Rhythm games have really exploded onto the scene in recent years. It seems like everyone is jumping on board with games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Heck, I was watching The Tonight Show with Jay Leno the other night and he had Ben Stiller on as a guest. The man made famous from There's Something About Mary even gets in on the Rock Band action, playing online with some Russian guy in his underwear. If Ben Stiller is playing Rock Band, then you know that the mainstream is all over this music game thing.

We've seen a huge proliferation of rhythm games filtering onto just about every major system on the planet, but we strangely have yet to experience Guitar Hero on the PSP. We've seen it on home consoles like the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, as well as on a handheld like the Nintendo DS, but where is the Guitar Hero love for all the Sony PSP owners in the audience?

The Guitar Hero Legacy

Guitar Hero is everywhere. It's easy enough to find the rhythm game on consoles like the Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 2, because it doesn't take much to build a proper peripheral for those systems. Even before Guitar Hero came around, Konami was pimping its Bemani series of music games on import and modded PS2s. If you wanted some GuitarFreaks or DrumMania action at home, you could get it.

More recently, we've seen the launch of Guitar Hero: On Tour on the Nintendo DS. Activision was able to create a simple peripheral that plugs into the GBA slot of the DS, letting his hit four fret buttons as you strum on the touchscreen. But it doesn't stop there for portable music enjoyment. There's Phase for the iPod, as well as Guitar Hero mobile for cell phones. There's even a version that has been embedded in a guitar-shaped keychain.

With all of this in mind, it really doesn't make sense that neither Activision nor Harmonix have made a distinct effort to bring their famous rhythm game franchises to Sony's handheld gaming machine. The game chart on Wikipedia is quite distressing for PSP owners.

Harmonix: Before Guitar Hero, There Was Amplitude

The thing is the Sony PSP is no stranger to rhythm games. There's titles like Parappa the Rapper and Gitaroo MaN that let you jam away to some tunes. The PSP will have no problem handling a proper rhythm game, so why haven't they done it?

In a sense, they have. In another sense, not really. Before Harmonix got into the whole Guitar Hero franchise, they had a little game called Amplitude. It wasn't a music game in the strictest sense, adding in some action elements and an almost Wipeout or F-Zero kind of feel, but the core was there. You "played" along to famous rock and hip hop tunes. You hit these gems and earned those songs.

Harmonix has developed games for the PSP in the past, so they can do it again, right? I'm not exactly sure how you would choose to pull it off -- using a peripheral like the DS or the existing controls on the PSP (analog stick for strumming?) -- but I know it can be done. Because it has been done. Sort of.

The Homebrew Crew with Guitar Hero PSP

Well, we can't all sit around and just wait for the big boys to satiate our PSP-fueled Guitar Hero needs. That's why you have to turn to the homebrew community for a temporary fix.

Soul Calibur and Tekken 6 Headed to PSP

There was alot of doubt surrounding how much exaggeration was involved when Sony claimed that more than half of the PSP's 2009 lineup (including a number of big titles) remained unannounced at the beginning of the month. But Sony continues to make good on that assertion, first with Gran Turismo Mobile being ready for an official announcement at E3, and now with both Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny (seen above) being announced for the PSP today.

The previously announced Tekken 6 was thought to only be headed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but IGN reports the game will also have a PlayStation Portable incarnation releasing alongside the console versions later this year. Rather than being a stripped-down version, as one might expect, Tekken 6 on PSP will actually sport additional content (including stages), as well as ad-hoc multiplayer with "original" and "fan favorite characters," whatever that means.

Unlike Tekken, the PSP incarnation of Soul Calibur, known as Broken Destiny, will not be a port and is scheduled for release this summer. Darth Vader and Yoda won't be making an appearance, but series fans will be treated to a new character by the name of Dampierre. According to GameSpot, other characters that will be included are Ivy, Cassandra, Voldo, Siegfried, Mitsurugi, Tira, Taki, Astaroth, and Hilde. The final character count will be in excess of 20, with the specifics still being nailed out. Fans can expect to see an improved character creation system and a changing clock, meaning you won't be limited to seeing stages at a single point in time. Local ad-hoc multiplayer is included, but online support remains up in the air.

Details remain sparse for both games, but the fighting game genre on PSP will be getting a major booster shot this year. Now, if only Marvel vs. Capcom 2 were released on PSP as well as on PS3 and 360, we'd really be talking.