Guide to the Supervillains
Only in English. Sorry.
From adamngshrine, the whatever website.
The supervillain icon from Discord, being the representative of the supervillain status
The Guide to the Supervillains is a guide to understand the concepts of Touhou Supervillain and everything else in it. This page was created to preserve the concept from the shmup community without relying on external websites (although they are better than this one, which is purely static), in case they burst into flame.
"Supervillain" is loosely based on the term "Superplayer". Superplayer was coined by ZUN in the 4th Touhou installment, Lotus Land Story, after you defeated Mugetsu and Gengetsu in the unlockable Extra stage.
By 2025, there are approximately 10 certified supervillains, equivalent to the number of Touhou fans who have actually played the games.
Links
Link to the supervillain list:
Touhou Project Discord's Supervillain Ranking Note: Most ranks are not to be taken seriouslyTerminology
The term "Supervillain" doesn't have an original meaning. One of the definitions being: "You simply call people villains if they have clears you don't, or have takes you disagree with, and heroes if they share your opinions".[1] There are a lot of LNN players according to Maribel Hearn's Lunatic No Miss No Bomb list, but a few players in the official Touhou Discord server have achieved their supervillain status.
Most supervillains exhibit the usage of the :supervillain: emoji when talking about relevant topics for specific gameplay. Or, in some cases, the non-supervillains can use the emoji to express surprises, shock, and horror at the routes they just witnessed.
Some argued that being a supervillain does not mean players need an LNN. They just need to do mind-boggling strategy or have an insane hot take and other players will call you a supervillain.
The alternatives
Aside from the overt usage of the word "supervillain", during the time it was invented, many alternatives were made, namely "superhero" and a more general term, "super". Most of these words are not meant to be antithetical to each other, as their meanings are independent. Hero and villain, at root, have more or less the classic meanings and connotations, but in the context of #danmaku, those meanings are up to the players' interpretations.
Despite the lack of an official definition, players still use the emojis depending on the situation, whether in chat or during TWC (Touhou World Cup) to convey their own supervillain meanings.
Contacts
If contributors find more supervillains, contact adamng04 via discord, or message them via bluesky.
References
[1]Leeow, A (2025). #danmaku, July 18, 2025. discord.gg/touhou.