osu!

Logo since May 2024[1]

Original author(s)| Dean Lewis "peppy" Herbert
Developer(s)| osu! development team
Initial release| September 16, 2007; 18 years ago (2007-09-16)
Stable release| 20230326[2] (March 26, 2023; 3 years ago (2023-03-26)) [±]
Repository| github.com/ppy/osu
Written in| C#
Middleware| OpenTK[3]
Operating system| Microsoft Windows
macOS
Linux
Android
iOS
Size|

* osu! stable
* 220MB[citation needed]

Available in| 37 languages

List of languages

Arabic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, English, German, Greek, Spanish, Finnish, Filipino, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Type| Rhythm game
License| Freeware (stable build)
MIT (osu!lazer code)
CC BY-NC (osu!lazer assets[4])

Osu![lower-alpha 1] (stylized as osu!) is a freeware rhythm game originally created and self-published by Australian developer Dean Herbert. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 16 September 2007, with later ports to macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.[5]

The gameplay of osu! is based on the Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series of rhythm games, which primarily involves clicking notes, which appear as circles, using a cursor or finger. Since the game's release, three other official "rulesets" (game modes)[6][1:38] have been added, taking inspiration from various games. Unlike many rhythm games, levels in osu! are created and uploaded by users, increasing the range and volume of the song library, which is a factor contributing to the game's popularity.

The game has a significant connection to Japanese culture and anime music. It has also had effects on the esports industry—professional gamers use osu! to warm up and practice, and the community frequently organizes tournaments between players.

## Contents

* 1 Gameplay
* 1.1 Rulesets (game modes)
* 1.2 Devices
* 2 Development
* 3 Reception and legacy
* 3.1 Critical response
* 3.2 Community and popularity
* 4 Notes
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Gameplay

The game awards score based on the judgement obtained for each note, with more score being awarded for better judgements.

Osu! is a rhythm game with multiple distinct game modes[6][1:38]. If the player misses too many notes, they fail the song and must retry.[7][8] In-game settings, called mods, can change gameplay in different ways—for example, by speeding up the song or increasing the size of circles.[9][10] Songs are mapped to levels called beatmaps,[11] and the same song can include multiple beatmaps of varying difficulties.[8] Some beatmaps, including a tutorial, are bundled with a new installation of the game, but more can be downloaded from the game's website or directly from the game.[11][7][12]

Beatmaps can be created and uploaded by all users.[7][13] In the game's single-player mode, scores on beatmaps can be compared with other players, who are ranked on an online leaderboard.[7] Scores are primarily measured using their performance points (abbreviated as PP), which account for various aspects of a player's skill.[9][14] Users can add others as friends and chat in-game,[15] and two multiplayer modes allowing groups of people to play beatmaps either synchronously or asynchronously with each other.[7][6][0:58]

### Rulesets (game modes)

File:Osu!standard gameplay.webm File:Taiko.webm File:Catch.webm File:Mania.webm The game's original and most popular ruleset, based on Ouendan,[15] is also known as osu!standard.[16] There are also three alternative rulesets, osu!mania, osu!taiko, and osu!catch,[15][13], and the game additionally supports user-generated custom rulesets.[17][1:35]

osu!standard is the original game mode of osu!. The game mode revolves around three types of notes – hit circle, slider and spinner. Hit circles appear as notes over a song's runtime, and the objective is to click or tap on the circles at the appropriate time and in the correct order,[18][19][20] aided by rings called "approach circles" that close in on the hit circles to visually indicate the timing; more points are awarded the closer the approach circles are to the hit circles.[19] The core gameplay is inspired by the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and its sequel Elite Beat Agents.[18] Slider notes require that the player click and hold while moving the cursor across its predefined path.[20][21] Spinner notes require the user to click and hold while rapidly spinning their cursor or finger around the centre of the screen.

