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Band Hero is a spin-off title to the Guitar Hero series of music video games, published by Activision on November 3, 2009 for the PlayStation 2 and 3, Wii, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS consoles. The game on console is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5, supports full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5. Meanwhile, the Nintendo DS version is similar to the Guitar Hero: On Tour but includes additional band instruments.

Unlike the main Guitar Hero games, where the focus is on the lead guitar portions of the songs of various genres, Band Hero provides a soundtrack more oriented towards pop rock to challenge the whole band.

Gameplay[]

Band Hero for home consoles[]

Main article: Band Hero/Console
Band Hero full band gameplay

Full band gameplay of Band Hero on console.

According to Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb, the game, from its first trailer, appears to be functionally similar to the feature set for Guitar Hero 5, including bands comprised of any combination of four instruments, drop-in/drop-out play, in-song menus to change difficulty and instrument, the updated GHStudio for making custom songs and submitting to GHTunes, and additional multiplayer modes compared to Guitar Hero 5's "RockFest".

The game also supports up to four player multiplayer in a similar manner as Guitar Hero 5 using the DS's local wireless connections, allowing any combination of instruments. However, there is no support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection nor plans for additional downloadable content for the Nintendo DS game.

As for Career mode, nothing’s that special except for the cutscenes, where there are the main band of the game, which has Izzy Sparks, Quincy Styles, Judy Nails and Axel Steel, are 2D animated characters.

Band Hero for Nintendo DS[]

Main article: Band Hero/Nintendo DS
Band-hero-ds-drum-skin

Drum Grip for Band Hero DS

Band Hero for the Nintendo DS is based on the Guitar Hero: On Tour series gameplay-wise but includes more playable instruments and a new setlist of songs depending on the region of the game. Though the game is compatible with the Nintendo DS, DS Lite, and DSi, only players that have the Nintendo DS Lite will receive the "full band" experience due to the nature of the hardware's design, but a regular Nintendo DS is the second best choice without the Drum Grip peripheral.

Guitar Grip

The Guitar Grip for the game, which by default is themed after Guitar Hero: On Tour, but the bundled Band Hero skin can be applied inside the clear plastic shell after pulling off the plastic shell.

Guitar and Bass gameplay is only compatible on Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite hardware with the Guitar Grip attachment (Slot-2 extension required on the original Nintendo DS to fit it in Slot-2). But Drums and Vocals can be played on Nintendo DSi and all Nintendo 3DS models. Drums are played using the gaming handheld's D-Pad and interface buttons while Vocals are played with the handheld's built-in microphone.

Unlike the console counterpart and a majority of Guitar Hero games, Band Hero on Nintendo DS does not feature a Career mode and all songs (based on the region of the game) are unlocked from the start. It's mostly Quickplay ("Solo") with multiplayer supported in Nintendo DS Download Play in versus or cooperative. There is a third game mode called "Fan Request" where players can do challenges to unlock additional content while being connected to Band Hero on Wii.

Soundtrack[]

Main article: Setlist in Band Hero

Many songs that appear in Band Hero are pop rock songs catered towards the younger audience. The console version has a total of 65 songs and 50 of these songs are exportable to other games Guitar Hero 5 while this game can also import songs from Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits with a small fee.

The Nintendo DS version has its own unique setlists of 30 songs with some songs being exclusive to North American or European regions.

Venues[]

Band Hero for home consoles
Band Hero for Nintendo DS
  • Hourglass Tower
  • Parade of the East
  • City of Water
  • Pitch Peak
  • Rock-quarium
  • Music Awards

Trivia[]

  • The crowd cheering sound effect in the third Career cutscene was recycled from DHX Media's Super Mario World.
  • The crowd cheering sound effect in the third Career cutscene was also used in Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie when Barney crashes into a stilt walker in the parade.
  • In the base console game, there are no songs with the Expert+ difficulty on Drums.
  • A day after the game's release, the band No Doubt sued Activision about the misuse of their in-game avatar variations beings used for any song. No Doubt's lawsuit claimed their contract limited their performance to the three songs within the game and that they were never told their avatars would be used in that manner. Activision argued that it believes that the manner of use of the band's avatars in the game is within the bounds of the contract.[1][2] This is a similar lawsuit Activision went through with the misuse of Guitar Hero 5 guest character Kurt Cobain.

References[]

  1. Lewis, Randy (2009-11-04). "No Doubt sues Activision over Band Hero [Updated]". Information Hello. In case you didn't know, when you add the title of a book, film, album, magazine, or TV series to an article, it should be italicized by adding two single apostrophes on either side ('' ''). Titles of television episodes, short stories and songs should be placed within quotation marks. More detail can be found in the Wikipedia Manual of Style. Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/11/no-doubt-sues-activision-over-band-hero.html. 
  2. Kreps, Daniel (2009-11-04). "No Doubt Sue Activision Over Use of "Band Hero" Avatars". Information Hello. In case you didn't know, when you add the title of a book, film, album, magazine, or TV series to an article, it should be italicized by adding two single apostrophes on either side ('' ''). Titles of television episodes, short stories and songs should be placed within quotation marks. More detail can be found in the Wikipedia Manual of Style. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/11/04/no-doubt-sue-activision-over-use-of-band-hero-avatars/. 
v · t · eGames of the Guitar Hero series
Console games
Main series games Guitar Hero · Guitar Hero II · Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock · Guitar Hero World Tour · Guitar Hero 5 · Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock · Guitar Hero Live
Expansion games Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s · Guitar Hero: Smash Hits · Band Hero (main page)
Band-centric games Guitar Hero: Aerosmith · Guitar Hero: Metallica · Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Portable games
Guitar Hero: On Tour series Guitar Hero: On Tour · Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades · Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits
Guitar Hero Mobile series Guitar Hero III Mobile · Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass · Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile · Guitar Hero 5 Mobile · Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass · Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Mobile
Other games Band Hero (NDS) · Guitar Hero (iOS) · Guitar Hero Live (iOS)
Electronic toys Guitar Hero Carabiner · Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker · Kellogg's Guitar Hero promotional toys · Guitar Hero 2nd Edition Carabiner
Miscellaneous games and apps
Arcade games Guitar Hero Arcade
Cancelled games Guitar Hero 4 (NDS) · Guitar Hero Greatest Hits (NDS) · Guitar Hero 7 · DJ Hero 3D
Companion apps Guitar Hero VIP Pass (X360) · Guitar Hero Live Companion (iOS)
DJ Hero series DJ Hero (Renegade Edition) · DJ Hero Mobile · DJ Hero 2
Bundle packs Guitar Hero I & II Dual Pack (PS2) · Guitar Hero II & Aerosmith Dual Pack (X360) · Guitar Hero: On Tour & On Tour: Decades Box Set (NDS) · Guitar Hero III & Aerosmith Dual Pack (Wii)
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