[General Discussion] Rhythm/Music -"Instrument" Suggestion

Taiko no Tatsujin (Japanese name) is great fun and if you like JPop and anime music you will like it just fine. Of course you would need a way to play the imports. The American release is pretty poor though, so don't expect great things from that unless you like bad covers of cheesy rock and of course "Rock the Dragon" from DBZ.

Lovely.

If you like the idea of Taiko games, get it for the drum and then get into some serious importing. There are only two different ways to hit the Tatacon drum controller though, so it is a bit narrow in scope. It can get very challenging too.

On the other hand Rock Band and Guitar Hero titles have a plethora of classic and modern rock music available both on disc and (for recent titles) as DLC. I have to be honest, I don't know if PS2 versions can download content, though. You can generally use the same guitar for most of the games. If you can find an old Guitar Hero 2 Gibson SG (red) on ebay, that is probably still the best for PS2. Failing that, the wireless Guitar Hero 3 Kramer Striker is your second best option. I'm not a fan of the Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour guitars, they feel flimsy.

Successive versions of the guitar don't really introduce any new features that you can't live without. All of them have the same five fret buttons, a strum bar and a whammy. The earlier models are wired, the later ones are wireless. If you ask me, wired is actually better, since you don't get dropped sustain notes so often. The current generation both introduced a similar feature which Rock Band calls the "solo buttons". They are a duplicate set of fret buttons at the bottom end of the neck which are used for finger-tapped solos during which there is no need to strum. You can just strum solos out on the regular fret buttons if all you have is an old guitar though.

If you want to see specifically which guitars are compatible with what, you can look here. There's a PS2 section right there at the top. You can also look up other platforms if you ever consider buying a new console. I've been able to play all the games using just one guitar on two different consoles. That's one guitar per console, of course... not the same one. I own others, but I have my favourites.

That basically takes care of your big question. With the proper choice of guitar, you can play all the games, just like with DDR. Just make sure it is a Guitar Hero instrument rather than a Rock Band instrument, because on PS2 that is the way to play everything.

My personal recommendations with regards to games is that for Taiko you would probably like any of them if you enjoy JPop, but if you're specifically into anime music there are two "Anime Specials" you should check out. With regards to Guitar games I suggest you get GH1, GH2 and Rock Band. I'd recommend RB2 if there was any guarantee that the old GH guitars would work. I also suggest GH Aerosmith if you like the band, but definitely skip GH3 at least at first since the difficulty is so high by comparison to other games. As for GH World tour, I can only say that I find the track listing to be lacklustre.

If you do as I recommend and get Rock Band after buying a GH game complete with guitar, then I suggest you buy the Rock Band drum kit separately, and use any USB microphone. That will give you a complete setup, to play the most games for the least money. Not to mention the better guitar. Then again, you might like the RB Strat. You should see if you can get on an in-store demo pod.

Sorry to go on at such length, I've become a big fan since discovering the series.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Shin

I reckon it was worth the asking price just for Living on a Prayer, Hotel California and Sweet Home Alabama. Guitar Hero 3 has the Top Gun Anthem as DLC though which is a big point in it's favour.

Living on a Prayer is also on Rock Band 2, but I take your point on those other songs. If they don't get announced as Rock Band DLC within a couple of months, I admit I would want World Tour.

It has good songs; I won't deny that. I'm just saying that for me it doesn't have the best killer/filler ratio of the guitar game genre.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tsunade

Being a sucker for rare-ish games - I'm definitely gonna buy Taiko

If you ever want to figure out how to softmod your console for importing the other Taiko games, please feel free to PM me. I've helped a few people get started with PS2 softmods. It won't involve any alterations to your console.

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In terms of games - Aerosmith is good + Guitar 1/2 and Rock Band - for variety's sake.

Good choices. If you find you really like Rock Band, you can always get the second game. More good songs, more solo play options, online band play.

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So from all this I understand that it may be best to buy a possible Guitar Hero Bundle (with the guitars) since the guitars from the original company (work best) and can potentially work with Rock Band - if that's the case then I only need to buy the drum set for Rock Band.

That is exactly what I'd do if I were looking to minimise my expenditure. In fact it is exactly what I did do originally, but then my obsession took hold and I ended up buying a ton of stuff.

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Here comes the very stupid question... I wanna get this game for at least two people to play.... so looking at ebay and I see the original bundle: PS2 Rock Band Bundle Rockband Special Edition Game - eBay (item 110355436999 end time Mar-01-09 20:02:03 PST)

It is a good deal, but please note that a Rock Band guitar won't work with older Guitar Hero games. An older Guitar Hero instrument will work with Rock Band though.

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I understand it's got one guitar... how about the drum set? Is that for one or two people (sry if this question sounds completely retarded - I have NO idea whether drum sets are shared or how they even work).

When you're having a (Rock Band) multiplayer game, you would typically have each player be one member of your rock band. You can play guitar while up to three of your friends take drums, vocals and bass. You need a second guitar (not included) to play bass.

With that in mind, yeah... a second player can join in with just what you have here.

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Also I'm looking at the following link:
PS2 Guitar Hero Aerosmith 2-Pack LE Bundle BRAND NEW! - eBay (item 110355730114 end time Feb-24-09 12:19:36 PST)

These guitars come with the official bundle? Safe to say they work on other Guitar Heroes (older version) and they are semi-good?

Those are the Gibson SG I mentioned earlier. The black Gibson SG came with the first game in the Guitar Hero series, and the red Gibson SG came with the second game. I dare say that there is a chance those are both the later model, though. The difference in colour is probably just to help distinguish them visually.

I'd say those are the best guitars available for the whole franchise, and will work with Rock Band. You should definitely buy that bundle, and then get a Rock Band drumkit separately. You can then buy all the various games without an instrument bundle, if you wish.

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Super sorry for my lengthy post (and probably stupid to many)- I'm actually very serious about purchasing these games and thanks for all the feedback.

Can't speak for anyone else, but it is a pleasure to help. It's good to know that all the information I've accumulated about this can be put to use.

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BTW how long are the wires for the wired guitars? Thanks

I can't honestly say without measuring, but plenty long enough. I can walk around the room with no problems.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Tsunade

so I guess lastly - would any USB microphone work with Rock band?

Yeah. I've tried a couple of different mics, they all seem to work just fine. I sometimes use a headset mic so I can do guitar and vocals at the same time.

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BTW thanks a million for your help ^^

Sincerely a pleasure.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

How do you do the percussion portions of the vocals whilst playing the guitar? Don't you have to tap the headset/microphone?

Ehh... you do indeed, but I find that you can just skip those parts and still get a reasonable score. I'm not really trying for the best scores, just for laughs. To see if I can, basically. It turns out that I can, although I need to know the song pretty well beforehand. Sometimes I get limited success with making strange noises into the mic for the cowbell/handclapping type of stuff.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Shin

You have no idea how disappointed I was that you can't just use the Xbox headset for the singing on Guitar Hero World Tour.

As you can see from my posts above I haven't bought World Tour yet. I have the older games on the PS2 as well as GH3, Aerosmith and Rock Band 1 & 2 on the 360, but I haven't even really thought about getting another music game until I complete some of what I already have.

I'm dissapointed too, it's been great silly fun doing a duet with myself. Of course, now I have the full setup, I've really got to get some friends around here, but it hasn't happened yet. Rock Band is still a recent purchase for me.

I was speaking idiomatically.