osu!arcade

The osu!arcade was a prototype arcade machine created by peppy. It consisted of a custom-made enclosure and a built-in touchscreen running a touch-based version of osu!.

Although it has arcade in its name, features typical for arcade machines like coin slots had been considered but were never added when working on the prototype.¹

First prototype

For the Wai-con anime convention in Perth in January 2010, peppy wanted to create a showcase for osu! with the goal to make osu! more known in the local community.² Despite the idea being relatively spontaneous, peppy successfully set up the first prototype for an arcade machine. It was a slanted box with external speakers at the side, running a modified version of osu!(stable).³⁴

Throughout the 2-day convention, peppy tried to get feedback by watching both beginners as well as veterans of Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents play the game.

Many convention visitors wanted to try out the arcade machine, so much so that at most times it was hard to see the screen due to the constant stream of people gathered around the cabinet. Overall, the community acclaimed the arcade machine, although some people pointed out that playing too much could lead to sore fingers.⁵

Second prototype

Around early to mid 2012, a second prototype was developed.⁶⁷ It featured two speakers which were integrated into the cabinet. The touchscreen used a precise optical-based system.⁸ Furthermore, an Arduino microcontroller controlled LED lights that would flash according to the music.⁹¹⁰

The prototype was showcased to the public running osu!stream, an osu! variant designed for touch devices, at multiple events such as the "Red Flag LAN Fest" in Perth.¹¹¹²

In August 2012, support for local multiplayer was added to osu!stream specifically for the arcade.¹³ Included with the multiplayer mode was a custom server and real-time synced cursors, an exclusive feature not present in any other osu! variant.¹⁴

Later that same year, peppy experimented with support for converting osu! beatmaps to osu!stream, so a more diverse range of maps could be played on the arcade cabinet.¹⁵

Future

In the following years, peppy did not continue to work on the osu!arcade project. By publishing the design document in October 2013 however, he wanted to inspire others to create their own arcade cabinet or undertake similar projects.

References