osu!taiko is a game mode inspired by the rhythm game series Taiko no Tatsujin; it involves circles moving from right to left, requiring keypresses when they reach the left side.[11] The user is presented with two main types of notes, "don" (red) and "kat" (blue), and they must differentiate them based on their colour and hit one of the two corresponding keys for that colour on their keyboard, with the user only receiving score if they pressed either one of the appropriate keys. The game mode also features large notes which force the user to press both of the corresponding keys for that colour at the same time. Besides the common notes, the game mode also features drumrolls and swells, where the user must repeatedly hit both keys to clear the note.[22]

osu!catch, formerly Catch the Beat, is a game mode based on EZ2Catch, a game mode in EZ2DJ. In it, fruits fall from the top of the screen; the player controls a character at the bottom, whom they can move left and right with the goal of catching as much fruit on a plate as possible, earning them score.[15][23][24]

osu!mania is a vertically scrolling rhythm game based on rhythm game series such as Beatmania[11] and Guitar Hero.[15] There are two types of notes, standard and hold notes; hold notes must be held down and released. The game mode splits the screen of the user into up to 16 different columns, with each column being designated a different key on the keyboard. The goal of the player is to press the appropriate key at the correct time, as each note reaches the bottom (or alternatively top) of the screen.[15][25]

### Devices

Osu! has been noted for encouraging the use of unique input devices—although the game can be played with a computer mouse, it is often recommended to use a graphics tablet with a pen, which more closely emulates the gameplay of Ouendan.[26][11] The accessibility of using a mouse and keyboard is another reason given for the game's popularity.[26] Gaming keyboard manufacturer Wooting released a three-key keyboard dedicated to playing Osu! due to the popularity of their keyboards among the game's players.[27].

## Development

Osu! was created by Dean Herbert, an Australian developer known online as "peppy",[15] as a computer version of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents.[11] One of his goals was to create longevity through enabling users to craft their own beatmaps.[26] Herbert had experience creating video games prior to osu!, having made some during high school and university,[28]: 05:34 but has said he did not think it would become his job.[29]: 00:20 He began developing osu! while attending university and had a working build of the game after a few hours, which he shared with friends.[28]: 00:50 It was written in C# using the XNA framework.[28]: 03:24 The game's first public release was on 16 September 2007,[13] and an open beta was officially available starting on 17 October.[30] Due to the game's growth in popularity as well as user feedback, Herbert later added the extra game modes osu!mania, osu!taiko, and osu!catch, later renamed to rulesets.[11] After releasing Osu!, Herbert, who had been working full-time for an IT company, gradually reduced his work hours to focus on maintaining osu!.[28]: 39:49 According to Herbert, as of a July 2014 interview for the official osu! YouTube channel, the user interface of the game client and official website were undergoing full "revamps".[28]: 34:42 In the same interview, he expressed interest or intentions to add major features to the game, such as a multiplayer power-up system inspired by Ouendan and TetriNET,[28]: 16:14 3D rotation of the field of play,[28]: 25:23 and expanded multiplayer lobbies.[28]: 37:40

Osu! has three different builds; osu!stable, the original build, osu!lazer, which is a rewrite of the original game with new features and bugfixes, with the end goal being for osu!lazer to replace the stable build of osu!; and osu!stream, a legacy version designed for iOS and Android prior to the creation of osu!lazer.[31][32]

## Reception and legacy

### Critical response

Jeuxvideo.com reviewed osu! favorably with 18/20 points in 2015, praising its simple gameplay and its expansive community, but complaining about a high skill floor and its unoriginal gamemodes, as well as the prevalence of Japanese music, which they felt was excessive.[15] In 2010, MMOGames.com reviewer Daniel Ball said that while the game was similar to Elite Beat Agents, it was differentiated by its community's large library of high-quality community made content and customization.[23]

### Community and popularity

An audience watches players idke and RyuK compete at the osu! TwitchCon booth in 2018.

