Guitar Hero: On Tour was the first game in the Guitar Hero series to appear on the Nintendo DS. It was released June 22, 2008 in North America, June 25 in Australia, and July 18 in Europe. It was developed by Vicarious Visions.
Despite mixed reviews, the game sold well. A sequel, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, was announced.
Gameplay[ | ]
The core gameplay remains unchanged from the other games in the series. The Guitar Grip is required to play the game and comes as part of a bundle that can be purchased for each installment. The Grip is designed for the DS Lite, but features a small adapter that can be removed for use in the first, original Nintendo DS model. Four fret buttons are located on the side of the unit near the cartridge slot. This is one less than the normal five frets, included an orange-colored one, managed by other Guitar Hero controllers. A wriststrap is attached to the underside to provide support while playing. The player holds the unit in a vertical book orientation (similar to Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword or Hotel Dusk: Room 215), and uses a special guitar pick-shaped stylus to strum on the touchscreen of the DS with their free hand. The "note highway" and the performance of the chosen character in the band are shown on the opposite screen. As notes scroll down on the note highway, the player must press the correct fret button and strum the touchscreen at the same time to successfully score points. While holding a long note, the player can also use the touch screen to apply a whammy effect by moving the stylus across the on-screen whammy bar or anywhere on the screen. After the player has successfully hit a selected series of notes, he or she will gain "Star Power" which doubles their score until the meter has run out. This is activated by yelling or blowing into the DS's microphone, by pressing any of the face buttons on the DS, or by tapping the Star Power meter on the touchscreen.
Unlike its predecessors on home consoles, On Tour has only four fret buttons.
There is a single player Career Mode, allowing the player to select from new characters introduced for On Tour or previous characters from the other games in the Guitar Hero series. Completing Career Mode will unlock more venues and options for the selected character's appearance. The game uses the local wireless abilities of the Nintendo DS to support both 2-player co-operative play and competitive play. The competitive play introduces concepts found in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock's "Battle Mode" which is called "Guitar Duel". In Guitar Duel, one player can acquire and use power-ups to create a temporary distraction for the other player by successfully completing certain sections of the song. In On Tour, these distractions require the affected player to use features of the DS to remove the distraction. Modern Hits introduces a new single player gameplay feature called "Fan Requests" that is used to progress in the single player career. These requests prompt the player to complete songs with certain requirements, such as hitting a minimum number of consecutive notes or hitting a minimum percentage of the notes in the song. Other requests are based on the effects players use in multiplayer mode, such as playing an entire song at "Hyperspeed" (notes moving on the screen faster than normal) or by using the whammy bar on every sustained note.
Song List[ | ]
Year | Song title | Artist | Master recording | NA/UK/AUS/JPN/NL tier | European tier |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | "All Star" | Smash Mouth | Yes | 2. Rooftop | 2. Rooftop |
1999 | "All the Small Things" | Blink-182 | Yes | 1. Subway | 1. Subway |
2006 | "Anna Molly" | Incubus | Yes | 5. Battleship | 5. Battleship |
2003 | "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" | Jet | Yes | 1. Subway | 1. Subway |
1995 | "Avalancha" | Héroes del Silencio | Yes | N/A | 4. Greek Arena |
1970 | "Black Magic Woman" | Santana | No | 4. Greek Arena | 3. Parade (encore) |
1991 | "Breed" | Nirvana | Yes | 2. Rooftop | 2. Rooftop |
2006 | "Ça Me Vexe" | Mademoiselle K | Yes | N/A | 3. Parade |
1973 | "China Grove" | The Doobie Brothers | Yes | 3. Parade | N/A |
2005 | "Do What You Want" | OK Go | Yes | 1. Subway | 1. Subway |
2004 | "Heaven" | Los Lonely Boys | Yes | 3. Parade | N/A |
2005 | "Helicopter" | Bloc Party | Yes | 3. Parade | 3. Parade |
1980 | "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" | Pat Benatar | Yes | 2. Rooftop | 2. Rooftop |
2004 | "I Am Not Your Game Boy" | Freezepop | Yes | Bonus | Bonus |
2007 | "I Don't Wanna Stop" | Ozzy Osbourne | Yes | 5. Battleship | 5. Battleship |
1977 | "I Know a Little" | Lynyrd Skynyrd | No | 5. Battleship (encore) | 5. Battleship (encore) |
1981 | "Jessie's Girl" | Rick Springfield | No | 2. Rooftop | N/A |
1977 | "Jet Airliner" | Steve Miller Band | No | 4. Greek Arena | N/A |
1989 | "Knock Me Down" | Red Hot Chili Peppers | Yes | 5. Battleship | 5. Battleship |
1973 | "La Grange" | ZZ Top | No | 4. Greek Arena | 4. Greek Arena |
2004 | "Monster" | Beatsteaks | Yes | N/A | 2. Rooftop |
2007 | "Monsoon" | Tokio Hotel | Yes | N/A | 3. Parade |
1983 | "Pride and Joy" | Stevie Ray Vaughan | Yes | 5. Battleship | 5. Battleship |
1975 | "Rock and Roll All Nite" | Kiss | No | 3. Parade | 3. Parade |
1985 | "Rock the Night" | Europe | Yes | N/A | 4. Greek Arena |
1995 | "Spiderwebs" | No Doubt | Yes | 1. Subway | 1. Subway |
1981 | "Stray Cat Strut" | Stray Cats | Yes | 4. Greek Arena | 4. Greek Arena |
2002 | "This Love" | Maroon 5 | Yes | 2. Rooftop (encore) | 2. Rooftop (encore) |
1984 | "We're Not Gonna Take It" | Twisted Sister | Yes | 1. Subway (encore) | 1. Subway (encore) |
2006 | "What I Want" | Daughtry featuring Slash | Yes | 3. Parade (encore) | N/A |
1989 | "Youth Gone Wild" | Skid Row | No | 4. Greek Arena (encore) | 4. Greek Arena (encore) |