Beatmap Spotlights October 2017

Halloween may be over, but with that comes a selection of the best maps from the spooky month of October. It's time to look at October's Spotlights, and maybe get a medal while you're at it!

The beatmap charts for the October Spotlights can be found here. Their respective packs are available at the Beatmap Pack Listing for easier access.

Past Spotlights results

Congratulations to the winners of the September 2017 Spotlights. They will receive one month of supporter status for their efforts!

• osu!: Toy
• osu!taiko: asuasu_yura
• osu!catch: Motion
• osu!mania: Lindyes

osu!

IceBeam has risen from the grave to bring us "Like A Man" by Korean rapper "Outsider". The mapper shows us that even after a long hiatus, they still know how to amaze with great flow all throughout the map. Additionally, the map offers great pattern variety while fitting everything nicely together, expressing the song well. That's why "Like A Man" is a map not to miss out on this month!

You don't usually see rhythm game songs mapped in this fashion, but it's exactly why Nyquill's rendition of Lilieze to Enryuu Laevateinn is so interesting.

A style reminiscent of the old 2014 days, it still manages to hold up to this day. Despite not conforming to modern visual standards, the movements and feelings evoked from the map are still refined for the player, giving it a natural and smooth experience. Similarly, Giralda's and captin1's guest difficulties are a fantastic complement to the set, with their styles being similar to one another. All in all, a deserving candidate for this month's Spotlights.

Crystal brings us yet another top tier mapset this month for KOTOKO's Koi Kou Enishi. A wide selection of Insane and Expert difficulties are available here, but don't let the star ratings confuse you - while the highest difficulty by yf_bmp may be below five stars, it features quite a few spaced streams and patterns that you wouldn't find on the average map!

Milan's latest mapset of Punk Rock Girl brings us an exhilarating experience suitable for all ranks! You won't be seeing any jumps here, but rather a constant barrage of sliders and circles all mapped in an orthodox alternating fashion, all intended to keep you on your toes in this short song.

Guest Difficulties from both Pho and Streetlight Manifesto enthusiast pishifat bring extra zest into the set, with interesting rhythms and patterns not usually seen in their respective difficulties.

osu!taiko

Leading this month's osu!taiko Spotlights we have ZADAMGA, a one-time masterpiece that you would not see normally in the depths of the Ranked Beatmaps category. Consisting of a total of six difficulties mapped by agu himself, not only does it demonstrate an exemplary skill in spread management in lower difficulties, but also an outstanding mastery in different rhythm and beat snap usage by the mapper.

While simple 1/4 and 1/6 patterns are most common in modern osu!taiko mapping, the highest difficulty "Fatale Oni" employs a beautifully mixed repertoire of simple and compound rhythms, having an almost equalized usage of 1/3 rhythms in comparison to regular 1/2 or 1/4 rhythms. In short, a very complete mapset that has its well deserved spot on the top of this month's Spotlights!

TKS has recently returned and brought us a decent set consisting of five difficulties. The mapper showed their expertise about spread management which could be reflected by the smooth transitions of level of difficulty from Kantan to Inner Oni, helping players to advance seamlessly.

Inner Oni is undoubtedly the highlight of the set by the veteran mapper. Arranged with interesting 1/4 and 1/6 combinations that cohere with the catchy rhythm appropriately, the difficulty flows smoothly in a consistent way, considerably enhancing the overall gameplay experience.

Let's enjoy this piece of music mapped by an AsiaN with the non-distracting oriental antiquity atmosphere!

Eliciting powerful feelings of determination, Raiden's map of "Yumeshoushitsu ~ Lost Dream" is a vivid exploration into improvisation-based taiko mapping.

Clocking in at just under 6 minutes, this marathon leaves surprisingly little to the imagination. Employing a diverse range of rhythms and patterning throughout, this map will prove to be an exciting and fun challenge for high level players!

osu!catch

Thanks to Ascendance, together with ZiRoX, Spectator, Hareimu, Sorcerer, and Emiru, we can get shaking somehow with On the FM this month.

Covering a full spread, this mapset successfully gives out colorful presentation of "shaking" for every level. Repetitive zig-zag walks, connected shaking sliders, consecutive 1/8 doubles, or even constant crazy 1/4 Hyperdashes, all these wonderful patterns help us step into a different world of catching fruits. I can promise that from newbie players to top players, everyone can enjoy this mapset with "shaking".

Love it or hate it, however you might feel about this song, it cannot be denied that Ascendance and Spectator have created a fantastic pair of osu!catch difficulties. Weaving between the strong drums and energetic vocals, both difficulties capture the song's essence wonderfully.

Ascendance's Rain makes great use of big hyperdashes whilst Spectator's Overdose turns things up a notch with quicker snaps for faster hyperdashes and more direction changes to deliver all the challenge this song has to offer. So even if you've heard this song a thousand times already, try giving it just a couple more for these great difficulties.

Do you still remember the utopia we've seen in the CWC 2017 semifinals? This time we can share the Utopiosphere -Platonism- created by Benny-, Tyrell, and Nelly in the ranked section!

The spread of this mapset is pretty balanced, and you can enjoy some interesting challenges in the higher difficulties. With general patterns in convenient flow, gimmicky long sliders, and sudden direction changes alongside speed up curves, there really is a lot of variety. With such diverse talent, this mapset will not disappoint you!

osu!mania

Topping this month's mania spotlights is none other than Parachor with his newest addition to the ranked section, The Impulsive State. Staying true to his signature unconventional style, the chart sports an impressive variety of slider velocity changes ranging from stutters and reverse bumps to fast jams and waves.

With a high HP of 8.8, coupled with some very tight long note releases and overlapped timings, passing is no easy feat despite its low Star Rating and is a refreshing challenge for players of many levels.

Here comes juankristal bringing us fresh noodles, with a guest appearance from Jinjin! This map is notable for its use of long notes, which can get very complex and heavy at times, but its usage provides a good variety of patterns that are rarely seen in the ranked section.

Most notably, the MX difficulty has sections where the player has to hold all the available keys and try to hold their combo as more long notes come after the long note releases, thus putting their skill and knowledge of long notes to the test.

Other difficulties sport moderate use of long notes to ease players into playing, even the easier ones. Jinjin's NM may seem unapproachable for a Normal difficulty at first, but its patterns play very smoothly as the long notes are relatively easy to follow, even for players who aren't well-versed with them.

This mapset puts a challenge to players who aren't used to long note patterns, and it's also a breath of fresh air for those who have been waiting to have these intricate patterns enter the ranked section. Congratulations to juankristal for getting his FIRST mapset ranked and getting it into the Spotlights!

With his first map ranked, Kim_GodSSI brings us their unique mapping style to the ranked section. Using Long Notes as a base for the patterns, Kim mixes them with normal notes making doubles and triples throughout the map.

We can also appreciate some Slider Velocities in every intersection the map has, which are not excessively noticeable, making it a pretty balanced chart. Although it has a really challenging final part caused by an increase in density of both Single and Long Notes, the fact that it is a relatively slow BPM song helps considerably in your reading and finger coordination.

Kim is actually a pretty known mapper in the pending section with his popular 7K maps and he has made a splendid job ranking this map with such a good pattern making style which totally deserves a spot in this spotlight.

And that is the end of this month's Spotlight listing. We hope that you click, drum, catch, and mash your heart out from these maps and earn a shiny medal for your profile page! Look forward to next month's installment!

—OnosakiHito