Alice Margatroid (Touhou Project)/RicePigeon's version

''If one word could be used to describe Alice, it's a coward. With her many dolls covering space for her and keeping her opponent away, this Alice's only weakness is Alice herself.''

Gameplay


Alice is technically a four-button character, but plays like a standard three-button character, using the extra buttons for shortcut;, when used combined with or  acts as a shortcut for the character's   and   dash commands.

True to Alice's personality, this character is centered around keepaway. All of Alice's normals have two different versions; the standard version, and a close range version done by holding or. The standard versions of her normals mostly involve the use of her dolls for attacking mid to long range, and each one covers a different area of the screen. The close range versions of her normals obviously lack the range of their default counterparts, but are generally faster and can chain into each other, whereas her standard normals do now.

Alice's specials also cater to her keepaway style. Volatile Doll, for instance, not only throws explosive dolls as far as 2/3 of the screen away, but also launches Alice backward from the recoil. Edo High-Explosive Pawn acts as a standard grounded projectile, used for zoning an opponent due to its differing speeds. Doll Placement controls both horizontal and vertical space, acting as area denial. Alice also possesses an EX version of this move which allows her to cover twice as much space. Doll Arrangement completes her arsenal of space control by covering the space around Alice, making approach difficult, or used offensively to pin an opponent in a corner. Doll Set can be used to bluff Doll Placement, and the doll will remain idle until activated or Doll Set used again. Doll Activation will activate Alice's idle doll, effectively turning it a homing version of Doll Placement. Skillful use of both Doll Set and Doll Activation can be used both offensively and defensively, such as extending combos or as a trap.

Alice's Hypers also focus on her keepaway style. Shanghai Doll is a standard laser beam that controls horizontal space, while Return Inanimate tosses a doll that explodes into a pillar, controlling vertical space. Goliath Doll is unique in that it is Alice's only true reversal due to having startup invincibility. Despite the attack's appearance, Goliath Doll is classified as a grounded melee attack, not a projectile, and thus cannot be blocked by airborne opponents. Holding will cause the doll to follow the opponent, but Alice herself will not gain any additional startup invincibility.

Her A.I. is almost entirely centered around keeping the opponent as far away from her as possible, and as a result it can be fairly easy, but also extremely tedious to fight against.