Project Loved: Week of December 8th

Project Loved's playing a little catch-up with its schedule, so we've got another round for you already! Check out the picks and tell us which you want in the Loved category. This will be the last round for a little while, so make sure to get your fill in!

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.

Project Loved will be going on a short hiatus after this round. You might have seen the discussion in #osu-loved a while back, Toy's planning to make some changes to the way Loved works, and we thought this would be a good opportunity to give the whole team a break. These guys have been working on Project Loved nearly every week for the last two years!

While there won't be any new maps going up for vote, you can still submit to the Google form. We'll see your submissions when we return!

You can expect the break to be on the scale of months, if all goes well. Thank you for supporting Loved so far!

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, Bubbleman and waywern2012!

LeaF - Aleph-0 by Mr HeliX
0 BPM, 2:13 | 5.37★, 5.38★
description written by DigitalHypno

If you think you've seen it all when it comes to gimmick mapping, you're in for a treat with this map by Mr HeliX. At its core, the gimmick involves being able to read patterns from all four of osu!'s current gamemodes. There are two difficulties in this mapset, each with appropriate difficulty names: "Jack of all Trades" and "Master of all Trades".

If even the most innovative of mapping gimmicks have been too little of a challenge for you, don't worry! I can guarantee that this map will be a breath of fresh air for all of you gimmick map enthusiasts. Have a blast!

ribbon room - mint tears by rollpan and _kotachi_
188 BPM, 1:48 | 1.75★ – 6.31★
description written by DigitalHypno

Here's a beautifully catchy song and mapset for you to fall in love with. Shirasaka Koume's 7-difficulty mapset of mint tears features a full spread ranging from 1 to 6 stars. Despite the peaceful atmosphere of the song, the maps are surprisingly intense with their frequent bursts.

The mapset is topped off with a beautiful, supplemental storyboard which you should definitely check out at least once! Overall, this is the perfect map for you to both challenge your skills and relax to the music at the same time. Don't skip this one!

ARM feat. miko - Hysteric Soda by ryza
175 BPM, 4:06 | 5.20★, 6.06★
The [Hard], [f e a r's Hysteria], [Horo's Taiksoda], [Normal], [CXu] and [Easy] difficulties are not being nominated for Loved.
description written by Bubbleman

One of Silynn's earlier creations with the aim of it hitting the Ranked section, Hysteric Soda is a fun tune with some very nostalgic mapping conventions thrown in. Despite this however, it would be somewhat difficult to recognise this as a 2012 map—the patterning is clean and still holds up to today's standards in aesthetics. Included in the set is a slightly edited CS0 AR8 version of the map, obviously made for a giggle but actually provides a nice reading and density challenge for those looking for that kind of thing. Interested? Give it a play!

L.E.D.-G - BITTER CHOCOLATE STRIKER by Styxwater
165 BPM, 2:09 | 7.70★, 8.80★
description written by DigitalHypno

When it comes to "final bosses" of jump maps, what comes to mind for you? If this map wasn't one you thought of, that's soon to change. The higher of the two difficulties in this mapset nearly reaches 9 stars, and it's choke-full of intense 1/6 jumps and bursts. The lower difficulty is very similar, and although it can be seen as a nerfed version of the top difficulty, it still sits around high 7 stars, making it a challenge in its own right. If you've been itching to put your aim skills to the ultimate test, this is the best map to do so on.

Mirai Akari - Akari ga Yattekita zo by HICCA
136 BPM, 4:52 | 6.00★
description written by DigitalHypno

If you're one for alternating maps and cute songs, get ready to add this map to your favourites—if it's not already there! This is a 6-star alternating map of an adorable 5-minute song that's 136 BPM. There are plenty of flowy patterns, as well as a few cut streams and other unique stream shapes to keep you on your toes throughout the whole map. If the 280+ favourites can't sell you on this map, take my word that you should definitely give this map a try!

osu!taiko

osu!taiko Loved candidates were chosen by -Kazu- and jyake!

Adust Rain - psychology by Shallty
210 BPM, 3:33 | 7.62★, 7.97★
description written by -Kazu-

As one of his most popular maps, we bring psychology mapped by Shallty, a Touhou metal cover on a double-BPM mapping style (or mapping to 1/8) that makes it very difficult to maintain a combo throughout the song due to its continued dose of streams that, even if they look simple, can result very tough to deal with, which coupled with its (nowadays standard) OD 7 can be a perfect warm up for your training session or tournament match.

PSYQUI - Funk Assembly by cdhsausageboy
162 BPM, 2:24 | 11.44★
description written by jyake

I often feel like many mappers, including myself, want to pack as much diverse content as we can into our maps. Mappers may add many different skill sets and variations of SV, but this doesn't always fit together in a single chart naturally. But in this pick, cdhsausageboy accomplishes this task brilliantly. Achieving variation through colorful BPM gimmicks, use of diverse 1/6 patterns and fluctuating SV, this map is like a buffet of fun—all packed into just 2 and a half minutes. Give this map a try! There's just so much to appreciate—even the song is a pleasure to listen to!

osu!catch

osu!catch Loved candidates were chosen by Sartan and Wesley!

