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Beatmap Spotlights: March & April 2018 |
2018-06-06 06:00:00 +0000 |
Two Spotlights for the price of one, and a brief announcement about the future of the project, plus a bunch of awesome beatmaps to play and two shiny new medals!
The beatmap charts for the April Spotlights can be found here. Their respective packs are available at the Beatmap Pack Listing for easier access. The April 2018 Spotlights rankings will end on 25th of June, 2018.
First of all, congratulations to the winners of the March 2018 Spotlights. They will receive one month of supporter status for their efforts!
- osu!: Toy
- osu!taiko: -[ ix Ishida xi ]-
- osu!catch: RAMPAGE88
The observant among us may have noticed that the March Spotlights post didn't happen last month due to some minor mishaps with scheduling and workload. To make sure that you don't miss out on all the juicy details, we've included the blurbs and links from the March issue below for your reading pleasure.
We'd also like to announce that the Spotlights project will be going on a brief hiatus for a little while as we turn the system towards being more visible and enjoyable for players and mappers alike.
If you're interested in helping out with this process, please head over to the osu!dev Discord and check out the #osu-spotlights channel for all the juicy details.
Thanks to everybody who followed along the project for the past few years, and we hope that you enjoy the next iteration of the project when it surfaces in a few months time!
March Spotlighted Maps
April Spotlighted Maps
Returning from a long hiatus, Reisen Udongein makes his comeback by reviving one of his four year old sets - Nekomata Master+'s "squall". The top difficulty, Extra shows off various cursor motions that create a great gameplay experience, while the Another difficulty by Muya creates a true rhythm challenge, showing off the more intricate details of the song.
Halloween comes early this year as Loneight returns with a set of yuikonnu & ayaponzu*'s "Happy Halloween". The map shows off the crazy feel of this song very well, switching between swing beat and normal beats fairly often, and keeping you on your toes for the various SV changes going on. Coupled with wonderful improvised hitsounding, this map definitely brings together a fun experience.
Fans of western electronic music won't be left out this month, as the team of PandaHero, La Cataline, and Mirash bring forward their mapset of Florence + The Machine's "Cosmic Love". The top difficulty shows off great usage of slow sliders, while the rest of the spread keeps a varied and enjoyable experience for players of all skill levels.
With his latest ranked map of Dream Theater's "On The Backs Of Angels", LMT manages to find a great balance between playability and capturing the complexity of a nearly 9 minute long progressive metal song. If you're looking for a map that challenges consistency and finger control, you should definitely give this a try!
And finally, we have one more beatmap from a_hisa - Tokei no Heya to Seishin Sekai mapped by Asahina Momoko and a team of experienced guest mappers! a_hisa is mainly well known for creating spectacular Spiritual Core music and Tokei no Heya to Seishin Sekai is no exception. Complemented by exquisite melody and beats, the song is as engaging as it is emotional.
Momoko has done a great job here on capturing this song through his difficulty, featuring peculiar patterns arranged in a clean and polished fashion which perfectly resonates with every single detail of the song. The rest of Momoko's mapset is not to be neglected either - they are no less expressive when compared to the top difficulty and is definitely worth playing as well!
This month, dsco brings us "Dum Surfer" by "King Krule". The mapper managed to take geometrical mapping to a whole nother level by combining it with low approach rate and perfectly overlapping stacks. These give the mapper the freedom to use unorthodox mapping techniques like multiple stacked notes with different distances in time. Combined with a type of song not very common on osu!, this mapset is a unique experience you should not miss out on!
One of this month's greatest maps, Kazu's map of Igorrr & Ruby My Dear's "Figue Folle", is also probably one of the most diverse and interesting maps osu!taiko's ranked section has to offer.
Over three and half minutes this map and song challenges the player in many different ways. From unorthodox 1/4+1/6-snap patterns in the beginning, to finisher-heavy sections, to clever usage of kdkdk streams with 1/8 mixed into them, this map never stops to change as the song changes. It's hard to give this map justice through a simple description - you should simply give this map a try yourself!
You might know the artist Saitama Saisyu Heiki (aka S.S.H.) as the composer of Intersect Thunderbolt which had a great past in osu!taiko. And now, DarkVortex has successfully brought S.S.H. back to our mode with a great mapset to the song Daedalus!
Featuring several streams mixing the common 1/4 snap with 1/3, as well as consistent and well-done patterns, this map is a incredibly fun to play and, like Figue Folle, is featured in the TWC Finals as a Hard Rock map. This set also is home to six difficulties, while most sets only have four or five, providing a larger range of difficulties to play for players of varying skill levels!
After being absent from the ranked section for a few months, Raiden returns with an amazing map of Transport by Sota Fujimori, and let me tell you, it's an AMAZING map.
This is a very technical map, using many odd snaps and rhythms, finishers and slider velocity changes. However, it's also a very enjoyable map and a nice change of pace to the usual "meta", so if you're not afraid of slower maps with tricky patterns, this is a must-play map.
