Rhythm is just a click away

Originally written by Max on 10/29/2009.

Here’s a question for all you Elite Beat Agents/Ouendan fans: While playing the game, did you ever wish you could have a beatmap for your favorite song? Did you ever want to play your favorite anime theme song or something out of another game? If so, I’ve found your solution.

For your first step, Google “Phoenix Wright Don’t Stop Me Now” and click that first link. Don’t worry, this article can wait.

Done?

That video you watched was made using Osu! (complete with exclamation point), a program named after the Japanese game that Elite Beat Agents was based on. Osu! is a free online game that allows you to play EBA-style “beatmaps” that were made by the fans, for the fans.

The game controls in a number of ways. You can just use your mouse to move your cursor and click to tap the beat markers, or you can hook up a tablet if you happen to have one. There’s also the alternate “Taiko” and “Catch the Beat” modes, which both use the keyboard.

Now, it’s a good thing that the alternate keyboard modes were included, because playing with a mouse is as hard as hell. You do have the option to turn up the mouse sensitivity, though, as well as a “precision mode” for better, well, precision. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help too much. Really, you just need a tablet if you want to play the Standard mode.

Fortunately, this is pretty much the game’s only main flaw. Because each and every beatmap is made by the Osu! Community, each and every one gets to go through a rather extensive session of quality control and testing. They even include video tutorials to go with the in-game level creator. Yep, it’s basically the LBP of rhythm games.

Customization is a very big part of the game. Practically every part of the game itself is customizable, from the sounds each beat marker makes on impact to the way the game is presented. And, as has been mentioned, all of these things are built by the community. The default skin is similar to that of the classic Ouendan game, but one can download skins such as the style of Elite Beat Agents, Wind Waker, The World Ends With You, and Haruhi Suzumiya. So, naturally, some of the song selection complements these choices.

And there’s a lot of stuff available. A good chunk of the TWEWY soundtrack can be found, in addition to just about anything you can name from Touhou Project. Beatmap download packs are available, packing anime theme songs, video game music, and stuff from your other favorite rhythm games. Naturally, a lot of singles are also worked in: Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender,” “Dragostea Din Tei” by O-Zone (more commonly known as the Numa Numa song), and even Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Thriller” are up. Can’t find what you want on the mainstream/ranked maps? Check the beatmap graveyard on the forums. Still can’t find it? Make it yourself! Each beatmap is made and grouped by difficulties, similar to how it was done in the DS games. Some members of the community have even chosen to faithfully and painstakingly recreate the original EBA scenarios for play in Osu!, much to my pleasure. Now I can play “La la” and “Survivor” and have the scores ranked worldwide.

Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yes, by signing up for the community for free (which is required anyway if you want anything other than the tutorial) you gain access to the leaderboards, which are divided by game type and difficulty. So if you think your performance in “Let’s Dance” was the best ever, then you have the chance to prove it. You can even save replays to your profile and post them on the site.

Now, one of the greatest things I think they did with this game was to pack in awesome game mods that you can use to change how you play. There are three classes: those that reduce the difficulty, those that increase the difficulty, and the few mods that do something different. One of the nicer touches is that these mods affect your score: making the game easier reduces your score multiplier, while upping the challenge gives you a bigger multiplier. So, if you thought “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” was too easy, you can use the “Hard Rock” mod to up the difficulty, “Sudden Death” to force yourself into a no-miss challenge, “Double Time” to increase song speed, “Hidden” to turn off the approach circles, and “Flashlight Mode” to limit your vision. Or, even better, all of them at once.

Now, the biggest question is whether or not this game faithfully recreates the feel of the DS hits. I feel that I can safely say that they do. Keeping a chain of hit notes graces you with a flash portrait at 30, 60, 100, and every 50 hits after that, this time of the game’s uber-cute mascot, Pippy. The same sound effects from the games are used, depending of course on the skin you’re using. Really, the only thing missing from this game are the dancing agents, but that may not be all that bad, actually. When playing the DS games, I found the Agents’ dance routines distracting, to a certain degree (some more than others. Play the Divas in EBA and you’ll see what I mean). The videos that accompany many of the beatmaps in Osu! can actually be considered less distracting, but again, some more than others. I personally have lost a few shots at a top score slot while playing “Caramelldansen” because I was too busy trying to I.D. who was dancing at the time.

The addition of the Taiko and Catch the Beat modes ensures playability for everyone, regardless of whether or not they have a tablet or not. Let’s face it, using the mouse here just doesn’t work quite as well (especially given the laptop touchpad I have to use). There just really is no substitute for a good solid touch screen and stylus. And, I might add, both keyboard modes are just as insanely fun as playing normally. Nothing like pounding out the Super Mario theme on your keyboard-turned-taiko-drum.

Of course, the biggest thing missing from this game is Commander Khan. In all of the maps I’ve found, you never once get to hear that glorious, glorious “YEEEEEEEEEEES!” He appears on the beatmap for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” but it’s really just a poor substitute. [Editor’s note: The mere fact that you can be Rickrolled in Osu! is an instant win.] But, with the fact that new maps are made and approved every day, and the fact that joining is free, who knows? It might yet happen.

Customization is the biggest aspect of this game. Fortunately, when it comes to making your own maps, Osu! has you covered. The editing interface is fairly straightforward and simple. The layout mimics what you see on the screen, and the Photoshop/Fireworks-esque tools are very easy to use. Basically, you drop the markers and sliders onto the screen where you want them in the song. Simple as that.

The only real criticism I have is how ridiculously hard using the mouse is. But seriously, download this game at http://osu.ppy.sh/. You will not regret it.