Push Hero: A Free Musical Game for Push

"It started off with the lights just blinking and you pressing them as they lit up, but that was much too difficult so I decided to have them scroll to give you a bit of time to see when you were supposed to press them” says Nathan Jonson aka Hrdvsion describing the genesis of Push Hero, his interactive (and really hard) version of Guitar Hero for Push.

Nathan explains: “Originally it was for a friend who was working at a school teaching kids Ableton Live – I wanted to make a game for them to play. Working with the Novation Launchpad I realised I could send MIDI data to the controller to light up the pads, and then Push came out so I adapted it for that. My friend ended up leaving the school, so I was unable to show the kids the game, but I figured since I had worked on it for so long, I should finish it for all the adults that might like to play it as well. And I guess in turn they might show their children.”

Like its namesake, Push Hero plays a song of your choosing and has you play the melody on Push. It has three difficulty levels and provides a score meter to let you know how well you’re doing. Impressively, Nathan made Push Hero with clips and MIDI effects only – completely without the use of Max for Live.

Watch a few of us attempt to get through New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” in the video below.

Download Push Hero for free from Nathan Jonson’s website.

This tutorial video will show you how to set up Push Hero.