A Setlist of "Guitar Hero" History Quiz

Answer: Harmonix

Releasing in 2005, "Guitar Hero" created its own new space in the video gaming industry. While music/rhythm games existed in small, unique scales of their own in earlier years (think "Dance Dance Revolution"), "Guitar Hero" was the first to bring in the faux guitars, allowing players to use a controller to live out their rockstar fantasies. The guitar controller was nothing short of genius; players could hit five fret buttons down the neck while also using the strum bar (a flickable button) to mimic actual guitar-playing.

Harmonix, who partnered with RedOctane in making the game, would split off from the latter after a handful of these games, going on to elaborate on the concept with "Rock Band" a few years later. By then, the influence of the brand would have taken root in pop culture.

Answer: Gibson

Releasing only a year after the first "Guitar Hero", "Guitar Hero II" didn't need to shake up the concept to get players interested, especially since the game's capabilities and explosive popularity made it quite easy to bag a strong setlist of classic and modern tracks. "Guitar Hero II" would release as a stand-alone disk but also packaged with either a Gibson SG or X-Plorer controller (depending on the console of choice).

The real clincher was that "Guitar Hero II" was the first to release on Xbox 360, allowing the franchise to take advantage of downloadable content drops, increasing the song library through Xbox Live purchases.

Answer: Jimi Hendrix

Though Jimi Hendrix's likeness would be used in a later game in the series, only Slash and Tom Morello appeared in the PS3 version (while Bret Michaels, of Poison, was unlockable on Xbox 360). The core version of "Guitar Hero III" didn't deviate all too much from the earlier games in the series otherwise, but it did introduce an online mode on later generation consoles, making the game work for players who wanted to battle with others on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii).

The real shift to be found with "Legends of Rock" was the fact that Harmonix, who left the series in 2007, went on to create "Rock Band" at this time. While Activision acquired RedOctane, the two factions would go on to bring a competitive edge to the rock rhythm genre, fuelling both series for more than a decade after.

Answer: Drums

With "Rock Band" taking up a significant amount of the market share in rhythm gaming, "Guitar Hero" made strides to stay relevant with "World Tour", releasing in a box with not only a guitar, but a drum set and microphone, mimicking the 'band-in-a-box' concept that Harmonix had established only a year earlier. And with that, "World Tour" released to modest reception in 2008.

One real difference between "World Tour" and "Rock Band" (then on its second iteration in the fall of 2008) was in the drum controller-- "Guitar Hero", aiming to avoid a direct copy, created a drum set with three drums, a bass pedal, and two cymbals (instead of "Rock Band's four drum and bass pedal setup).

The other major difference was in the guitar controller which, this time, came with a touchpad fret system for hammer-ons executed further down the neck of the instrument. Though more realistic in terms of playing a guitar, the quality of the pad proved hit-or-miss.

Answer: Aerosmith

After the moderate reception of the spin-of collection "Guitar Hero: Rocks the '80s", the series toyed with the notion of dedicated packs curated for noteworthy rock bands from across the decades, and the trial run for this was Aerosmith, who partnered with Activision to provide likenesses and input on a stand-alone title. Built off the engine for "Guitar Hero III", it would ship out in mid-2008 to moderate reception.

Though the game followed a storyline for its career mode, it went with the expectation of tracking the band's hits through their various albums. Twenty-nine tracks from the Aerosmith library were used in the game while twelve were from bands that had either performed as openers at the concerts or were seen as influential to their sound.

The real catch was that, since the game was built off "Legends of Rock", there was no opportunity for players to use their new microphones and drums to play the game. This one was guitar-only.

Answer: Guitar Hero: Metallica

Similar to Aerosmith, Metallica signed on for the "Guitar Hero" treatment at a noteworthy point. A highly-requested band across the rhythm game genre, they ultimately landed with Activision for song licensing and got the whole game as part of the deal ("Rock Band" would bag The Beatles for the dedicated game treatment in the same year).

Built off the "World Tour" engine, "Guitar Hero: Metallica" allowed players to use all the instruments to rock out, a clear improvement over the "Aerosmith" release. Twenty-eight songs came from the band while twenty-one other 'inspiration tracks' came in from supporting artists. In the way of band-specific releases, "Metallica" was regarded as "Guitar Hero's" best showing.

Answer: Kurt Cobain

With more songs in its in-game tracklist than ever before, more artists to play as in-game, more online options, and more refined gameplay options, "Guitar Hero 5" was the point at which the series came upon its fully-realized form. The real catch, at this point in the series (in 2009), was the oversaturation of the genre. Activision, which became much more widely-known for the "Call of Duty" series, continued to flood the market with releases, with two or more "Guitar Hero" titles coming out year over year. This caused "Guitar Hero 5" to do half-as-well as "World Tour" in sales, and with no changes to the instrument line-up, there was no reason to buy again.

The other catch was that Activision was adding likenesses to the games that bundled themselves with problematic lawsuits. In addition to Courtney Love filing a lawsuit for Kurt Cobain's likeness in the game, ska-pop band No Doubt filed another lawsuit for their appearances in the spin-off title "Band Hero".

Answer: Guitar Hero: Van Halen

The final attempt made by the series to push a single band, "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" was released at the end of 2009 (in 2010 outside of North America) and was built off the format made for "Guitar Hero: Metallica". The issue was that "Guitar Hero: Van Halen", though focused on the band, featured a low count of songs (twenty-five, and then another nineteen that came from artists inspired by Van Halen, and not the other way around).

In addition to the song issue, the game only featured the band line-up as of 2009, refusing to acknowledge decades of band history. Though this was likely a solution made to avoid the legal/licensing rigamarole common in the music industry, it resulted in a lacklustre final product considered lazy by reviewers and players alike.

Answer: "2112"

The final "Guitar Hero" game to release on the regular cadence, "Warriors of Rock" was the sixth main series title and it showed up in stores in fall of 2010. Like in "Guitar Hero 5", no changes were made to the gameplay format; innovation came from the added value in the game itself, and in this case, the developers followed-through with a more conceptual storyline for the game's career mode (deemed Quest Mode), incorporating the seven-part Rush opera "2112" into the mix.

It would take five years before Activision took another shot with the "Hero" franchise, stating oversaturation as the key reason. By this point, sales had dropped significantly.

They would cease DLC only half a year after "Warriors of Rock" released, ending all support for the game soon after.

Answer: Three years

While Harmonix released "Rock Band 4" as an independent studio, reigniting the series on a new console generation, Activision positioned itself to resume the rivalry and recapture market share with "Guitar Hero Live" in 2015. Although the game came with a hefty and modern setlist on-disc, Activision's bigger sell was a rotating online setlist of constantly-updated tracks which would cycle on and off over the year, providing a dynamic music library for players.

Sales flopped, however. While "Rock Band" hit its own stumbling block rebuilding the game engine from the ground up, it came with near-complete backward compatibility for instruments and setlists, bringing its colossal music library to the new era. "Guitar Hero Live", however, only allowed for play with its guitars (no microphones, no drums, no bass). Once sales diminished entirely, the online GHTV servers shut down, removing access to the entire online library for all players and erasing long-term play of the game. "Rock Band 4", adversely, continued to release regular DLC until 2024, leaving its back catalogue available for download.