>>49617679 (OP)it's the beginning of the series, as far as most people are concerned, and critically, it was the first game to really enjoy any larger amount of success. even more critically, that larger amount of success wasn't within a franchise-specific niche of a niche, because there wasn't a franchise yet. it being successful within the larger doujin PC software market is what made touhou what is now, because that allowed a community to grow up around it.