In anticipation of its summer release, Activision, RedOctane and Vicarious Visions have started a developer diary to give fans a behind the scenes glimpse at how they made Guitar Hero road worthy. This first developer diary comes from Vicarious Visions CEO, Karthik Bala, who answers the question, “How do you recreate the essence of Guitar Hero for a portable without making everyone carry around a full size plastic guitar?”

Turns out it takes a lot of hard work and a whole lot of prototypes. Thankfully Activision and RedOctane gave them the chance and room to run with their ideas, some of which “were ridiculous… others a total disaster,” until they finally came up with a “Frankensteined” 3-button GBA cartridge that led to the final design.

Whether or not the above, newly released trailer for the game went through a similar thought process is unknown, but the result is entertaining nonetheless. At least in the “what the hell..?” kind of way.