Gitaroo-Man (ギタルマン) is a music rhythm game that follows the adventures of U-1, the legendary Gitaroo-Man. A normal but clumsy youngster armed with the Legendary Gitaroo, U-1 is forced to rescue the Planet Gitaroo from the Gravillian Empire.
The PSP version of Gitaroo-Man Lives! features a duet mode, Wi-Fi multiplayer, and two new songs. The character designs and visuals were created by Japanese illustrator Mitsuru Nakamura, while the musical production was led by COIL.
Gameplay[]
The controls for the game simply relies on the PlayStation analog sticks and the , , and buttons. While players can choose to alter the setup, the default method of playing uses the left analog stick.
U-1's primary objective is to defeat enemies using his mythical Gitaroo guitar, requiring precision and reflexes during each performance.
- A blue dot lying in the center of the screen, called the "Attack Point", appears during stages. This judges the accuracy of U-1's actions.
- As the stage plays U-1's notes, a blue-green line eventually appears on the screen called the "Trace Line". As the name suggests, players direct the analog stick to trace the Attack Point along the Trace Line's direction. Three arrows and a blue fanned area around the Attack Point can help guide the player's path. Players can tell if they're correctly on the line when it is highlighted green.
- The Trace Line presents U-1's note as an orange circle followed by a pink bar. These are called "Phase Bars" and each vary in length. The beginning of these Phase Bars are marked by their orange circles, which are meant to be correctly aligned in time with the Attack Point. The goal is to press and hold a button while successfully tracing the Phase Bars' trail along the Trace Line.
- When U-1 isn't attacking, his rival will fill in the gap with their own attacks. During this time, the Trace Line will disappear and the Attack Point will remain. To dodge their attacks, U-1 has to successfully tap the corresponding , , , or buttons as they head towards the Attack Point. comes from the left, drops from the top, moves from the right, and rises from the bottom.
- Landing a correct action on the Attack Point perfectly will score a high "Great", an input that is slightly off will score a "Good", and actions a little too fast rewards an "Ok". Missing happens when the player puts in the wrong button input, fails to trace the Phase Bar correctly, or doesn't perform the action in time.
Each stage generally consists of three basic phases.
- Charge: U-1 uses notes to enhance his power gauge, with missing notes not causing harm but preventing health gain, typically set at the start of the stage.
- Battle: The main meat of the stage which has U-1 attack or defend. During the Attack Phase, U-1 has a chance to play his notes and deal damage to his rival. Having him defend will rely on his dodging skills. If the player performs well during this phase, they will hear special alterations of the stage's usual tune.
- Final: U-1's final riff in the stage, excluding Charge phases and defending sequences, ends the stage with U-1 standing, despite potential health loss.
Players' performance in a game is determined by their score, with a higher score indicating better performance, and the game consists of ten stages.
Modes[]
Single Play[]
The main story where the players play through U-1's adventure. When a stage is completed, the players proceed to the next stage.
Master's Play[]
Unlocked after single play, the game offers more complex song versions with new remixes and challenges, despite some remaining similar arrangements.
Vs. Mode[]
Allows up to four players to compete against one another. They can select two stages and most of the compositions in the game to test their skills.
Theatre[]
Lets players watch cinemas they have obtained.
Collection[]
Features images and other tidbits of information regarding the game's characters and robots. Players can view more images as if they finish stages with a higher score (A~S).
Characters[]
Gravillians[]
- Zowie and his cat, Ming Ming
- Panpeus
- Flying-O and his minions
- Mojo King Bee
- Ben-K
- Sanbone Trio
- Gregorio "Siegfried" Wilhelm III
- Kirah
- Kai-Kakoon
Related Media[]
A soundtrack and a drama CD that follows the events in the game was released.
A CD-Rom exclusive to the PlayStation 2, called Gitaroo-Man One (ギタルマン ワン, "Wan" being a pun for the English pronunciation of "one" and the Japanese onomatopoeia for "woof") was also released. It contained the TGS trailer, alternate recordings of songs, an extended art gallery of 326's illustrations, and a mini-game with Puma. The bonuses in this title was affected by the save game data of the player's normal Gitaroo-Man playthroughs. Each copy of Gitaroo-Man Wan came with three character illustration cards. These cards could be collected and used to play a card version of Rock-Paper-Scissors.
