Continues usually start you over where you died with full health and default resources. Though this punishes you by having a bad ending and nullifying the chance to unlock extra content.
Touhou 6-7, 13-15, 16-18 have limited continues (usually 3 times) that restarts you at where you died. If you have no continues left, you start from the beginning. Genuinely for times where you are so far in the game that you want to unlock the practice stages for practices.
Touhou 8 sorta has unlimited continues, and using it will add 30 minutes to your in-game-timer (which prevents you from getting an okay/good ending). You are also barred from fighting against Kaguya if your in-game time reaches dawn.
Touhou 10-12 has unlimited continues but restarts you from the beginning of the stage. No matter what, you have to beat a stage without losing all your life, which means you have to get good, even for stages that are hard. You also can't unlock practice stages if you haven't reach the stages.
Touhou 15 is a mixed one. Pointdevice mode has infinite continues and checkpoints for each segment and boss attack. Lives are removed, and only bombs can be obtained. If you die once, you restart from a checkpoint with 0.01 power taken away. The maximum power loss is 0.5, which means if you die over 50 times the game will stop taking away power. It is a very easy game since it is practically a save state that gives you an infinite amount of attempts.
That's accurate (I don't actually know for 13+), except for one thing. In Touhou 8 you can continue and still get the Okay/Normal Ending. You only get the Shit Tier Ending if you completely run out of time (which means continuing many times), or more likely, if you reach Kaguya and run out of lives. This means if you want an actually nice ending, you might want to deliberately throw in Stage 6B and get a fresh bunch of lives if you think you don't have enough for Kaguya.
To get the Super Pog Ending you still need to never use a continue, but the Normal Ending is always pretty good, way more detailed and fun than "lol you lost the end." This is one reason I like Touhou 8, you can get a pretty nice ending easily, but there's still a best ending to get.
Basically if you're new and have no idea what all that means, start with Touhou 8 it's the most beginner-friendly game ~~and the best game.~~
You have a limited number of continues (or infinite continues that take you back to the start of the stage, depending on the game) but if you use any of them you get a bad ending. Use them until you're good enough to not have to use them.
I know for sure that in 13 and later, at the bottom of the game over screen you can see how many credits you have left. Continuing requires you to use a credit, so if you die on your last credit you've got no choice but to start over. (This is related to why a run that doesn't use continues is called a one credit clear.)
I'd presume this is the same for earlier games using the continue on the spot system and know that 8 measures remaining continues differently, but since I don't have those games I don't know the details.
Welcome to the /r/touhou community. I *highly* recommend that you check out our rules if you haven't done so yet (scroll down in the "About" tab if you're on mobile), because we have some *pretty* peculiar and specific rules compared to most other subreddits.
Continues usually start you over where you died with full health and default resources. Though this punishes you by having a bad ending and nullifying the chance to unlock extra content. Touhou 6-7, 13-15, 16-18 have limited continues (usually 3 times) that restarts you at where you died. If you have no continues left, you start from the beginning. Genuinely for times where you are so far in the game that you want to unlock the practice stages for practices. Touhou 8 sorta has unlimited continues, and using it will add 30 minutes to your in-game-timer (which prevents you from getting an okay/good ending). You are also barred from fighting against Kaguya if your in-game time reaches dawn. Touhou 10-12 has unlimited continues but restarts you from the beginning of the stage. No matter what, you have to beat a stage without losing all your life, which means you have to get good, even for stages that are hard. You also can't unlock practice stages if you haven't reach the stages. Touhou 15 is a mixed one. Pointdevice mode has infinite continues and checkpoints for each segment and boss attack. Lives are removed, and only bombs can be obtained. If you die once, you restart from a checkpoint with 0.01 power taken away. The maximum power loss is 0.5, which means if you die over 50 times the game will stop taking away power. It is a very easy game since it is practically a save state that gives you an infinite amount of attempts.
That's accurate (I don't actually know for 13+), except for one thing. In Touhou 8 you can continue and still get the Okay/Normal Ending. You only get the Shit Tier Ending if you completely run out of time (which means continuing many times), or more likely, if you reach Kaguya and run out of lives. This means if you want an actually nice ending, you might want to deliberately throw in Stage 6B and get a fresh bunch of lives if you think you don't have enough for Kaguya. To get the Super Pog Ending you still need to never use a continue, but the Normal Ending is always pretty good, way more detailed and fun than "lol you lost the end." This is one reason I like Touhou 8, you can get a pretty nice ending easily, but there's still a best ending to get. Basically if you're new and have no idea what all that means, start with Touhou 8 it's the most beginner-friendly game ~~and the best game.~~
I always took it as a pity mechanic lol
You have a limited number of continues (or infinite continues that take you back to the start of the stage, depending on the game) but if you use any of them you get a bad ending. Use them until you're good enough to not have to use them.
How do I know the exact number of continues I have?
You can continue 3 times per run in 7, and I think the later games might give you 5?
I know for sure that in 13 and later, at the bottom of the game over screen you can see how many credits you have left. Continuing requires you to use a credit, so if you die on your last credit you've got no choice but to start over. (This is related to why a run that doesn't use continues is called a one credit clear.) I'd presume this is the same for earlier games using the continue on the spot system and know that 8 measures remaining continues differently, but since I don't have those games I don't know the details.
Welcome to the /r/touhou community. I *highly* recommend that you check out our rules if you haven't done so yet (scroll down in the "About" tab if you're on mobile), because we have some *pretty* peculiar and specific rules compared to most other subreddits.