Founded | 1995 | (as "ZUN Soft")
---|---|
Founder | Jun'ya Ōta (a.k.a. ZUN) |
Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
Products | Touhou Project |
Website | www16 |
Team Shanghai Alice (Japanese: 上海アリス幻樂団 Hepburn: Shanhai Arisu Gengakudan, lit. "Shanghai Alice Fantasy Ensemble"), formerly known as ZUN Soft, is a Japanese dōjin game developer. Since 1995, the sole member of the group, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed and self-published the Touhou Project, a bullet hell shoot 'em up series, as well as collaborated with other circles to produce related print works and music albums.
"ZUN Soft" was originally created as a generic developer name for each Touhou Project game. After Touhou's PC-98 era, ZUN changed the name of the team to "Shanghai Alice". According to ZUN, this name was chosen to fit the overall theme of the Touhou Project. "Shanghai", to him, is a multicultural city where Western and Oriental styles meet, and "Alice" evokes a feminine or gothic lolita feeling.[1] "Fantasy Ensemble" (幻樂団 Gengakudan) stems from ZUN's unsuccessful attempt to register the group as a music circle for Comiket 61 in December 2001; he decided to keep the name while applying as a game circle for Comiket 62, where he would release Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.[1]
As ZUN Soft:
Title | Genre | System | Release date | Developer(s) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Highly Responsive to Prayers Tōhō Reiiden (東方靈異伝, lit. "Wondrous Tale") |
Block breaker | PC-98 | August 15, 1997 (Comiket 52) | ZUN Soft Amusement Makers |
[2] |
Story of Eastern Wonderland Tōhō Fūmaroku (東方封魔録, lit. "Demon-Sealing Record") |
Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | August 15, 1997 (Comiket 52) | ZUN Soft Amusement Makers |
[3] |
Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream Tōhō Yumejikū (東方夢時空, lit. "Dream Space-Time) |
Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | December 29, 1997 (Comiket 53) | Zun Soft Amusement Makers |
[4] |
Lotus Land Story Tōhō Gensōkyō (東方幻想郷, lit. "Fantasy Land") |
Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | August 14, 1998 (Comiket 54) | Zun Soft Amusement Makers |
[4] |
Mystic Square Tōhō Kaikidan (東方怪綺談, lit. "Bizarre Romantic Story") |
Shoot 'em up | PC-98 | December 30, 1998 (Comiket 55) | Zun Soft Amusement Makers |
[4] |
As Team Shanghai Alice:
Title | Genre | System | Release date | Developer(s) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Embodiment of Scarlet Devil Tōhō Kōmakyō (東方紅魔郷, lit. "Scarlet Devil Land") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 11, 2002 (Comiket 62) | Team Shanghai Alice | [5] |
Perfect Cherry Blossom Tōhō Yōyōmu (東方妖々夢, lit. "Ghostly Dream") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 17, 2003 (Comiket 64) | Team Shanghai Alice | [6] |
Imperishable Night Tōhō Eiyashō (東方永夜抄, lit. "Eternal Night Vignette") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 15, 2004 (Comiket 66) | Team Shanghai Alice | [7] |
Immaterial and Missing Power Tōhō Suimusō (東方萃夢想, lit. "Gathering Reverie") |
Fighting | Microsoft Windows | December 30, 2004 (Comiket 67) | Team Shanghai Alice Twilight Frontier |
[8][9] |
Phantasmagoria of Flower View Tōhō Kaeizuka (東方花映塚, lit. "Flower Reflecting Mound") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 14, 2005 (Comiket 68) | Team Shanghai Alice | [10] |
Shoot the Bullet Tōhō Bunkachō (東方文花帖, lit. "Word Flower Album") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | December 30, 2005 (Comiket 69) | Team Shanghai Alice | [11] |
Mountain of Faith Tōhō Fūjinroku (東方風神録, lit. "Wind God Chronicles") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 17, 2007 (Comiket 72) | Team Shanghai Alice | [12] |
Scarlet Weather Rhapsody Tōhō Hisōten (東方緋想天, lit. "Scarlet Perception Heaven") |
Fighting | Microsoft Windows | May 25, 2008 (Reitaisai 5) | Team Shanghai Alice Twilight Frontier |
[13] |
