There are a lot of crossovers out there. Some of them really make sense like Mario and Sonic. Some of them on the other hand make no sense like Scooby-Doo meets the Harlem Globetrotters. However there are crossovers that are just so perfect together that you almost think they were made for each other. This is one of them. The Pokemon Franchise is about a world of monsters (Many based of mythological creatures) that you can catch and fight other people with. The Touhou Franchise is about a world where mythological creatures gather and the shenanigans that happen. The combination of the Pokemon game engine with the characters of the Touhou Universe works surprisingly well.


Graphics (10): I rate Rom-Hacks based off what they do different from the original game. For Pokemon games that usually means how do the Fakemon look. I rate it on how they look, how well they maintain a consistent style, and how well they portray the character they represent. This game actually has nothing but Fakemon, all the Pokemon got replaced with various Touhou Characters. Not only can you identify every character based off their sprite. All the sprites not only good quality, but they maintain a similar feel. There are various versions of most of the characters, Child, Adult, Alternate, and a few Special. The Child sprites are all adorable, the Adult are all mature, the Alternate portray their unique function, and the Special are definitely unique. Aside from some minor graphic errors there is no real problems with it. Considering how much sprite work went into this and how well it worked, I think it deserves a 10.


Sound (10): Tounou Music being anything but awesome should be a crime. This game has all the soundtracks replaced with the classic Touhou tracks. Now having Touhou music with a Game-Boy sound capacity is tricky, however it manages to do a very good job without any real compression issues. All your favorite tracks are here, Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom, The Bridge no one Crosses, Love Colored Master Spark etc. Right outside the first town you can actually find a house where you can listen all the music tracks. I actually felt bad for playing the game sped up, because while it makes the slow pace of the gameplay more manageable, it also means you can't hear the awesome music. Now I was having a hard time deciding whether to rate this a 9 or a 10, because as good as it is can it really compare to Circle of the Moon because that's the gold standard for Game-Boy games in my opinion. Then I heard the theme for the fight against the League Champion and it was an easy 10.


Addictive (7): This game was pretty fun to go through and I actually did about 3 playthroughs, mostly because I had to restart twice. Once because I played on the wrong emulator and it couldn't save so I couldn't do post game content. And once because I lost my progress and had to restart. In the end I was not only willing to play through it that many times, but each time I got better at it. The more you learn about what makes this game unique the easier it becomes to get through it.


Story (7): Pokemon stories aren't exactly known for being incredibly deep. Maybe it's just me but by the end I find myself not really caring about what happens. But that's not a problem for me because the story isn't why I play, I play for the adventure of exploring a unique world full of unusual creatures. Some Rom-Hacks I've played have actually created unique plots that I actually got invested in. This is not one of those however, the plot is the exact same as the original . . . I think. While the main storyline is pretty much the same, since I don't remember the original word for word it may have some differences but I wouldn't be able to tell you. The game does actually have the entire Gold/Silver region that you can go through in the post game which is new for this version. Now I would normally rate the story a 5, but since I'm only rating this game for what it does unique the main story-line isn't counted. What I am counting is all the Pokedex Entries because that's where most of the text changes took place.

The Pokedex entries do a very good job in this game to capture the various character's personality and skills. Each of the different forms each character has has it's own piece of the character, so when you catch them all you have a decent look into the character. With just a few entries you can understand the basics of each character. It portrays aspects of both the Cannon and Fannon of the characters; considering how the Fannon is sometimes stronger than Cannon that makes sense. For people who have never heard of Touhou it does a good job describing all the characters.

The game does however have some issues, like having the wrong Touhou Character for the text, text for some of the people is gibberish several times in the Gold/Silver area. There is one or two times that a Pokemon name was not replaced, but for the most part they replaced all of them. It's not a perfect job but I've seen worse. However these issues do lower my rating a little bit.


