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GuitarFreaks

GuitarFreaks (alternately GUITARFREAKS, abbreviated GF) is a 1998 arcade game created by Konami that is part of the Bemani series. The player uses a simulated guitar controller to play the notes of a chosen song's guitar part as they are displayed on the screen. more...

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The game's music consists largely of rock and roll and J-Pop, though other types are used occasionally as well. Current version is its 14th version, dubbed GuitarFreaks V3.

Controller

GuitarFreaks, as the name suggests, is played using a fairly large controller designed to imitate a guitar. The basic shape is that of a small electric guitar, composed largely of plastic and metal. The neck houses three buttons, labeled Red, Green, and Blue. On the main face of the guitar is a plastic pick lever about 3 inches wide. This lever can be moved up or down. Below the pick lever is a small metal knob used to select different effectors which alter the guitar sounds created by the player. There are five effects now.
From the bottom to top:
1 - Auto-gain - much louder! (Yellow)
2 - High pitch - adds a weird twang to each note (Red)
3 - Echo - makes a nice dream-like effect (Green)
4 - Delay - delays the sound a second or two (Orange)
5 - Shriek - adds a shrilled halloween-like effect (Blue)

Gameplay

The setup is very similar to other games in the Bemani series. Two vertical note scrolls—one for each player—are displayed at the left and right sides of the screen. Colorful animations for each song are displayed in the center of the screen. Each note scroll consists of 4 columns: one each for the Red, Green, and Blue buttons, and another Wailing Bonus column. Individual notes and chords are represented by small colored bars that scroll upward in the columns. To play the correct note, the player must hold down the button (or buttons in the case of chords) and move the pick lever when the note bars reach the yellow picking line. When a guitar icon is displayed in the Wailing Bonus column along with an associated note, the player can tilt the guitar upright while playing the note to receive bonus points.

The player's accuracy is judged for each note played, and while the individual note judgments have changed throughout the series, the current system uses Perfect, Great, Good, Poor, and Miss to evaluate performance of each note. Ratings of Poor or Miss will deplete the player's Groove Gauge, while correct play will replenish it. If the Groove Gauge is emptied completely, the game ends. Players will be able to play anywhere from one to five songs depending on the game's configuration, with the potential to earn one or two additional stages in certain versions of the game if performance is good enough.

At the completion of a song, players are given a letter rank for their performance which can range anywhere from E to A, as well as S and SS depending on how well the song was played, and how the particular release of the game being played computes ranks.