Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a 2005 rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2. It is the first installment in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released in November 2005 in North America, April 2006 in Europe and June 2006 in Australia. The game's development was a result of collaboration between RedOctane and Harmonix to bring a Guitar Freaks-like game to United States.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 2005
- Developer
- Harmonix Music Systems
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 8 November 2005 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Harmonix Music Systems |
| Publisher | RedOctane |
| Platforms | PlayStation 2 |
| Genres | music video game, rhythm game |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q116578, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Guitar Hero? How long to beat it
Total play time for Guitar Hero is about 21.1 hours to do everything, and around 5.1 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 5.1h | 85 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 11.9h | 37 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 21.1h | 10 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Guitar Hero sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Guitar Hero lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 67ahead of 19% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 54ahead of 91% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Guitar Hero
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Common questions about Guitar Hero
What platforms is Guitar Hero on?
Guitar Hero is available on PlayStation 2. It first released in 2005.
Who made Guitar Hero?
Guitar Hero was developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane.
How long does it take to beat Guitar Hero?
about 5.1 hours for the main story, 11.9 hours with the main extras, 21.1 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.