Project Loved: Week of July 14th

Hey guys. Project Loved here again. It's been a bit of a break but we're here once again.

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.

Did I say we'd be back on schedule? Well, I may have fibbed a tad. Just rest assured we aren't dead just yet.

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

• osu!standard
• osu!taiko
• osu!catch
• osu!mania

osu!standard

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

K A Z M A S A - Bon Appetit S (Oldskool HappyHardcore Remix) (Short Ver.) by BarkingMadDog
180 BPM, 3:13 | 5.87★ – 7.46★
description written by -Roxas

Been looking for a good stream map to train your stamina? This is the map for you! BarkingMadDog's Bon Appetit S is mapped to varying tempos that start at 170 and go up to 220 BPM. Patterns in the map are mostly simplistic streams though have some accelerating ones throughout. This set also tests your finger control with triples and doubles into slider patterns so don't get caught off guard by them! This very popular map exceeds 200 favorites so it's definitely worth a shot!

Imperial Circus Dead Decadence - Uta by Raikozen
140 BPM, 8:48 | 7.71★
description written by -Roxas

With Raikozen making a return after a long hiatus, you'll be glad to hear his maps are now available to appear in Loved voting! Starting off with his very popular Uta, it's also one of his more difficult maps sitting at 7.71 stars. The map consists of 8 minutes of huge AR10 jumps and hard spaced streams which makes falling off one of these patterns all that more deadly. However, if that's your type of map, then by all means drop this one a vote!

Dance Gavin Dance - Frozen One by Zaiten
200 BPM, 2:46 | 6.90★
description written by DigitalHypno

Zaiten's high 6 star map of Frozen One is filled with all sorts of unorthodox yet captivating patterns, from stream shapes to jump angles to even slider shapes. The song's rhythm changes periodically, staying around 200 BPM but alternating between 1/3 and 1/4 patterns. This map certainly provides a uniquely fun experience that you just can't find in most maps, so be sure to check it out!

Extra Terra & Urbanstep - Lost In Time by NazuSan, DeRandom Otaku and 6th
150 BPM, 4:12 | 1.81★ – 5.43★
description written by DigitalHypno

Lost In Time is a dubstep song accompanied by a 6-difficulty mapset ranging from high 1 star to mid 5 stars. The song starts out at a docile 150 BPM and speeds up to a more aggressive 174 BPM by the end of the 4-minute song. The mapping is simple, yet captures the song well featuring a mixture of jumps, short streams, and simple slider tech when appropriate. This mapset is friendly for players of all skill levels and could even serve as a challenge for the best players with the addition of mods. The 150+ favorites should be a sign that this is a mapset worth giving a play!

fartwad - Stereo Sayan 3D by Rebanto
128 BPM, 2:49 | 7.32★
description written by waywern2012

Like a super saiyan once said: "You're going to love this! Trust me!". If you're trying to achieve super saiyan level on osu!, you are definitely going to love this. This is a map from Rebanto with the song Stereo Sayan 3D by fartwad. The song will get you motivated to do anything: run, scream, exercise or play a hard map like this one. The map has a nice flow, some squares, triangles, back and forths. It even changes the bpm mid-way to push your skills to the limits! Do you have what it takes to be a super saiyan?

Nhato - Amygdala by ErunamoJAZZ
146 BPM, 5:51 | 5.93★
description written by waywern2012

ErunamoJAZZ has definitely put in some work in this map. To start it off, it is a song from Nhato called Amygdala and is on the more electronic side of genres. The song collaborates with the mapper well, with the map being quite technical at times. The map even has a subtle storyboard which suits its atmosphere quite a bit making it somewhat mysterious and relaxing. Most of the map requires a lot of finger control as well as reading. The kiai times also test the player's aim and finger control. There is one difficult pattern right before the 2nd kiai time, so be prepared to focus extra on reading and aiming it.

paraoka feat. MIMORU*STARDUST - Rainbow Archiver by elchxyrlia
270 BPM, 3:06 | 7.06★
description written by Bubbleman

Looking for 270 BPM practice on some awkward aim patterns? Look no further. elchxyrlia, better known by Lahphnya, presents this map on Rainbow Archiver, and it fits the arles theme of being over the top and extreme, but still being playable. The map is a comfortable AR10, which on 270 BPM is about perfect for object density, and features odd angles and interesting patterns not seen in more recent maps. It will also push your tapping stamina, as some of the stream patterns go on for longer than a typical burst. With all of this on top of a bouncing song, what reason is there to not give it a try?

