Osu!

Last updated

osu!
Original author(s) Dean "peppy" Herbert
Developer(s) osu! development team
Initial releaseSeptember 16, 2007;17 years ago (2007-09-16)
Repository https://github.com/ppy/osu
Written in C#
Middleware OpenTK [2]
Operating system Microsoft Windows
macOS
Linux (open beta)
Android (open beta)
iOS (open beta)
Size
  • osu! lazer
  • 670 MB
  • osu! stable
  • 220MB
Available in37 languages
List of languages
Arabic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, English, German, Greek, Spanish, Finnish, Filipino, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Type Rhythm game
License Freeware (stable build)

MIT (osu!lazer code)

CC BY-NC (osu!lazer assets [3] )
Website osu.ppy.sh   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Osu! [lower-alpha 1] (stylized as osu!) is a free-to-play rhythm game originally created and self-published by Australian developer Dean Herbert. Inspired by gameplay of the Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series, it was released for Microsoft Windows on 16 September 2007, with later ports to macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Osu!'s gameplay, based on the Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series of rhythm games, primarily involves clicking notes, which appear as circles, using the mouse cursor. Since the game's release, three other game modes have been added, taking inspiration from Taiko no Tatsujin and Beatmania . Unlike many rhythm games, levels in Osu! are created and uploaded by users, increasing the range and volume of the song library, which is a factor contributing to the game's popularity.

The game has a significant connection to Japanese culture and anime music. It has also had effects on the esports industry—professional gamers use Osu! to warm up and practice, and the community frequently organizes tournaments between players.

Gameplay

Screenshot of a beatmap being played in osu!standard Osu!Lazer Screenshot with Argon Skin.png
Screenshot of a beatmap being played in osu!standard

Osu! is a rhythm game in which hit circles appear as notes over a song's runtime, and the objective is to click on the circles at the appropriate time and in the correct order, [4] [5] [6] aided by rings called approach circles that close in on the hit circles to visually indicate the timing. [5] The core gameplay is inspired by the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and its sequel Elite Beat Agents. [4] Other types of notes require that the player click and hold while moving the cursor. [6] [7] If the player misses too many circles, they fail the song and must retry. [5] [6] In-game settings, called mods, can change gameplay in different ways—for example, by speeding up the song or decreasing the size of circles. [8] [9] Songs are mapped to levels called beatmaps, [4] and the same song can have multiple beatmaps of varying difficulties. [6] Some beatmaps, including a tutorial, are bundled with a new installation of the game, but more can be downloaded from the game's website. [4] [5]

Beatmaps can be created and uploaded by all users. [5] [7] [10] In the game's single-player mode, scores on beatmaps can be compared with other players, who are ranked on an online leaderboard. [5] Scores are primarily measured using their performance points, which account for various aspects of a player's skill. [8] [11] Users can add others as friends and chat in-game, [7] and the multiplayer mode allows groups of people to play beatmaps synchronously with each other. [5]

Game modes

The game's original and most popular mode, based on Ouendan, is also known as osu!standard. There are also three alternative game modes, osu!mania, osu!taiko, and osu!catch. [7] [10] In osu!mania, a mode based on rhythm game series such as Beatmania [4] and Guitar Hero , [7] the player must press the correct keys on the keyboard when notes reach the bottom of the screen. [7] osu!taiko is based on Taiko no Tatsujin ; it involves circles moving from right to left, requiring keypresses when they reach the left side. [4] osu!catch is based on EZ2Catch, a game mode in EZ2DJ. [12] In it, fruits fall from the top of the screen and the player controls a character at the bottom whom they can move left and right with the goal of catching as much fruit as possible. [7] [13]

