Tasogare Sakaba ~ Uwabami Breakers is a vertical scrolling Shoot 'em Up developed by a doujin circle known as The Drinking Party, and released in December 2007.
Notably, the game had involvement from ZUN, the creator of the Touhou Project, who among other things provided the game's engine (derived from Touhou Fuujinroku ~ Mountain of Faith) and composed the final boss theme. However, while the game uses the Spell Card mechanic and contains references to Touhou, it is a standalone game and should not be considered part of the series.
The game is set at the Twilight Bar Room, home to a group of master bartenders known as the "Uwabami Breakers" (literally "drunkard breakers") for their ability to bring down the heaviest of drinkers. No one dares challenge them... except for one drunkard: Isami Asama, an office lady and the game's playable character.
Gameplay is similar to that of Touhou, with features such as focused movement, Spell Cards, bombs and power, but has some differences such as bombs lowering your power cap, lives being replaced by a timer and resources resetting every stage. The game also has only 3 stages, as opposed to the usual 6 of Touhou, only one difficulty setting and no continues.
The game is free, and its official download page can be found here
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This game contains examples of:
- Antagonist Title: The "Uwabami Breakers" ("Uwabami" meaning "drunkard") are the bartenders at the Twilight Bar Room, who boast the ability to take down even the heaviest of drinkers, and whom Isami fights as the game's bosses.
- Charged Attack: You can charge up your shot to create a damaging circle of chopsticks around you. Releasing the button will cause them to home in on the nearest target.
- Drunken Master: The enemies in this game are food items, and you increase your shot's power by defeating alcohol themed enemies; the implication being that Isami becomes stronger the drunker she gets.
- Excuse Plot: There's a bar whose staff claims to be able to send even the heaviest drinkers under the table. The player character, Isami Asama, sets out to challenge their boast. Go.
- Level Ate: The whole game is this trope, as it takes place at a bar room where the enemies are floating food and drinks.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: In the ending illustrations, Isami outlasts the Breakers...but runs out of money, and begs them to give up their earnings for more drinks.
- Shout-Out: According to Isami's profile, it is said that people who get drunk until morning at the Twilight Bar Room will see "A mysterious world of danmaku". Since this profile was written by ZUN, it's likely a reference to Gensokyo, the setting of the Touhou Project.
- Smart Bomb: Like in Touhou Fuujinroku ~ Mountain of Faith and Touhou Chireiden ~ Subterranean Animism, you can use up your power to bomb, gaining temporary invincibility and dealing heavy damage. Unlike in Touhou, however, using a bomb will also reduce your power cap by 0.1 for the rest of the current stage.
- Timed Mission: The game doesn't have lives as such; instead, each stage is on a timer, and dying causes you to lose more time. Once time runs out, getting hit will result in a Game Over.
