The EndAll Discussion on Guitar Freaks / Guitar Hero Guitars

[THE RidGE]

Before a mess of posts asking these questions pops up, this is
The
Complete Compatiblity Guide
for Guitar Freaks Guitars and Guitar Hero Guitars.

In simplest terms: Neither guitar works with the other game.

But then again, that is not entirely true. So I continue with a picture of both guitars:



Big differences:

Whammy Bar on Guitar Hero Guitar
Anywhere between 3 and 6 buttons on neck of Guitar Freaks Guitar
Smaller/Less Sensitive Strum bar on Guitar Freaks Guitar
Shorter neck on Guitar Freaks Guitar

FIRST TEST:
Guitar Freaks Guitar in Guitar Hero

So I was already in Free Play mode when I plugged in my Guitar Freaks Guitar. Pressed green button and the song started loading. Once in song, Guitar srtumming worked along with the first three buttons. When I tried the next three, I realized they, once again worked the first three columns of notes in the game. I then paused the game to quit. The game paused with the start button, but the strum bar only moved in one direction on the menu: up. I sighed, and went to quit, bringing me back to the song selection screen. Then I realized that since I could not scroll down the screen, I could not get to any other song than the first song in the game.

Final opinion: If you just need an extra guitar to play easy versus, this will work, but not for single player, and not if you use the whammy to increase your Star Power Bar during holds. Just make sure that P2 uses it so P1 can get through the menus.

Another possible option would be to take apart your import and try rewiring those three bottom buttons to work the last two columns and maybe even to whammy for you, but for me, that's too much.

Second Test:
Guitar Hero in Guitar Freaks

So I throw in my swap magic with the guitar plugged in, knowing that with my import guitars, the "x" button is automatically pressed, and the boot continues. The Guitar Hero Guitar does not no that, so I stumble through the buttons on the guitar and find that the blue button is "x". So the game loads and I get into the first menu. I go straight into play game and choose Guitar Freaks without needing to move the cursor. At the select difficulty screen, I find that I cannot move left and right pressing the guitar's green and yellow buttons as I should with the Guitar Freaks Guitar. But also in fumbling, I find that the neck buttons are mostly mapped to the four thumb buttons on the right on a PS2 controller. So I try to change the control settings in the Options menu, using the strum bar to move up and down as I did during Guitar Hero. Once in the controls menu, I find that I am again SOL becuase I need to move left and right, but cannot control the cursor (along with the fact that Guitar Freaks does not have as programmable a control set as Drum Mania does).

Final opinion: It won't work at all, unless you feel like hacking the game and creating a version that will accept the Guitar Hero Guitar. If you do, send me a copy.

And that, folks, ends my lecture on how RedOctane should have released stand-alone guitars on the release of their game instead of waiting until next year at the earliest to sell them seperate.

[Baldrash]

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/259938.asp

It's the only place I could find such a listing, but maybe the release of stand-alone guitars will be a quiet one?