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Guitar Hero: On Tour is the game for the Nintendo DS developed by Vicarious Visions with assistances from Nintendo and RedOctane[1] and published by Activision on June 22, 2008. The game comes with a four-button fretboard attachment called Guitar Grip which plugs into a Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite's Game Boy Advance slot.

This game also had its own Nintendo DS bundle upon launch called the Special Edition Guitar Hero Metallic Silver Black DS bundle, which included a metallic silver-colored Guitar Hero-themed Nintendo DS (black on the inside), Guitar Hero: On Tour, a Guitar Grip and pick stylus, a regular Nintendo DS stylus, and a Nintendo DS charger.

Guitar Hero: On Tour was also later bundled with its sequel Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades after Decades was released.

Gameplay[]

Guitar Grip

The Guitar Grip for the game.

The gameplay in On Tour was designed to be similar to the home console games while still maintaining the portability of the Nintendo DS. The new Guitar Grip peripheral replaces the guitar controller of the home games with an adapter for older DS systems; it attaches to the DS's GBA slot and features four fret buttons. It's primarily designed to be plugged into a Nintendo DS Lite but the bundle also included an extension to fit in a regular Nintendo DS.

Guitarheroontour

How Guitar Hero: On Tour games are played on a Nintendo DS.

With that said, Guitar Hero: On Tour and its sequel are designed to be play 90 degrees on the Nintendo DS side. Defaulting to right-handed users, the player turns their Nintendo DS 90 degrees right and slips their left hand through the Velcro strap underneath the grip and their four fingers align with the four colored fret buttons on the Grip. For left-handed users, Lefty Flip can be toggled in the Options menu which not only flips the highway but also rotates the screen 180 degrees for left-handed users to slide their right hand through the Velcro strap and play the game on its other side.

Guitar Hero - On Tour gameplay

Top screen (left image) with highway and stage, bottom touch screen (right image) with guitar, whammy bar, and user interface.

There are four rows of notes on the highway. In order to strum notes, the player can use their finger, a stylus, or the special pick-shaped stylus is included with the game to strum the notes on the touch screen.

Star Power can be gathered by completing Star Power phrases and whammying long notes in Star Power phrases, which can be done by either moving the whammy bar and continually strumming the long note. After reaching at least 50% energy in the Star Power meter, Star Power can be activated either by blowing or speaking into the DS's microphone, pressing one of the system's face buttons, or tapping the Star Power meter, which doubles the multiplier for a short period of time.

Guitar Hero - On Tour - Guitar Duel

A Guitar Duel in Guitar Hero: On Tour.

The game also features Guitar Duels similar to Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock's Battle Mode with some in career mode.

Characters[]

Returning characters are Pandora, Axel Steel, Judy Nails and Johnny Napalm along with two unique characters made specifically for Guitar Hero: On Tour, Gunner Jaxon and Memphis Rose. The game also features a redone version of the band you play seen in previous games. The Female Singer from previous games has been replaced by a different one, along with a new drummer, and The Singer replaces The Bassist.

Soundtrack[]

Main article: Setlist in Guitar Hero: On Tour

The game features 26 songs, 21 songs exclusive or was introduced in this game, and five from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The Non-English-speaking European release of the game has 5 songs replaced with international songs in its setlist.

Venues[]

The game features five venues plus the bonus tier.

  1. Subway
  2. Rooftop
  3. Parade
  4. Greek Arena
  5. Battleship

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Official trailer

Trivia[]

  • This game is not compatible with the Nintendo DSi, or any other later Nintendo consoles due to the lack of a GBA slot to attach the Guitar Grip to. However, a cheating device such Action Replay or an unofficial game patch can bypass and disable the Guitar Grip checks and change controls.
    • Alternatively with hardware engineering skills, a modified guitar controller could possibly be used on an unmodified Nintendo DS or DS Lite, or any modified Nintendo DSi or 3DS models.[2][3]
  • Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades is able to "share songs" with Guitar Hero: On Tour using a wireless connection. In other words, if one person had Guitar Hero: On Tour and another had Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, both players would be able to "share" and play the 26 songs on Guitar Hero: On Tour and 28 songs on Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, adding up to a total of 54 songs. But once the connection is interrupted or stopped, one player cannot play another game's setlist until the connection is restored or restarted.
  • The user interface designer of the game, Anton Struyk, previously worked on a Guitar Hero-inspired video game for PC called Freetar (also known as Freetar Game and formerly known as Freetar Hero) along with a note chart editor for it called Freetar Editor, both developed in Java. Freetar and its editor were discontinued when Struyk joined Vicarious Visions.[4]

References[]

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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