Development

Osu! was created by Dean Herbert, an Australian developer known online as "peppy" or "ppy", [7] as a computer version of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents. [4] One of his goals was to create longevity through enabling users to generate beatmaps. [14] Herbert had experience creating video games prior to Osu!, having made some during high school and university, [15] : 05:34  but has said he did not think it would become his job. [16] : 00:20  He began developing Osu! while attending university and had a working build of the game after a few hours, which he shared with friends. [15] : 00:50  It was written in C# using the XNA framework. [15] : 03:24  The game's first public release was on 16 September 2007, [10] and an open beta was officially available starting on 17 October. [17] Due to the game's growth in popularity as well as user feedback, Herbert later added the extra game modes osu!mania, osu!taiko, and osu!catch. [4] After releasing Osu!, Herbert, who had been working full-time for an IT company, gradually reduced his work hours to focus on maintaining Osu!. [15] : 39:49  According to Herbert, as of a July 2014 interview for the official Osu! YouTube channel, the user interface of the game client and official website were undergoing full "revamps". [15] : 34:42  In the same interview, he expressed interest or intentions to add major features to the game, such as a multiplayer power-up system inspired by Ouendan and TetriNET , [15] : 16:14  3D rotation of the field of play, [15] : 25:23  and expanded multiplayer lobbies. [15] : 37:40 Osu! has two different builds, one being named osu! Stable, the original build, and osu! lazer which is a rewrite of the original game with new features and bugfixes, with the end goal being for osu! lazer to replace the stable build of Osu!, however, Herbert has stated that as long as people are still playing on osu! Stable he will continue to maintain it.

Legacy

Community and popularity

An audience watches players idke and RyuK compete at the osu! TwitchCon booth in 2018. Osu! TwitchCon 2018 Booth.jpg
An audience watches players idke and RyuK compete at the osu! TwitchCon booth in 2018.

Osu! has continued to gain popularity since its release, being widely shared on video and live streaming platforms like YouTube and TikTok. [14] [18] The game works on a model of community-generated beatmaps, which has been cited as a significant factor in its popularity and longevity. [7] [14] [19] A large portion of the available music consists of songs from anime [14] [19] —the game itself is aimed at foreign fans of Japanese culture and is influenced by it, particularly due to its inspiration from Ouendan and the general continuing association of rhythm games with Japan since the 1990s. [19]

Tournaments are held frequently as another mode of competition. [14] The Osu! World Cup is an annual tournament which comprises a group stage and bracket of the 32 highest-seeded national teams in the world, usually with 6 to 8 players on each team. [9]

Due to the game's emphasis on quickly moving the mouse cursor to precise points on the screen, some players of multiplayer online battle arena games and first-person shooter games use it to improve reflexes and mouse control, [20] and it has been specifically recommended by some esports professionals like Ninja and EFFECT. [5] [21] [6]

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 often recommended to use a graphics tablet with a pen, which more closely emulates the gameplay of Ouendan. [14] [4] The accessibility of using a mouse and keyboard is another reason given for the game's popularity. [14] Gaming keyboard manufacturer Wooting announced in March 2023 a three-key keyboard dedicated to playing Osu! due to the popularity of their keyboards among the game's players. [22] [18]

Critical reception

Jeuxvideo.com reviewed Osu! favorably with 18/20 points in 2015, praising its simple gameplay and its expansive community, but complaining about a high skill floor and its unoriginal gamemodes, as well as the prevalence of Japanese music, which they felt was excessive. [7] In 2010, MMOGames.com reviewer Daniel Ball said that while the game was very similar to Elite Beat Agents , it was differentiated by its community's large library of high-quality community made content and customization. [13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Pronounced variously in English: /ˈoʊsuː/ , /ˈoʊs/ .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Game controller</span> Device used with games or entertainment systems

A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device or input/output device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game. Input devices that have been classified as game controllers include keyboards, mice, gamepads, and joysticks, as well as special purpose devices, such as steering wheels for driving games and light guns for shooting games. Controllers designs have evolved to include directional pads, multiple buttons, analog sticks, joysticks, motion detection, touch screens and a plethora of other features.

A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system, on different computing systems via a local area network, or via a wide area network, most commonly the Internet. Multiplayer games usually require players to share a single game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Due to multiplayer games allowing players to interact with other individuals, they provide an element of social communication absent from single-player games.

<i>Ōendan</i> Japanese sports rallying team

An ōendan (応援団), literally "cheering squad" or "cheering section", is a Japanese sports rallying team similar in purpose to a cheerleading squad in the United States, but relies more on making a lot of noise with taiko drums, blowing horns and other items, waving flags and banners, and yelling through plastic megaphones in support of their sports team than on acrobatic moves. In addition to cheering for their own teams, ōendan have been known to lead fans in cheers which tease and taunt the other team and its fans. This is usually done in the spirit of good competition, but occasional fights have broken out if the taunting gets too heated. Smaller ōendan are sometimes called ōenbu.

