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Clears🎔

This page is dedicated to my 100 No Miss No Bomb Perfect Clears of Koishi's Extra Stage from Subterranean Animism! Below is a set of four MEGA links, each containing a folder with 25 replays. To watch any of these replays, simply download them and copy and paste them into your "replay" folder for the game Subterranean Animism. Most replays are ReimuA, but there is one for each shot-type and character.
❥First 25
❥Second 25
❥Third 25
❥Fourth 25

What do those words mean?🎔

In the Touhou games, one popular challenge is obtaining a "No Miss No Bomb" or "Perfect" Clear. To do this, you have to make no mistakes at all--using a single bomb or losing a life at any point immediately forfeits it. Many people have accomplished perfect clears of Koishi's stage, but I don't think there's anybody else whose done it over 100 times like I have!

Why?!🎔

It was my New Year's Resolution in 2024 to get my first perfect clear, something I never thought I'd ever be able to do to begin with. I spent several hours practicing, and got my first extra clear around the very beginning of January...far more quickly than I expected. There are two playable characters in Subterranean Animism, and three shot-types for both--so I thought, why not get one for each? Of course, I hit that challenge fairly quickly as well. It was only natural to do it 94 more times. I knew there's likely no other person on earth who loves Koishi enough to put themselves through something like that.

Practice Method🎔

I am absolutely certain that there's no way I'd ever be able to do something like this if I hadn't had access to a practice tool, a mod named thprac. thprac doesn't alter the game in any significant way; it just gives the player the ability to instantly jump to any portion of the game and retry it over and over, similar to saving a state and loading it in an emulator. To begin with, I first got 100 clears of all of Koishi's spellcards, just in the form of practice before actually attempting her extra stage. Then, I practiced the few portions of her extra stage that I struggled with. I was still very anxious in the first 30 perfect clears or so, but eventually my anxiety dissipated and I began to enter a flow stage every time I played the game.

It seems silly, but this challenge has been one of the most beneficial things in my life so far. It essentially taught me to have a growth mindset, an understanding that I can eventually learn to do almost anything provided I try and practice every single day, making small progress and improvement. It took me around 3 months in total to get my 100 Perfect Clears, and I had to make at least one attempt per day--sometimes multiple! I decided to start applying this mindset to more 'productive' things...such as learning web design!

Tips🎔

In the future, I'm going to write a large essay discussing Koishi's Extra Stage itself from a gameplay perspective, since it's just one of the many things I love about her. But I also feel like it'd be fitting to offer some tips for any players struggling with her stage right now. Apparently Koishi is considered to be one of the hardest Extra Stage Bosses in the franchise, but I genuinely cannot tell anymore!

❥Subterranean Mindset

I'll be very honest with you guys. I consider Subterranean Animism to be very poorly designed from a gameplay perspective for one simple reason: the fact that your Bombs are tied to your Power. Actually, I think it's pretty much the worst decision ZUN has ever made. Without getting into too much detail, it essentially forces the player into a lose-lose situation. Game too difficult? Just use a Bomb! Of course, you lose some Power...and when you lose Power, you can't defeat enemies fast enough...so things get really dangerous and overwhelming...so you Bomb again and lose even more Power...then you run out of Bombs and power...then you can't stop getting hit...yeah...
For most players, you are going to want to avoid bombing or losing a life at all during the stage portion. In fact, if you can avoid dying or bombing until Instinct 'Release of the Id,' that would be preferable. Always bomb if you're going to get hit anyways, but try to avoid using bombs unless you absolutely have to due to the aforementioned Peak Gameplay Mechanic.

❥Sanae is there too I guess

Likewise, you're going to want to practice Sanae a lot! You're not allowed to die or bomb to her at any point, it's unacceptable and I will tell the teacher if you do it. Nine Syllable Stabs is pretty easy; just use the background to orient yourself into the safe spot. Miracle Wind might be the most difficult--the key is to not hug the bottom of the screen, dodge the bullet streams by heading upwards and then back down. Rice Bumper Shower looks hard but at the end of the day it's just simple streaming. Micro tap left, left, left, and then slideeee left. Then start tapping right. You'll want to be looking upwards and dodging the stray bullets from above. Also, there's no shame in using the safe spot if that's more reliable for you.

❥Spatial Awareness

One of the most important skills in bullet hell games is the idea of "Knowing your Ship." Essentially, this means having a fine, intuitive feel of where your hitbox is even if you can't visually see this. This is something that's nice to have in most Touhou games, but it's a borderline requirement for Koishi. Many of Koishi's spellcards and non-spell attacks, such as Symbol 'Danmaku Paranoia,' range from pitifully easy to utterly impossible if you do not have a good grasp of your hitbox. Remember: you don't have to move as far as you think you do. Practice getting as close as possible without getting hit, often.

❥Research!

Watch gameplay footage from experienced players to see how they are tackling the cards! Take note of where they are positioned, how fast they are moving, and try to replicate it. This is particularly important for 'Philosophy of the Hated Person,' a card very challenging if you do not know the best tactics for handling it.

❥Give yourself time

Even if you understand what you need to do to clear a card, your brain needs time to catch up. This is something I don't see many talking about in the Touhou community, but sometimes you will make improvement by just...waiting. There has been many times where I've struggled with a card, gave up, came back the next day, and it suddenly got incredibly easy overnight--even though I hadn't changed a single thing about my strategy. Remember to pace yourself.

❥Rorschach-Exclusive Advice

Koishi isn't actually a hard Extra Boss at all--the vast majority of her attacks are "static," which means there are no random elements as the attacks are the same every time. One exception to this is her hardest card, Symbol 'Rorschach in Danmaku,' which I only possess an 80% clear rate on!
Firstly, avoid hugging the bottom of the screen for Rorschach-you need space behind you, because you will be using it to dodge. Secondly, I've noticed something odd about Rorschach--If you align yourself vertically with one layer of bullet strings, if you stay in the same position horizontally and just fly upwards or downwards--you won't get hit at all. The best tactic I've found for Rorschach is to weave in and out of the bullet strings almost entirely vertically, making very little horizontal movements unless I know if I'm going to get hit.

Bragging Rights🎔

I'd also just like to point this out--in two of my replays, you might notice that there's a 1% slowdown rate. That's right...I had significant input delay and yet I still managed to Perfect Clear. Twice. That means you can do it, too! Remember to install vpatch for all your Touhou games.