C-Show - War Machine by ProfessionalBox et al.
174 BPM, 4:14 | 2.20★, 3.36★, 4.97★, 6.05★
description written by Bubbleman

Another banger, ProBox's map of War Machine is a well structured representation of the song that plays so incredibly smoothly. With kick sliders, spaced stream patterns, and more typical wub mapping, the song and the map fit together incredibly well and complement and enhance each other greatly. There are lower difficulties too, and each does about as good of a job keeping to the song and providing a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all. Give it a look over, I'm sure you'll love it!

Geri Halliwell - It's Raining Men by -NeBu- et al.
136 BPM, 4:00 | 8.78★, 10.00★
description written by fartownik

Once in a while comes a map that shakes up the whole osu! community from within. It's Raining Men by -NeBu- is a great example of that. The set recently exceeded 200 favourites in less than a month after submission, storming in the pro players' Twitch channels and the osugame Reddit with the pros battling it out for a more impressive godmode play on it. But that's not the only reason for the map to gain such attention. It's not very common for beatmaps to feature 10 star difficulties and even less common to execute them as masterfully as -NeBu- did. The map is simply wonderful and accompanied by the timeless song from Geri Halliwell—it's everything that the Loved section stands for.

Lia - Tori no Uta by OK_oreGENKI, Anmiy and Arieruco
122 BPM, 5:36 | 5.34★
description written by fartownik

Tori no Uta is a single difficulty collaboration from three prominent japanese mappers: OK_oreGENKI, eLy and Arieruco. The map features a variety of ultra-low BPM streams, including cutting streams, spaced streams and stream jumps and also some tricky 1/6 beats to top it all off. The map is a great challenge for both the people wanting to improve their low BPM stream ability and the ones seeking a finger control challenge with the DoubleTime mod.

osu!taiko

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

Camellia - Nightmare of Hornets Squad by Ulqui
255 BPM, 4:43 | 7.19★
description written by jyake

I have to give it to Ulqui for delivering these highly perfected maps so often, whether he puts effort into it or has a natural talent for it. This map is very technical despite consisting mostly of extremely simplistic patterns. Ulqui has no hesitation to include 1/8, dense finishers, and SV into this already packed speed map—yet nothing feels unfitting. Pure quality.

M2U x NICODE - LUNE - Chiptune & Music Box Arrange Ver. by uone
160 BPM, 2:07 | 6.12★, 7.53★
description written by jyake

Do you know that weirdly techy feeling 8-bit songs seem to have? Well take it and directly convert the 8-bit character of this song into taiko notes. This map mixes so perfectly the song's concept of an 8-bit & instrumental mix—the 1/4 streams represent the musical complexity while the bursts of 1/6 and 1/8 represent the technical complexity the music offers, all while being very fun.

Hommarju - Wowie Zowie! by Poii
128 BPM, 1:47 | 5.03★
description written by jyake

Now this is a very unusual style of map. Don't let the slow tempo fool you—most of this map is in 1/6, and there's a lot of triples. It's like Poii just really wanted to mess with your brain, to be honest, but that doesn't mean it's not a heck of a lot of fun, because it is!

lapix - Foolish Hero (FutureCore Mix) by HEKUSODASU
175 BPM, 3:35 | 6.63★
description written by nyanmi-1828

dk dk!
この譜面は、1/8のdkが組まれているパターンの跳ねるようなリズムがスタイリッシュに、クールに、エレガントに...あなたを快楽へ導きます！
特徴的でテクニカルなリズムが多くあるので、練習にもうってつけです。

dk dk!
The bouncy rhythms that the patterns put together using 1/8 dk have will elegantly and stylishly guide you to pleasure! It has many unique and technical rhythms, so it's also great practice.

osu!catch

osu!catch Loved candidates were chosen by Tenshichan, Sartan, Wesley and Yumeno Himiko!

Helblinde - A Reyvateil's Curse by Zyzyx
200 BPM, 4:24 | 6.97★
description written by Wesley

Zyzyx is by no means a new mapper and is mostly known for maps that are relatively low star rating compared to their actual difficulty. This time around the map they created is by one of our featured artists, Helblinde. The map has a bunch of streams, jumps, and a couple of tricky patterns here and there. The song is a banger; what more can you expect from a Zyzyx map?

