Guitar Hero Is Alive in 2025…Sort Of

It’s time to bust out the plastic guitars and hammer on those colorful frets like it’s 2006, fledgling rockers. Both Guitar Hero and Rock Band are back for a 2025 encore — at least, to a certain extent, anyway. Don’t get me wrong, it’s highly unlikely that either franchise will receive a new installment anytime soon, what with both series practically laying dormant for the last decade or so. Having said that, both series will be making enough space on their respective stages to accommodate a brand-new controller—a product that, funnily enough, will allow Nintendo Wii users to bash out their own renditions of “Through the Fire and Flames” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” with a single attachment. Yes, Guitar Hero is, to some degree, dead in the water…but not if you’re still jamming out to power ballads on an outdated (yet immensely popular) console from 2006.

Aptly titled Hyper Strummer, the new controller will launch on January 8, and will essentially allow its users to rekindle their former god-like status across an enormous array of music and rhythm games, including Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The only major downside to this, however, is that it will retail for a whopping $76.99, effectively marking itself up as quadruple the price of a secondhand Nintendo Wii from any bog-standard bargain bin. Still, if by some random coincidence you still have an old Wii in your attic space, then you’re in luck — a quarter of the battle has already been fought. How’s that for a silver lining?

To learn more about Hyperkin’s Hyper Strummer and its post-launch quest to rebuild bridges between two outstanding rhythmic worlds, then be sure to follow its creators over on the official social channel here.