Shoot the Bullet
is a shoot 'em up photography game, and is the 9.5th official game in the Touhou Project by the dōjin circle Team Shanghai Alice. It was first released in the 69th Comiket on December 30, 2005. In English-speaking circles, the game's title is often shortened to just Shoot the Bullet, and abbreviated to StB. Gameplay In Shoot the Bullet, unlike other shoot 'em ups in the franchise, the player cannot shoot projectiles at enemies; instead, Aya, the main character, must shoot photographs to clear the screen of bullets and take down bosses (hence "Shoot" the Bullet). Scores are determined by the aesthetics of each photograph taken, such as colours and bullet density, and the risk taken to take these photos. For each "scene", Aya is only given one life to complete the objective — to take a certain number of pictures of the boss without being hit in a limited amount of time. To take pictures, the film must be fully loaded into the camera (100%). The player can move at three speeds, the normal speed, the focused speed, and a super-focused speed which also allows for high-speed film loading. When taking pictures, the player can hold the shoot button to control the viewfinder while the picture frame shrinks — this can be used to zoom in on the boss. During this time, all bullets on screen are slowed down and Aya cannot move. If the shoot button is held for too long, the film will get overexposed and Aya would have to reload the film. The player can also press the shoot button once without holding to take a snapshot around Aya. For every picture taken, Aya will need to reload the film from 0% again before she can take another picture. Only photos that contain an image of the boss ("Success" pictures) will be taken into account when tallying up the score. Plot Aya Shameimaru is the tengu reporter of the Gensokyo newspaper Bunbunmaru Shinbun, which she self-manages. Aya goes to search for suitable news topics by taking pictures of bullet patterns with her analog camera. She decides not to shoot subjects herself, because she doesn't want her own bullets in the picture. No one actually knows what she does with these pictures except herself. Apart from the game's synopsis, there is no traditional plot to follow. Aya faces a majority of bosses from past Touhou Project installments in levels featuring their Spell Cards. After reaching a preset score, she will leave a scene-specific comment of that Spell Card. The list of characters that Aya encounters are, in this order, Rumia, Wriggle Nightbug, Cirno, Letty Whiterock, Alice Margatroid, Keine Kamishirasawa, Reisen U. Inaba, Medicine Melancholy, Tewi Inaba, Hong Meiling, Patchouli Knowledge, Chen, Youmu Konpaku, Sakuya Izayoi, Remilia Scarlet, Ran Yakumo, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Eirin Yagokoro, Kaguya Houraisan, Komachi Onozuka, Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, Flandre Scarlet, Yukari Yakumo, Fujiwara no Mokou, and Suika Ibuki. Development The only member of Team Shanghai Alice, who goes by the pseudonym "ZUN", recognized that all past