| Gitaroo Man | |
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| Developer(s) | Koei iNiS |
| Publisher(s) | Koei |
| Released | JP June 21, 2001 NA February 20, 2002 |
| Genre | Music |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Ratings | ESRB: Everyone (E) ELSPA: 3+ (PS2) PEGI: 3+ (PSP) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable |
Gitaroo Man is a video game for the Sony PlayStation 2, published by Koei. The player character is U-1 ("Yūichi": a common Japanese boys' name; pronounced "you-one" in the North American and European releases), a young boy who is frequently ridiculed by classmates and passed over by Little Pico, the girl of his dreams. The story proper begins when Puma, a dog with the ability to speak, teaches U-1 to play the guitar--simultaneously teaching the controls of the game to the player--and subsequently revealing to him that he is the last legendary hero of Planet Gitaroo, a title which makes him a target for many varied individuals. Despite a number of positive reviews, the North American and European versions of Gitaroo Man were produced in very low quantites by Koei and, as a result, have become somewhat rare, and is regarded as a cult video game. Around November 2005 in North America, copies of Gitaroo Man began popping up in GameStop game stores. This was due to a reprint by GameQuestDirect, similar to their previous reprints of PlayStation RPGs Persona 2 and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, both of which were previously very rare. Due to this reprint, the game can generally be found in most EB Games and Gamestop retail stores in North America. There is a port of this game to the PSP (Playstation Portable) called "Gitaroo Man Lives". Its Japanese title is "Gitaroo Man Live".
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Characters
U-1: The game's protagonist. U-1 has a romantic attachment to Pico but is constantly upstaged by his natural rival, Kazuya. When the player is introduced, U-1 has very little self confidence and rarely, if ever, is able to stand up for himself, but throughout the course of the game he gradually develops self-esteem, and afterward, a more extroverted personality (see Gitaroo Man). Gitaroo Man: The alter-ego of U-1 and the last of the legendary heroes of Planet Gitaroo. U-1 transforms into Gitaroo Man whenever he is challenged to a battle. Wields the legendary "last Gitaroo." It is said Gitaroo Man will reveal his true form when all eight Gitaroos are one. Puma: U-1's loyal talking pet dog (see AC-30). AC-30: The alter-ego of Puma. He is responsible for teaching U-1 everything about battling, as well as throwing the Gitaroo guitar to him when a challenge presents itself. Pico: One of U-1's classmates and the girl of his dreams. She is always with Kazuya to U-1's dismay. Kazuya: A snobby classmate of U-1 who comes from a rich family. He is great at skateboarding, is a straight-A student, and is U-1's social rival. Kirah: Kirah is one of the main characters. She is identified as a powerful, if misguided warrior of Gravillians who eventually turns over to Gitaroo Man's side to help him defeat Zowie. Though she bears a strong resemblance to Pico, they are neither related, nor the same person. Zowie: The prince of the Gravillians and the antagonist of the storyline. His desire for power has led him to an attempt at collecting the eight legendary Gitaroos (of which he already has seven)--which can, together, control the universe. Zowie bears a clear resemblance to Kazuya, both in personality and appearance. He has a black pet cat named Ming-Ming. Panpeus: A devil wearing a black diaper using the Axe Gitaroo. He is the first Gravillian to fight U-1. Flying-O: A UFO robot (mistaken as a hamburger) Gravillian that uses a built-in Synth Gitaroo. Mojo King Bee: A Gravillian dressed in a bee and disco suit who plays the Trumpet Gitaroo. Ben-K: A shark that U-1 must escape on the way to planet Gitaroo; he later transforms into Mecha Ben-K, who uses his Turn Table Gitaroos on his pecs to do damage. Sanbone Trio: Three skeletons who use their own bones as Gitaroos. Their names are Pine, Carrot, and Soda. Gregorio Siegfried Wilhelm III: A Gravillian who operates a cathedral as his Gitaroo, located on Planet Gitaroo itself. He is obsessed with his own beauty. The backup band: A group of 3 musicians dressed in animal suits, who follow U-1 throughout the Cosmos. Their names are Noren (rabbit suit), Yung (monkey suit) and Mr. Yasuda (panda suit). They are almost always seen at one point in every level.
Game mechanics
The game mechanics of Gitaroo Man are relatively unique among rhythm video games. Each battle comprises a separate level, divided into five types of sections:
- Charge: Successful notes charge up energy for battle.
- Attack: Successful notes deplete enemy's energy. Misses deplete player's energy.
- Guard: Successful presses avoid attack. Misses deplete player's energy.
- Harmony: Same as Attack phase, although this is not broken up by Guard phases.
- Final: Same as Harmony, but player's energy does not deplete if notes are missed.
The exceptions to this format are "Void", which is purely Guard phase, and "Legendary Theme (Acoustic)" which is purely Attack phase.
