The Guitar Hero: On Tour series is an expansion of the Guitar Hero series for the Nintendo DS portable console. The series is developed by Vicarious Visions and published by RedOctane and Activision. The game uses a "Guitar Grip" hardware unit that fits into the Game Boy Advance slot on the DS or DS Lite to recreate the experience of the console-based guitar controllers normally used with the game; this unit is incompatible with the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS due to the lack of the slot on the DSi hardware. The player uses fret buttons on the Grip while "strumming" using a stylus across the DS touchscreen to try to match notes as they scroll on the second screen in order to score points and complete each song.
There are three titles in the series: Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, and Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits. Each game features a setlist with more than 25 songs, most based on master recordings. The games utilize the DS's local wireless features to allow two players to compete against each other. Players can compete using different versions of the games, allowing the songs of each game to be shared during play. The songs chosen in the setlists of all three games have significantly less objectionable content than the ones in mainstream console Guitar Hero titles, making the On Tour series the first and only games in the series to be rated Everyone 10+ by the ESRB.
Guitar Hero: On Tour setlist Guitar Hero: On Tour features two different setlists, one for primarily English-speaking regions including North America, the British Isles, and Australia, in addition to Japan and the Netherlands, and another for other non-English-speaking European countries, with five replacement songs; songs not in the game for that region are marked as "N/A" in the table below. Both setlists include 26 licensed tracks including five bonus tracks, with about 85% of them being master recordings; all other songs are cover versions recreated for the game. Twenty songs from the North American setlist were exclusive to this version of Guitar Hero upon release while the remaining six songs have been used throughout the series. Freezepops "I Am Not Your Gameboy" is a bonus song that is unlocked by completing all the Guitar Duels on any difficulty in the game. Years in the table below reflect the year the song was recorded. Song in the game are presented as a series of tiers of increasing difficulty, requiring the player to complete the songs in each tier before the next tier is unlocked.
The setlist received a lukewarm reception. Game Informer stated that, compared to the setlists for other Guitar Hero games, the songs "skew away from great guitar rock and into the territory of pop/rock", and "just aren't as exciting to play". IGN commented that the setlist was "a little debatable" and "clearly being aimed at a friendlier, mainstream, pop-friendly crowd".
Year Song title Artist Master recording NA/UK/AUS/JPN/NL tier European tier Mainline game(s) featured1999"All Star" Smash Mouth 1999"All the Small Things" Blink-182 2006"Anna Molly" Incubus 2003"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" Jet 1995"Avalancha" Héroes del Silencio 1970"Black Magic Woman (Cover)" Santana 1991"Breed" Nirvana 2006"Ça Me Vexe" Mademoiselle K 1973"China Grove" Doobie BrothersThe Doobie Brothers 2005"Do What You Want" OK Go 2004"Heaven" Los Lonely Boys 2005"Helicopter" Bloc Party 1980"Hit Me with Your Best Shot (Cover)" Pat Benatar 2004"I Am Not Your Game Boy" Freezepop Bonus Bonus 2007"I Don't Wanna Stop" Ozzy Osbourne 1977"I Know a Little (Cover)" Lynyrd Skynyrd 1981"Jessie's Girl" Rick Springfield 1977"Jet Airliner (Cover)" Steve Miller Band 1989"Knock Me Down" Red Hot Chili Peppers 1973"La Grange (Cover)" ZZ Top 2004"Monster" Beatsteaks 2007"Monsoon" Tokio Hotel 1983"Pride and Joy (Cover)" Stevie Ray Vaughan 1975"Rock and Roll All Nite (Cover)" Kiss 1986"Rock the Night" Europe 1995"Spiderwebs" No Doubt 1981"Stray Cat Strut" Stray Cats 2002"This Love" Maroon 5 1984"We're Not Gonna Take It" Twisted Sister 2006"What I Want" Daughtry featuring Slash 1989"Youth Gone Wild (Cover)" Skid Row
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades setlist Decades'''s setlist is considered "a trek through time" by IGN, featuring sets of five songs out of a total of twenty-eight tracks. Each set focuses on a specific era of rock music, including two called "2000s" and "Modern". Each set has a specialized venue for the era. Once all the songs in the set are completed, the player is presented with a final encore song for that set while also unlocking the next set. Additional bonus tracks are unlocked for completing specific requirements in the game. All songs are master recordings as opposed to cover versions used in the previous game. The full setlist for the game is listed below. The setlists are different for the North American, UK, and European releases. Seven songs in each are exclusive to the respective versions, and are listed as "N/A" when not available for that region's release.