Koei also released an adaption for the i-mode phone titled Gitaroo-Man I (ギタルマンアイ, "Ai" could be a pun on the Japanese word for "love" and the English letter "i"). It has Puma star in several mini-games with him collecting drinks. Drinks would be used to make friends in the game and to also unlock music and images for the user.
Artists and Songs[]
- Soft Machine (Opening Theme)
- Words/Music: Sadayoshi Okamoto
- Written, Produced, Performance: COIL
- Arrangement: Mitsuhiro Yokota (A&R for Imperial Records)
- Boogie For An Afternoon
- Music/Arrangement: Tomohiro Harada
- Guitars & Bass: Yoshifumi Yamaguchi
- Twisted Reality
- Performed, Recorded, Mixed: COIL
- Keyboards: Tomohiro Harada
- Additional Words & Vocals: Kaleb James
- Flyin' to Your Heart
- Vocal: a-li (阿麗)
- Music/Arrangement: Tomohiro Harada
- Words: Masako Harada
- Performance: YUAN
- Bee Jam Blues
- Performed, Recorded, Mixed: COIL
- Remix Arrangement, Programming: Tomohiro Harada
- EWI: Keiichi Yano
- Chorus Arrangement, Words: Kaleb James
- Chorus: Brenda Vaughn
- VOID
- Music, Arrangement: Tomohiro Harada
- Guitars: k-nzk
- Nuff Respect, featuring NAHKI
- Produced, Performed, Recorded, Mixed: COIL
- 2nd Remix, Synthesizer: Tomohiro Harada
- Additional Vocal & Words: NAHKI
- Turntable: Masanori Kamide
- The Legendary Theme (Acoustic version)
- Performed, Recorded, Mixed: COIL
- Keyboards: Tomohiro Harada
- Born to be Bone
- Percussions/Voice/Musical Motifs: Steve Eto (by courtesy of Boogaloo Co. Ltd.)
- Music/Arrangement: Tomohiro Harada
- Acoustic Guitar: Kazuki Abe
- Electric Guitar: Yoshifumi Yamaguchi
- Tainted Lovers
- Music/Arrangement: Tomohiro Harada
- Drums: Kozo Suganuma
- Guitars: Yoshifumi Yamaguchi
- Drums Recording Mixer: Noriyasu Joko
- Drums Recording Assistant: Hitoshi Sato
- Drums Recording Studio: SOUND A TELIER
- Overpass
- Music/Arrangement: Tomohiro Harada
- Drums: Yusuke Nishikawa
- Guitars & Bass: Yoshifumi Yamaguchi
- Drums Recording Mixer: Noriyasu Joko
- Drums Recording Assistant: Hitoshi Sato
- Drums Recording Studio: SOUND A TELIER
- The Legendary Theme (Album version)
- Performed, Recorded, Mixed: COIL
- Keyboards: Tomohiro Harada
- Resurrection
- Performed, Recorded, Mixed: COIL
- Keyboards: Tomohiro Harada
- 21st Century Boy (Ending Theme)
- Words/Music: Yosuke Sato
- Produced, Performed, Recorded, Mixed: COIL
- Arrangement: Mitsuhiro Yokota (A&R for Imperial Records)
The following songs are exclusive to the PSP remake, Gitaroo-Man Lives!, in the Duet mode.
- Metal Header
- Lyrics/Vocals: Andy MacKinlay
- Guitar: Satoshi Izumi
- Music/arrangement/keyboards/other instruments/programming: tomozuin h
- Toda Pasión
- Vocal, Chorus, Lyrics: Yordanka Farres, Kenjiro Imawara
- Chorus: Tetsuo Koizumi
- Percussion: Yoshihiko Miza
- Bass: Satoko Arita
- Guitar: Satoshi Izumi
- Organ/Music/arrangement/keyboards/other instruments/programming: tomozuin h
Allusions[]
- U-1 is one of the default names for the bodyguards in Dynasty Warriors 4.
- Puma AC30 appears as one of Zhuge Liang's trinkets in Kessen II.
- The melody for The Legendary Theme was later remixed for a lyrical version by COIL.
External Links[]
- Official English site, Lives! minisite
- Official Japanese site, Lives! minisite
- Listing on iNiS official website, Japanese listing
- Gameplay footage of the second stage (normal)
- Gameplay footage of Gitaroo-Man Wan
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