History VideoGame / GuitarHero

* AllGuitarsAreStratocasters: Averted. In the first three games, which were endorsed by Gibson, you could have Les Pauls, [=SGs=], Explorers, Flying Vs, and so on and on (even an EDS-1275, that double-necked one [[Music/LedZeppelin Jimmy Page]] played sometimes). Starting with ''World Tour'', when Activision lost Gibson license, you could construct your instrument out of parts from others (''5'' had brand names like Ibanez and Paul Reed Smith to choose from). Plenty of options, but no pure Stratocasters here (especially because only ''Rock Band'' had a license for Fender instruments), just similars (and you didn't even have ''that'' until ''Rocks the 80s'').

** The HD versions lets you play as The God of Rock and The Grim Reaper, while the SD versions has Metalhead and [[ElvisImpersonator Elroy Budvis]]. The SD versions also has a few extra guitars to boot, including one modeled after the logo for Budcat Creations (the company in charge of porting the games to [=PS2=] and Wii, with Vicarious Visions helping them out for the latter).

From ''Guitar Hero III'' to ''Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock'', it was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. Neversoft built their own ''Guitar Hero'' engine from scratch when Harmonix handed over the reins to work on ''Rock Band''.

* {{Goth}}: Pandora, described consistently throughout the series as "[[TheRedBaron the Dark Princess of Rock]]".

* CopyProtection: You can install and play the PC versions of ''III'', ''Aerosmith'', and ''World Tour'' without issue, but you need their respective license keys if you want to play online.

* Neversoft [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u32Qupdd10 spared no time]] doing the Bohemian Rhapsody performance in ''Warriors of Rock'', complete with over-the-top gestures in the operatic section. When the motion capture data from that song got backported to ''World Tour'' by the ''World Tour Definitive Edition'' team, it did not take long for people to come up with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N1bHjgltEE some]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGxLf4HIwHQ rather]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djI47a7pCD4 interesting]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8a007j-Ji8 band]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C26UphJTI-A lineups]].

In October 2015, Activision released a reboot of the franchise, ''VideoGame/GuitarHeroLive'', which dueled with the ''Rock Band 4'' when it launched in the same month. Developed by ''DJ Hero'' studio [=FreeStyleGames=], the game utilized a new six-button guitar (not six in a row, however; six in two rows of three.), and replaced the classic 3D rendered stages with a first-person perspective of the guitarist using FullMotionVideo. Following the disappointing sales of ''GH Live'', the online servers shut down in 2018 and the franchise is again dormant. However, as of 2022 with Microsoft announcing their acquisition of Activision Blizzard, they have been [[TeasingCreator teasing fans with the possibility of another revival of the series]], but only time will tell. In the meantime, however, the fan community has taken the franchise into their own hands with fan works ranging from fan games made from the ground up (e.g. Clone Hero, Phase Shift) to modded versions of pre-existing games (e.g. Guitar Hero II Deluxe, Guitar Hero World Tour Definitive Edition), all of which allow for extensive modding with fan made charts, resulting in the franchise [[PopularityPolynomial having a resurgance in popularity]] as a CultClassic.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Johnny Napalm.

* ExcusePlot: The plot's mostly there for the sake of backstory and/or lore-building; one recurring element is that of Lou (i.e. the devil) who serves as a regular antagonist and an obvious foil to the God of Rock in some games.

%%* RockMeAsmodeus: The last boss of ''Guitar Hero III''.

* ThePowerOfRock: More or less the game's entire premise, but particularly Star Power. It is cranked UpToEleven with ''Warriors of Rock''.

* UpToEleven:
** The volume controls in the first two games literally do go up to eleven. In the Neversoft intro for the third one, it might say 11 but the sticky note says twelve.
** Lampshaded by ''Guitar Hero III'''s loading message "It can always be much louder."
** The band multiplier for ''Guitar Hero 5'', for a full band, caps out at 11. 4x for full-band streaking, 4x for full band star power deployment, and an additional 3x for everyone hitting a band moment. This is also the only way you can meet the diamond challenge cutoff on the last challenge in the game.

