RedOctane

Band Hero

Band Hero

Nintendo DS - November 3, 2009

Rock out as a band anytime, anywhere! Music fans can now take their whole band and play their favorite music on the road anytime, anywhere with Band Hero for the Nintendo DS Lite. Band Hero takes the fun of social gaming beyond the living room and allows families and friends to play together as a band with the DS' built in microphone, the brand new innovative Drum Grip that gives players the ability to lay down beats on their DS Lite and the signature Guitar Hero Guitar Grip gameplay. This cooperative, family-friendly addition to the Guitar Hero series boasts the biggest set list for a Nintendo DS music game to date and is comprised of some of the hottest tracks from music's most popular artists.

Band Hero

Band Hero

Microsoft Xbox 360 - November 3, 2009

Band Hero is a spinoff video game as part of the Guitar Hero series of music rhythm games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5, and supports full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5. The console versions use instrument-shaped game controllers, while the DS version uses either the "Guitar Grip" introduced with the Guitar Hero: On Tour series or a new Drum Skin that comes with the game. Like previous games, virtual avatars of Taylor Swift, Adam Levine, and the band No Doubt are presented in the game. Band Hero received mixed reviews from journalists. Some considered the game to be an appropriately flavored version of Guitar Hero 5 for the "Top 40" pop rock hits, while others felt the game was strictly aimed at teenagers. They also contested the cost of the full game, featuring only 65 songs compared with 85 songs in Guitar Hero 5, and considered if the content would have been better in downloadable form. A day after the game's release, the band No Doubt sued Activision, citing similar misuse of their avatars as the Kurt Cobain avatar in Guitar Hero 5.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Sony Playstation 3 - Released - October 28, 2007

Rock out to the third entry in in Red Octane's music series for guitar gods! Songs for Guitar Hero III include Barracuda by Heart, Sabotage by Beastie Boys, Rock And Roll All Nite by Kiss, and much more! In addition, players can experience an incredible number of added features and explosive content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, a bevy of exclusive unlockable content and authentic rock venues. Also for the first time ever, Guitar Hero fans can thrash and burn with new wireless guitar controllers available for each platform. The exclusive Gibson guitars include innovative features such as removable faceplates that will allow fans to personalize their guitars and make it their own, and a new button color design that is integrated for an even greater authentic feel and rock experience.

Guitar Hero: Dual Pack

Guitar Hero: Dual Pack

Sony Playstation 2 - Released - 2006

A package deal that consists of both Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II.

Guitar Hero: On Tour

Guitar Hero: On Tour

Nintendo DS - Released - June 22, 2008

Guitar Hero: On Tour is a series of music video games based on the Guitar Hero series for the Nintendo DS handheld game system. The series is developed by Vicarious Visions and distributed by RedOctane and Activision. Three games in the series have been released since June 2008: Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades and Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits. As with other games in the Guitar Hero series, the player is challenged to play through the lead or bass guitar portions of rock songs by matching colored notes that scroll on screen towards the player in time with physical actions to score points and keep the virtual crowd pleased. While the console versions of Guitar Hero use a separate guitar-shaped peripheral, Vicarious Visions developed a "Guitar Grip" unit that slips into the Game Boy Advance port on the DS or the DS Lite to be used with the games; the Grip is incompatible with the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS. The Guitar Grip provides a strap to hold the game unit while providing the player with four fret buttons; the player uses the fret buttons in combination with using the stylus to simulate strumming on the touch-sensitive screen of the DS. Each game features more than 25 songs, with some variation in track lists depending on the region of release, and multiple single-player modes. The local wi-fi capabilities of the DS are used for multiplayer mode, and allow a player to use songs from one installment of the series in competitive modes with a player with a different installment.

In the Groove 2

Sony Playstation 2 - Unreleased

In the Groove 2 is Roxor's dance/rhythm arcade game, and is the sequel to In the Groove in 2004. In the Groove 2 plays almost exactly like the iconic Konami dance franchise Dance Dance Revolution; four directional panels are put on a dance board pointing up, down, left, and right. The game screen displays arrows. In the Groove 2 runs on a DDR-derived, open-source program/engine named Stepmania and is still incredibly common in arcades to this day because of its ability to play custom songs through a free-release patch. These "R21" powered devices allow players to plug in a USB drive into the system and transfer their custom or downloaded tracks to their on-stick profile, as well as save scores. As a result of settlement of a lawsuit by Konami against the developer, Roxor Games transferred the intellectual property rights for In the Groove to Konami. Due to this, the PlayStation 2 port was never released, though it was leaked onto the internet a bit later.

In the Groove 2

Arcade - Released - June 18, 2005

In the Groove 2 is the sequel to Roxor Games' 2004 arcade game In the Groove. It was released to arcades officially on June 18, 2005. It was available as an upgrade kit and as a dedicated cabinet developed by Andamiro. There are a total of 137 songs available in the arcade version. The Novice difficulty level is a feature added to the home version of In the Groove, carried over to In the Groove 2. On this difficulty level, all songs are rated as ones (including the hardest and fastest songs on other difficulties), and play in Novice mode places a traffic light graphic on the screen that tells players when to step. As always, two players can select different difficulty levels for the same song, but if one selects Novice, then the traffic light always appears instead of the normal backgrounds. It is also worth noting that on ITG2, Novice always forces a constant speed of 120 BPM (a "C120" mod). As a result, since C-mods disqualify scores from appearing on the scoreboards if the song played has pauses or speed changes, those songs will never have any Novice scores saved. Rolls are a new feature. They look like spiky hold notes and usually come in pairs. The player must continually tap the corresponding arrows until the end of the roll, much like the drum roll notes in Namco's Taiko no Tatsujin. Regardless of the song's speed, rolls must be tapped at least once every 0.3 seconds. Survival Mode is another course-based gameplay mode. The player must play a five-song course, where each song has a time limit less than the song's length. Time left over after each song is carried over to the next, and missteps deplete the time remaining - time is only added for Fantastics, with no change for Excellents and detractions for anything lower. The lifebar in this mode is not used to determine whether the player passes. Instead, it serves as a visual indicator of how much time is remaining. The game ends when the remaining time is fully depleted. Fitness Mode is a common home version feature on dance games that is included in the arcade version of ITG2. This gameplay mode allows users to keep track of time spent dancing and calories burned. Three previously Marathon-only modifiers - Bumpy, Beat, and Robot (a metallic gray Flat arrow type) - have also been added to the regular modifier list. In addition, a multi-colored arrow type, Vivid, has been added for colorblind players. It resembles the default arrow color scheme used in Dance Dance Revolution. "Excellent", "Great" and "Decent" judgments are now prefixed or suffixed with a dash. A prefix (-Excellent, -Great or -Decent) indicates that the player stepped too early; a suffix (Excellent-, Great- or Decent-) indicates that the player stepped too late. In novice mode, "Way Off" becomes "Way Early" and "Way Late" respectively; in other modes, the dash system still applies. "Stretch Jumps" have been included in double play, a jump that requires a player to hit two panels simultaneously that are farther away from each other than normal jumps, such as 1PU+2PD or 1PL+2PL.

Scroll to Top