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Also, I don’t think that America was ready for the expensive guitar/drums/keyboard peripherals that the games required. Keep in mind that this was way back around the turn of the millennium and American gamers weren’t used to peripherals that didn’t have d-pads and 4 buttons under their thumbs. Remember how well the Nintendo Power Pad did? How about Rob the Robot?

So, while Konami had a solid concept, the execution was ultimately flawed. Don’t get me wrong, the games are plenty of fun if you have the time and patience to learn them. Except for Keyboardmania, don’t even bother unless you play piano. Seriously, it has 28 keys. Anyway, when I played GuitarFreaks/Drummania for the first time, Guitar Hero 2 wasn’t out yet and Rock Band hadn’t even been announced. It was definitely a unique and interesting thing for me to be able to play a Drum simulation game. Playing with two other guitarists was an added bonus. That’s another thing, two guitarists. GuitarFreaks supported lead and bass guitars while Guitar Hero only had lead. Add that to the fact that the original Guitar Hero’s multiplayer mode was severely lacking, and I found that I spent more time playing GuitarFreaks/Drummania than Guitar Hero. Of course, when Guitar Hero 2 came out, that quickly changed.

So lets say you want to give one of these games a try. Well, you’re going to be pretty hard-pressed to find them. If you just want to give the arcade games a shot, there’s a useful tool over at ddrfreak.com that lets you search for machines within a certain radius of your zipcode. If you’d actually like to buy the games for home use, eBay is pretty much your only option. Expect to pay big bucks for the peripherals in addition to the games. If you’re really desperate, you can also order new from distributors like Play-Asia.com, but again, expect to break your bank account. Two guitars, a drum set, and one game will probably set you back between $200-$250 plus shipping. You’d probably be better off looking for an arcade.

There’s one thing that this musical dichotomy makes me wonder: What do the Japanese think of the Guitar Hero franchise? Did they embrace our 5-button guitars with open arms, or did they scoff, clutching their 3-button guitars, saying, "We already have that." Perhaps there is a small community of gamers over there who, like a few of us, import crazy games from overseas and get funny looks from other ‘traditional’ gamers.

So now you know. GuitarFreaks came first and set the bar for the future rock games. Regardless of the fact that they set the bar pretty low, and Guitar Hero sailed over the bar, hardly bothering to glance down, Japan was the genesis of the musical simulation genre. So next time you and your friends are sitting around talking about Rock Band and one person sighs wistfully, staring into space, you’ll know that he has a dirty little Japanese secret.

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