osu!

This entry is still being researched.

About

Osu! is a freeware rhythm game based off Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (押忍！闘え！応援団, Yeah! Fight! Cheer Squad in english) for PC, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. The Gameplay consists of tapping, sliding, or catching objects on the screen in rhythm with a song's "beatmap" to earn points.^[1]

Gameplay

Osu! is divided into four core game modes, as well as a mode for editing or creating new beatmaps. In all game modes, the player is scored by their accuracy, including the number of notes they hit or miss, as well as how close to the rhythm the player hit the notes.

Standard

Standard, sometimes referred to as osu!standard or simply as osu is the main and most popular game mode within osu!. The gameplay involves tapping circles, following sliders, and rotating spinners with any combination of mouse, keyboard, tablet or touchscreen. This game mode is based on Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan.

Mania

Mania, or osu!mania involves the player hitting up to ten notes arranged similar to the keys of a piano in time with a song or beatmap. This game mode was loosely inspired by Beatmania IIDX, and similar rhythm games such as Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

Taiko

Taiko mode involves the player hitting a drum in time with the notes that appear onscreen, which can either be red, indicating the centre of the drum, or blue to indicate the rim of the drum. In addition, drum rolls and balloons require the player to rapidly alternate between red and blue notes. This mode is a port of the Japanese rhythm game Taiko no Tatsujin (太鼓の達人, Drum Master in english).^[2]

Catch the Beat

Catch the beat, or CtB involves the player moving left or right to catch fruit falling from the too of the screen in rhythm with a song or beatmap. This game mode is not based on any other rhythm game.

Beatmap Editor

While not technically a game mode, the beatmap editor is included with osu! as a separate interface for designing and creating beatmaps to be played in the other game modes. These can be submitted online to receive ratings or approval by moderators and other members of the osu! community.

/r/place Logo

A large rendition of Osu's logo was placed on the /r/place canvas, which quickly became a site of disagreement between fans of the game who wished to preserve the logo, and other Reddit users attempting to draw over or entirely erase the image. This, in addition to the ambitiously large size of the image relative to others on the canvas, led to it's unfinished and vandalized state.^[3][4]

Reception

Osu has over 6.6 million registered users as of July 25, 2015.

External References