An outstanding 1/6 map by the new face lazyboy007 this month. Despite not having much experience with taiko, he still produced an excellent map with consistent structure. Furthermore, the excellent 1/6 usage and control of pattern density extracts the essence of the song perfectly, making it a worthy contender for this month's Spotlight!
Taking the top spot for this edition of the Spotlights is Camellia's rendition of "Nirvana" mapped by Spectator! While being of lower star rating than the usual Camellia map, it features several patterns that make the map harder than it seems.
There's the sort-of stuttery 1/4 slider patterns, the antiflows, and the hyperchains, all of which don't usually appear in most maps. It also manages to take the cake for its design, featuring clean patterns throughout the entire map, utilizing both smooth curves and sharp angles in different parts which reflect the song.
Spectator never fails to impress both players and mappers with his style throughout all the maps he's created, and that is evident in this map.
Finally making it's long-overdue arrival in the Ranked section, Tenshichan's "Element of SPADA" is a prime example of the beauty of simplicity. Without attempting any particularly radical patterning or quirky rhythm choices, this approval-length beatmap still manages to interest and challenge the player, continuously shifting and evolving throughout. Perhaps more importantly, it's also an absolute joy to play through.
After previously producing one of the most dramatic and exhilarating matches of the osu!catch World Cup 2017, it's great to see such a memorable and high quality beatmap given the spotlight it deserves for all to experience.
The Spotlights team did not find any maps they felt were worthy of the Spotlights this month.
Starting off his mapping career with a bang, Damnjelly comes onto the scene with his mapset of "Iwashi ga Tsuchi kara Haete Kurunda". The highest difficulty features an escalation style reading challenge, slowly introducing complex rhythms and culminating with overlapping streams.
The mapset also features a geometry based spread design, with more angles being introduced per difficulty level, and an incredible recreation of the song's music video in storyboard form.
In addition, as the difficulty level in the mapset increases, each difficulty's theme increases in angles, going from being based around triangles, to squares and pentagons. All thematics considered, this mapset provides a highly enjoyable experience and is a sign of incredible potential from this new mapper.
With his latest ranked map of the song "Gabriel Drop Kick" by Tomita Miyu, Onishi Saori, Ohzora Naomi and Hanazawa Kana, Okoratu brings us a great collaborative mapset that spans across all modes.
In his own difficulties, the mapper follows the song perfectly by using structured patterning whenever the music is calm and dishevelled patterning when the song is more chaotic. Combined with a guest Insane by Yuii- that uses an interesting hitsounding concept, this mapset is an experience not to be missed this month!
Here comes RoughSketch feat. DD "Nakata" Metal - Booths of Fighters (Camellia's "Barrage of Flurries" Remix) mapped by LowComboFC. This map essentially takes advantage of the complex song structure, managing to combine explosive slider usage and gimmicky stream patterns flawlessly into the extremely variation of the song with an unique aesthetic choice.
For those who are looking for a genuine challenge, this marathon definitely will not disappoint! Call of fighters, call your way!
(Spoiler: watch out for your fingers when you tap those 346bpm streams.)
Inspired by legendary mappers of the past, den0saur's rendition of CaptivAte has left me, and many others, pleasantly surprised. It's sure to invoke nostalgic memories for many of the older players, while also being challenging and engaging for the newer ones. A refreshing marathon to see in the ranked section in recent times and surely a welcome one in the Spotlights!
Delis is already well-known as the resident spotlight hogger, but for good reasons! Sono Chi no Sadame is a really intense and epic song, and Delis' representation of the map was done impeccably. High and low points of the song were captured perfectly with variations on spacing and rhythms, and all not without a touch of the classic Delis style™. A solid addition to this month's Spotlight!
While certainly not a stranger to the Spotlights, iloveyou4ever has outdone himself this time with his map of xi's World Fragments! This ten-minute marathon takes the player through three movements of music, each of which contains everything from sweeping piano passages to calm melodic bits.
What makes this map unique, however, is the way iloveyou4ever approached the song. Every section is distinctly patterned to meld into xi's composition, yet the map still flows cohesively as a whole. This is a selection worth playing through for the experience -- ten minutes will fly by in an instant!
After the slamming success of both "Cycle Hit" and "We Are Number One" back in 2017, Midnaait is back again this year with their next(a) hit, lapix's "Nexta"!
Being the winner of the o!Taiko Argentina Mapping Contest, it is no surprise that this gem is included in this month's Spotlights. Featuring several tricky patterns throughout the entirety of the "Data Overwrite" difficulty mixed with SV changes and a brutal long stream at the end, this map will definitely catch any unsuspecting players off-guard.
Not ready for 160BPM streams? No worries, players of all levels will find something to love in this set as there are a total of 5 beautifully crafted difficulties to choose from.
An excellent mapset by frukoyurdakul who extremely familiar with rock songs. Every difficulties are well mapped especially hardest one 'K.O'. He shows us what's rock song's essence.The triple and stream emphasize guitar, drum and even vocal perfectly. Moreover, the hitsound usage of stream is quite amazing and feels good while playing. If you wants to play 1/3+1/4 stuff, this map might be a good choice.
