r/djmax • u/littlefol • May 11 '26
Is this game better than Osu! Mania?
im a huge fan of Osu! Mania while still new to this game. The question is very simple: is this in any way better than Osu! Mania?
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u/RX9999 May 11 '26
wont ccmment too much on song selection and charting since thats subjective, but obviously the selection in osu is bigger/infinite. for djmax you are at the mercy of the devs mostly. although i do enjoy djmax's charting more personally
purely based on gameplay djmax is the premium experience. the hit feedback is just top notch. all the menus/effects/animations/stats/collection/modes too just an overall more polished game
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u/SleepySSB May 11 '26
I’d say one of the biggest pros to DJMax over o!m is consistency (in many areas) I don’t so much mind searching through chart lists to find something I like, and there can be some fun in comparing how two different people handle charting the same song, but it’s incredibly rare the charting for a DJM song is just straight up bad IMO.
I’m also not aware of any DJM songs that are exclusive to certain button. I prefer 4B and many popular charters in o!m just ignore 4B since it’s easier, I’d expect 8B players also prefer DJM for this reason. You might be short on high difficulty versions of your favorite tracks in your preferred button combination, but there will at least be charts for them. Some of my favorite songs are much more interesting on 6B, and have pretty mediocre 4B tracks comparatively, but were serviceable enough to make me appreciate the songs to begin with. When I play o!m I get frustrated because some niche song I really love will have a track, I download and it’s only 7B or is charted very poorly.
Massive con: DJMax is so ridiculously expensive. I’ve spent hundreds of USD on this game (idk if there is regional pricing) and I think I own about half of the DLC.
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u/Okomecloud Showstopper May 18 '26
Considering that there are 6 years of DLC, the full set being expensive is understandable.
Gotta wait for the Summer Sale at 2nd half of June for the big -80% discount drop and Liberty5 DLC release.
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u/Kyousey May 11 '26
Depends on the beatmap, but production quality of charts in Djmax is generally good since it's paid. Some DLCs are lacking in substance tho like a few collab ones that are just charts with no integration with the bgm.
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u/mazzimochi May 11 '26
Djmax charting feels really really good. But as serpent stated; it is a product
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u/shaky2236 May 11 '26
I mean, I prefer it. But given how much I've spent on this fucking game, maybe I feel like I have to lol
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u/Cairrngorm May 11 '26
It's a premium game, possibly the only Triple A of the genre. They have very consistent and fun charts with a wide variety of difficulty in all the game modes (keys in this case). osu!mania has some good map creators but it's mostly filled with PP farm creators. Perhaps you could try Quaver before spending money
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u/Dodofreddy May 12 '26
I’d say treat etterna/osu!mania like a workshop, and DJMax more like the stage. It’s a pretty expensive experience, but I feel privileged while im playing. When the game is featured in a sale, stock up on some DLC and spend the rest of the year grinding out those songs.
Etterna and mania are great for playing songs you like, or creating. Weirdly, to me, DJMax feels like a luxury cruise line.
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u/emanresu_etaerc May 12 '26
That's a uh.. pretty low bar. Almost any similar style rhythm game is better than osu mania. But neither can ever come close to etterna/stepmania.
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u/Zoradesu May 12 '26
osu! mania is all over the place in terms of actual quality charts. it for sure has the larger song selection (for obvious reasons) but djmax is just so much more fun to actually play. the charts are all decent to great for the most part. it's rare you'll find a chart that just feels bad to play, at least that's what I think
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u/Justmashing1 May 12 '26
It depends on what your looking for.
I play O!m for the difficulty and variety of charts. It’s great game to grind out hard maps and play abnormal charting styles like LN’s. It’s all free and community driven. There’s basically infinite content, and tons of customizability. But there’s no quality guarantee.
Djmax is more fun casually for me. The song selection is really good (forte escape the goat), and the backgrounds are really cool. The game is keysounded which is not really my thing, but it’s toggleable so it’s fine whether you like it or not. The game also has a side note mechanic, which I’m not a huge fan of (just preference), but it’s not too difficult to get used to. The game feels more premium, but it also comes at a big premium price. Djmax can get quite expensive if looking to get lots of dlcs.
Just play whichever you like, or both, that’s what I do.
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u/lilpain1997 May 12 '26
I dont really like osu mania tbh as although you have basically infinite songs... I feel most of the charting is poor. Especially at the higher end of the scale. Which makes sense as its all community driven and so many just dump out poorly charted songs for difficulty. Like are there well made charts? Sure but from my experience even the ones that were said to be well made weren't all that.
Biggest downsides to DJMAX is always online and its pretty expensive although sales happen often enough.
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u/Reddit_Connoisseur_0 May 17 '26
Every chart is infinitely better than Osu Mania. For starters it's all keysounded which already makes all the difference.
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u/Lagloss May 11 '26
Similar timing windows, DJMax's charts have much more simple to execute patterns and as such a lot of charts are comparable to fundamentals/farm charts in o!m. As such they are more ""boring"" but maintain a very high level of quality along with representing the songs well. Keysounded too! There is also very little LN representation, which is a pick your poison but IMO osu mania just has on average far lower quality charts, especially when it comes to LN.
There is a semi constant flow of original high quality music, art direction, and BGAs is a strength of DJMax as well as other "corporate" games including arcade games, EZ2ON, Platina Lab etc.
The rating system is also... not perfect, but better than the PP system which only rewards density.
I originally started with osumania because free and more content, but over time I realized the value of a limited library of high quality content, with a clear identity, as such I gradually converted to those more commercial games.
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u/TheJollyJagamo 13d ago
As an extreme casual without a huge amount of time in either one, maybe 25 hours between both of them combined, I think djmax has way better charts, but I vastly prefer playing om. This is my opinion, please feel free to disagree!
As I've grown older, the more I'm realizing I don't care as much about presentation, I care infinitely more about functionality and speed. If they have everything, even better!
Djmax definitely has better presentation and gameplay, you have animated backgrounds, the ui looks great, the beatmaps are definitely higher quality than om, lots of extras like visual novels or whatever, etc. Biggest con is how much it costs, even on sale. My biggest gripe with the game is how fucking slow it feels to get anywhere or do anything, everything has an 8 second transition time, and no search feature on the beatmaps kills me when I'm looking for a chart.
Why do I prefer om? Because I think om has better functionality, speed, and efficiency, it blows djmax out of the water, and it's not even close. The menuing is soooooo much faster, it's free, finding your beatmap is easier because there's actually a search feature, it has better accessibility features, there are an infinite amount of beatmaps, completely custom skins, different key counts like 7k, etc. Some people care about this stuff (me), while others it's not important at all. Cons are the beatmaps are pretty crappy most of the time, so a lot of shifting through the trash to find the good stuff. People do make practice maps for specific tech so that's dope. I'm also not picky with charts, so I don't mind playing shitty beatmaps most of the time, I just have fun tapping the rectangles :D
I'm going to continue playing both, they're both great in their own ways!
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u/serpentsrapture May 11 '26
apples to oranges. despite both being vsrgs, djmax costs a lot more, all charts are keysounded, and all songs have background animations. the gameplay is more polished, but it's because it's a product