Depth (8): Pokemon has always had a lot of depth to it. Beyond just beating the Main game, you also have the drive to try and actually catch them all. There are hidden areas to explore, legendary Pokemon to try and catch, and usually a good amount of post game content to keep your attention long after the main game is over. This game does all of that, as well as add a second region for you to explore as well with it's own elite group of trainers to fight. This game takes the normal amount of extra depth and pushes even more into it.


Difficulty (7): Pokemon games are not exactly difficult on their own. Any problematic areas can be solved with a different team setup, or just some good old fashioned grinding. This game on the other hand actually can be challenging.

You know how there are always those really weak Pokemon that you know you don't have to worry about. Magicarp, Rattata, Lovedisk, etc. This game doesn't really have that; while some of them are defiantly stronger than others, there are no definitive weak ones with maybe one or two exceptions. Each of the Touhou Cast is dangerous if you let your guard down, even a simple Rumia can take you out if you're not careful.

Almost all the characters have two alternate versions with the exception of Legendary and PC98. You can alter them with special shards (The equivalent of Evolution Stones). Using one of the shards if it's compatible with that unit will evolve them into an alternate version. They will have the same base stat sum as the standard version of it, but it favors one stat more depending on what version it is. A defensive alternate has much higher defense while an attack alternate has a much higher attack stat etc. Not only do the stats work more in favor of that style but they can learn different skills as they level up. Proper use of this can really make a difference as you can use a character more in the way you want to. You can turn some characters into super tanks, or glass cannons, or sweepers depending on how you alter them. Mind you you have to be in post game before this function opens up so you won't have to deal with it in the initial game (Except for the trainers that have alternate versions) but it's important to have a good grasp on before the end game.

This game might actually be harder for Pokemon Pro's than for newbies because a lot of the things we have learned are different. Some things are minor like Poison type is now called Miasma, no biggie. However, Miasma is super effective against water type now. This game does one thing I've always wanted and that's make ground and rock different. Rock type is replaced with beast type which is radically different, like weak to fire, water, and flying but strong against ghost and Faith type. I takes some time to get used to the new type system and looking up a chart for it is probably a good idea. Also some of the moves are different, like Furry Cutter is now a steel type version of rollout. The HM moves also got an improvement, like Flash being a 65 power 90 accuracy move that can lower accuracy, or cut being a 60 power steel type move that can't miss.

While the main game is certainly beatable the post game requires a lot more work as several of the Gold/Silver Gym leaders have very powerful teams that you have to fight. The Pokemon League alternative in the post game is actually really hard. There are 6 trainers and a final boss who I won't reveal both because of spoilers and because I never managed to get to him. All the trainers have level 100 Alternate Version teams and you have to beat them in a row, no healing up between fights. I never managed to beat them, but I didn't know how to properly use the Alternate versions so if I tried again with that I might have a better chance. That's actually part of interesting part of the game, there's a lot to learn about it which means when you try again you can do things that were hard that last playthrough without any issue.


Overall (9.5) The game has a lot of effort put into it. Beyond just changing sprites, they changed Pokedex entries, gave each character moves that match the character, created brand new moves like The World which is a 55 accuracy move guaranteed to freeze enemies if it hits. The moves were altered to be more useful. The types were changed to have better matches with the characters. The Alternate versions were added to help customize characters further. Enemies encounter chance is based off their stage, Rare encounters are usually Stage 6 and super rare encounters are Extra Stage. The balancing is well done, and the encounter placement makes a lot of sense.

This game is like a Jigsaw Puzzle, it's a lot of little pieces placed together to make a complete picture. A lot of work went into the details, trying to make everything fit together seamlessly. It takes two separate franchises and manages to piece it together with some hard work and dedication. The idea of combining these two franchises into a game was already a great recipe for a good game for the Touhou Fandom. But instead of just doing that they created a game which is great for anyone. This is why I love the Touhou Fanbase: Because it's willing to put so much work into the little things, in order to not just make a good crossover, but make a great game at the same time.