Originally developed by Creator/{{Harmonix}}, who are also the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Frequency|Harmonix}}, Amplitude'' and the ''Karaoke Revolution'' series, and went on to make ''VideoGame/RockBand'', ''Guitar Hero'' has become an extremely popular example of the RhythmGame genre that plays like ''[[VideoGame/{{Gitadora}} Guitar Freaks]]'', but with five buttons instead of three and commercial songs.

* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: In a cutscene in Guitar Hero: Metallica, when confronted by Lou the Devil about not using the opening band they had a contract with, James Hetfield reveals that he had his fingers crossed while he was signing the contract.

* DifficultySpike: The last set of ''III'' is far, ''far, FAR'' harder than anything that came before it and generally set a brick wall at the end of Expert difficulty that only the most hardcore players would have even a ''chance'' of clearing. When the ''easiest'' song in a set is ''[[Music/IronMaiden The Number of the Beast]]'' you know [[ThisIsGonnaSuck you're not gonna have a good time.]] And this is ''before'' you meet [[ThatOneBoss Lou]]. Several reviews (including [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]]) cited it as by far the biggest flaw in the game.

** Even though the skills required for the game and the actual instrument are direct analogues of each other, [[IKnowMortalKombat there are still some benefits in having experience playing an instrument beforehand.]] Being trained in an instrument means you have a better ear for music, which makes it easier to keep rhythm while playing a song, as well as having the hand coordination and finger strength necessary to make the [[DifficultySpike jump to Hard and Expert difficulty]], when you have to learn how to transition between the orange button and back.

** Both "Juke Box Hero" and "Feels Like the First Time" by Music/{{Foreigner}} appeared in the game (with the former as DLC, and the latter as a on-disc track on "Warriors of Rock") as re-recordings, prior to the release of the album "Feels Like the First Time".

%%* TheTetrisEffect: "Skittles". Officially called "gems".

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed (Not always obvious, but many characters are based on real rock stars. Xavier Stone is an interesting case: as he was based on Music/JimiHendrix, he was absent in World Tour, which featured Hendrix himself, among other licensed real-life stars.)

In October 2015, Activision released a reboot of the franchise, ''VideoGame/GuitarHeroLive'', which dueled with the ''Rock Band 4'' when it launched in the same month. Developed by ''DJ Hero'' studio [=FreeStyleGames=], the game utilized a new six-button guitar (not six in a row, however; six in two rows of three.), and replaced the classic 3D rendered stages with a first-person perspective of the guitarist using FullMotionVideo. Following the disappointing sales of ''GH Live'', the online servers shut down in 2018 and the franchise is again dormant. However, as of 2022 with Microsoft announcing their acquisition of Activision Blizzard, they have been [[TeasingCreator teasing fans with the possibility of another revival of the series]], but only time will tell. In the meantime, however, the fan community has taken the franchise into their own hands with fan works ranging from fan games made from the ground up (e.g. Clone Hero, Phase Shift) to modded versions of pre-existing games (e.g. Guitar Hero II Deluxe, Guitar Hero World Tour Definitive Edition), all of which allow for extensive modding with fan made charts, resulting in the franchise [[PopularityPolynominal having a resurgance in popularity]] as a CultClassic.

In October 2015, Activision released a reboot of the franchise, ''VideoGame/GuitarHeroLive'', which dueled with the ''Rock Band 4'' when it launched in the same month. Developed by ''DJ Hero'' studio [=FreeStyleGames=], the game utilized a new six-button guitar (not six in a row, however; six in two rows of three.), and replaced the classic 3D rendered stages with a first-person perspective of the guitarist using FullMotionVideo. Following the disappointing sales of ''GH Live'', the online servers shut down in 2018 and the franchise is again dormant.

