The Best VR Rhythm Games for Oculus

Oculus Quest is the Cheapest and Most Convenient VR Headset

The Oculus Quest came out in May 2019 and it is proving itself to be one of the most popular Christmas gifts this year. It has been sold out on Amazon for months. At $399 for the cheaper model, the Oculus Quest is the cheapest way to play VR games, especially the killer app and my personal favorite game to play right now, Beat Saber. The Oculus Quest is cheaper than the other popular VR headsets because you will not need to buy an expensive gaming computer with a crazy powerful graphics card that could easily cost you thousands of dollars.  
Oculus Quest is so easy to set up and quickly get into playing all of your immersive VR games. Other VR headsets need a cord that runs from the headset to a PC, but with the Quest it runs without wires and can power itself through the headset. Some VR headsets also need sensors set up in the room to track your hand movements but again the Oculus Quest makes it easy with hand tracking being integrated into the headset itself.

Some of the minor downsides to the Oculus Quest are the lack of quality graphics and refresh rate compared to the higher end VR headsets. The Quest just does not have the processing power on its own to handle amazing gaming graphics like in Elder Scrolls or No Man’s Sky. The battery life only lasts 3 hours or so but I have found that to be plenty of time in a rhythm game, such as Beat Saber, before I start sweating my pants off.    


Beat Saber is the Best VR Rhythm Game

The number one game you should get if you like rhythm games is Beat Saber. It will have you feeling like a saber-wielding dancer as you slice through colored blocks and dodge other hazards coming at you. I was obsessed with Guitar Hero back when it was popular in the 2000s. Now Beat Saber gives me the same hype and enjoyment. Give it a go and you will be hooked from the first song you play. I know that Beat Saber has been available for a few years now, but with the release of the Oculus Quest VR headset, it is even easier to play than before. The game also comes with free DLC to add more songs…but there are also ways to download more songs via mods.  

Beat Saber with custom songs downloaded is an endless amount of fun. With custom songs added using mods on the Oculus Quest (using SideQuest) I can play all my favorite songs and even more songs I did not know about that have awesome flow and a great chart path. 


Some More Great VR Rhythm Games for Oculus


Thumper

Thumper is a psychedelic VR rhythm game where you weave down a track as a beetle dodging obstacles and performing different moves to the beat. The atmosphere of Thumper is where it shines as you speed through a wild rhythm hell as a shiny chrome beetle. This game has more action than a normal rhythm game where you have to fight bosses. It is also not like a traditional rhythm game where there is not really a consistent beat and it is more spontaneous than most rhythm game tracks. Thumper is a crazy time and is a great VR rhythm game. 


Electronauts

Electronaunts is not a traditional rhythm game. In fact it is more like a music making app than a game, but if you like making music and moving to the beat of your own song that you make in VR than this game is for you. In this game your own creativity is your limit. Mix tons of different songs and see it all in vibrant colors in VR as you pretend to be a professional DJ. Again there is not a track of notes to hit like most games I mentioned here but it still allows you to move to a rhythm in a much more freeing way. If you like using garage band to create songs than Electronaunts is definitely for you.


Clone Hero: the Ultimate Guitar Hero PC Game App

Clone Hero is a PC game that you can download for free on the Clone Hero website. It is basically a fan-made Guitar Hero clone that has the same look and feel as Guitar Hero 3. Clone Hero is the closest experience to the original Guitar Hero games that I have found on the PC in terms of how it looks and the timing of hitting notes as they pass down the screen. The other PC Guitar Hero clones that you can download for free online are Frets on Fire and Phase Shift.

Frets on Fire has been around the longest and so has the most support and community but it has not been updated in a while and is lagging behind in quality updates. Phase Shift is a pretty good alternative Guitar Hero program to Clone Hero but it does not have the same feel when hitting notes (when I strum the timing of hitting the notes is a bit off on Phase Shift). Phase Shift does have Rock Band drum support, which Clone Hero does not have yet but there are talks of them adding drum support in the future.


Play All of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero Song Downloads Using Clone Hero 

I prefer Clone Hero as my favorite way to play Guitar Hero on the PC in 2019. Clone Hero has the most customization options and it is the most user friendly. You can change the background screen or change game modes to no fail mode or even no strum mode. The main menu is simple and easy to navigate. Clone Hero is consistently being updated and they are planning on adding an option to play against other players online in a 1 on 1 Guitar Hero battle.

Adding songs to Clone Hero is a breeze as well. Find Guitar Hero song packs to download on the Clone Hero subreddit on the sidebar on the right where it says “Spreadsheet with custom songs and setlists”. This Google Doc has a list of song packs from the original Guitar Hero to Guitar Hero 5, all of the Rock Band song downloads, and even top rated custom song charts that Guitar Hero fans have made. There are so many songs to play and have in your collection. Just add the folder to the Clone Hero custom songs folder and in the Main Menu click on the button to scan for new songs to add.   


What Guitar Hero Guitars Work Best with Clone Hero?

Clone Hero has support for a lot of Guitar Hero and Rock Band accessories and peripherals. I had absolutely no problem getting my Xbox 360 X-Plorer Guitar Hero Guitar to work with Clone Hero. I plugged in the USB and Clone Hero recognized the guitar and it was up and working just like that. I would recommend the X-Plorer Guitar as that is probably the easiest guitar to set up for Clone Hero. Click the image below to find prices on Amazon.


The next best guitar for Clone Hero would be the Guitar Hero 3 Xbox 360 Les Paul Wireless Guitar. It is wireless which is good for cable management but you will need to get an Xbox 360 PC Gaming Receiver. Those can be found for pretty cheap on Amazon (you can follow the link above for the cheapest and best reviewed receiver). Again once you have the Les Paul Guitar and the receiver you just have to download the receiver driver on your PC and everything will be recognized with Clone Hero.


The Xbox 360 X-Plorer Guitar and Les Paul Guitars are the guitars I use for Clone Hero on PC because of how cheap and accessible they are but most Xbox 360 guitar peripherals will work with Clone Hero as long as you have the Xbox 360 PC Gaming Receiver. Xbox 360 Rock Band guitar peripherals and Guitar Hero World Tour or Guitar Hero 5 guitars will work just as easily as the Les Paul Wireless Guitar. Some of the other Guitar Hero peripherals for other systems such as the PS3 or Wii can work with Clone Hero but each has their own list of instructions to get working and you will need to buy a unique adapter or dongle online to get the guitar recognized by your PC and Clone Hero. Instructions for all the peripherals can be found on the Clone Hero subreddit on the sidebar. 


Rhythm Games I Am Playing in 2019

I loved playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band a decade or so ago when those rhythm games were popular. Even today, in 2019, you can still enjoy these rhythm games on the PC with Clone Hero. If you want an even more modern take on the rhythm game you can play Beat Saber on a VR headset. Both are incredibly fun and helps scratch my itch to have the same experience as beating an Expert song on Guitar Hero for the first time. Let me know what rhythm games you are playing in 2019 and check out this ranking website for even more top rhythm games that you can play right now.