Subterranean Animism Tōhō Chireiden (東方地霊殿, lit. "Earth-Spirit Palace") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 16, 2008 (Comiket 74) | Team Shanghai Alice | [14] |
Undefined Fantastic Object Tōhō Seirensen (東方星蓮船, lit. "Star-Lotus Ship") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 15, 2009 (Comiket 76) | Team Shanghai Alice | [15] |
Touhou Hisoutensoku Tōhō Hisōtensoku ~ Chōdokyū Ginyoru no Nazo wo Oe (東方非想天則 〜 超弩級ギニョルの謎を追え, lit. "Unperceiving of Natural Law ~ Chase the Enigma of the Gargantuan Guignol") |
Fighting | Microsoft Windows | August 15, 2009 (Comiket 76) | Team Shanghai Alice Twilight Frontier |
[16] |
Double Spoiler Daburu Supoiraa ~ Tōhō Bunkachō (ダブルスポイラー 〜 東方文花帖, lit. "Word Flower Album") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | March 14, 2010 (Reitaisai 7) | Team Shanghai Alice | [17] |
Fairy Wars Yōsei Daisensō ~ Tōhō Sangetsusei (妖精大戦争 〜 東方三月精, lit. "Great Fairy Wars ~ Three Fairies") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 14, 2010 (Comiket 78) | Team Shanghai Alice | [18] |
Ten Desires Tōhō Shinreibyō (東方神霊廟, lit. "Divine Spirit Mausoleum") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 13, 2011 (Comiket 80) | Team Shanghai Alice | [19] |
Hopeless Masquerade Tōhō Shinkirō (東方心綺楼, lit. "Heart Elegant Tower") |
Fighting | Microsoft Windows | May 26, 2013 (Reitaisai 10) | Team Shanghai Alice Twilight Frontier |
[20] |
Double Dealing Character Tōhō Kishinjō (東方輝針城, lit. "Shining Needle Castle") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 12, 2013 (Comiket 84) | Team Shanghai Alice | [21] |
Impossible Spell Card Danmaku Amanojaku (弾幕アマノジャク, lit. "Bullet Curtain Amanojaku") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | May 11, 2013 (Reitaisai 11) | Team Shanghai Alice | [22] |
Urban Legend in Limbo Tōhō Shinpiroku (東方深秘録, lit. "Deep Secret Record") |
Fighting | Microsoft Windows | May 10, 2015 (Reitaisai 12) | Team Shanghai Alice Twilight Frontier |
[23] |
PlayStation 4 | JP: December 8, 2016 | [24] | |||
Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom Tōhō Kanjuden (東方紺珠伝, lit. "Ultramarine Orb Tale") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 14, 2015 (Comiket 88) | Team Shanghai Alice | [25] |
Hidden Star in Four Seasons Tōhō Tenkūshō (東方天空璋, lit. "Heavenly Jade Dipper") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 11, 2017 (Comiket 92) | Team Shanghai Alice | [26] |
Antinomy of Common Flowers Tōhō Hyōibana (東方憑依華, lit. "Spirit Possession Bloom") |
Fighting | Microsoft Windows | December 29, 2017 (Comiket 93) | Team Shanghai Alice Twilight Frontier |
[27] |
PlayStation 4 | April 22, 2021 | [28] | |||
Nintendo Switch | April 22, 2021 | [29] | |||
Violet Detector Hifū Naitomea Daiarī (秘封ナイトメアダイアリ, lit. "Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 10, 2018 (Comiket 94) | Team Shanghai Alice | [30] |
Wily Beast and Weakest Creature Tōhō Kikeijū (東方鬼形獣, lit. "Oni-Shaped Beast") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 12, 2019 (Comiket 96) | Team Shanghai Alice | [31] |
Sunken Fossil World Tōhō Gōyoku Ibun ~ Suibotsushita Chinshū Jigoku (東方剛欲異聞 ~ 水没した沈愁地獄, lit. "Strange Tale of Advice ~ Submerged Hell of Sunken Sorrow") |
Bullet hell and platformer | Microsoft Windows | October 24, 2021 | Team Shanghai Alice Twilight Frontier |
[32] |
Unconnected Marketeers Tōhō Kōryūdō (東方虹龍洞, lit. "Rainbow Dragon Cave") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | May 4, 2021 | Team Shanghai Alice | [33] |
100th Black Market Barettofiriatachi no Yamishijō (バレットフィリア達の闇市場, lit. "Bulletphiles' Black Market") |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 14, 2022 (Comiket 100) | Team Shanghai Alice | [34] |
Unfinished Dream of All Living
Beast King Garden (東方獣王園 Tōhō Jūōnen) |
Shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows | August 13, 2023 | Team Shanghai Alice |
ZUN's Music Collection
Akyu's Untouched Score
Collaborations with Twilight Frontier