** "American Pie" by Music/DonMcLean plays during the end credits of ''Band Hero''. Appropriate, because the song is well known for being ''incredibly'' long.

* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: "Trogdor" in ''Guitar Hero II'' is the only song that can't be [=FCed=] due to the end of the solo requiring the player to strum a total of ''30 frets'' in quick succession, well exceeding the game's 15 note per second strum limit.
** It should be noted that "Trodgor" ''is'' possible to [=FC=]... but it requires running the PAL version due to the strum limit impacting the game less severely thanks to the 50 Hz refresh rate. Of course, this means exploiting technical knowhow in order to get that version running on a NTSC system, something not a lot of players have experience with out the gate.

* GenderEqualEnsemble: The eight main characters in ''Warriors of Rock'' are equally divided by gender, so at the end, you can even split them into an all-male band (Johnny, Austin, Lars and Axel) and a GirlGroup (Echo, Judy, Pandora and Casey) if you want. You even find two of each in each of the two parts of your journey to find the warriors.

* UnwinnableByMistake: "Trogdor" in ''Guitar Hero 2'' is the only song that can't be [=FCed=] due to the end of the solo requiring the player to strum a total of ''30 frets'' in quick succession, well exceeding the game's 15 note per second strum limit.

%%** ''World Tour'' onwards adds drums and vocals, meaning that guitar is just one of several instruments you can play.

* AudienceParticipation: The audience always claps along to the song when Star Power is activated.

From ''Guitar Hero III'' to ''Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock'', it was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. Neversoft rebuilt their own ''Guitar Hero'' engine from scratch when Harmonix handed over the reins to work on ''Rock Band''.

After ''Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock'' (Released in late 2010), development of all games in the series (including {{spinoff}}s ''VideoGame/DJHero'' and ''Band Hero'') were cancelled, the ''Hero'' franchise was discontinued by Activision in February 2011, and Neversoft's ''Guitar Hero'' division was liquidated. However, in April 2011, Activision changed their tune, claiming the series was now on "hiatus" and they claimed that a new game would be released in 2012, focusing solely on the guitar gameplay with a new redesigned guitar controller; however, [[DevelopmentHell numerous problems]] plagued the project and was subsequently cancelled. On March 31, 2014, [[http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/19/activision-pulling-all-dlc-for-guitar-hero-dj-hero-and-band-her/ downloadable content for the entire series was removed]] from the Xbox Live Marketplace, [=PlayStation=] Store, and Wii Shop Channel.

* AllDrummersAreAnimals: ''World Tour'' describes Matty Cannz, the game's designated drummer, like this (even though you can play other instruments with him).

* AllOrNothing: Unlike in many other rhythm games, the game either counts you hitting the note or declares it a miss. As a side effect, this means that a "full combo" means you've played the song "perfectly", Star Power bonuses notwithstanding.

%%** ''World Tour'' onwards has the addition of drums and vocals. (ZCE. How does that make it an ArtifactTitle?)
** ''Encore: Rock the 80s'' lives up to its name pretty well... until you realize that "[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Because, It's Midnite]]" was produced in 2003, and made it's one and only album appearance in 2007. Considering that Limozeen is an AffectionateParody of HairMetal, though, it might have been intentional, to give the game the closest thing to a bonus track.

-->'''Demigod of Rock:''' When this is over, I'm gonna ride you like a ''pony''.

* ALoadOfBull: One of the unlockable characters in ''Warriors of Rock'' is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur Minotaur]].

** ''Guitar Hero: Metallica'' is loaded with songs that are over six minutes long. The longest is "Mercyful Fate", which is over 11 minutes long.
%%** Also, "Do You Feel Like We Do" in ''Guitar Hero 5''. (ZCE. How long is the song?)

* SoundtrackDissonance: The uplfiting "Cliffs of Dover" sticks out like a sore thumb in the "Battle for your Soul" setlist.