Project Loved: Week of April 7th

It's been two weeks, and that means it's time for Project Loved again! We've got a new selection of maps for you to try, and now it's your turn to decide whether or not they should enter the Loved beatmap category!

Welcome back to Project Loved! Every two weeks, we pick out a few beatmaps from each game mode that will get their shot at making it into the Loved category. From the maps we selected, you can now vote whether or not you want them to be Loved! Click on each map's header image in this post to be taken to its voting thread.

Our osu!mania friends interested in Project Loved are probably all aware of the unfortunate situation last round with Mat's Architecture voting (see the last post on its forum thread if you aren't caught up!). To help combat illegitimate votes, bandwagoning, and other related issues, we've implemented a measure to keep the voting results hidden until the polls are completed. We may look into other solutions if these problems occur again.

In case you don't read to the end of this post, be sure to submit suggestions for beatmaps to be added to Loved using the Google form! All of the nominated beatmaps are chosen from submissions on this form, which you can view in the corresponding Google sheet. For osu!mania, please use this Google form and this Google sheet instead.

Navigation

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• osu!mania

osu!

osu! Loved candidates were chosen by DigitalHypno, -Roxas, BeasttrollMC, Bubbleman and waywern2012!

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Hardware Store by Mr Moseby
126 BPM, 3:30 | 7.75★, 8.93★, 9.01★
written by BeasttrollMC

Over time we've seen quite a few competitive standard players dipping their toes into the mapping scene. One of these players is Woey (now known as Mr Moseby), a name recognizable not only for his skill, but for his success in the mapping scene as well. Today we will be featuring Woey's take on "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Hardware Store", a map that has been notoriously popular amongst top players ever since its release. The mapset has three difficulties: "Matching Salt And Pepper Shakers" being the complete version at just over 9 stars, "POG moment" as a practice difficulty, and "a u t o m a t i c c i r c u m c i s o r s (CS0)" for a CS0 version of the top difficulty. With the map featuring constant 252 BPM jumps, it's no surprise that the ones to popularize this map include some of the fastest players in the game.

Thaehan - Doki-Doki by Mr HeliX, MujouSekai, Mechanizen and rockstarrzz
180 BPM, 1:42 | 1.25★ – 6.32★
written by BeasttrollMC

It's obvious that this song has been extremely popular among all players, especially after two separate mapsets were Loved in the past, but both were extremely difficult and left out less experienced players who had little chance at passing them. This mapset by Mr HeliX fixes that, featuring a full mapset with difficulties ranging from 1.25 to 6.32 stars. With guest difficulties from rockstarrzz, Mechanizen and MujouSekai, this mapset is meant to give players from all skill ranges a chance at enjoy the music and having a blast. With two mapsets already Loved, is this a good reason to add a third? You decide in this week's Project Loved! Check out the map and don't forget to vote for its chance to be Loved among the rest.

150P - Nisemono Chuuihou by Star Stream, winber1, yf_bmp, RLC and Stefan
260 BPM, 3:33 | 1.65★, 2.84★, 4.65★, 6.20★, 6.94★
written by DigitalHypno

You may recognize this song from the other cover in the Loved section, but if you want to challenge your nomod speed with an older mapping style, you'll surely want to check out this version as well. It's got a top difficulty just under 7 stars and a full spread of 5 difficulties, each representing the more "iconic" mapping style of the time period. If this sounds like it'll float your boat, check it out for yourself and drop your vote if you haven't already! Perhaps you'll drop a favorite too—over 100 already have!