Laur - Sound Chimera by SharpN
190 BPM, 5:00 | 7.69★
description written by Wesley

To start off, Sound Chimera, what a banger. It is mapped by SharpN who is by no means a new mapper, creating challenging maps while still managing to keep the star rating as low as possible. The map starts out quite normal with some general movement and small jumps here and there, but as soon as the first break hits it ramps up quite heavily. Introducing not just streams, but also—who would've guessed—wiggles! The fast-paced song and high BPM really caters to the patterns used throughout the whole song, where the faster sections of the song have streams and wiggles and the somewhat slower sections have kicksliders and just general movement patterns. Even in the slower sections you can't take it easy, as the whole map is filled with a variety of patterns, requiring you to really pay attention to what you are doing. Do you have the consistency to pass, or maybe even full combo the map?

TRakker - Trail of Dust by Yumeno Himiko
182 BPM, 6:31 | 6.96★
description written by Sartan

Today I'm introducing Yumeno Himiko, one of our captains himself, to the Loved section for the first time! Yumeno has been in the mapping business for a very long time by now, being the most active Chinese mapper there is, but some of his older maps have been forgotten over time despite how fun they are. Trail of Dust is a good example, being a very satisfying map to play. The map mostly consists of low-intensity jumps and a bunch of 1/4 streams consistently all throughout the map. It perfectly fits TRakker's song and simply said feels very natural. The guitar solo does up the difficulty a bit, as the streams become a tad bit longer and the jumps somewhat more intense, but not to a degree that makes them feel out of place within the map. The general difficulty of the map can be placed around mid to high end level, meaning most players have a fair shot at playing this map. It is also very playable with mods such as HardRock and Hidden for those who do not find the map challenging enough by itself. In any case, almost everyone should be able to enjoy this map, so clean that trail of dust off your keyboard and get going!

osu!mania

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

The Flashbulb - Please Don’t Remember by Gekido-
175 BPM, 2:53 | [4K] 4.27★

A common favourite among tech enthusiasts, Gekido-'s rendition of Please Don't Remember is a well-coordinated maelstrom of fast bursts, minijacks, and tricky patterns that is both difficult and rewarding to play through, with a banger of a song to boot.

The chart starts at 175 BPM, and with no strings attached, barrages you with 1/6 bursts, 1/8 bursts, grace notes, 2-to-3 note jacks, all with difficult patterns and, occasionally, difficult transitions. The patterns being so rolly in this section also makes it very difficult to get really good accuracy on. After a buildup (which also has tricky patterns), the chart speeds up to 190 BPM with similarly difficult bursts and jacks abound. The 190 BPM section is slightly less dense than the 175 BPM section (especially in the second half) and is theoretically easier to get better accuracy on in general, but the bursts are so frequent and the speed so fast that it's hard for most players to keep up.

While the chart is very difficult to get good accuracy on, Please Don't Remember, like most of Gekido's technical charts, is a very dynamic and fair chart with no cheap difficulty spikes. This makes for a very gratifying chart to play; it's a true technical/consistency hybrid, and there are very few charts in osu!mania that simultaneously test technical accuracy and consistency like this chart does. It certainly helps that the song is excellent as well—one of The Flashbulb's best and most underrated. If you're into technical charts (or just dynamic charts in general), you'll love this.

tomatoism - UMP9 by Ticle
200 BPM, 2:56 | [4K] 4.55★

A brand new face to the osu!mania Loved scene is Ticle with his map for UMP9! This is a familiar piece to those who tuned in for this year's osu!mania 4K World Cup, and a brilliant one at that. It is a mixed experience, involving no shortage of long notes, bursts, some small SVs, and many other well-designed and smoothly flowing patterns throughout. The main kick of the chart is when the chorus comes in, where the main synth is represented by LNs on either columns 1 and 2, or columns 3 and 4, locking one hand down at a time whilst the other sounds are represented on the opposite hand. It makes not only for a representative piece, but one that you can feel especially clearly while playing. Not to mention it also is quite tricky, making it engaging for low- and high-level players alike. This nomination thoroughly earns its spot in Loved.

Billx - LA MD by Wilben_Chan
190 BPM, 6:09 | [7K] 7.27★, [7K] 7.59★, [7K] 7.91★

For this round, we're getting a fairly familiar stamina pick from the Finals round of the osu!mania 7K World Cup 2019. If you enjoyed Wind God Girl and DJ Sharpnel 7K, then you're in for a treat!

LA MD, which is more known for its 4K counterpart, is a long 6-minute Frenchore stamina chart clocking in at 190 BPM. In the case of 7K, and endless stream of hyper dense chordstreaming with tons of minitrilling and instances of bracketing is given great emphasis with some simple LN usages and 1/8th rolls introduced every now and then.

The difficulty used in MWC was one thing, but now, rates of x1.05 and x1.1 are introduced to the set! Running at about 199 and 209 BPM respectively, these rate-ups provide another level of challenge for those seeking to work on their stamina and consistency!

Do you have what it takes? Go try out the map now!

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.

—clayton