Shanghai Alice Reprise has recently unveiled fresh details about Touhou Koumakyou: Classic – The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, an authentic recreation of the original title that coincided with the release of a modern remake today. Impressively, the game enables players to transfer save data and replays from the initial Touhou Koumakyou release, which debuted 23 years ago. It also incorporates enhancements like accelerated replay playback and the option to designate a “confirm” button in the key configuration settings.
Debuting in 2002, Touhou Koumakyou is the sixth installment in the mainline Touhou Project series and the first to be launched on Windows. While the game remains playable on contemporary PCs, it presents certain challenges. It often operates at an unusually high frame rate, causing events like boss battles to commence almost immediately, with the entire game progressing at a much faster pace than intended. Although fan-made patches exist, the original Touhou Koumakyou is essentially unplayable on modern PC setups without such modifications.
In response to these issues, Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic – The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (hereafter referred to as Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic) was introduced as a modernized version of Touhou Koumakyou. This remake has been rebuilt to support 1080p resolution, featuring rearranged music by original creator ZUN. It also includes new elements such as a Challenge Mode with unlimited lives and a feature to display the protagonist’s hitbox. Additionally, it marks the first official English localization of the title, along with support for 11 other languages.
Included alongside this release is Touhou Koumakyou: Classic, which faithfully reproduces the 2002 game, preserving the original UI, character sprites, and more. Although it is offered as a distinct application on Steam, it cannot be purchased independently and is made available at no extra cost to owners of the remake.
According to a statement by Shanghai Alice Reprise representative JUNYA, all replays and save data from the original Touhou Koumakyou Ver. 1.02h can be migrated to Touhou Koumakyou: Classic. Given that Touhou Koumakyou: Classic is a separate title replicating the original rather than a reissue of the original game, save data compatibility would typically not exist between the two. Nevertheless, the developers have reportedly undertaken additional efforts to enable this functionality.
Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic and Touhou Koumakyou: Classic are now accessible on PC (Steam), PS5, and Nintendo Switch platforms.