Wily Beast and Weakest Creature

Wily Beast and Weakest Creature is a vertical danmaku game. The player shoots enemies as they come from the top of the screen, while attempting to dodge their attacks, and fighting a boss at the end of each stage. During difficult sections, the player can use Spell Cards to clear the screen of bullets, but have a limited number available to them, meaning they must be used cautiously. However, they can enter Focus Mode at any time, which lets them deal more damage in a concentrated area, at the cost of movement speed. Enemies who are killed will drop either Power, which increases the player's damage, or Point Items, which contribute to replenishing the player's lives and spell cards.

Marisa attacks a group of enemy fairies. Multiple power-ups, including an Animal Spirit Item, are on-screen.

The available player characters are Reimu, Marisa and Youmu.[2] Reimu is the slowest character, but has homing bullets. Marisa is faster, and can collect items more easily. Youmu is the fastest character, and her focused shot can deal heavy amounts of damage at once, but requires a few seconds to charge.

Instead of a shot type, Wily Beast and Weakest Creature features three different "animal spirits" for the player to choose from, each with distinct abilities.[3] The personality of the player character also changes, depending on which spirit they have equipped.[4]

• Wolf spirit increases damage dealt while focused. The player character's personality becomes 'barbaric'.
• Otter spirit makes the Spell Card more powerful, and gives one extra Spell Card at the start of the game. The player character's personality becomes 'wishy-washy'.
• Eagle spirit increased damage while unfocused. The player character's personality becomes 'haughty'.

Somewhat similar to Undefined Fantastic Object, some enemies will drop Animal Spirit Items upon death, the spirits corresponding to the same types selected at the beginning of the game. Upon collecting three of a specific type, or any combination of five, the player will be given a temporary shield, that will clear the screen of bullets if the player is hit, but end prematurely, as seen in Perfect Cherry Blossom. For the duration of the shield, three wolf spirits will improve the focused shot, otter spirits will turn enemy bullets into Point Items, and eagle spirits will improve the unfocused shot. The effects of these are accentuated if they correspond to the player's selected spirit type.

ZUN said that he believed Wily Beast and Weakest Creature is the easiest Touhou game in the series.[5] It is the first main-series Touhou game to include achievements.

Animal spirits come to Gensokyo, under the pretext of an invasion. In actuality, they had no intent on invading, and merely caused a commotion to get the nearby humans to enter the Animal Realm, located in Hell, to stop Mayumi Joutouguu, who has created an army of living haniwa, which threatens to interfere with the natural order. The player character takes an animal spirit, and enters Hell through the Sanzu River.[6] Upon entering the Animal Realm, and confronting Keiki Haniyasushin, the animal spirit takes over their body, but does not act malignantly, as it has the same goal as the player character. After defeating Keiki, she accepts her defeat, offering to make an idol for Reimu, or a life-size figure of Marisa, though she declines this offer. However, Keiki is effectively exiled from Hell, and ostracised on Earth, a condition to which Youmu is sympathetic.

Shin Imai, writing for IGN, gave Wily Beast and Weakest Creature a 7/10. He praised the abundance of gameplay options offered by the multiple characters/animal spirits. However, while he did enjoy the general gameplay and the fact that challenging segments were approachable, he criticised the Animal Spirit Item collection mechanics for being confusing and too difficult for new players, and also said the level design felt "a little loose." He went on to say that while it was one of the easiest Touhou games, its difficulty overall made it hard to recommend to people otherwise unfamiliar with the genre.[7]

On Steam, over 97% of users gave the game a positive review.[8]

• Official announcement (in Japanese)