A love letter to Guitar Hero

Some of my first memories of playing any sort of video game as a kid are involving Guitar Hero. At age 5, I would sit on the floor in the basement of our old house in front of our big box tv, watching my dad shred his way through expert mode. I would play along on easy mode and felt like a rock star. And now, I’m 21, and I still feel like a rock star (except now I play on expert… not to brag). This game has also had a crucial role in shaping my music taste since a young age; I remember loving “Heart-Shaped Box” as a kid because of Guitar Hero 2. When I would hear the real versions of GH songs on the radio (I believe the first two GH games were composed solely of cover versions of the songs, though I could be wrong), I would be so confused as to why it sounded “wrong”, because I was expecting the cover version. 

We had at least GH 2 and 3 for PS2 when I was little. Maybe 1 as well, but I can’t remember. Now, I just have Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Wii. I first replayed GH around 2.5 years ago at my old apartment for the first time since I was little. My friend Grace still had all the stuff for it for Wii, so she set it up at my apartment. It was THRILLING. Seeing all of the old graphics, and remembering each of the songs on the setlist was causing memories to absolutely flood through my brain. It’s amazing how strong music can be in triggering memories. “Knights of Cydonia” by Muse, in particular; I didn’t recognize it until it got to the “No one’s gonna take me alive” part, and then I was instantly transported back to being 5 in the basement. I hadn’t heard the song in ages. It’s now one of my favorite songs of all time. How can a song that opens with horse galloping noises be so cool? Actually, that’s exactly why. Anyways, my friends/roommates and I spent the whole day after setting it up playing through the whole game on easy mode, all of us taking turns. We had what I like to call “Guitar Hero vision” after this, where the whole room looked like it was moving upwards from staring at the fretboard on the TV for so long. I was seeing it in my brain when I was trying to fall asleep. The few days that followed, I think I hogged the game all for myself in order to finish medium mode, and it was not long before honing my skills and beginning my journeys through hard and expert mode.

2022, before a Halloween party, the day we set up GH.

I think Legends of Rock is undeniably the best version of GH, and I think that’s a pretty widespread opinion among the fanbase. World Tour is alright, but honestly too much. There’s so many songs that it’s overwhelming, and I found note placement to be pretty clunky when I was trying to play it through a couple years ago. The setlist of Legends of Rock is just so great all the way through. “Knights of Cydonia”, “Paint it, Black”, “Reptilia”, “Helicopter”, “Bulls on Parade”, “Cherub Rock”, “Even Flow”, “When You Were Young”, “Sabotage”, and the list goes on and on and on. I practically just named half the setlist. I also now love “Lay Down” by Priestess and “3’s & 7’s” by Queens of the Stone Age, which I didn’t know yet outside of replaying the game. It’s had so much impact on my taste within the last 2.5 years since beginning to play it again, for sure. And, I’ve grown up with my parents being big rock fans (especially my dad), and him playing this game during my formative childhood years had more influence on my lifelong music taste than I ever would’ve known. I haven’t been able to replay GH 1 or 2 since these aren’t available for Wii, and that’s the only console I have access to currently that can run any versions of GH, but hopefully someday I’ll be able to replay those to remember more about them.

Now, for my other favorite part of Legends of Rock: Midori. She’s been my go-to character for my whole life, besides in GH 1 and 2 before she was introduced (in those cases I feel like I usually went with Judy Nails). She’s adorable and someday I hope to dress up as her for Halloween. I would’ve done it by now if her outfit weren’t impossible to recreate without making the whole thing from scratch. I usually play her with a color variation on her outfit, and I always choose the “Farewell to Kings” guitar. But the queen version. Cuter. 

All of the art direction for this game was perfection, as well. All the cutscenes that play when you’re in career mode are awesome, and I love the bunny rabbit with wings in the pause screen. Serious memories came back upon seeing her again, too. I feel like it must’ve just been a blast to be part of making this game. If I was a famous guitarist in the early 2000s, I would’ve been begging for them to put me in this game. I remember thinking the Slash battle was the scariest thing ever when I was a kid. 

As for my progress in the game, I have completed hard mode before but never expert mode. At least, I think I did. I may have gotten stuck on the Lou battle in hard mode. I also got very close to finishing expert once… maybe this was where I got stuck on Lou? I can’t remember. I’m playing it on a different Wii now, so my progress from before is unknown. From what I remember, I am currently stuck on the last four songs on expert. I haven’t played in a while. I should try to finish it. A few years ago when I was doing my first full run through of the game on either hard or expert mode, I got really stuck on “The Metal” for a long time. This was at the point of me playing this game for hours every evening after classes for a good solid few months straight (hence why I am now so skilled at the game. I can’t decide if I should be proud of this or not). One night while playing, my roommate Mila and our friend Grace who was over decided to walk to Insomnia Cookies (I can’t remember if I was the one who convinced them to take this trek in the middle of winter or if it was their own doing) and when they returned with my dairy and gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, I took one bite and then instantly passed “The Metal” in one go. I think the cookie was magical and gave me powers. Just a guess. It was really incredible and I probably should’ve won an award or something. 

Another cool thing is that the arcade version of GH is mostly based on Legends of Rock, with a few additional songs that aren’t in the console version. Like “Hole in the Earth” by Deftones. That one is super fun to play. I find GH Arcade at almost every arcade I visit. I can sense it when I walk through the door whether or not it’ll be there. My favorite arcade to play GH/one of my favorite places in general is Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum, a place I am lucky to call a local arcade. They shut down in January for relocation so I’ve been antsy without being able to go every few weeks anymore. I’d usually spend a few bucks to play, even though I have it at home for free. And I’d usually choose the same songs every time: some toss up between “Reptilia”, “Helicopter” or “Hole in the Earth”.

2023, Guitar Hero Arcade at Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum

I can usually sneak my way onto the leaderboard on hard mode (I have to play on hard in the arcade version because the buttons are usually pretty worn out) and I always leave my name so everyone knows what I accomplished. You have to be proud of these things. I’m basically a pro. And can any of these skills transfer to a real guitar? No. I don’t wanna talk about it. Here I am 6 times on the leaderboard at Marvin’s for “Reptilia”, if I remember correctly. I don’t have first place, but I beat someone named Butt. So that’s a win.

Anyways, I needed to nerd out about this game. I don’t think there’s anything like it. And don’t get me started on Rock Band. That’s not the same. Thumbs down. They copied GH. And did GH copy an arcade game called Guitarfreaks? Maybe. I’d call it “inspired by”. Doesn’t matter. Still hate Rock Band. I can confidently say that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is at least ONE of the best video games of the 2000s, if not the best. And it’s quite possibly one of the best games in history. That’s all for now. Thank you for checking in.

Love, Maddie.