Greenshell makes their first Spotlights appearance this month with their map of TAMUSIC's "Shitai Ryokou". The mapper has utilized a fairly simple mapping style to cleanly and effectively accompany the song, focusing mainly on the strong drum beats and on occasion the violin melodies, making for a very intuitive and satisfying play experience.
While the patterns in the map are not that complex overall, the mapper's use of finisher notes throughout does a great job of emphasizing the song's strong drums and makes the map much more challenging and enjoyable to play, even on the lower difficulties. All in all, this is a solid, clean mapset, and is well deserving of its place in this month's Spotlights.
Last but most definitely not least, we have Fallmorph showcasing their high technical mapping skills in Camellia’s "Enantiomorphs". This map is chock full of unbalanced note snappings, tricky streams as well as minor gimmicks which involves sliders, finishers and slider speed changes that all blends together perfectly.
Maintaining a high combo on this map might be easy for the average player, but be warned that getting a high accuracy will be quite the challenge!
Kyuare's latest mapset of "Turii ~Panta rhei~" brings us an exhilarating experience! This mid-length mapset has an even spread of 5 decent difficulties, fitting players at all level.
While 1/4 stream patterns are most common in modern osu!catch mapping, this beatmap employs its specialty in a different way. The top Turii difficulty has Kyuare's typical wiggle patterns that definitely give you great challenge. But if you find it too hard, don't worry! The Rain difficulty, which features some tap dashes, can also hype you up! Don't get deceived by star ratings and try your best!
Large multi-mode collaborations can sometimes fall flat if each particular game mode didn't receive enough dedicated attention, but fortunately, this is far from the case here. Sc4v4ng3r's osu!catch difficulty spread for "Gabriel Drop Kick" is a beautifully clean affair, but also sports a variety of different patterns and flows fitting each different section.
The fact that Sc4v4ng3r's mapset has managed to reached Ranked status, even when the man himself is on an extended leave of absence from osu! is a testament to the quality of his work and the kind efforts of our community. Truly great to see and I hope an eventual return yields more of the same from him.
An amazing set of top-quality maps by Ascendance, Spectator and Hareimu! Ascendance, as the mapper of the top difficulty, intentionally uses tricky yet decent anti-flows throughout the map, which heavily challenge reading skills and tapping precision.
The lower two difficulties are also neatly organized with delicate and friendly patterns, making the set enjoyable for fruit lovers of all levels. Don't forget to check it out!
It's time we could enjoy 1/2 jump party! Surrounded by 1/4-rhythm-based overdoses today, RoseusJaeger and Ascendance are surprisingly gifting us a newly approved mapset, "Akaito" by Rib, with mostly 1/2 patterns. This map features convenient flow and proper emphasis throughout the whole difficulty. Meanwhile it's' also able to come up with different patterns that make it colourful and catchy. With Rib's smooth voice, you are about to love playing this map.
"Don't mess the timing with your eyes. Feel the rhythm with your soul!" Lenfried- brings us here the probably most enjoyable and fun mapset which consist only out of easy difficulties! The BASIC consist mostly of 2/1 and 1/1 pattern which got placed in order to the vocals from the music. It's perfect for every new player.
The CHALLENGE difficulty is where the fun begins! The vocal tells you how to play and then the pattern repeats again but with an incredibly high slider velocity, high enough that the notes become unreadable. You have to remember which pattern you played before and listen to the vocal to hit them accurately!
This mapset really deserves to be the best of the month April. Well done Lenfried-! We would like to see more maps like this from you!
_underjoy came back with his undoubtfully insane 7K mapset with Gekikara Mania's "Deublithick". The spread features three extreme difficulties, including Blocko as a guest mapper, and an Insane difficulty accompanied by capsafangirl, which present extreme streaming burst at the chorus section of the song, along with complex usage of multiple chord stream jump hands.
_underjoy once again showed his unique and excellent mapping style, encouraging for 7K lovers to once again challenge and test their skills.
Debuting his first ranked map, Mentholzzz's "ONIGIRI FREEWAY" by featured artist OISHII is quite the active chart for an active song. Featuring twisting long notes with well crafted inverse sections, it's certainly a break from the established norm.
Even if long notes aren't your thing, the lower difficulties share the same creative spark that makes the top diff stand out, and to top it all off, it's key sounded! With a little something for everyone, this has definitely earned its place in this month's Spotlights.
Turrim, new mania mapper has made his appearance with his first ranked mapset, DJ Genki VS Camellia feat. moimoi - YELL!
As he showed on many unranked maps, this map also has kind of unusual long note style. There is the well-layered structure, starting from vocal to heavy drum roll backs it up. He focused on the feeling when he faced the part, it makes him to put many long notes at the main melody. Sometimes he excluded the strength of drum for the sake of it, that aids in organization of pattern creativity in a good way.
The last kiai is made up of full long notes, it gives a challenge to players who are not familiar with them. It's a new challenge for him as 7K mapping but he was able to overcome it!
We hope you enjoy our selection for this month and look forward to what we will bring to you in the future.
Until then, happy clicking, drumming, catching, and hitting the piano notes! Do not forget to have a rest occasionally!
—Kurokami, Mao