Starpower and Overdrive refer to the main power-up available in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, respectively. There are certain phrases within songs that, when hit perfectly and without overstrumming, yield Starpower or Overdrive (depending on the game). Notes that are held within these phrases can be whammied in order to yield even more of the power-up. A completed phrase yields one and one-half light bulbs worth of Starpower or a quarter of the bar worth of Overdrive.

In the Guitar Hero games, you need at least three light bulbs worth of Starpower in order to activate the power-up. In the Rock Band games, you need to extend the Overdrive meter (also called the Energy meter) halfway across the screen. When you activate the power-up, your current score multiplier is doubled, you lose less of your rock meter (GH) or crowd support (RB) when you miss, and you gain more of the same when you hit notes. In the Guitar Hero games, three light bulbs worth of Starpower grant you the power-up for four measures of the song; in the Rock Band games, a half-bar of Energy grants you sixteen beats worth of Overdrive, regardless of the time signature of the song.

The two power-ups are very similar in their collection, but differ greatly in their activation. In the Guitar Hero games, in order to attain the maximum possible score, you must time your activations of Starpower such that the power-up is not deployed during any other collection phrase; if the power-up is deployed during a collection phrase, you cannot collect SP for that phrase. (There are exceptions to this wherein it is actually to your advantage to deliberately deploy SP over certain phrases of the song to get the maximum points; a good example of this is Song_GH3_MyNameIsJonas "My Name is Jonas"∞ off of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.) In the Rock Band games, you can collect Overdrive from the collection phrases regardless of whether your Overdrive is deployed or not.

These differences make the task of charting optimal paths for the two series much more distinct in their challenges.

Category: CategoryGameMechanics