Guitar Hero is a series of games where the player is tasked with mimicking the notes of the song being played. It uses special large plastic controllers in the shape of guitars, although spin-off games used DJ decks.

The original title was a joint venture by peripheral manufacturer Red Octane and rhythm game developers Harmonix Music Systems. Harmonix was subsequently bought by a rival publisher and went on to create the Rock Band series, while Red Octane were picked up by Activison and continued the Hero series.

The last game in the series was released in September 2010, shortly before Activision announced that they were putting future releases on indefinite hold due to slumping sales. The series was criticized late in its life for flooding the market with numerous editions and killing consumer interest - in 2010 there were 7 titles released in a 10 month period.