Play Guitar Hero - On Tour Online

Guitar Hero: On Tour came out for the Nintendo DS in 2008, published by Activision. It was a strange and ambitious attempt to bring the living room guitar game experience to a handheld. The DS was already full of unique titles, but this one required a special peripheral that plugged into the cartridge slot, a physical commitment that set it apart from other games on the system right from the start.

You control a guitarist in a band, and your main objective is to hit the correct colored notes as they scroll down the screen during a song. The game's signature mechanics are the guitar grip peripheral you hold in your left hand, which has four fret buttons, and the use of the DS stylus in your right hand to strum on the touch screen. You also tilt the entire DS unit to activate Star Power for a score multiplier. The pacing is fast, and the difficulty ramps up significantly on the higher settings, demanding quick finger movements and coordination. It feels surprisingly physical and involved for a handheld game, a clumsy but earnest effort to make you feel like you are actually playing.