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, formerly known as ZUN Soft, is a Japanese ''dōjin'' game
developer Developer may refer to: Computers * Software developer, a person or organization who develop programs/applications * Video game developer, a person or business involved in video game development, the process of designing and creating games * Web d ...
. Since 1995, the sole member of the group, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed and self-published the ''
Touhou Project The , also known simply as , is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by one-man independent Japanese ''doujin'' soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. Since 1995, the team's member, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed ...
'', a bullet hell shoot 'em up series, as well as collaborated with other circles to produce related print works and music albums.


Name

"ZUN Soft" was originally created as a generic developer name for each
Touhou Project The , also known simply as , is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by one-man independent Japanese ''doujin'' soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. Since 1995, the team's member, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed ...
game. After Touhou's PC-98 era, ZUN changed the name of the team to "Shanghai Alice". According to ZUN, this name was chosen to fit the overall theme of the ''Touhou Project''. "
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
", to him, is a multicultural city where Western and Oriental styles meet, and "Alice" evokes a feminine or
gothic lolita is a subculture from Japan that is highly influenced by Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period. A very distinctive property of Lolita fashion is the aesthetic of cuteness. This clothing subculture can be categorized into three ...
feeling. "Fantasy Ensemble" (幻樂団 ''Gengakudan'') stems from ZUN's unsuccessful attempt to register the group as a music circle for
Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-ru ...
61 in December 2001; he decided to keep the name while applying as a game circle for Comiket 62, where he would release ''
Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is a 2002 bullet hell scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by Team Shanghai Alice. It is the sixth game in the '' Touhou Project'' series, and the first ''Touhou'' game to be released for Microsoft Windows. The story follows either the ' ...
''.


Productions


Games

As ZUN Soft: As Team Shanghai Alice:


Music CDs

''ZUN's Music Collection'' * * * * * * * * * * * ''Akyu's Untouched Score'' * * * * * Collaborations with
Twilight Frontier , known as Tasofro for short, is a Japanese ''dojin'' game developer. They are best known for their collaborations with Team Shanghai Alice (ZUN), which include seven official games in the '' Touhou Project'' series. Productions Games Music C ...
* * * * * * *