Jun'ya Ota | |
---|---|
太田 順也 | |
Born | Hakuba, Nagano, Japan | March 18, 1977
Alma mater | Tokyo Denki University |
Occupation | Game developer, music composer, comic writer |
Years active | 1995–present |
Team Shanghai Alice consists of a single member, ZUN, who serves as the programmer, writer, artist, and composer for the group's productions. His real name is Jun'ya Ōta (太田 順也 Ōta Jun'ya); he picked the pseudonym due to its similarity to his given name.[51] He was born on March 18, 1977, in Hakuba, Nagano,[51] and is well known among fans for his fondness of beer and his penchant for wearing flat caps. He has sometimes playfully referred to himself as the "Hakurei Kannushi" (博麗神主, lit. "head priest of the Hakurei Shrine").[52] In 2012, ZUN revealed that he had recently married a programmer, with whom he has 2 children.[53]
His interest in creating music began in elementary school, when his parents gifted him an Electone as a birthday present.[54] In junior high school, he played the trumpet in a brass band and began composing his own music.[54] In 1995, he began developing a series of bullet hell video games under the name "ZUN Soft" while studying mathematics at Tokyo Denki University.[51] The games, which would become the first five entries in the Touhou Project series, were developed for NEC PC-9800 personal computers and published by Amusement Makers, a student video game development club:[55]
After graduating in 1999, ZUN was hired by as a video game programmer by Taito. He is credited in the production of several titles:[citation needed]
During this period, he contributed soundtracks to several games developed by his junior classmates in Amusement Makers, notably the Seihou Project (西方Project Seihō Purojekuto, lit. "Western Project"), a series of bullet hell games for Microsoft Windows by Shunsatsu sare do? (瞬殺サレ道?).[56] The series was intended as a counterpart to the Touhou Project, featuring highly similar gameplay as well as cameo appearances by Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, and Yuuka Kazami:
In 2007, he left his job at Taito to focus on the development of the Touhou Project.[59] Later that year, ZUN provided programming for Uwabami Breakers (黄昏酒場 Tasogare Sakaba, lit. "Twilight Bar Room"), a beer-themed bullet hell game published by "The Drinking Party" (呑んべぇ会 Nonbe-ekai).[60] The game uses the same engine as Mountain of Faith and shares many similar gameplay features, including a "Beer Gauge" that increases shot power based on damage dealt.
In addition to the Touhou Project games, ZUN has provided writing for several official Touhou Project print works, produced in collaboration with various illustrators and publishers:
The releases of Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, Strange Creators of Outer World Volume 2, and The Grimoire of Marisa were accompanied by bonus CDs containing arrangements and compositions by ZUN. Additional CDs were included with several tankōbon releases of official manga: Eastern and Little Nature Deity (2007), Strange and Bright Nature Deity (2008, 2009, 2009), Silent Sinner in Blue (2008), Oriental Sacred Place (2010, 2011, 2012), and Forbidden Scrollery (2016).
Rarely, ZUN has collaborated in the production of unofficial Touhou works, creating tracks for two fangames and four dōjin albums:
Since December 2009, ZUN has written the monthly column "Which Came First, Hakurei Kannushi's Games or Beer?" (博麗神主のゲームが先かお酒が先か Hakurei Kannushi no Gēmu ga Saki ka o Sake ga Saki ka?), in which he discusses his favorite locations for food and beer, his daily life, game development, and topics related to the Touhou Project. The columns are often accompanied by photos and/or guest artist illustrations; it was serialized in Comptiq magazine until July 2013, and in Comp Ace since September 2013.
Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team Shanghai Alice.
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