Each level typically opens with a Charge phase, in which the player increases their health through playing the Gitaroo. A series of alternating Attack and Guard phases follows, in which the player attempts to drop his opponent's health bar by playing the Gitaroo, and avoids the same by dodging incoming attacks, respectively. If the player survives until the end of the song, then he must complete the Harmony phase to finish the level. During the Charge, Attack, and Harmony phases, a line called the "trace line" scrolls toward a dot in the center of the screen (the "attack point") from outside of the visible area. There are yellow circles with orange tails on the trace line (called "phrase bars") corresponding to the rhythm of the song. When the beginning of a phrase bar reaches the attack point, the player must follow the direction of the trace line with the analogue stick while simultaneously pressing any face button for the duration of each phase bar. In the Charge phase, successfully completing a phase bar grants the player a little more health; in Attack phases, completing phase bars drops the opponent's health, while missing them drops a little of the player's health. The Harmony phase acts the same as an Attack phase, but at this point the enemy's health is irrelevant. The magnitude of the gain in health or drop in opponent's health depends on how accurately the player hit the phase bar. Long phase bars can give their effect a second time if the button is released before the end of the bar, the bonus being greater the longer the button is held. The phase bars tie into the music by fading in Gitaroo Man's guitar track in the song when they are hit, and causing it to fade back out when missed. Thus, the quality of the player's game playing ties in with the quality of Gitaroo Man's guitar playing. The Guard phase differs in that the player is responsible for pressing one of the four buttons on the controller at the correct time; the analog stick is not used. Corresponding to the layout of these buttons, a "triangle" scrolls in from the top of the screen, a "circle" from the right, a "square" from the left, and an "X" from the bottom. When these icons hit the aforementioned attack point in the center, usually following the rhythm of the opponent's part of the music, the player must press the corresponding button to avoid losing health. Most of the game's music uses a call and response pattern in order to allow for alternating Attack and Guard phases, with Gitaroo Man and his rival dominant in each respectively. The Charge and Harmony phases are typical intros and codas, with the rival tending to musically dominate the Charge phase, and Harmony phase led by Gitaroo Man. The presence of the enemy life bar can be seen as somewhat misleading. A skilled player can severely deplete the enemy's life long before the end of the song, but will still be required to play through the entire stage. Likewise, it's possible to win a stage while the enemy still has life. However, each Guard/Attack phase requires that a certain amount of damage be dealt for the song to progress. Doing low amounts of damage will therefore prolong the stage.
Songs/Levels
These are the levels in Gitaroo Man, listed with the opponent and the name of the song. It should be noted that you can't play levels 4, 6 and 9 in Vs Mode.
- Tutorial Level - (No opponent) - Boogie For An Afternoon
- Level 1 - Panpeus - Twisted Reality
- Level 2 - Flying-O - Flyin' to your Heart
- Level 3 - Mojo King Bee - Bee Jam Blues
- Level 4 - Ben-K (Shark) - VOID
- Level 5 - Ben-K (Robot) - Nuff Respect, featuring NAHKI
- Level 6 - Kirah - The Legendary Theme (Acoustic version)
- Level 7 - Sanbone Trio - Born to be Bone
- Level 8 - Gregorio "Siegfried" Wilhelm III - Tainted Lovers
- Level 9 - Kirah - Overpass/The Legendary Theme (Album version)
- Level 10 - Zowie - Resurrection
The following songs are exclusive to the PSP remake, Gitaroo Man Lives!, in the Duet mode.
- Duet Level 1 - Kai-Kakoon - Metal Header
- Duet Level 2 - Ming-Ming - Toda Pasion
Soundtrack
The Gitaroo Man Original Soundtrack is an audio CD released in 2001, containing the majority of the songs found in the PS2 video game Gitaroo Man. While it is missing the background music played during the Collection viewing mode and the Master Mode versions of songs, it does have four Ropeland remixes of other songs.
| Gitaroo Man Original Soundtrack tracklist | |
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Disc 1 (62:03)
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Gitaroo Man Lives!
In 2006, a Gitaroo Man port was released for Sony's PSP console. Gitaroo Man Lives! is a direct port of the PS2 game, but with two new songs that can be played in 'Duet' mode, a newly introduced cooperative mode. The songs are 'Metal Header', a rap/rock track, and 'Toda Pasión', a fast-paced samba number, similar to a Carlos Santana song. The game features Wi-Fi multiplayer and the ability to choose easy or normal difficulty settings, a feature which was only vaguely available in the original PS2 game as the unlockable 'Master's play'.
Awards
- Received IGN's award for Best PSP Music Game of 2006.
Trivia
- In the preview/review version of Gitaroo Man given out to videogame magazines, Flying-O's banter in the cutscene for 'Flying to your Heart' is translated. This was removed in the full version, although he is translated in the Game Over screen of that level.
- The pelvic bones of the Sanbone Trio are fashioned around the Playstation's Dual Shock controllers.
- The song "Flyin' To Your Heart" is sung in Japanese, but the demo version released in Europe had English lyrics. It was returned to the Japanese version in the final release of the game for unknown reasons. In Gitaroo Man Lives! on PSP, the English version is used.
- When viewing an item from the Collection section, there is a tune in the background that is extremely similar to Pink Floyd's "Breathe" from "Dark Side of the Moon."