The Decades setlist was considered to be an improvement over the original On Tour, with more songs that would be "much more appealing to fans" of the console versions of Guitar Hero". IGN felt that the setlist "starts out bad but starts getting more enjoyable as you unlock the earlier decades".
Year Song title Artist North American version European version UK/NL/Australian version Mainline game(s) featured 1970 "All Right Now" Free 1970s 1980 "Any Way You Want It" Journey 1993 "Are You Gonna Go My Way" Lenny Kravitz 1994 "Buddy Holly" Weezer 2003 "Can't Stop" Red Hot Chili Peppers 2000s 2007 "Crushcrushcrush" Paramore 2005 "Dirty Little Secret" All-American RejectsThe All-American Rejects 2006 "Diventerai Una Star" Finley 1999 "Down" Stone Temple Pilots 2007 "Estrella Polar" Pereza 2004 "Everything is Everything" Phoenix 2000s 1982 "Eye of the Tiger" Survivor 1980s 1972 "Free Ride" Edgar Winter Group 1970s 2003 "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" DarknessThe Darkness 1984 "I Can't Drive 55" Sammy Hagar 1987 "La Bamba" Los Lobos 1980s 2001 "The Middle" Jimmy Eat World 2000s 1992 "No Rain" Blind Melon 2000 "One Step Closer" Linkin Park 1987 "The One I Love" R.E.M. 1980s 1978 "One Way or Another" Blondie 1970s 2007 "The Pretender" Foo Fighters 2007 "Ready, Set, Go!" Tokio Hotel 2004 "Remedy" Seether 1976 "Rock and Roll Band" Boston 1987 "Satch Boogie" Joe Satriani 1980s 2001 "Smooth Criminal" Alien Ant Farm 1995 "Some Might Say" Oasis 1976 "Sweet Home Alabama" (Live) Lynyrd Skynyrd 1970s 2007 "Tarantula" Smashing PumpkinsThe Smashing Pumpkins 2007 "The Take Over, the Breaks Over" Fall Out Boy 1997 "Volcano Girls" Veruca Salt 1977 "We Are The Champions" Queen 1970s 2003 "You Can't Stop Me" Guano Apes 2000s 1986 "You Give Love a Bad Name" Bon Jovi 1980s
Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits setlistModern Hitss setlist features songs released since 2000. The full setlist features 28 songs, all based on master recordings. Like the previous game in the series, On Tour: Decades, the set list is different for the North American, UK, and European releases with twelve exclusive tracks in each of the respective versions (the European release has eight exclusive tracks that are the same as the UK version and four other tracks from Europe).
The Modern Hits'' setlist is said to cover "guitar-heavy hits from the past five years" with "plenty of noteworthy songs", and considered to be a "compelling blend of tracks".
Year Song title Artist North Americanvenues Europeanvenues UKvenues Mainline game(s) featured 2006 "'54, '74, '90, 2010" Sportfreunde Stiller 2008 "Adrenaline" 12 Stones 2002 "All My Life" Foo Fighters 2008 "Always Where I Need to Be" 2003 Placebo 2000 "Bohemian Like You" 2007 "Call to Arms" Angels & Airwaves 2006 "Chelsea Dagger" 2007 "Dashboard" Modest Mouse 2006 "Dimension" Wolfmother 2008 "Do the Panic" Phantom Planet 2008 "Everybody Get Dangerous" Weezer 2005 Franz Ferdinand 2008 "Falling Down" Atreyu 2007 "Golden Skans" Klaxons 2008 "Half-Truism" 2007 "I Wanna Be Your Man" Endeverafter 2003 "In the Shadows" 2008 "Lassoo" 2005 "Lights and Sounds" Yellowcard 2006 "The Metal" Tenacious D 2005 "Miss Murder" AFI 2006 "Napoleon Says" Phoenix 2007 "On Call" Kings of Leon 2007 "Our Velocity" Maxïmo Park 2007 "Paralyzer" Finger Eleven 2004 "Que No" Deluxe 2003 "Reptilia" 2007 "Ruby" Kaiser Chiefs 2008 "Scream Aim Fire" Bullet For My Valentine 2008 "Shockwave" Black Tide 2002 "Still Waiting" Sum 41 2007 "Sweet Sacrifice" Evanescence 2006 "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" Fall Out Boy 2005 "Unconditional" 2008 "Via Le Mani Dagli Occhi" Negramaro 2008 "Violet Hill" Coldplay 2007 "What Do I Have to Do" 2007 "When You're Gone" Avril Lavigne 2004 "Where Are We Runnin'?" Lenny Kravitz
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