Touhou Mother/YMMV

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Plenty:
  • Alice is presented as a Tsundere/borderline Yandere for Marisa; in fact, many Les Yay pairings are hinted at.
  • Kanako is willing to betray and backstab none other than her devoted priestess Sanae, becoming one of the game's Quislings and a Smug Snake.
  • Similiarly, Eirin is a cold-hearted monster who forcibly turns poor Reisen into another victim of Unwilling Roboticisation and engages in Cold-Blooded Torture.
• Complete Monster: Porky after getting his memories back, which comes as no surprise to fans of MOTHER/EarthBound. The Quislings are not far behind.
• Crack Pairing: Mima gets a quick Les Yay moment with Yuugi...

Yuugi: Wow, you guys were really reckless. Good thing I like 'em reckless!
Mima: Shut up and kiss me, you fool.

• • ... and then is outright propositioned by Satori Komeji. Yes, that Satori Komeji. Hilarity Ensues.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Seamlessly integrating the soundtracks of Mother, Touhou, Metroid, and many more games into one qualifies the entire score.
• Iron Woobie: Sanae.
• Mood Whiplash: All over the place. The game is so full of these that it's very easy to be laughing or enjoying a Crowning Moment of Awesome at one moment then bawling like a baby the next.
• Nightmare Fuel: Don't think about why Yuka has to leave the party near the end of the game for very long.
  • Ellie is left alone to guard Yuka's Mansion for a decade awaiting for her master to return, despite the fact that she never intended to return. Mind that she's living in the PC-98 Gensokyo where the sun no longer exists and almost everybody is gone.
    • In the sequel, it seems to be completely gone until it's mentioned that the PC-98 Gensokyo and the Windows Gensokyo fused. Meaning it got better.
• Player Punch: The ending of Sanae's first chapter, as well as pretty much any time the party runs into a victim of Unwilling Roboticisation. Each of these moments will likely increase your resolve to kill the monsters responsible.
  • Don't forget losing half the party before the final dungeon.
• Tear Jerker: A LOT!
  • Reading Mima's final message wherein she says good-bye to the old Gensokyo before going to sleep.
  • Most notably is the final battle wherein Reimu and Marisa (and guest member Tenshi) have been planted inside robot bodies and EVERYONE in Gensokyo attacks them, thinking they're the enemy. They do NOT fight back and their allies slowly begin to realize what they're doing, one-by-one. All it takes is thinking of the attack line, "Alice... suddenly began crying!" to bring the tears back.
• That One Boss: Fighting Cirno with Sanae.
• That One Dungeon: I'll never complain about Deep Darkness in Mother 2/Earthbound again after the similar dungeon in this.
  • The path to and completing the dungeon for the final melody is even worse since it's at least twice as long.