- Guitar Hero attempts to recreate actual guitar playing by having players use a lifelike guitar. A computer animated band plays in the background as players watch a moving guide that signals which buttons to press on the screen. The more accurately the buttons are pressed, the higher the score and better performance. The "Career" mode of the game has players touring and earning money by completing successful performances. The "Quickplay" mode allows a player to play a track of his choice at any venue of his choice and see how well he performs. Newer versions of the game feature multi-player competitions and have more instruments like the drums, microphone and bass guitar.
- In Guitar Hero, players use fictional band members to represent themselves in the quick play and career mode. Throughout all of the games many of the characters remain the same and they include people like Johnny Napalm, Judy Nails, Axel Steel, Izzy Sparks, Grim Ripper, Pandora and Clive Winston. Every character has his own back story and adds more content to the game.
- Guitar Hero has had several releases. The first release in 2005 was exclusive to the PS2 and was called Guitar Hero. The next year saw releases of Guitar Hero II for PS2 and Xbox 360 along with a "Rock the 80s" expansion game for PS2. Guitar Hero expanded to every popular system in 2007 with "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" released for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PC or Mac computer systems. "Guitar Hero: World Tour" was the first expansion into other instruments and was released for the same systems. Smaller releases have also been created for the Nintendo DS, cell phones and arcades.
- Guitar Hero is one of the fastest rising video games and it has already had a huge impact in pop culture. The system has had tributes and parodies on shows like "The Simpsons," "South Park" and TNA Wrestling, and is featured in a lot of music videos. Celebrities like David Archuleta, Kolby Bryant and Tony Hawk have all been in commercials for the game. Record sales for performers in the game have also increased with each release of the game, including big acts like Aerosmith and smaller unknown bands.
- The standard Guitar Hero guitar controller is a design based off of the classic Gibson SG controller. It typically comes in black or red and features five multiple colored fret buttons at the top of the guitar and a strum bar at the bottom. The Nintendo DS version of the game uses a guitar pick to play. The guitars are all wireless and alternative versions have included the Gibson Les Paul and Gibson X-Plorer guitar designs. Third party companies have also made compatible guitars in various colors and styles.
