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GuitarFreaks (also GUITARFREAKS, abbreviated GF) is a 1998 arcade game created by Konami, part of the Bemani series. The player uses a controller to simulate the playing of an electric guitar. The game consists of music predominantly from rock and roll and J-Pop genres, and is now in its 15th version, GuitarFreaks V4.

Contents 1 Controller 2 Gameplay 3 Session linking 3.1 Super Session 3.2 Arcade Link 4 Versions 5 Availability 6 See also 7 External links

GuitarFreaks is played using a controller designed to imitate the shape of an electric guitar, most like the Fender Jazzmaster or Fender Mustang. The neck houses three buttons, colored red, green, and blue. On the main face of the guitar, a pick lever is used to simulate the picking and strumming of an actual guitar. A small metal knob near the pick is used to alter the sound produced by the game, such as increasing the volume.

The interface is similar to other games in the Bemani series. Two note scrolls—one for each player—are displayed at the left and right sides of the screen. Colorful animations for each song are displayed in the center of the screen. Each note scroll consists of four columns: one each for the red, green, and blue buttons, and a final another Wailing Bonus column. Individual notes and chords are represented by small colored bars that scroll upward in the columns. To play the correct note, the player must hold down the buttons corresponding to the colored bars, and move the pick lever when the bars reach the yellow picking line. When a guitar icon is displayed in the Wailing Bonus column along with an associated note, the player can tilt the guitar upright while playing the note to receive bonus points.

The player's accuracy is judged for each note played. The current system uses the names Perfect, Great, Good, Poor, and Miss to indicate a player's accuracy. Ratings of Poor or Miss will deplete the player's Groove Gauge, while Perfect and Great ratings will replenish it. If the Groove Gauge is emptied completely, the player fails, and the game ends. Players are allowed to play anywhere from one to five songs depending on the game cabinet's configuration, with the ability to earn additional songs in certain versions of the game

Upon successful completion of a song, players are graded on their performance. When the game ends, the player's total score across all songs played is tabulated.

One of the major selling points of GuitarFreaks is its ability to be linked to another of Konami's Bemani games, DrumMania. This allows up to three players to join together to play simultaneously in Session Mode. During a session, the music will play simultaneously from both games, and the players' guitar and drum sounds are relayed between the two games.

Because the second version of GuitarFreaks was released prior to the first version of DrumMania, GuitarFreaks is one "mix" number higher than the DrumMania version it links up to. For example, GUITARFREAKS 6thMIX is designed to be linked with DrumMania 5thMIX. The mix versions were synchronized with the release of GuitarFreaksV & DrumManiaV eschewing the long-standing number system, and replacing what would have been the 12th and 11th mix, respectively.

Seen only in two releases each of GuitarFreaks and DrumMania, Super Session allowed the games to be linked up with Keyboardmania 3rd Mix as well. In addition to having three players controller the guitars and drums, two more could be added playing along on keyboards. However, when linked with Keyboardmania, only about a dozen songs are available to play. Keyboardmania 3rd Mix can be linked with GuitarFreaks 5th Mix and DrumMania 4th Mix, or GuitarFreaks 6th Mix and DrumMania 5th Mix.

GuitarFreaks is one of the two games from KONAMI that could link with the Home Version through Playstation 1 Memory Cards. This system has since been replaced by the e-AMUSEMENT system.

• GUITARFREAKS (February 1999)
• GUITARFREAKS 2ndMIX (July 1999)
• GUITARFREAKS 2ndMIX Link version (September 1999)
• GUITARFREAKS 3rdMIX (21st April 2000)
• GUITARFREAKS 4thMIX (13th September 2000)
• GUITARFREAKS 5thMIX (17th March 2001)
• GUITARFREAKS 6thMIX (13th September 2001)
• GUITARFREAKS 7thMIX (28th February 2002)
• GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX (30th August 2002)
• GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX power-up ver. (29th November 2002)
• GUITARFREAKS 9thMIX 「POWER UP over POWER UP!!」 (2nd April 2003)
• GUITARFREAKS 10thMIX 「Make a future groove!」 (8th October 2003)
• GUITARFREAKS 11thMIX 「IT'S A SHOWTIME!!」 (22nd April 2004)
• GuitarFreaksV 「yes!! just wanna "V"est!!!」 (23rd February 2005)
• GuitarFreaksV2 「LIVE 2 GO!!」 (24th November 2005)
• GuitarFreaks & DrumMania Masterpiece Silver (31st, August 2006)
• GuitarFreaksV3 「Big bang! On Music Galaxy!」 (13th September 2006)
• GuitarFreaks & DrumMania Masterpiece Gold (8th, March 2007)
• GuitarFreaksV4 Яock×Rock 「Are you Ready? Experience the "DoubleRock!!"」 (8th August 2007)

GuitarFreaks is currently developed and released in dedicated arcade cabinets, and more recently, for the PlayStation 2. Some versions of the game have also been localized and released for Korea and other Asian countries.

While primarily distributed to the Japanese market, GuitarFreaks is imported to the US and other countries. Nine home versions have been released for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game consoles from Sony.

• Bemani
• DrumMania
• Guitar Hero

• GFdm Gateway, Konami's official arcade website for GuitarFreaks and DrumMania (in Japanese)
• GuitarFreaks at the Killer List of Videogames, with arcade cabinet details
• GDAmania, a popular GF/DM community website with simfiles, songlists, lyrics and worldwide locations.