osu! is an open source rhythm game originally created and self-published by Australian developer Dean Herbert as a freeware. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 16 September 2007, with later ports to macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
The gameplay of osu! is based on the Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series of rhythm games, which primarily involves clicking notes, which appear as circles, using a cursor or finger. Since the game's release, three other official "rulesets" (game modes)[1:38] have been added, taking inspiration from various games. Unlike many rhythm games, levels in osu! are created and uploaded by users, increasing the range and volume of the song library. The game has about daily active users.
The game has a significant connection to Japanese culture and anime music. The community also frequently organizes tournaments between players.
Gameplay osu! is a rhythm game with multiple distinct game modes.[1:38] If the player misses too many notes, they fail the song and must retry. In-game settings, called mods, can change gameplay in different ways — for example, by speeding up the song or increasing the size of circles. Songs are mapped to levels called beatmaps, and the same song can include multiple beatmaps of varying difficulties. Some beatmaps, including a tutorial, are bundled with a new installation of the game, but more can be downloaded from the game's website or directly from the game.
Beatmaps can be created and uploaded by all users, though only certain beatmaps are considered to be official game content, known as ranked maps. In order for a beatmap to become ranked, it must go through a specific ranking process. In the game's single-player mode, scores on beatmaps can be compared with other players, who are ranked on an online leaderboard. Scores are also measured using their performance points (abbreviated as PP), which account for various aspects of a player's skill and determines the player's rank on the overall player ranking. Users can add others as friends and chat in-game, and multiple multiplayer modes allow groups of people to play beatmaps either synchronously or asynchronously with each other.[0:58]
Rulesets (game modes)
The game's original and most popular ruleset, based on Ouendan, is also known as osu!standard. There are also three alternative rulesets, osu!mania, osu!taiko, and osu!catch, and the game additionally supports user-generated custom rulesets.[1:35]osu!standard is the original game mode of osu!. The game mode revolves around three types of notes — hit circle, slider and spinner. Hit circles appear as notes over a song's runtime, and the objective is to click or tap on the circles at the appropriate time and in the correct order, aided by rings called "approach circles" that close in on the hit circles to visually indicate the timing; more points are awarded the closer the approach circles are to the hit circles. The core gameplay is inspired by the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and its sequel Elite Beat Agents. Slider notes require that the player click and hold while moving the cursor across its predefined path. Spinner notes require the user to click and hold while rapidly spinning their cursor or finger around the centre of the screen.
osu!taiko is a game mode inspired by the rhythm game series Taiko no Tatsujin; it involves circles moving from right to left, requiring key-presses when they reach the left side. The user is presented with two main types of notes, "don" (red) and "kat" (blue), and they must differentiate them based on their colour and hit one of the two corresponding keys for that colour on their keyboard, with the user only receiving score if they pressed either one of the appropriate keys. The game mode also features large notes which reward the player with extra points when they press both of the corresponding keys for that colour at the same time rather than one key. Besides the common notes, the game mode also features drumrolls and swells, where the user must repeatedly hit both keys to clear the note.
osu!catch, formerly Catch the Beat, is a game mode loosely based on the "Catch It!!" minigame in early versions of rdm/rhythm-it, a Beatmania simulator, which was itself derived from the EZ2CATCH mode in EZ2DJ. In it, fruits fall from the top of the screen; the player controls a character at the bottom, whom they can move left and right with the goal of catching as much fruit on a plate as possible, earning them score.
osu!mania is a vertically scrolling rhythm game based on and named after rhythm game Beatmania. There are two types of notes, standard and hold notes; hold notes must be held down and released. The game mode splits the screen of the user into up to 18 different columns, or "keys," with each column being designated a different key on the keyboard. osu!mania is most commonly played as 4 key, due to the popularity of StepMania, or 7 key, due to the popularity of O2Jam. The goal of the player is to press the appropriate key at the correct time, as each note reaches the judgement line at the bottom (or alternatively top) of the screen.
Devices Osu! has been noted for encouraging the use of unique input devices — although the game can be played with a computer mouse, it is very often played with a graphics tablet with a pen, which more closely emulates the gameplay of Ouendan. The accessibility of using a mouse and keyboard is another reason given for the game's popularity. Gaming keyboard manufacturer Wooting released a three-key keyboard dedicated to playing osu! due to the popularity of their keyboards among the game's players.
