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Marking 20 years after the legendary game hit the market across the Atlantic, offering players everywhere the means to become rock legends. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has mastered the epic lengthy instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.

Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes scrolling down the display in time with the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the feel of a genuine live show.

The studio had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for an unlikely massively profitable franchise that had a significant influence on numerous of the artists included, introducing classic groups to a new generation of younger players.

A former executive, former COO from the developer, remembers the early financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.

“We rerecorded all the music because the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. However, when the game took off, and record sales airtime increased, everyone wanted to participate.”

He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for introducing their children to the songs they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”

Classic Rock Gains a New Audience

Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act included Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series revived older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero provided a larger, new demographic. Generally such music was seen as music that was past it, however when it was included in the title young people discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, and got rid of the outdated tag. It gave our catalog a new life.”

At that time, the band's debut album remained not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform for exposure for the band as they went on a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.

Major Band Titles Enduring Influence

Rock’s heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in specialized game editions centered around their music collections and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band more money than any of their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 copies in its first week, while demand for their songs saw an increase significantly at a time when the music business faced decline.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough anthem popularized through the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. This track is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer stated it took months of practice of practice.

“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says musician Herman Li.

The band had already completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I remember the record label informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”

Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has threatened to eclipsing all other accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but now I accept it,” he admits. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has their own musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.

Enduring Legacy from the Iconic Controller

Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for cars, apparel or games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the creators believed humans have a natural urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.

Titles such as the fan project and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene active, with expectations of a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has entered production on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of the classic?

“We thought such titles could be like Madden where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason for it to persist for future fans.”