PSYQUI - Be There by GiGas et al.
164 BPM, 2:12 | 1.43★ – 6.79★
description written by Sartan

Despite this set being relatively young compared to some of our other picks, it has seen quite some traffic of plays and favourites. With Be There, GiGas has made a very enjoyable set that can be considered enjoyable to players of all skill levels thanks to its 6 very different difficulties. The uniqueness of the mapset won't blow your brains out, but it does manage a very satisfactory experience thanks to very nice left-rights which definitely fit the song. If you don't find the top difficulty hard enough there's always the possibility of slapping hard rock and/or hidden on top to spice things up. Don't wait on playing and voting, but be there!

osu!mania

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

Camellia - GHOST by Lynessa
220 BPM, 5:15 | [4K] 5.30★, [4K] 5.76★, [4K] 6.17★, [4K] 6.63★

One of Trixta's more popular charts (with no small part to the catchy, near-apocalyptic song that comes with it), GHOST is a jumpstream/handstream player's delight. Clocking in at 4-5 minutes of dense jumpstreams and handstreams with very few breaks, GHOST works excellently as an assessor of jumpstream or handstream ability and a gratifying challenge to players. The mapset contains rates as well (from 1.0 to 1.3) with the hardest difficulty being at a blisteringly fast 286 BPM. If you like jumpstream or handstream, this should absolutely be up your alley.

The Flashbulb - Chik Habit by Gekido-
210 BPM, 2:34 | [4K] 4.17★, [4K] 4.45★

If you've been playing rhythm games for at least a year or two, you'll know who The Flashbulb is. His early crisp drill-and-bass tunes are hard to forget, and the combination of cinematic elements and IDM in his later works is an approachable yet cathartic listen for many. Chik Habit is, in the rhythm game community, one of The Flashbulb's most popular songs. There are multiple charts for Chik Habit in osu!mania, StepMania, and Flash Flash Revolution that are mind-numbingly difficult, one of which practically impossible. In this wave, we're nominating a chart for Chik Habit that is, while not as freakishly difficult as most charts for Chik Habit, a chart that is fair, exciting, complementary, and challenging.

Gekido's Chik Habit is a medley of fast broken jumpstreams, light minijack usage, difficult 1/6 bursts (315-360 BPM 1/4s) and short 1/8 bursts all compressed into a short 2 and a half minutes. It was also used as a technical qualifier chart that was used in SOFT3 (one of the biggest ever osu!mania tournaments), and it was praised for being a gratifying chart to play through and for having an apposite prudent approach to the song.

Looking or playing through the chart, it's hard not to see why: Gekido's tactful patterning of the 1/6 bursts make those bursts feel far more intense than they otherwise would, his LN use emphasised certain parts of the melody well, most of the patterns require a lot of wrist movement (which makes the chart really engaging), and the chart, overall, captures the song well through good layering and patterning without making the chart overly spiky in difficulty. Combine that with a catchy and aggressive song, and you get a chart that's hard to miss. For players who aren't as enthusiastic about LNs, Gekido's Challenge difficulty has no LNs, better layering, and more 1/6 bursts—give that a whirl instead.

*namirin - Sakurairo Time Capsule by MisterLuka, eZmmR, upan and kaythen
170 BPM, 4:20 | [4K] 6.35★, [7K] 4.25★, [7K] 8.22★

After a very successful round with Ame to Asphalt, MisterLuka returns to Project Loved with another set to look out for! This round, we have Sakurairo Time Capsule which follows the usual 4K + 7K O2LN combination but with the aid of another 7K difficulty by kaythen.

Serving as a much easier alternative to the main difficulty, kay's Memories presents a pretty fun chart focused around percussions and a surprising but fitting inclusion of 1/4 rice streaming at its main sections. The difficulty is finally topped of with a light chordstream all at 170 BPM. With a few LNs here and there to highlight some sounds, players who want to try to enter the 4* range should definitely try this out.

With LNs now becoming commonplace in Project Loved, the main difficulties don't really need much to talk about. A lot of visual flair comes into these difficulties with the playful usage of LNs and dump elements later into the song where each kiai has its own character. Another plus to these difficulties is the gradual increase in difficulty and don't forget! That low OD value is there for good reasons. Both ODs go in really hard with the expressive elements the chart has from LN based 1/8 rolling and a ton of quick pressing. A prime factor in this chart as to how it has its charm lies in the masterful combination of LN aesthetics and playability and this approach charting places not just this map, but also MisterLuka at a great spot for Project Loved.

From everyone on the Project Loved team, we hope you enjoyed this week's selection, and are looking 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 Noffy, 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.

—Toy