This guide does not follow the current guidelines for proper speedrunning procedure. Please disregard any tips that suggest breaking the rules listed on the game page.
Hiya! This is a tutorial of Touhou Phantasmagoria of Flower View. Since there is no one that had a guide for this game. I decided to make one myself.
The Game
Unlike the main Touhou games (doesn't count spinoffs like fighting games, photo shoot, etc), there is no auto scrolling which is great because I really don't like auto-scrolling in Touhou. So for this (and Touhou 3 which plays similarly to Touhou 9 but Touhou 3 has different mechanics) one, you will be fighting each opponent in 9 stages. Immediately. Don't worry! They are pretty straightforward to beat them.
Characters
Since this is a speedrun, not a casual playthrough, you should pick the best characters in this game. To me, there are two characters that are recommended to speedrun in any difficulty selected.
Medicine
Medicine is one of the two best characters you can use to speedrun. Her EX causes your opponent to slow down if they get caught in the purple mist. Since their AI is already dumb (dumber in lower difficulty) enough to go to the purple mist and won't have time to dodge bullets, this can help you to finish them quickly once you let Medicine's EX do the work. Her spell card with a combination of her EX can be effective to the opponent that get stuck in the purple mist (especially in higher difficulty because of a lot of bullets will be coming out and the Ai wouldn't dodge a lot of it).
Aya
Aya is definitely the best character to speedrun. Her speed helps you to avoid bullets much quicker (don't go recklessly though). Her spell card is helpful since they don't spread bullets around them but instead, they aim right to your opponent. This works really well with opponents in lower difficulty. Her EX bullet is also helpful. Her EX bullet send a bullet that will aim to the opponent and head straight to them very fast. It also goes diagonally if it hit the wall. In lower difficulty, the opponent will most likely get by Aya's EX bullet because they are too slow enough to react.
Lives
Your lives in default are three but you can set to 4 or 5 (the highest) by going to the setting in the main menu. Having 5 lives helps if you are setting up dying intentionally starting at stage 6. You can get more lives by scoring but that would help in Hard and Lunatic because of long gameplay and more things to destroy.
Hit Point
In a match, you and your opponent have 5 hit points (the yin-yang orbs). In the start of the match, you would actually have 6 hit point while the opponent has 3 or 4 hit point mainly because you should be smart enough to dodge bullets while the opponent may or may not be stupid to die intentionally. In the middle (00:30) or late (01:00) of the match, the damage you or your opponent get hit by will increase. When you are in your last hit point, the game warns you about it and it will give your levels to level 4. This applied the same to your opponent.
Gameplay
After you select your difficulty and your character, you'll be facing your first opponent (and the next opponent in the next stage after). The objective of this game is to let the opponent die while you survive. In a speedrun, you need to let your opponent die fast.
During the match, there will be fairies you can shoot and destroy. Destroying them will explode and they will send dot looking bullets into the opponent screen. Destroying them will also increase your levels. When your levels make a bar, it will be level 1. 2 bars are level 2, 3 bars is level 3, and 4 bars are level 4. The game will let you know what level are you by the way.
Level 1 is your default. You won't lose level 1 so you'll keep it forever instead. Level 1 is making different shots that can help destroy a lot of fairies. Different characters have different level 1 though.
Level 2 is where you use your spell card. When you use Level 2, your bullets will be sent to the opponent screen and it will be activated. Whether or not your opponent will get hit from your Level 2 depends on the AI and the difficulty.
Level 3 is the same as Level 2. The only difference between Level 2 and 3 is that Level 2 sends regular bullets while Level 3 sends regular but harder bullets.
Level 4 is where you use your spell card but your other selves will be on the opponent screen. The other selves will use bullets to try to attack your opponent. Whether or not your opponent will get hit from your Level 4 depends on the AI and the difficulty. When your opponent uses their level 4, you can stop it sending out your level 4. It rarely happens if you are going to do that in a speedrun.
For levels in a speedrun, I recommended to only use level 2. If you use level 3, you would probably waste it and you would need to wait and kill more fairies until you get your level 2 back. If you use level 4, your opponent will most likely kill your other selves and get the special item which it would backfire your advantage and you would waste your levels. Using level 2 can hit your opponent. Although you shouldn't use it too much and use it at the right time. The opponent's level 2 and 3 can wipe out your level 2 and 3 so don't use your level 2 or 3 when the opponent is about to use their level 2 or 3.
Other than fairies, there are spirits you can destroy them. Destroying the spirits may or may not send your EX (twirl red thing) to the opponent screen. Once your EX is placed, it will activate and start to either effect (like Medicine's purple mist) the screen, spread around the screen or try to attack (like Aya's EX bullet) the opponent. If you hold the SHIFT button and a spirit come nearby, it would slow down and that makes it an easier target. However, letting them go would turn it into bullets and aim towards you.
Once you got your levels ready, you should wait for your opponent to get hit until they are on their last hit point. The opponent will mostly get hit by bullets or your EX bullet that is spreading around the opponent screen. This is because the opponent would either head straight to the bullet or the opponent didn't see it coming. You can use your level 2 to try to pressure and hit your opponent but they would usually miss. After the opponent gets to their last point, they are able to immediately get their level 4 and use it. The opponent will start to get aggressive and would like to use their level 2 or level 3 throughout the match. They can still be dumb though. It's really up to you if you want to get the special item from the opponent's level 4. However, you should start focusing on using your level 2 to try to hit your opponent's last point. If it misses, try to send another level 2. If it misses again, then wait until the opponent decides to head straight to the bullet.
After the opponent is defeated you'll move on to the next stages. There are 9 stages you need to complete. Stage 1-5 is pretty straightforward. Stage 6-9 however, is different.
Starting from Stage 6, your opponent will be defeated between 1:3X - 2:00. Why does it act like that? I don't know. But there is a tactic to get that IGT (In-Game Time) down quickly to 1:0X - 1:3X. When the match in Stage 6 starts, you should kill yourself by ramming to fairies and bullets. When you die, you lose a life but you get your levels to level 4. Don't worry about that because the opponent's AI in Stage 6 will be toned down. Because of that, the tactic makes match end much quicker than the normal way. This tactic repeats the same for Stage 7, 8, and 9. Please note that the tactic, however, doesn't affect stage 6-9 in higher difficulty (except stage 9...maybe)
Replay
After you finished 9 stages, you complete your run! After skipping the ending and credit, you have the option to save your run in the Replay. When you think your run is in good shape, you can go to Replay on the main menu and record your run as soon you show the result of the run and start Stage 1. Optionally, you can record your run in a live recording by starting from the beginning of Stage 1 to the end of Stage 9. But you would get annoyed on recording back and forth if you get a bad run.
RNGs (Random Number Generator)
Since there are RNGs in Touhou 9, you probably need to be patient enough if you want a better time. There are three RNGs in this game. 1 is where the opponent would use level 2 or level 3 rather than saving the levels for level 4. 2 is when will the opponent get hit by bullets. 3 is when will the opponent get defeated after their last hit point is gone.
IGTs for a Better Run?
In order to know which IGTs you should aim for a better run, go to this link: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqib7b. This is for Easy and lesser extent Normal difficulty. In the Hard and Lunatic difficulty, the matches may be a little longer but getting great RNGs should be able to stop the long matches.
Anyway, that is it for this tutorial! This guide may not be the best for you if you still don't understand about this game. If you do understand it, then that's great! I want to mention that this and Touhou 3 is my favorite out of all main Touhou games so I would like to thank ZUN for making these games exist!
