[1] The series consists of two games, GuitarFreaks and DrumMania, where players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar and drums of numerous songs across a wide range of genres by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen.

GuitarFreaks (ギターフリークス, Gitāfurīkusu) is a music video game series produced by Konami.

It first released in 1999 as an arcade game, then subsequently ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2000 as a launch title.

Instead, songs from these arcade games are included in future titles for the PlayStation 2: the Masterpiece series, with a total of 150 songs split between two releases, and home ports of the V series, with 46 revivals split between three releases and unavailable in Masterpiece.

This eased the development of home ports, which saw a reduced song list, but functioned nearly identically to their arcade counterparts.

GuitarFreaks & DrumMania V4 was released on August 8, 2007, in Japan and received a location test on September 30, 2007, in the United States.

[8] This instalment is the first in the series to forego PlayStation-based hardware, replacing it with a Bemani PC running Windows XP Embedded.

[8] The XG series features guitar and drum controllers with extra frets and pads, respectively.

A small metal knob near the pick is used to alter the sound produced by the game, such as adding Chorus/Delay effects.

Individual notes and chords are represented by small colored bars that scroll upward in the columns.

The current system uses the names Perfect, Great, Good, OK, and Miss to indicate a player's accuracy.

During play, the player presses the pads and steps on the pedal in sync with the notes falling vertically from the top of the screen in time with the music.

[citation needed] One of the major selling points of GuitarFreaks is its ability to be linked to another of Konami's Bemani games, DrumMania.

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.

The PlayStation port of DrumMania received a positive review from Dave Zdyrko of IGN in 2000.

He said that, while the game lacks realism and that it was "nothing at all like playing real drums," it "provides for one of the most addictive and enjoyable videogame experiences since Tetris was first unearthed.

[2] GuitarFreaks is believed to have inspired Namco's similar rhythm game Guitar Jam,[14] released later in April 1999.

[15] GuitarFreaks and DrumMania inspired the development of popular North American console game franchises Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

[16] The Huangs raised $1.75 million for the effort, despite being turned down by some investors who "thought [the idea] was too weird".

[16] In 2008, Konami sued Rock Band developer Harmonix for allegedly violating three patents for its drum and guitar based music games.