchise works as a traditional arcade fighter… with cute waifus and loud music.

I’m not going to beat around the bush. Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers is one of the most mediocre and nonsensical fighting games I’ve ever played. It’s by no means a broken title per se, but this is so devoid of polish and care, it’s saddening. It truly feels like the other Touhou games I’ve played: not a lot of focus in content and substance, instead focusing way too much on below amateurish storytelling.

These games usually rely heavily on their story modes, where the developers can stretch their creative muscles and create nonsensical plots revolving around these cute waifus. Or more often than not, their submission towards each other. In this case, the plot revolves around the power to “possess” other characters, be it consensually or not, and use their bodies as a doubles partner in the game’s two-on-two fighting skirmishes. As usual, the plot assumes you know who everyone is and what the hell went on with the other fifteen or so previous Touhou games, even if each one of them features a story as superfluous as its predecessor.

In terms of presentation, Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers is… alright. It’s fine. These Touhou games are all about their cute waifu characters, so it is no surprise that this game actually features decent graphics. Characters are recreated in high-quality spritework and are surprisingly well-animated. They feel like they could have been part of a Capcom or SNK fighting game from the early 2000’s. The framerate is decent enough, but the backgrounds look lifeless and uninspired. Meanwhile, the sound design is basically comprised of a handful of bizarre but upbeat J-Pop tunes, just like pretty much every other Touhou game I’ve seen in recent memory.

Sadly, while the audiovisual presentation is alright, the rest of game feels either bad or effortless. For starters, a good chunk of the text wasn’t even localized. You’ll need to go to options menu to actually turn the English language mode on, which won’t make much of a difference in some menus. As expected, the rest of the translation is also quite poor. The modes themselves aren’t anything special. You have traditional fighting game modes and a story campaign, which like other Touhou games, is a series of voiceless stills with a ton of text being thrown onto you, with a fight every now and then to wake you up from boredom.

The problem is that combat mechanics are possibly the worst thing about Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers. Well, besides the nonsensical title. The control responsiveness isn’t bad, as pressing a button will immediately result in an action, but the game doesn’t properly explain how to play this absolute mess of a fighting system. You never understand which button does what. Sometimes, pressing a button makes you swap places with another character, while other times it will make you perform a special attack. 

The overall character movement feels weird as well. Since most Touhou games are actually shooters, the devs have decided to translate said “heritage” to a fighting system. This means that fighters can move up and down, as they’re constantly floating in mid-air. The brain dead AI acts less as a fighter and more like a bullet hell boss. They will constantly shove projectiles at you, spamming them in a manner that makes a five year old playing a fighting game look like an EVO pro.

At first I thought I’d be able to, at the very least, recommend Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers to fans of the Touhou multimedia project. But after playing it for a bit longer, I simply cannot tell anyone who’s into fighting games to waste their time with such a boring and effortless outing. A few well-crafted character sprites and a passable J-Pop soundtrack don’t make up for the poor localization and a nonsensical fighting system.

 

Graphics: 7.0 These Touhou games are all about their cute waifu characters, so it is no surprise that this game actually features decent graphics. Character sprites are detailed and well animated, the framerate is decent, but the backgrounds look lifeless and uninspired.	Gameplay: 4.5 The control responsiveness isn’t inherently bad, but there’s no rhyme or reason when it comes to this combat system. You never understand which button does what, the AI is brain dead, and the game does a terrible job trying to teach you its mechanics.
Sound: 6.0 There’s no voice acting in this game, just a ton of licensed J-Pop. It’s very repetitive but it’s not too bad.	Fun Factor: 4.0 Make no mistake, it technically works as a fighting game, but it’s really boring and totally lifeless. Fans of the franchise can have brief moments fun with yet another nonsensical genre experiment, but fighting enthusiasts will call this a joke.
Final Verdict: 5.0

Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers is available now on PS4, PC, and Switch.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers was provided by the publisher.