Nanahoshi Kangengakudan - Andromeda by Nattu
300 BPM, 3:48 | 5.67★
written by DigitalHypno

Take your flow aim for a ride with this 300 BPM alternating map made by Nattu! At a length just below four minutes, this map's fluid movement and intuitive rhythm make it a great map to have some fun with. With a catchy song and 100 favorites, this map might end up being one of your favorites, too!

ryo(supercell) feat. Hatsune Miku - ODDS&ENDS (Speed Up Ver.) by elchxyrlia
205 BPM, 5:07 | 8.04★, 8.04★
written by -Roxas

A classic vocaloid tune with a Arles map to go with it, this map is definitely not easy to play with both difficulties hitting over 8 stars! The map consists of cross-screen jumps and fast streams that will catch a lot of people off guard if your mechanical skill is not up to par. To keep it to the elchxyrlia trend, the map picks up in difficulty at the end, so it will truly push you to your limits. With the map reaching over 170 favourites, it's worth your shot. Good luck!

Camellia - GHOST by fanzhen0019, rustbell and Callionet
220 BPM, 5:38 | 8.98★
written by -Roxas

Now here's a real killer of a map: fanzhen0019's "Camellia - Ghost" is a real challenge, and by that I mean... are you able to pass this map? With the difficulty hitting nearly 9 stars, it's definitely not one to laugh at. Don't underestimate this, even if it is HP 0, as the map consists of large jumps, fast sliders, spaced high-BPM streams and even some 2B to top it all off. Best of luck to the players that attempt to pass this very scary map.

orangentle / Yu_Asahina - HAELEQUIN (Extended ver.) by DoKito
172 BPM, 4:26 | 6.49★, 7.35★, 7.97★
written by waywern2012

The song "HAELEQUIN", coming from BMS, then remixed to SVDX II, has been mapped in osu! many times, and this was one of the earlier maps. The map has grown in popularity because of its three BPM variations on the map. The maps are the same in every difficulty, but the speed changes, making the player more strained on higher difficulties. With the BPM ranging from 172 to 220, this makes the map fairly spread out for the higher skilled among us. With interesting old-style patterns and tricky streams, this map is worth a try!. See what speed you can handle!

IOSYS - Usatei by Damnjelly
190 BPM, 3:55 | 7.99★
written by waywern2012

Usatei is coming back with a fairly aged map from Damnjelly. In 2015, the map had some minor changes done to it, but it was left alone after some time. The map plays really well even by today's standards and has interesting jumps, note placements and spaced streams. With a fair bit of spaced linear triples and a good mix of other patterns, it's fairly captivating for higher-skilled players. Are you ready to jump around in this amazing map?

TRUE - Hiryuu no Kishi by FaiVillager
126 BPM, 5:26 | 7.04★, 7.58★
written by Bubbleman

A map to test your alternation as well as your high end speed, FaiVillager's Hiryuu no Kishi will push your tapping hand to its limits, however you choose to play it. The BPM might be 148, but believe this number and you're in for a surprise—the map is mostly mapped onto 1/4 rhythms with the occasional 1/8th burst here and there. The patterns aren't forgiving either, with those that double back on themselves as well as more common cut-stream style patterns that require a lot of control at the lower BPMs. If you've never played this map, be sure to give it a go—that is, if you think you can keep up with it.

3R2 - Mischievous Masquerade by Settia
140 BPM, 1:09 | 6.24★, 6.53★
written by Bubbleman

A funky little tune gets a funky Settia map—coming in at just over a minute in length, Mischievous Masquerade is a map that you're never far from the end of. Getting there, however, is a challenge not to be scoffed at, involving swing doubles and some infamous Settia technical mapping. It's a big test of your aim control, the map is almost as addictive as the song, and there's also a casual difficulty to play if you want to bop along without much fear of failing out. Got a minute to spare? You have no excuse not to give this one a go!

osu!taiko

osu!taiko Loved candidates were chosen by -Kazu-, iceOC, jyake and nyanmi-1828!

KAKU P-MODEL - Big Brother by nananass
190 BPM, 3:17 | 8.54★, 9.04★
written by -Kazu-

This week, we have a fine addition to our growing overjoy osu!taiko scene. nananass gets his first Loved nomination with KAKU P-MODEL - Big Brother, an extremely difficult technical map composed of complex streams mixed with many varieties of 1/6 and 1/8 patterns, offering a challenge to even the best players. If the Eyes difficulty isn't enough for you, try Extra, an extended version of Eyes, with even more difficult patterning towards the end!

