Guitar Hero II Xbox 360 Cheats and Achievements Guide

How to unlock all songs and more

Guitar Hero II is the second in a series of rhythm-based video games where you use a guitar-shaped controller to play rock songs by pressing buttons in time with the music. It was developed by Harmonix and published by Activision on the PlayStation 2 in 2006. An Xbox 360 port followed in 2007. In Career mode, create a band and select a guitarist from a list of eight available characters. Quickplay mode gives a faster way to play a song by selecting the character, venue, guitar, and guitar skin based on the chosen song.

Want some help becoming a rock star? Here's a list of cheat codes that unlock songs, enable hyperspeed, and more.

Musician Gene Simmons plays guitar with Guitar Hero II champion in 2007.
Peter Kramer / Getty Images

This guide is for the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. A PS2 guide is also available.

Guitar Hero II Xbox 360 Cheats

Enter cheats while on the Main Menu, where you will see options for Career and Quickplay modes. You can have multiple cheats enabled at the same time. Enter a code a second time to disable the code.

Cheat Code Effect
Blue, Blue, Yellow, Blue, Blue, Orange, Blue, Blue Enables Performance mode
Blue, Orange, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Yellow Enables hyperspeed
Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, Orange, Yellow, Red, Yellow, Red, Yellow, Red, Yellow, Red, Yellow, Red, Yellow Unlocks all songs
Orange, Yellow, Blue, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Blue Gives crowd monkey heads
Orange, Yellow, Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Yellow, Blue, Yellow, Yellow, Blue, Yellow, Yellow Gives crowd flaming heads
Yellow, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Blue Enables air guitar
Yellow, Orange, Blue, Blue, Blue, Orange, Yellow Gives crowd eyeball heads

Guitar Hero II Guitar Unlockables

The following special guitars can be unlocked in Guitar Hero II.

Guitar Unlockable Requirement
Air Guitar Use the cheat code listed above.
Axe Guitar Beat Expert Mode.
Casket Guitar Beat Medium Mode.
Eyeball Guitar Earn five stars in every song on Hard Mode.
Fish Guitar Beat Easy Mode.
Snaketapus Guitar Beat Hard Mode.
The Log Guitar Earn five stars in every song on Expert Mode.
USA Guitar Earn five stars in every song on Easy Mode.
Viking Guitar Earn five stars in every song on Medium Mode.

Bonus Guitar Hero II Songs

These Guitar Hero II songs are only available on the Xbox 360, including two songs you need to unlock by buying the songs with in-game currency.

  • "Billion Dollar Babies" by Alice Cooper
  • "Dead!" by My Chemical Romance
  • "Hush" by Deep Purple
  • "Life Wasted" by Pearl Jam
  • "Possum Kingdom" by Toadies
  • "Rock 'n' Roll Hoochie Koo" by Rick Derringer
  • "Salvation" by Rancid
  • "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden
  • "Drink Up" by Ounce of Self (unlockable song)
  • "Kicked to the Curb" by Noble Rot (unlockable song)

Guitar Hero II Xbox 360 Achievements

The following achievements can be unlocked in Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360:

Achievement Requirement Gamerscore
100K Club Get 100,000 points in a song. 10
200K Club Get 200,000 points in a song. 10
300K Club Get 300,000 points in a song. 30
400K Club Get 400,000 points in a song. 30
Champagne Room V.I.P. Get 500,000 points in a song. 30
Roadie Unlock Rat Cellar. 10
New Kid Unlock Blackout Bar. 10
Young Gun Unlock RedOctane Club. 10
Axe Grinder Unlock Rock City Theater. 10
Shredder Unlock Vans Warped Tour. 10
Rock Star Unlock Harmonix Arena. 10
Guitar Hero Unlock Stonehenge. 10
Dimebag Darrell Award Get a 100 note streak. 10
Eddie Van Halen Award Get a 500 note streak. 30
Yngwie Malmsteen Award Get a 1,000 note streak. 30
Easy Tour Champ Beat the Easy tour. 10
Medium Tour Champ Beat the Medium tour. 30
Hard Tour Champ Beat the Hard tour. 30
Expert Tour Champ Beat the Expert tour. 30
Sandbox Hero Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Easy tour. 30
Most Likely to Succeed Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Medium tour. 30
Guitarmaggedon Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Hard tour. 30
Start a Real Band Already Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Expert tour. 30
Rock School Grad Complete all tutorials. 10
Scoremonger Award Get an 8x multiplier. 10
Perfectionist Award Get 100% notes hit on a song. 30
Rock Snob Award Refuse to play an encore. 10
Long Road Ahead Award Fail a song on Easy. 10
Hendrix Award Beat a song with lefty flip on. 10
Teacher's Pet Award Practice three different songs. 10
Saturday Morning Award Beat Trogdor and Thunder Horse. 10
Kick the Bucket Award Beat Jordan on Expert. 30
Gear Head Award Buy all guitars. 30
Fanatical Completionist Award Buy all guitar finishes. 30
Record Collector Award Buy all songs. 10
Life of the Party Award Buy all characters. 10
Fashion Plate Award Buy all outfits. 10
Extra Credit Award View the credits. 10
Big Spender Award Spend $10,000 at the store. 10
Scenester Award Beat all the unlock songs. 10
Joan & Lita Award Get a 100 note streak in Cooperative. 30
Joe & Steven Award Get a 500 note streak in Cooperative. 30
Keef & Mick Award Get a 1,000 note streak in Cooperative. 30
Lennon & McCartney Award Get an 8x streak in Cooperative. 10
Page & Plant Award Get 100% notes hit on a song in Cooperative. 30
200K Pair Get 200,000 points on a song in Cooperative. 30
400K Pair Get 400,000 points on a song in Cooperative. 30
600K Pair Get 600,000 points on a song in Cooperative. 30
800K Pair Get 800,000 points on a song in Cooperative. 30
Millionaire Pair Get 1,000,000 points on a song in Cooperative. 30