Difficulty naming 6y5ei

The purpose of difficulty naming is to inform players how difficult a map is. This article lists common conventions as well as other alternatives that have been gathered throughout the years. However, as long as the set of difficulty names is descriptive and clearly indicates progression of difficulty, you may use any desired kind of scheme. 5566d

Default 5e6ds

These difficulty names are the most commonly used for each game mode.

Note: The special difficulty name Marathon historically allowed mappers to submit maps of longer songs, and thus became popular for single-difficulty mapsets. Today, the name has no special meaning and is typically only used for very long songs or song compilations.

osu! 4w3v5a

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Insane
• Expert

osu!taiko 1m6e4p

• Kantan
• Futsuu
• Muzukashii
• Oni
• Inner Oni / Ura Oni

osu!catch 1m4g3v

• Cup
• Salad
• Platter
• Rain
• Overdose

osu!mania 531o

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Insane
• Expert

Widely accepted alternatives 554g1n

• Beginner: Below Easy
• Shokyuu: Below Kantan
• Advanced: Between Normal and Hard
• Hyper: Between Hard and Insane
• Extra: Alternative to Expert
• Extreme: Above Expert
• Hell Oni: Above Inner Oni / Ura Oni
• Deluge: Above Overdose

Difficulty naming schemes from other games 5m3022

Mapsets of songs that originated from other games often borrow that game's difficulty naming scheme. Usage of these difficulty names is acceptable for any song. Some of the common naming schemes that made their way into osu! are listed here:

Beatmania IIDX 5c5c67

• Beginner
• Normal
• Hyper
• Another
• Black Another
• Leggendaria

DanceDanceRevolution 7323f

• Beginner
• Basic
• Difficult
• Expert
• Challenge

DJMAX 153c3w

• EZ
• NM
• HD
• MX
• SC

EZ2DJ, EZ2AC 5z2a4c

• EZ
• NM
• HD
• SHD
• EX

In The Groove 2f634p

• Novice
• Easy
• Medium
• Hard
• Expert

Pop'n Music 571p3a

• Easy
• Normal
• Hyper
• EX

SOUND VOLTEX 5m2n1j

Note: Large mapsets of SOUND VOLTEX songs often use difficulty names from multiple versions of the game, even if the song does not appear in all of them.

• BASIC / BSC
• NOVICE / NOV
• ADVANCED / ADV
• EXHAUST / EXH

SOUND VOLTEX II -infinite infection- 1f2l60

• INFINITE / INF

SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS 2u3y2e

• GRAVITY / GRV

SOUND VOLTEX IV HEAVENLY HAVEN 5q4y5j

• MAXIMUM / MXM
• HEAVENLY / HVN

SOUND VOLTEX VIVID WAVE 2n6416

• MAXIMUM / MXM
• VIVID / VVD

SOUND VOLTEX EXCEED GEAR 4by4t

• MAXIMUM / MXM
• EXCEED / XCD

Arcaea 6sz4z

• Past
• Present
• Future
• Eternal
• Beyond

Lanota 725p2c

• Whisper
• Acoustic
• Ultra
• Master

maimai, CHUNITHM, Ongeki 2f205v

• EASY
• BASIC
• ADVANCED
• EXPERT
• MASTER

maimai 2n2s44

• Re:MASTER

CHUNITHM 2c293w

• ULTIMA / WORLD'S END

Ongeki 1g2d4p

• LUNATIC

Cytus, Deemo, VOEZ u40

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Insane

Cytus 6j554q

• Chaos
• Glitch / Crash

Deemo 6w3a64

• Extra

VOEZ 3br4g

• Special

Touhou Project hj39

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Lunatic
• Extra / Extra Stage / Phantasm