Actually, according to canon, Sakuya can't beat Meiling in a straight up fight.
Yeah, this according to Meiling herself, in a single win quote, in which (obviously) anyone who wins mocks the loser in some way or another making themselves looking stronger than they actually are (compared to the opponent).
Tetsamaru said:
Not many of the "weaker" characters can beat Meirin or Yuugi in a fight. But the Danmaku system essentially puts the bruisers on a handicap.
The danmaku system doesn't exclude physical fights, it's just that being mostly a shooting games series you have to follow the gameplay and can't see what "actually happened". In general, gameplay =/= canon. Not only in Touhou, but in 99% of given games.
The fighter games give a far better show of a spellcard battle in my opinion (the truth is in the middle, much more dodging than in the fighting games, but also some close combat unlike in the STG).
On a side note, Meiling is not the "physically strong" type that almost everyone thinks. She's very skilled at martial arts and combines this with the usual youkai superhuman strenght, but it isn't written anywhere that she is super-strong compared to other normal youkai.
Yeah, this according to Meiling herself, in a single win quote, in which (obviously) anyone who wins mocks the loser in some way or another making themselves looking stronger than they actually are (compared to the opponent).
The danmaku system doesn't exclude physical fights, it's just that being mostly a shooting games series you have to follow the gameplay and can't see what "actually happened". In general, gameplay =/= canon. Not only in Touhou, but in 99% of given games.
The fighter games give a far better show of a spellcard battle in my opinion (the truth is in the middle, much more dodging than in the fighting games, but also some close combat unlike in the STG).
On a side note, Meiling is not the "physically strong" type that almost everyone thinks. She's very skilled at martial arts and combines this with the usual youkai superhuman strenght, but it isn't written anywhere that she is super-strong compared to other normal youkai.
1. Mei Ling would be out of character if she lied about her own and/or other people's skill so you pretty much can rely in her opinion on such things.
2. Touhou-style Danmaku is designed to be impossible to kill directly so physical attack are NEVER used. The fights in the fighting games are not danmaku matches but street fights. Not ALL desputes are settled with danmaku.
1. Mei Ling would be out of character if she lied about her own and/or other people's skill so you pretty much can rely in her opinion on such things.
2. Touhou-style Danmaku is designed to be impossible to kill directly so physical attack are NEVER used. The fights in the fighting games are not danmaku matches but street fights. Not ALL desputes are settled with danmaku.
I don't know where you get the idea of Meiling being absolutely honest about everything. She isn't a oni you know.
The fighters use the spellcard system (not "danmaku system", i used a bad term before) like the shooters. In the shooters, physical attacks aren't used much only because it doesn't fit the gameplay, just like the bosses aren't actually just standing in front of the playable characters never dodging and taking thousands of hits, but there are some examples if you want, like Ran or Kagerou charging the opponent and forcing the player to avoid them, or Sakuya's "danmaku" being actual knives just like in the fighters. How those don't kill or at least seriously harm people (humans) isn't explained, but they are still knives. Meiling's victory quote is just a random quote, not a canon dialogue. How do you even explain characters quotes after fighting themselves? Yukari mentions a "mirror world" after defeating herself in VS mode, but that isn't canon anywhere. Even if you really want to take it as the only "truth", it is still limited to a battle with rules where Sakuya isn't allowed to stop time as much as she wants and stab the hell out of her until she wins. Besides, Sakuya's profile says that she is probably even better at physical fighting than she is at danmaku, so she wouldn't be helpless in close combat as many here think.
