{"id":804123,"date":"2022-12-15T09:04:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T09:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/?p=804123"},"modified":"2023-09-11T11:22:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T18:22:07","slug":"the-new-kings-of-osu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/the-new-kings-of-osu\/","title":{"rendered":"The new kings of osu!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven\u2019t checked in on the game\u2019s community since my first article on it back in October 2019<\/a>, but with the conclusion of the 2022 osu! World Cup in November 2022, it\u2019s as good a time to follow up on it as ever.<\/p>\n

What is osu!?<\/h2>\n

osu! \u2014 still spelled all lowercase, and the exclamation mark is still mandatory \u2014 is a free-to-play rhythm-based video game by indie developer Dean Herbert<\/a>, released in 2007. You can download it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Standard mode of osu! involves clicking on circles that pop up around the screen to the beat of a song, and sometimes sliding between two of them or spinning the cursor around one. And it\u2019s notable for being one of the few video games primarily played with creative pen tablets like the Wacom Intuos.<\/p>\n

\"osu<\/p>\n

As the slogan of osu! \u2014 \u201cClick those circles!\u201d \u2014 implies, the game was originally made for the mouse: in a fascinating bit of crossover, the game\u2019s own artist, Daru<\/a>, may have been the first person to try it with his tablet. And although many still play the game by clicking and dragging, other early adopters soon found they could take their speed to the next level by playing with a pen hovered over the surface of their tablet, tapping the cursor around the screen with flicks of the wrist and using the Z and X keys. Because this forces players to gauge distances by muscle memory in air, it\u2019s a tricky playstyle that takes a lot of precision to get right \u2014 but that kind of coordination, taken to the extreme, is exactly what makes the best players so impressive.<\/p>\n

The games\u2019 community has grown consistently, passing 20 million active players in 2022. Over time, top players have reached previously unthinkable speeds and achievements. Watching them play is hypnotic \u2014 one hand darts around the tablet with machinelike precision while the other tapdances on the keyboard, and all the while the beat of the song bumps in the background.<\/p>\n

In the early days of the game\u2019s community, Wacom was the only tablet brand to speak of. As such, the scene was built on them \u2014 but even now that there are alternatives, due to their high responsiveness, stable drivers, and rock-solid build quality, Wacom tablets have remained the standard.<\/p>\n

The last article\u2019s titular \u201cKing of Osu!\u201d was the 2013 Wacom Intuos Pen Small, model CTL 480, which at the time was so coveted that used ones were getting increasingly rare and expensive. Prices have gone down, though \u2014 because there\u2019s a new king in town. Which model? Read on to find out.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s changed since 2019?<\/h2>\n

Aside from the shift from the Intuos 480 to new tablets, other things have changed as well. The situation in 2019 looked like this:<\/p>\n