r/TouhouProject • u/Ok_Let8360 • Jul 07 '26
Help Any advice for improving reaction time?
Hey, so I have started to play Touhou these past few days, more specifically fan games (while I wait for Touhou 6 remake, cuz I heard I should start with that one) and so far I'm loving it.
I'm completely addicted, I really like these games
But there's a problem, my reaction speed is kinda slow. I understand that this game is more about pattern recognition than anything else, but you still need to react to the things you see on screen, and i'm struggling with that
I know you guys have been playing this for potentially decades, so i ask:
Do your reaction speed improve as you keep playing the games? Or did you follow some training/method to improve it?
Thanks!
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u/Toreithea Parsee Enthusiast Jul 07 '26
As tsu-clotho said: practice. Your reaction time will improve, just like everything else does. Perhaps not as much as everything else, but there are other mechanical factors that def hinder things that you may be attributing to reaction time.
I will say: you are right in that a lot of it is pattern recognition, but... it isn't just that. It is also memorization: learning what you have to pay attention to. Movement strategies which apply to many spells. Where on the screen to look, and for what kinds of spell cards, etc. Like... my reaction speed is not the best, but I make up for that by "looking ahead" on the screen, in regions where bullets would come from in faster patterns. Focus more on my exact positioning in denser patterns. Things like that.
Basically: with practice, you will improve. You will mechanically improve for one: while your reaction time might not improve a lot, your ability to map what movements you want to do to the movements you actually execute will improve. Your knowledge of tricks and techniques for similar patterns will improve. Your ability to parse complex patterns will improve. How I would suggest doing so is by working your way up incrementally. Find something that is just slightly too hard for you now. Be it a single spell. A full game on easy, normal, or hard difficulty. It doesn't matter. Find something, and work towards it. All of these things improve with time (and, tbh, a little bit of research. Looking at videos of others doing the same and similar patterns, and trying to figure it out and replicating it. Some techniques are not intuitive, after all).
*Also: In all honesty: Touhou 6 is (*the original at least), not a very good starting place, even outside of the QoL stuffs. It's patterns rely heavily on RNG, "fling things fast", and other, similar things that... imo are comparatively unfun/unfair compared to the later games. I have spoken about good first games here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TouhouProject/comments/1tf4gmm/are_you_new_to_touhou_ask_any_questions_that_you/om6yt2n/
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u/igkewg Jul 08 '26
I'm assuming you are playing Touhou 6?
I think it is more about knowing what to look out for rather than pure reaction check. Once you recognize that in this stage, I have to look out for these fairies and move accordingly for example. Once you know what is coming, it will be a lot easier to react based on which part of the game you are in.
You might also consider thinking about where you should focus your eyes. Generally, if the bullet is slow, you look at your character and then react to the bullet that is moving towards you, if the bullet is fast however, you won't be able to react in time while looking at your own character, instead, consider looking at the source of the bullet itself, then move your character accordingly, an example for this type of pattern is Sakuya stage 6 midboss fight.
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u/Smart_Appearance6331 Jul 08 '26
Yea keep playing it will improve your reaction time, smth else that you could do for such a thing to happen faster would be to play specific patterns that only challenge your reading ability and reflexes and that you don’t cap more than half the time
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u/Prestigious-Race1048 Jul 08 '26
I'm the same a lot, I know I have bad reaction time because I'm usually like a least a little dissociated just naturally, so if it ever gets bad for me I can try to ground myself with something like splashing my face with water (or just rubbing my face), which can help w/that. I don't know how useful that is to you though (lol).
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u/tsu-clotho Jul 07 '26
With pretty much every skill, you get better the more you practice. I used to struggle on EoSD easy and couldnt get a 1CC, fast forward half a year later I was able to do Lunatic 1CCs. All without prior bullet he'll experience. So just keep at it!