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Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass is a mobile game developed and released on July 18, 2008 by Hands-On Mobile and the first spin-off of the Guitar Hero Mobile series that adds in roleplaying story elements and other gameplay elements to the core rhythm game, making it a music-themed life-business simulation video game. It later had an official sequel called Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass in 2010.

This game features a small batch of songs from Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Gameplay[]

GH3M Backstage Pass - Character select screen

Axel Steel and Judy Nails in the character select screen upon starting a New Career.

Selecting Axel Steel or Judy Nails as your avatar, your character from 93 Slums Lane of the 7th District dreams of becoming a rock star.

Players not only play gigs as with Guitar Hero III Mobile but also must manage their band from near-poverty to stardom by creating marketing buzz about their band to virtual fans, manage their band, and plan out their performances at venues. Successfully completing tasks helps the player to earn more money from their performances and to unlock new guitars and equipment that can be used by the band to further improve their performance.[1][2]

For a walkthrough of the tutorial, see: Career.

Minigames[]

Main article: Minigames in Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass

Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass features a number of minigames of different gameplay styles. See the Minigame subpage for in-depth details and screenshots of the minigames.

GH3 Backstage Pass - Fret Frenzy (Star Power note)

The Fret Frenzy minigame in a gig. This type of minigame is also used for rehearsing songs.

  • Rehearse: Practice and improve a song in the standard 3-lane rhythm game with green, red, and yellow notes that come down a highway by passing the score thresholds. Rehearsed songs then can be played at certain venues based on their rehearsed star rating. Passing score thresholds increases the rehearsed star rating, which adds more notes to the song, gives better stats during gigs, and gain access to better venues with that song.
  • Play Gig: Play your rehearsed songs to an audience at a venue they can be played at based on their rehearsed star rating. There are 5 types of venues: Bars (1 Star), Clubs (2 Stars), Concert Halls (3 Stars), Stadiums (4 Stars), and Festivals (5 Stars) and they each represents their own note difficulty; a 3-star rated rehearsed song can be played at Bars, Clubs, and Concert Halls, and if you play it at a 1-Star Bar, the song will use its rehearsed 1-Star note difficulty. There are up to three minigames when playing a gig: Fret Frenzy, one or more of five other minigames once they are available, and lastly the Finale.
    • Fret Frenzy: The standard 3-lane rhythm game with green, red, and yellow notes that come down a highway and try to surpass the high score goal. Hitting notes displays how accurate the player hit the notes and a perfect hit gives most points. Hold the button down on long notes and releasing the note by the end of its tail also counts as another note. Hitting starred notes gives the player a unit of Star Power that is used in the Finale to earn extra stat points.
      • Raise the Roof: The player use Left/4 or Right/6 to spin their guitar and build as much momentum as possible before the timer runs out. After spinning the guitar around fast enough, holding the action button/5 to throw their guitar, then catch the guitar as it falls.
      • Crowd Surfing: Available only when performing well in a packed venue. Your guitarist jumps and surfs over their crowd. Navigate to targeted fans wanting attention before the timer runs out to improve your gig stats. You can also collect additional Star Power from fans for the Finale.
      • Three in a Row: The player use Left/4 or Right/6 to move and catch 3 of the same thrown items in a row for points.
      • Spotlight Slide: Prepare a stage slide by pressing the action button/5 to set the position of the spotlight. The player then has to set the power of the slide with the action button/5 again to finish in the center of the spotlight.
      • Bank Notes: Balance the horizontal gauge with Left/4 or Right/6 in the center to fill up the left gauge, then use Up/2 and Down/8 to fill it in the right gauge.
    • Finale: It's time for the finale! Rapidly press a specific navigation key/number shown on screen and max out the rock meter to green before time runs out to improve your gig stats. If you collected Star Power in any of the previous minigames, you can use them here by pressing the Left Soft Key to further improve your stats.
  • GH3 Backstage Pass - Leaflet minigame

    Leafleting minigame.

    Leafleting: In this minigame, you control your chosen character to throw leaflets at people who may interested in your upcoming gigs or record releases. Throwing leaflets cost money so make sure to aim correctly at the people interested in it (skateboarders and chicks in the back) and avoid throwing it at business men and especially at old ladies (in the front) uninterested in it. If you stay for too long (after receiving a warning), cops may appear and you will be fined (first time is free) if you don't flee the minigame by pressing the Left Soft Key before the time limit ends.
  • Busking: Busking earns Money & Cred. Busking is a series of 3 minigames played in the same order time: Axe Solo, Guitar Spin and Catch the Cash. The amount of cash available is down to how well you perform in Axe Solo & Guitar Spin. This is indicated by the size of the assembled crowd.
    • Axe Solo: This is a music minigame where you memorize five directional numbers that appear on screen while a rehearsed song plays in the background. After the directional numbers disappear, press the direction or numbers on your device's keypad in the order of which the numbers appeared to attract people to your song.
    • Guitar Spin: "Build Up Momentum". Hold Left/4 or Right/6 until the guitar starts spinning behind, then hold the other button as its coming around to the front and gradually accelerate the alternation between the two buttons to build up the guitar's spinning momentum for more Cred. Try to keep in rhythm with the guitar's spinning momentum.
    • Catch the Cash: Move your guitarist Left/4 or Right/6 to catch money thrown around you to earn Cash until the timer runs out.

Soundtrack[]

Main article: Setlist in Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass

Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass features abridged versions of 5 songs from Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock covered in MIDI format with a lead guitar track covering vocals.

Players start off with "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath and unlock more songs during the tutorial of the game.

Videos[]

Official trailer

Trivia[]

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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