Gitaroo Man Lives!

Overview

Gitaroo Man Lives, is a PSP port of the wacky PS2 rhythm game Gitaroo Man, featuring two new songs, and updated multiplayer. Gitaroo Man Lives follows a young boy named U-1, who must turn into Gitaroo Man to defeat the colorful villains. The game uses a unique non-peripheral control scheme through all three parts of the stage.

Gameplay

Gitaroo Man Lives plays the same as the original PS2 version, with the advantage of being able to play it on the go. The game takes a unique twist on the traditional rhythm based game formula. The game uses a combination of button taps, and 'follow line' type sections in it's levels to help win the battle against the villain and deplete their energy. The songs are also broken up into three separate parts. you will have a charge section, a battle section, and a final section.

Charge

The charge/intro section of the song consist of pointing the analog stick in the direction the line is facing, and holding the circle button for the duration of the note. The higher you score on this section, the higher Gitaroo Man's health will rise for the battle section.

Battle

The battle sections have two distinct control schemes. There's the attack mode that plays the exact same as the charge mode, but instead of repleting Gitaroo Man, you deplete the enemy's health bar. If the player misses a note, Gitaroo Man will lose health.

Defense

The defense mode involves the player needing to hit the face buttons as they slide to the center of the screen. If the player misses on the prompts, Gitaroo Man's health will deplete. If the player successfully times the button prompts, they will take no damage and will dodge the attack.

Harmony/End

Harmony plays exactly like the battle mode, but it does not consist of any defensive parts. 'End' plays identical to Harmony but the player will not lose health.

Multiplayer

Gitaroo Man Lives, also features two multiplayer modes, one exclusive to the PSP version of the game.

Vs. Mode

Vs. Mode plays the same as it did in the original PS2 version of the game. Versus consist of one player playing as Gitaroo Man, and the second player playing as the enemy. Versus involves each player battling each other the same as they would in single player, until one player loses all of their energy and loses the match.

Duet Mode

This mode can also be played with an AI partner.

Duet Mode is exclusive to the PSP version of Gitaroo Man, and can be played over the Ad-Hoc. Duet mode consist of two players (One Gitaroo and the other Kirah), playing together to complete the song. Both players share the same energy bar, with U-1 using one half and Kirah using the other.

Duet mode also include two new songs exclusive to the PSP version of the game. These songs include Metal Header and Toda Passion. Metal Header is a rap/rock song, where Toda Passion is a samba song.

Story

The game opens with young boy named U-1, who comes home angry after his classmate, Kazuya, picks on him in front on his crush Pico. When U-1 enters his room, Puma, his talking dog is sitting down watching T.V. Puma teaches him how to play guitar, so he can embarrass Kazuya. While he's learning to play guitar, a diaper wearing devil named Panpeus, appears to take the legendary Gitaroo from Puma, who turns into a Puma AC-30 and throws a Gitaroo at U-1 turning him into Gitaroo Man.

After defeating Panpeus, U-1 and Puma escape to streets, where they encounter Flying-O, a giant mind controlling UFO trying to take the Gitaroo. U-1 fights and defeats Flying-O, and rides a UFO until he crashes into a swamp, where he meets Mojo King Bee, a Jazz musician trying to obtain the Gitaroo.

After defeating Mojo King Bee, Puma projects a message of help from the people of planet Gitaroo, who have been locked away. U-1 and Puma enter a spaceship and head for the island, but are chased by robot sharked named Ken-K through the void of space, where they land on a metal planet and both spaceships turn into giant robots and fight it out.

When Ken-K is defeated, they land on planet Gitaroo where they meet a girl named Kirah, who looks like Pico. U-1 plays his guitar and wins Kirah's heart. U-1 and Puma reach the prison where the prisoners are held, and meet Zowie who is looking for the eight Gitaroos to control the universe, and gets the Sanbone Trio to defeat U-1. After he defeats the Sanbone Trio, he heads to the cathedral to fight Gregorio "Siegfried" Wilhelm III, to obtain his Gitaroo.

U-1 goes to the stadium where he will fight the champion of the planet for the last Gitaroo, who happens to be Kirah. U-1 refuses to fight Kirah and dodges her attacks until she realizes that her music is not for pain, and gives U-1 the final Gitaroo, which causes him to unlock the almighty power of the Gitaroo.

After Kirah defies Zowie, which causes Zowie to try and defeat the U-1 for himself, and wields Gundam-esque armour, which unlocks the Gitaroo armour for the final battle in space. U-1 and Zowie ascend to the skies, and fight until U-1 eventually defeats Zowie and saves planet Gitaroo once and for all.

Song List

All of the following tracks were performed by COIL.

Boogie For An Afternoon

• Tutorial

Twisted Reality

• Genre: Rock
• Enemy: Panpeus

Flyin' to your Heart

• Genre: J-Pop
• Enemy: Flying-O

Bee Jam Blues

• Genre: Blues/Jazz
• Enemy: Mojo Kind Bee

VOID

• Genre: Hip-Hop
• Enemy: Ben-K (Shark)

Nuff Respect, featuring NAHKI

• Genre: Reggae
• Enemy: Ben-K (Robot)

The Legendary Theme

• Genre: Folk
• Enemy: N/A

Born to be Bone

• Genre: Latin Guitar
• Enemy: Sanbone Trio

Tainted Lovers

• Genre: Metal
• Enemy: Gregorio Siegfried Wilhelm III

Overpass/The Legendary Theme

• Genre: Rock
• Enemy: Kirah

Resurrection

• Genre: Metal
• Enemy: Zowie

Metal Header*

• Genre: Rap/Rock
• Enemy: Kai-Kakoon

Toda Pasion*

• Genre: Samba
• Enemy: Ming-Ming

*Only available on the PSP version