Beatmaps Beatmaps are the game's levels, and consist of game objects mapped to a song. A singular song may have multiple beatmaps of varying difficulty. These beatmaps are aptly named difficulties, and they together form a mapset or spread. Multiple mapsets can be created for the same song. Confusingly, "beatmap" technically refers to a mapset rather than a difficulty, though colloquially beatmap is used to refer to a difficulty and mapsets are called mapsets. This article follows the colloquial usage. "Beatmap" is a pun on bitmap.
Mapping While the majority of users only "play" the game, meaning they set scores on beatmaps, there is a sizable community of users who also create, or map beatmaps using the game's beatmap editor. These users are known as mappers. In addition to placing the objects in a beatmap, mappers also add sound effects, known as hitsounds, to each object that play once the object is clicked (or released).
Beatmap Categories Uploaded beatmaps fall into one of six categories. +Map Status OverviewCategoryLeaderboardAwards PPUse BeganDescriptionRankedYesYesOctober 21, 2007Passes the ranking criteriaLovedYesNoOctober 17, 2016Passes community-vote, ignoring ranking criteriaQualifiedYesNo (Since August 25, 2015)December 12, 2013Provisional, a map put in a one week slot of time prior to rankingPendingNoNoOctober 21, 2007Map has been marked by creator as pending, awaiting nominationWIPNoNoMarch 11, 2008Map has been marked by creator as a work in progressGraveyardNoNoMarch 11, 2008Map has not been updated for 4 weeks or longerApprovedYesYes (Since August 21, 2012)July 31, 2008Similar to Ranked, except it was used for maps that partly did not pass older ranking criteria Ranked maps are the game's official content. They are maps that have adhere to the ranking criteria and have passed through the ranking process, which involves receiving two nominations from Beatmap Nominators (BNs), a group of well respected and community-vetted mappers granted the authority to decide which beatmaps meet the quality standards required to become a ranked map. Ranked maps have individual leaderboards, and scores on ranked maps award performance points.
Loved maps do not meet the ranking criteria, but are "loved" by the community, and thus are given an individual map leaderboard. Maps are nominated or loved through a form, and nominated maps are voted on monthly by the community. Maps that receive over 80% yes votes are then added to the loved category. Scores on loved maps do not award performance points. Introduced October 2016.
Qualified maps have received two nominations but are not yet ranked. After a map receives two nominations, it becomes qualified for a week to promote the map to more players. If a map is found to have issues during the qualified period, it may be disqualified, and will need to receive two new nominations. If a qualified map has not been disqualified for the seven day period, it becomes ranked. Qualified maps have individual leaderboards, and while scores on qualified maps used to award performance points, this was removed on August 25, 2015. Introduced August 2014.
Approved is defunct. It included maps that were either longer than a certain amount of time (initially four minutes and thirty seconds, later increased to six minutes), an attainable high score above a certain limit (initially ten million score, later increased to eighteen million ), or did not meet the ranking criteria in some specific manner (such as being especially challenging), but were still considered official game content. In the modern day, approved maps are functionally indistinguishable from ranked maps. Approved maps were required to receive three nominations from BNs rather than two. Approved maps had individual leaderboards, and scores on approved maps awarded performance points. Approved maps were introduced in 2008 and discontinued in 2014.
Pending maps have been completed and are either awaiting nominations from BNs or nominations to the loved category. Pending maps do not have individual map leaderboards, and scores on pending maps do not award performance points.
Work in Progress (WIP) maps are, as the name implies, still being worked on. While downloadable and playable from the website, they are incomplete products. WIP maps do not have individual leaderboards, and scores on WIP maps do not award performance points.
Graveyard is a category consisting of maps that were initially WIP or pending and have not been updated in four weeks. Maps in the graveyard are called graveyarded. Graveyarded maps do not have individual map leaderboards, and scores on graveyarded maps do not award performance points.
Modding Once a map is uploaded, it is given feedback, known as mods (not to be confused with game modifiers mentioned earlier, also called mods), before it is nominated. Users who mod maps are called modders, and modders may receive a reward for making helpful mods called kudosu, a portmanteau of "kudos" and "osu."
Development