Ruby My Dear - Spectacle by Ulqui
200 BPM, 3:54 | 6.78★
written by jyake

Ruby My Dear - Spectacle may be one of those maps you either love or hate, but I think it deserves a shot at Loved. The mapping is very focused around the music, rarely improvising any sounds, but that doesn't make it a boring map! The song is a multi-genre breakcore track, offering many interesting sounds, and Ulqui really nailed it at emphasising them! The map offers many simple patterns but keeps them challenging with rapidly changing SVs. And did I mention the song is a banger? All-in-all, this a very complete and quality experience.

papiyon feat. Hatsune Miku - White Prism by kanopu et al.
172 BPM, 3:27 | 1.24★ – 5.74★
written by iceOC

White Prism is an exceptionally well-mapped set by kanopu, taking full advantage of the song's many complex rhythms and offering a balance of musical interpretation and gameplay—everything you'd desire from a rhythm game chart! Just don't let the streams daunt you!

REDALiCE vs MASAKI - BUCHiGiRE Berserker by Taka030 and yassu-
200 BPM, 2:25 | 6.94★, 7.26★
written by nyanmi-1828

This map by Taka030 is characterized by its many SV changes and comfortable 1/6 patterns—the smooth yet rich SV gives the map more flavor without harming any playability. Add in yassu-'s GD, which is an excellent and challenging map, and you get a mapset that I think you should definitely play at least once in your life!

osu!catch

osu!catch Loved candidates were chosen by Sartan, Ascendance, Tenshichan and Wesley! This week, all osu!catch beatmap descriptions were written by Sartan.

Silentroom - Nhelv by -Plus-, Spectator, Nelly and Hareimu
175 BPM, 2:36 | 1.36★ – 7.20★

It has been a while, but -Plus- makes a return to the Loved vote! Here we have Nhelv, a mapset with plenty of difficulties for players of every skill level. The main theme in the beatmapset seems to be quick left-right movement, which is possible thanks to the neurofunk-like beat of the song. The highest difficulty of this map is definitely in a league of its own though, with even top players struggling to get proper scores without any difficulty-reducing mods. But then again, if the highest difficulty proves to be a bit too much, you can always opt to play another difficulty and mess around with mods to make it as fun as can be. So get your knuckles crackin', your fingers warmed up, and check this map out!

BABYMETAL - Road of Resistance by Aryssiel
199 BPM, 5:01 | 6.54★

Entering the Loved arena for the first time ever is Aryssiel! Having mapped about 30 maps before this, he is definitely not new to placing fruits in the osu! editor. Road of Resistance is one of his most iconic and well-known creations. Despite it not being too out unordinary of a map, it is still very much enjoyable thanks to its length and its ordinary-like style, allowing mods to be used to spice things up for very good players. Don't get me wrong though, Road of Resistance is quite a challenging map on its own for people not quite on pro level, with some difficult jumps and streams to be found, along with a circle size that's just a tad smaller than usual. After all, Road of Resistance is the polar opposite of road of least resistance, right? So here's one to the lovers of metal and/or fans of the most metal girls on the planet!

osu!mania

osu!mania Loved candidates were chosen by Shoegazer, Lenfried-, Pope Gadget and Toaph Daddy!

goreshit - o'er the flood by Shoegazer
194 BPM, 4:31 | 4K 3.64★, 4K 3.85★, 4K 4.39★

Shoegazer comes back as a nominee for osu!mania Loved with their long beloved set for o'er the flood that has seen quite a few updates over the years. A set consisting of the original difficulty that was seen in their rendition of "semantic compositions on death and its meaning", and then two more difficulties remade as their charting techniques were refined to its current state of meticulous and consistent choices and patterning design.