Member

Team Shanghai Alice consists of a single member, ZUN, who serves as the programmer, writer, artist, and composer for the group's productions. His real name is ; he picked the pseudonym due to its similarity to his given name. He was born on March 18, 1977, in
Hakuba is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 9,007 in 4267 households, and a population density of 48 persons per km2. The total area of the village is . Hakuba is an internationally renowned s ...
,
Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...
, and is well known among fans for his fondness of beer and his penchant for wearing
flat cap A flat cap is a rounded cap with a small stiff brim in front, originating in Britain and Ireland. The hat is known in Ireland as a paddy cap; in Scotland as a bunnet; in Wales as a Dai cap; and in the United States as an English cap, Irish cap ...
s. He has sometimes playfully referred to himself as the "Hakurei
Kannushi A , also called , is a person responsible for the maintenance of a as well as for leading worship of a given .* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The characters for are sometimes also re ...
" (博麗神主, "head priest of the Hakurei Shrine"). In 2012, ZUN revealed that he had recently married a programmer, with whom he has 2 children. His interest in creating music began in elementary school, when his parents gifted him an
Electone Electone is the trademark used for electronic organs produced by Yamaha Corporation, Yamaha. With the exception of the top end performance models, most Electones are based on the design of the Electric organ#Spinet organs (1949–), spinet electro ...
as a birthday present. In junior high school, he played the trumpet in a brass band and began composing his own music. In 1995, he began developing a series of bullet hell video games under the name "ZUN Soft" while studying mathematics at
Tokyo Denki University is a private university in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1907 as . It was chartered as a university in 1949 with Yasujiro Niwa as first president. Denki (電機) means an electric device in Japanese, and th ...
. The games, which would become the first five entries in the ''
Touhou Project The , also known simply as , is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by one-man independent Japanese ''doujin'' soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. Since 1995, the team's member, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed ...
'' series, were developed for NEC PC-9800 personal computers and published by Amusement Makers, a student video game development club: * * * * * After graduating in 1999, ZUN was hired by as a video game programmer by
Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...
. He is credited in the production of several titles: *' (
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
, 2000) *''
Magic Pengel ''Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color'', known as in Japan, is a 2002 role-playing video game developed by Garakuda-Studio and Taito for the PlayStation 2, published by Agetec in North America. Studio Ghibli also collaborated with this game, with ...
'' (PlayStation 2, 2002) *'' Bujingai'' (PlayStation 2, 2003) *''
Graffiti Kingdom ''Graffiti Kingdom'' is an action role-playing game developed by Taito for the PlayStation 2 console in 2004, and is the sequel to '' Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color''. The game's soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, better known for hi ...
'' (PlayStation 2, 2004) *''
Exit Exit(s) may refer to: Architecture and engineering * Door * Portal (architecture), an opening in the walls of a structure * Emergency exit * Overwing exit, a type of emergency exit on an airplane * Exit ramp, a feature of a road interchange ...
'' (
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
, 2005) During this period, he contributed soundtracks to several games developed by his junior classmates in Amusement Makers, notably the , a series of bullet hell games for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
by Shunsatsu sare do? (瞬殺サレ道?). The series was intended as a counterpart to the ''Touhou Project'', featuring highly similar gameplay as well as cameo appearances by
Reimu Hakurei This is a list of the characters that belong to the ''Touhou Project'', a series of ''danmaku'' and fighting video games by ZUN from Team Shanghai Alice. Most ''Touhou'' characters reside in a fictional realm called Gensokyo (, 'Land of Illusi ...
,
Marisa Kirisame This is a list of the characters that belong to the ''Touhou Project'', a series of Bullet hell, ''danmaku'' and Fighting game, fighting video games by ZUN (video game developer), ZUN from Team Shanghai Alice. Most ''Touhou'' characters reside in ...
, and Yuuka Kazami: * - part of the ''Seihou Project'' * - a bullet hell game by Pietoro (ぴえとろ) based on the manga ' * - part of the ''Seihou Project'' * - a collection of six
MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
tracks for the Roland SC-88 Pro, including unused music from ''Shuusou Gyoku'' In 2007, he left his job at Taito to focus on the development of the ''Touhou Project''. Later that year, ZUN provided programming for , a beer-themed bullet hell game published by . The game uses the same engine as ''
Mountain of Faith is the tenth main game in the ''Touhou Project'', and the twelfth game overall. As with the other main ''Touhou'' games, ''Mountain of Faith'' is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game. ''Mountain of Faith'' was released in the Comiket 72 in ...
'' and shares many similar gameplay features, including a "Beer Gauge" that increases shot power based on damage dealt. In addition to the ''Touhou Project'' games, ZUN has provided writing for several official ''Touhou Project'' print works, produced in collaboration with various illustrators and publishers: * *, which consists of: **''Eastern and Little Nature Deity'' (2005–2006) **''Strange and Bright Nature Deity'' (2006–2009) **''Oriental Sacred Place'' (2009–2012) **''Visionary Fairies in Shrine'' (2016–2019) * * * *, which consists of: **''Silent Sinner in Blue'' (2007–2009) **''Cage in Lunatic Runagate'' (2007–2009) ** * * * * * * * * * The releases of ''Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red'', ''Perfect Memento in Strict Sense'', ''Strange Creators of Outer World'' Volume 2, and ''The Grimoire of Marisa'' were accompanied by bonus CDs containing arrangements and compositions by ZUN. Additional CDs were included with several ''
tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' releases of official manga: ''Eastern and Little Nature Deity'' (2007), ''Strange and Bright Nature Deity'' (2008, 2009, 2009), ''Silent Sinner in Blue'' (2008), ''Oriental Sacred Place'' (2010, 2011, 2012), and ''Forbidden Scrollery'' (2016). Rarely, ZUN has collaborated in the production of unofficial ''Touhou'' works, creating tracks for two
fangames A fangame is a video game that is created by fans. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. Many fangames attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, gameplay, and characters, but it ...
and four ''dōjin'' albums: * - album by sound sepher * - compilation album by
Comic Toranoana Comic Toranoana (コミックとらのあな) is a dōjin shop operated by the Toranoana Inc. (株式会社 虎の穴). This shop specializes in selling manga-related items. It is also known by the name, "Toranoana", or simply, "Tora". About ...
, included with ''Seasonal Dream Vision'' fanbook * -
shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...
game by D.N.A.Softwares * -
mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...
game by D.N.A.Softwares * - album by Disaster and D.N.A.Softwares * - album by Columbus Circle Since December 2009, ZUN has written the monthly column , in which he discusses his favorite locations for food and beer, his daily life, game development, and topics related to the ''Touhou Project''. The columns are often accompanied by photos and/or guest artist illustrations; it was serialized in
Comptiq is a Japanese computer game magazine, first published in 1983, by Kadokawa Shoten. The name "Comptiq" came from combining the words "computer" and "boutique". Originally a PC magazine, its focus shifted from computers to computer games. As of S ...
magazine until July 2013, and in
Comp Ace is a Japanese PC game, computer game and manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. ''Comp Ace'' began as a special edition version of another one of Kadokawa Shoten's magazines, ''Comptiq''. The first issue was released on March 26, 2005, and ...
since September 2013.


References


External links


Team Shanghai Alice - official website

Invisible Games and Japanese - ZUN's blog

@korindo - ZUN's Twitter account
{{Authority control Doujin music Doujin soft developers Touhou Project Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies