Touhou Kaikidan: Mystic Square
In Mystic Square, the player has the choice of four unique protagonists, all of whom come from one of the two previous danmaku shooter games in the series. The main characters of the series, Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, are joined by their former enemies Mima and Yuuka Kazami on a journey into the depths of the Makai. In Mystic Square, Alice Margatroid also makes her first appearance as an antagonist, who later makes a comeback in Perfect Cherry Blossom. Although limited by the PC-98 hardware, Mystic Square is the most refined of the PC-98 Touhou titles, offering gameplay very similar to that of the Windows Touhou games. It uses a variation of Lotus Land Story's dream bonus system, in which the player is rewarded for taking risks (such as collecting points at the top of the board). However, the ranking system is more lenient than that of Lotus Land Story.
Story
For no apparent reason, large numbers of demons and youkai from Makai, the world of demons, begin traveling to Gensokyo, flooding the land and leaving Reimu Hakurei with a lot of work to do in eradicating them. Frustrated, Reimu tracks down the origin of the invasion in the "cave where the gateway to Makai is said to be", located in the mountains behind the Hakurei shrine. Reimu decides that it is her duty as a shrine maiden to find the cause of this chaos. Unbeknownst to her, Marisa Kirisame has learned of her plans and decides to follow her in hopes of discovering some unique powers she can steal in Makai. Elsewhere, Mima, the evil spirit of the Hakurei shrine, and Yuuka Kazami, the youkai, also decide to travel to Makai, although they have their own reasons for doing so. In the cave, the heroine encounters the guardian of the gate to Makai, Sara, and finishes her off with ease before taking a speedy flight through the border between worlds. In the process, the heroine encounters a demon named Louise traveling in the opposite direction, and crushes her as well. The heroine then arrives in Makai above a huge dark city, where she is confronted by Alice Margatroid, who attacks her with the help of her living dolls. After defeating her, the heroine flies away from the city and to a gloomy fortress that rises in the distance. On the way there, the witches Yuki and Mai appear and try to prevent her from advancing, but in the end they have little effect. As she enters the Pandæmonium Fortress, the heroine flies past fantastic crystal designs and fights her way through legions of enemies. Once at the top, she is met by a strange person named Shinki, who politely informs her that the demon invasion is entirely the fault of a civilian travel agency offering tours of Gensokyo, and that it is beyond their jurisdiction. Before the protagonist can inquire what this means, they are interrupted by Yumeko, who adamantly insists that Shinki back off so she can dispose of her uninvited guest. After defeating the maid, the protagonist meets Shinki again, who now explains to him that she is actually the god and creator of Makai herself. She promises to take care of the tourist problem, but only after severely punishing the heroine for disturbing her realm. This final battle is extraordinarily violent, and Shinki's enormous power causes much of Makai to go up in flames. At an unspecified later date, the heroine again encounters Alice Margatroid, this time in a strange wonderland. Alice is now in possession of a great grimoire that gives her great magical powers, and challenges the heroine to a rematch. After a long battle and her second defeat, Alice laments her inability to defeat the heroine before fleeing with the book.