I'm pretty certain that a steadily-validating rule of the Internet (probably Rule no. ⑨?) states that "If it exists, there is a Touhou-themed version of it".
Denne, if you haven't seen Touhou Soccer in action, Youtube it now. All characters have some kind of absurd action-montage for their shots that must be seen to be believed (a certain one of Kaguya's would have to be my personal favorite).
Since we're still on the subject of Touhou in regards to music; it's established that a lot of it is good, but the most impressive pieces tend to be reserved for 'final boss' characters.
"Septette for the Dead Princess" for
Embodiment of Scarlet Devil's Remilia and "Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms - Border of Life" for
Perfect Cherry Blossom's Yuyuko have already been posted, but here's the rest from all the Windows-series games:
Imperishable Night's Kaguya Houraisan:
Lunatic Princess - The Flight of the Bamboo Cutter
Phantasmagoria of Flower View's Shikieiki Yamaxanadu:
Fate of Sixty Years.
Mountain of Faith's Kanako Yasaka:
The Venerable Ancient Battlefield. Probably my personal favorite right after "Bloom Nobly" for the way it shifts in tempo and instrument throughout yet keeps the same level of energy.
Subterranean Animism's Utsuho Reiuji:
Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom - Nuclear Fusion. This series doesn't have a lot of really "tense"-sounding music, as difficult as the games are. This is one of several notable exceptions, and it's fitting for a boss that hurls
suns at you during the fight--smaller than the real one, of course, but they still take up half the screen.
Undefined Fantastic Object's Byakuren Hijiri:
Emotional Skyscraper - Cosmic Mind. Aah, don't you just love it when you have to fight a legitimate
good guy in a video game. Nobody
bad has theme music like this.
Honorable Mention:
Perfect Cherry Blossom's Yukari Yakumo:
Necrofantasia. She isn't the final boss, but rather a "bonus" boss. She is pretty much
unpossible to beat--the designer's own advice for surviving her breed of bullet hell is "Pray."
And to get it off my chest (I adore it so), I'll now hock more miscellaneous Touhou game music and remixes (I know, Ceil and possibly Denne will be the ones perhaps most interested, but this is love that must be spread):
Retribution for the Eternal Night. This is a gloriously fired-up take on the primary leitmotif of the entire series (which otherwise is heard on the title/menu screens).
Maiden's Capriccio is generally regarded as the main theme music of Reimu the Shrine Maiden (though she's had several), who's the primary heroine/player-character. This can't pass without me linking it.
Love-Colored Master Spark. Marisa the Witch is the other main playable character, and this is her song.
Mystic Oriental Dream - Ancient Temple. Mystical, ominous.
Broken Moon. Energetic.
Dancing Water Spray. I am reminded of a drunken brawl.
Higan Retour - Riverside View, and
a very traditional-sounding take by a circle called Alternative.
Gensokyo Millenium: The History of the Moon. The first time I listened to Touhou music and
knew where it was from, it was this.
Captain Murasa, and her stage music,
Interdimensional Voyage of a Ghostly Passenger Ship. Mixing both, a vocal cover by Liz Triangle:
The Anchor's Compass. Very theatrical ballad (I love that lady's voice) about the character's backstory; in Japanese, but the gist of it is a sailor's ghost finds a reason to exist (beyond terrorizing passing ships) thanks to the help of an altruistic priest.
Beware the Umbrella Left Behind. Vocal cover by Buta-Otome:
My Awaited Has Not Come. Watch the video, too--it's stylish as hell (also, subtitled)
Buta-Otome also did this cover of "U.N. Owen was Her?":
And Then There Were None. True to form, the video itself is also awesome (if mildly creepy).
Deaf to All but the Song is a cool name for a musical piece. And incidentally, cool music. It goes well next to the theme of the stage it plays for the boss of:
Song of the Night Sparrow.
The Dollmaker of Bucharest - Sync.Art's performs a beautiful vocal cover:
Sympathy Dolls. Sadly, never been able to find a proper translation for this one.
Some of you may have seen IOSYS'
Marisa Stole the Precious Thing fan-video/memetic goldmine. Well,
Marisa returns to her Precious Thing-Stealing ways to an orchestral score. For posterity, of course, here's poor flustered doll-wizard Alice Margatroid's original theme music:
Doll Judgement.
Corpse Voyage - Be of Good Cheer!. It's an awfully cheery theme for someone who's job it is to pitch condemned souls into a fiery hell. However, what comes next is an example of how wild Touhou fan works can get. This is IOSYS' take on it:
Heartful Neko-romancer. Sound suspiciously like Michael Jackson's
Thriller? Oh
hell yes it does.
Anyway.
There's a staggering amount of it out there, most of it thanks to the absurdly productive fanbase--you can find Touhou music covered in every conceivable genre.
I'm going to physically restrain myself from posting after just a last few more, which I feel totally obliged to link since Ceil dropped this gem:
Guess what? Someone got hip-hop in your Touhou, too. 'cause I mean...you know it was gonna. >_>
Flowering Night over Baghdad, brought to you by Outkast and Sakuya Izayoi.
Septette for the Overnight Celebrity, featuring Twista and Remilia Scarlet.
Withered Encore, Chen the Nekomata meets Jay-Z.
All Lifestyles 1969, Princess Kaguya and the Beastie Boys.
And
easily my favorite:
U.N. Owen was Eminem?.
G'night everybody!