The difficulty that most reflects this development in charting skill is torrent, the most recent update added to the set, where they showcase their meticulous patterning decisions, most notably in the repeated chord usage, very specific placements of single notes, and proper and satisfying difficulty balance. All-in-all, the newest rendition proves to be very high quality with the long-held popularity only giving more reason for it to earn a spot among the Loved nominations.

Aquellex - Tachyon Beam Cannon by Gekido-
250 BPM, 4:12 | 4K 5.71★

Tachyon Beam Cannon is hard. Like, really hard. A flurry of minijacks, 250 BPM 1/3 jumpgluts, 250 BPM broken and dense jumpstreams with split jumptrills, 1/2 handgluts, anchor-based dense jumpstreams, 1/6 and 1/8 bursts, all condensed into a 4-minute sprint with almost no break in the chart. Its appearance in the finals mappool of the osu!mania 4K World Cup 2018 exemplifies the chart's brutality—it's not a chart that many players can easily play.

The chart itself is also a maximalist charter's delight. In addition to being very rhythmically dynamic, Gekido's focus on very heavy layering in this chart makes this chart feel like non-stop punches in the face—there is no subtlety to be found. The feel of the chart complements the track nicely: a dense, chaotic, and almost malicious-sounding chiptune/breakcore hybrid. You can almost feel the mayhem that the track brings through the chart alone.

There aren't too many charts that are as relentless and versatile as Tachyon Beam Cannon that also complement the track nicely, so Tachyon Beam Cannon is, to us, an unmissable commodity.

An - Saigo by juankristal
200 BPM, 3:43 | 4K 1.72★, 4K 2.33★, 4K 3.08★

Anyone who has payed attention to juankristal's charts over the past couple of years or so would know very well that he has a strong love for long note usage. This love is reflected very thoroughly in our next selection, Saigo, a full 3-map set of approachable, simple, and effective long note charts.

The chart pays careful attention to every sound that can be heard, changing the length of the long notes to compensate for the stacking of sounds and maintaining a solid sense of flow throughout all of the patterns despite this. Not only this, but the chart has seen a decent following of long note enthusiasts and has been used in multiple community and official tournaments, including last year's osu!mania 4K World Cup. A mix of approachability and effective long note charting like this is not something you see everyday, and should definitely not be missed by anyone with a passing interest in long notes.

Sakuzyo - Imprinting by KenZ
175 BPM, 1:54 | 7K 5.15★, 7K 7.97★

A staple chart for any O2-style enthusiast and also a finals chart for the osu!mania 7K World Cup 2017, Imprinting is a chart that comes in at roughly 175 BPM with KenZ's signature O2Jam approach to charting. Mainly characterized by very strong SV bumps, inversion usages, and a flexible usage of LN lengths, this chart has been a fair challenge and will continue to have a very strong impression on anyone trying this for the first time. For those who aren't really into LNs that much, the questionably-named Easy difficulty is a viable alternative.

Chroma - tiny tales continue by qodtjr
188 BPM, 1:59 | 7K 6.87★

We have another tournament chart in our hands (from the osu!mania 7K World Cup 2018), and this time it's from the very well-known qodtjr! This chart showcases dense chordstreaming at roughly 188 BPM. The chart is not particularly repetitive: we can see large chords, minijacks, pattern repetitions, musically-relevant chordtrilling, and even some LNs. This is definitely a fun chart for anyone looking for a decent challenge.

From everyone on the Project Loved team, we hope you enjoy this week's selection, and look forward to the next! The winning beatmaps will hit the Loved beatmap listing sometime next week and will be announced via @osugame on Twitter.

In addition to all of the Loved captains that choose the maps and write the descriptions, make sure to thank Toy, Noffy, ThatsNotAName, huu and Ephemeral for their miscellaneous help in managing Project Loved.

If you have any suggestions for beatmaps to be added to the Loved category, please submit them using the Google form! You can view the current submissions on the corresponding Google sheet. For osu!mania, please use this Google form and this Google sheet instead.

—clayton