Thanks to a thriving community, osu! has continued to gain popularity since its release, being widely shared on video and live streaming platforms like YouTube and TikTok.[26][27] The game works on a model of community-generated beatmaps, which has been cited as a significant factor in its popularity and longevity.[15][26][33] A large portion of the available music consists of songs from anime[26][33]—the game itself is aimed at foreign fans of Japanese culture and is influenced by it, particularly due to its inspiration from Ouendan and the general continuing association of rhythm games with Japan since the 1990s.[33]

Tournaments are held frequently as another mode of competition.[26] The osu! World Cup is an annual tournament which comprises a group stage and bracket of the 32 highest-seeded national teams in the world, usually with 6 to 8 players on each team.[10]

Due to the game's emphasis on quickly moving the mouse cursor to precise points on the screen, some players of multiplayer online battle arena games and first-person shooter games have used it to improve reflexes and mouse control,[34] and it has been specifically recommended by some esports professionals like Ninja in the past.[7]

## Notes

1. ↑ Pronounced variously in English: /ˈoʊsuː/ (listen), /ˈoʊs/.

All changes to [31] have been manually approved by the game creator and lead developer, Dean Herbert. You can confirm this yourself by viewing the Pull Requests on the GitHub page.

## References

1. ↑ "osu!(lazer) Updates: May 19, 2024" (in en). https://osu.ppy.sh/home/news/2024-05-19-osu-lazer-updates-may-19-2024.
2. ↑ "Stable Releases". ppy. https://osu.ppy.sh/home/changelog/stable40.
3. ↑ Herbert, Dean (30 June 2016). "a long-overdue update". https://blog.ppy.sh/post/146687255823/a-long-overdue-update. "Until now we used some XNA code for input handling and low-level structs. These dependencies are almost compeletely [sic] removed from the project now, with OpenTK or similar open-source frameworks replacing them."
4. ↑ "GitHub - ppy/osu-resources: assets used by osu!". https://github.com/ppy/osu-resources.
5. ↑ "download" (in en). https://osu.ppy.sh/home/download.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 osu! (2022-03-18). what is lazer?. Retrieved 2025-07-18 - via YouTube.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Rodrigues, Gabriela (19 September 2019). "Como baixar Osu! e treinar sua mira no Fortnite e CS:GO" (in pt-BR). Rio de Janeiro: Globo Comunicação e Participações S.A.. https://www.techtudo.com.br/dicas-e-tutoriais/2019/09/como-baixar-osu-e-treinar-sua-mira-no-fortnite-e-csgo-esports.ghtml.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Phúc, Thịnh (30 August 2019). "Bí quyết giúp game thủ có khả năng phản xạ chớp nhoáng" (in vi). https://znews.vn/bi-quyet-giup-game-thu-co-kha-nang-phan-xa-chop-nhoang-post982404.html.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Carpenter, Nicole (16 July 2019). "Gamers with godlike reflexes are racing to break world records in this rhythm game". https://www.pcgamer.com/two-teens-are-on-a-crazy-world-record-race-in-extremely-challenging-rhythm-game-osu/.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Amos, Andrew (16 November 2018). "Circle Work: A chat with Australia's osu! World Cup team". https://www.redbull.com/au-en/circle-work-a-chat-with-australias-osu-world-cup-team.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Gonzáles, Mariela (5 September 2019). "Gaming Sounds: osu!, cuando el ritmo se convierte en nuestro séptimo sentido" (in es). The Objective (The Objective Media). https://theobjective.com/further/gaming-sounds-osu/.
12. ↑ osu! (2025-03-21). a better way to find maps. Retrieved 2025-07-18 - via YouTube.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Andika, Ferry (27 December 2019). "Osu!, Game Rhythm Terkenal di PC dengan Ribuan Pemain Harian" (in id). Jakarta: Indozone Media Indonesia. https://www.indozone.id/game/RMspde/osu-game-rhythm-terkenal-di-pc-dengan-ribuan-pemain-harian.
