Star Power made easy: an X-plorer mod
by Richard Mitchell 
{ May 21st 2007 at 5:30PM }
You know the feeling. You're playing Guitar Hero II, you've got full Star Power and here comes that sweet string of notes that will send your score into the stratosphere. Only one thing to do: tilt that controller and rock like you mean it. But what's this? You tilt the control and nothing happens, or maybe it's a little delayed, or maybe the act of tilting screws up your fingering. Whatever happened, you're stuck with a piddly x2 multiplier and a lot of wasted Star Power. If this sounds familiar to you, you may want to check out the fancy Star Power button mod at GrownUpGamers. As is the case with most mods, this will require you to crack open your X-plorer and do some soldering, so it's not for the timid. The mod also instructs users how to install a "kill switch" which essentially gives you a second strum button, helping you land those wicked solos.
If you're chops are righteous enough for this mod, click the "read" link and check it out.
See Also:
Guitar Hero II cardboard fret mod
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sami @ May 21st 2007 5:59PM
This is cheating. Hate that sort of things...
junkie @ May 21st 2007 8:07PM
Can someone explain the "killswitch" thing to me? Is it just another way to strum the guitar?
Kato @ May 21st 2007 6:47PM
Cool mod but then... where's the challenge?
Hey Apples @ May 21st 2007 7:18PM
It seems to me that activating star power is supposed to be a semi-difficult process as part of the game... a sort of risk/reward scenario where you risk losing combo to gain that 8x multiplier.
This type of thing is essentially bypassing the risk, which makes this questionable IMHO.
More or less this is just a contrivence for the anal leaderboard crowd who are worrying about squeezing that extra 200 points for a higher ranking no one cares about.
Steve Beeching @ May 21st 2007 8:41PM
Why cant they just press select?
Anton @ May 21st 2007 9:25PM
You could, of course just tap the 'back' button :)
I just wish my whammy wouldn't sag :(
DeadPlasmaCell @ May 22nd 2007 12:30AM
I used to press the select button on the PS2 version.. it was in such a place that I could just hit it with my palm pretty much with little effort.. The back button on the 360 version is in a difficult to reach position and you'd have to be pretty quick to push it and then reset yourself.. Now I just man up and tilt the guitar.. like a man
Nuni @ May 22nd 2007 10:08AM
um yea what does the kill switch do exactly?
Beacon @ May 23rd 2007 2:54AM
killswitch = strum button
Does the same thing as pushing down on the strum bar, just a different way to do it. The name references the true killswitch that Buckethead uses for his song "Jordan", among others.
Sure, it would be considered cheating if you used it in a competition. I did the guide for folks that wanted to add a little diversity to the controller but weren't sure how to go about it.
David @ Jul 18th 2007 2:44PM
I am having trouble figureing out what button would be the strum bar on the wireless controller, I am planning a wireless hack for my 360 and I need to figure out the strum bar allocation.