<i>Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan</i> Rhythm video game

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, or Ouendan, is a rhythm video game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console in 2005, for release only in Japan. Ouendan stars a cheer squad rhythmically cheering for various troubled people, presented in-game in the style of a manga comic. In each stage, players use the DS touchscreen to tap specifically marked spots that appear in rhythm to various Japanese pop songs, scoring points for accurate timing and avoiding a poor performance which can cause the stage to end prematurely. Though never released in Western markets, it was a popular import to these regions, leading to the development of the Westernized spiritual sequel Elite Beat Agents, as well as a direct Japanese sequel Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2.

<i>Elite Beat Agents</i> 2006 video game

Elite Beat Agents is a rhythm video game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It was released in North America, Europe and South Korea. As the second of three rhythm games developed by iNiS specifically for the DS, it is the spiritual sequel and international counterpart to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, a Japanese rhythm game released in 2005, sharing many common elements with it.

<i>Audition Online</i> 2004 video game

Audition Online, also known as X-BEAT in Japan and popularly called AyoDance in Indonesia, is a free-to-play multiplayer online casual Rhythm game produced by T3 Entertainment. It was originally released in South Korea in 2004 and has been localized by various publishers around the world. Audition Online is free to play, but earns revenue by selling virtual items such as clothes for the player's avatar.

Mihimaru GT were an urban and pop music group signed to Universal Music Japan and managed by Tearbridge Productions, a subsidiary of Stardust Promotion and Avex.

<i>Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2</i> 2007 video game

Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 is a rhythm video game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It is the third of three rhythm games developed by iNiS for the DS, and is the sequel to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan while incorporating many of the improvements in gameplay made in its international counterpart, Elite Beat Agents. The game has 4-player wireless play, supports the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak accessory, and was released in Japan on May 17, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rirura Riruha</span> 2005 single by Kaela Kimura

"RIRURA RIRUHA [リルラ リルハ]" is the third single by Japanese pop singer Kaela Kimura, and the first from her album Circle. Released March 30, 2005, it peaked at number three on the Japan Oricon singles chart, Kimura's highest charting single to date. By the end of 2005, Real Life Real Heart had sold 117,299 copies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pop Star (Ken Hirai song)</span> 2005 single by Ken Hirai

"Pop Star" is a song by Japanese singer Ken Hirai. The single went on to top the 2005 Oricon Charts and is known for its remarkable music video, featuring Ken in seven different personas, including a raccoon and his own manager. The Video also helped Hirai break into the US and Canadian Markets where stations would play the video despite the fact that it was in Japanese. The song was featured in the Nintendo DS game, Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2, as well as on Taiko No Tatsujin 8 and Taiko No Tatsujin Portable 2 for the PSP. It is also a track in the Konami's Jubeat Ripples series. Its latest appearance is in the Namco game Happy Dance Collection for the Nintendo Wii. The song was also featured in the Japanese drama Kiken na Aneki starring Ito Misaki.

Japanese rock duo B'z has released 22 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, nine extended plays (EP), 62 singles, and 20 live albums. With more than 86 million sales in Japan, the duo is the best-selling artist in Japan and with 100 million sales one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atsuki Kodō no Hate</span> 2002 single by Bz

"Atsuki Kodou no Hate" (熱き鼓動の果て) is the thirty-third single by B'z, released on June 5, 2002. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon charts. The song was featured in the arcade drumming game Taiko no Tatsujin and also on the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan.

<i>Jubeat</i> Video game

Jubeat, stylized as jubeat, is a series of arcade music video games developed by Konami, and is a part of Konami's Bemani line of music video games. The series uses an arrangement of 16 transparent buttons in a 4x4 grid for gameplay, and each of the 16 buttons overlays a screen.

Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain additional revenue from a title after it has been purchased, often using some type of microtransaction system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Linda</span> 1987 single by the Blue Hearts

"Linda Linda" (リンダリンダ) is a single by the Japanese punk rock band the Blue Hearts that was released on May 1, 1987. Lyrics and music were written by Hiroto Kōmoto, the band's lead vocalist, and was arranged by the Blue Hearts. The track reached No. 38 on the Oricon charts during its release year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loop & Loop</span> 2004 single by Asian Kung-Fu Generation

"Loop & Loop" is a song by the Japanese rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. It was the second single released from their second full-length studio album, Sol-fa, on May 19, 2004.