14. ↑ Tan Guan Hao, Dexter (25 July 2019). "osu! PP world record broken by 15-year-old". https://dotesports.com/general/news/osu-pp-world-record-broken-by-15-year-old. "For instance, former Overwatch League pro Hyeon 'EFFECT' Hwang said he plays the game for one hour before matches to warm up his hands."
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 "Test: Osu!" (in fr). 7 June 2015. http://www.jeuxvideo.com/test/427571/osu.htm.
16. ↑ Lien, Aaron (January 13, 2021). "OSU Rhythm Games Club stays on beat without in-person meetings". The Lantern (The Lantern Media Group). https://www.thelantern.com/2021/01/osu-rhythm-games-club-stays-on-beat-without-in-person-meetings/.
17. ↑ osu! (2022-03-18). what is lazer?. Retrieved 2025-07-16 - via YouTube.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Gonzáles, Mariela (5 September 2019). "Gaming Sounds: osu!, cuando el ritmo se convierte en nuestro séptimo sentido" (in es). The Objective (The Objective Media). https://theobjective.com/further/gaming-sounds-osu/.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Rodrigues, Gabriela (19 September 2019). "Como baixar Osu! e treinar sua mira no Fortnite e CS:GO" (in pt-BR). Rio de Janeiro: Globo Comunicação e Participações S.A.. https://www.techtudo.com.br/dicas-e-tutoriais/2019/09/como-baixar-osu-e-treinar-sua-mira-no-fortnite-e-csgo-esports.ghtml.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Phúc, Thịnh (30 August 2019). "Bí quyết giúp game thủ có khả năng phản xạ chớp nhoáng" (in vi). https://znews.vn/bi-quyet-giup-game-thu-co-kha-nang-phan-xa-chop-nhoang-post982404.html.
21. ↑ "Test: Osu!" (in fr). 7 June 2015. http://www.jeuxvideo.com/test/427571/osu.htm.
22. ↑ osu! (2015-04-08). osu!academy Episode 5 - Introduction to Taiko mode! Feat. Tasha. Retrieved 2025-07-18 - via YouTube.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Ball, Daniel (27 April 2010). "Online rhythm and music game Osu! reviewed - MMOGames.com". MMOGames.com. https://www.mmogames.com/gamenews/online-rhythm-and-dance-game-osu-reviewed/.
24. ↑ osu! (2015-01-10). osu!academy Episode 4 - Introduction to CtB. Retrieved 2025-07-18 - via YouTube.
25. ↑ osu! (2014-12-17). osu!academy Episode 3 - Introduction to osu!mania Feat. LoliFlan. Retrieved 2025-07-18 - via YouTube.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 26.6 "Genoeg rhythm-action voor de rest van je leven... en helemaal gratis!" (in nl). Power Unlimited 26 (7): 33. July 2018. https://archive.org/details/292_20231030_202310/295/page/32/mode/2up. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Ridley, Jacob (21 March 2023). "This keyboard designed for a single rhythm game is literally UwU" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/this-keyboard-designed-for-a-single-rhythm-game-is-literally-uwu/.
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 28.7 Herbert, Dean (25 July 2014). "osu!talk Episode 8 - Feat. peppy!" (Interview).
29. ↑ Herbert, Dean (12 January 2014). "CosNews 1 | Peppy (PPY) - Osu! Interview (Comic Fiesta)" (Interview). Interviewed by CalvinPixels.
30. ↑ Orland, Kyle (18 October 2007). "Free PC Ouendan/EBA emulator hits public beta" (in en-US). https://www.engadget.com/2007-10-18-free-pc-ouendan-eba-emulator-hits-public-beta.html.
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "History for wiki/Help_centre/Upgrading_to_lazer/en.md - ppy/osu-wiki" (in en). https://github.com/ppy/osu-wiki.
32. ↑ "osu!stream". https://osustream.com/.
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 Yono, Dylan (7 April 2019). "Anime music thrives in an obscure computer-based rhythm game" (in en-US). http://www.michigandaily.com/arts/music/anime-music-thrives-obscure-computer-based-rhythm-game/.
34. ↑ Saguias, Gabriel (27 November 2018). "Cinco jogos viciantes de PC para treinar e subir de ranking no CS:GO" (in pt). https://www.techtudo.com.br/listas/2018/11/cinco-jogos-viciantes-de-pc-para-treinar-e-subir-de-ranking-no-csgo-esports.ghtml.

## External links

* Official website
* Official osu! wiki

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