<i>Worms Reloaded</i> 2010 video game

Worms Reloaded is a 2D artillery turn-based tactics video game developed by Team17 that is part of the Worms series. The game was first released on Microsoft Windows via Steam, on August 26, 2010.

Rhythm game accessories are often required to play rhythm games available for various consoles, such as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. These include dance pads, guitar controllers, drum controllers, microphones and turntable controllers. With the exception of microphones, these controllers can generally be used to control any game, but have limited inputs, making them impractical for most games.

The Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series was developed by iNiS Corporation exclusively for the Nintendo DS system and published by Nintendo. It consists of the Japan-exclusive Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan duology and its international counterpart, Elite Beat Agents, which contains the same gameplay but had its characters and themes adapted to fit a Western audience.

References

  1. ↑ Walavouchey; 0x84f. "osu!(lazer) Updates: May 19, 2024". osu!. Retrieved 24 May 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Herbert, Dean (30 June 2016). "a long-overdue update". ppy blog. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2021. Until now we used some XNA code for input handling and low-level structs. These dependencies are almost compeletely [sic] removed from the project now, with OpenTK or similar open-source frameworks replacing them.
  3. ↑ "GitHub - ppy/osu-resources: assets used by osu!". GitHub. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Gonzáles, Mariela (5 September 2019). "Gaming Sounds: osu!, cuando el ritmo se convierte en nuestro séptimo sentido". The Objective (in Spanish). The Objective Media. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rodrigues, Gabriela (19 September 2019). "Como baixar Osu! e treinar sua mira no Fortnite e CS:GO". TechTudo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Globo Comunicação e Participações S.A. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Phúc, Thịnh (30 August 2019). "Bí quyết giúp game thủ có khả năng phản xạ chớp nhoáng". Zing.vn (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 djjulien (7 June 2015). "Test : Osu!". jeuxvideo.com (in French). Archived from the original on 21 June 2017.
  8. 1 2 Carpenter, Nicole (16 July 2019). "Gamers with godlike reflexes are racing to break world records in this rhythm game". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  9. 1 2 Amos, Andrew (16 November 2018). "Circle Work: A chat with Australia's osu! World Cup team". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 Andika, Ferry (27 December 2019). "Osu!, Game Rhythm Terkenal di PC dengan Ribuan Pemain Harian" (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Indozone Media Indonesia. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  11. ↑ Tan Guan Hao, Dexter (25 July 2019). "osu! PP world record broken by 15-year-old". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019. For instance, former Overwatch League pro Hyeon 'EFFECT' Hwang said he plays the game for one hour before matches to warm up his hands.
  12. ↑ "EZ2DJ". TV Tropes. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  13. 1 2 Ball, Daniel (27 April 2010). "Online rhythm and music game Osu! reviewed - MMOGames.com". MMOGames.com. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Genoeg rhythm-action voor de rest van je leven... en helemaal gratis!" [Enough rhythm-action for the rest of your life... and completely free!]. Power Unlimited (in Dutch). Vol. 26, no. 7. July 2018. p. 33. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Herbert, Dean (25 July 2014). "osu!talk Episode 8 - Feat. peppy!" (Interview).
  16. ↑ Herbert, Dean (12 January 2014). "CosNews 1 | Peppy (PPY) - Osu! Interview (Comic Fiesta)" (Interview). Interviewed by CalvinPixels.
  17. ↑ Orland, Kyle (18 October 2007). "Free PC Ouendan/EBA emulator hits public beta". Engadget . Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  18. 1 2 Ridley, Jacob (21 March 2023). "This keyboard designed for a single rhythm game is literally UwU". PC Gamer . Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 Yono, Dylan (7 April 2019). "Anime music thrives in an obscure computer-based rhythm game". The Michigan Daily . Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  20. ↑ Saguias, Gabriel (27 November 2018). "Cinco jogos viciantes de PC para treinar e subir de ranking no CS:GO". TechTudo (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  21. ↑ Webb, Kevin (24 August 2019). "Professional gamers like Ninja use this music game to practice their aim and improve their mouse skills — Here's how you can play for free". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  22. ↑ Ahmed, Sayem (23 March 2023). "Wooting sheds light on brand-new 'UwU' gaming keyboard". Dexerto . Retrieved 30 May 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.