The genre has been traced back to the electronic game Simon, invented by Howard Morrison and Ralph Baer (the latter also invented the Magnavox Odyssey) in 1978. Players take turns repeating increasingly complicated sequences of button presses and the game implemented the "call and response" mechanic used by later music video games. "Dance Aerobics" was released in 1987, and allowed players to create music by stepping on Nintendo's Power Pad peripheral. It has been called the first rhythm-action game in retrospect. The later "PaRappa the Rapper" has also been credited as the first rhythm game, as well as one of the first music games in general. The game required players to press buttons corresponding to the order they appeared on-screen; this basic mechanic would form the core of future rhythm games. The success of "PaRappa the Rapper" sparked popularity of the music game genre. Unlike most other games in the genre, the game also featured a completely original soundtrack and a good plot. Konami's "Beatmania", released in Japanese arcades in 1997, was a dj-themed rhythm game which featured buttons laid out like a keyboard along with a rubber pad that looked like a record. The game was a surprise hit, inspiring Konami's Games and Music Division to change its name to Bemani in honor of the game, and to then begin experimenting with other rhythm games over the next few years. One of those successes, "GuitarFreaks", featured a guitar-shaped controller. While the franchise continues to receive new arcade versions in Japan, it was never strongly marketed outside of the country, allowing Harmonix to capitalize on the formula several years later with the Western-targeted "Guitar Hero". Similarly, "DrumMania" from 1999 used a drum kit controller and could be linked with "GuitarFreaks" for simulated jam sessions, several years before the concept appeared in "Rock Band". 1998's "Pop'n Music", a game similar to "Beatmania", featuring multiple colorful buttons was also successful.
"Dance Dance Revolution", released in 1998, was a rhythm game in which players danced on pressure sensitive pads in time with on-screen commands. The game was highly successful not only in Japan but globally, unlike games such as "GuitarFreaks", "DrumMania" and "Beatmania" (though "Beatmania" had some success in Europe). and pump it up in a similar rhythm game.
Released the same year, Enix's "Bust a Groove" revolved around similar dancing themes to "Dance Dance Revolution" but employed a more conventional input method. The game featured competitive one-on-one "battles" and also allowed the player more freedom than normally found in rhythm games.
"Vib-Ribbon" was released by NanaOn-Sha (the creator of "PaRappa the Rapper") in 1999, and also did not use instrument-shaped controllers. In this game, players had to maneuver the protagonist through an obstacle course by pressing buttons at the correct time. These courses were generated in a way that depended on the background music and players could load their own music to play along. While it was praised for its unique style and timeless artistry, its simple vector graphics proved difficult to market and the game was never released in North America. Bemani's "Samba de Amigo", released in 1999 and on Dreamcast in 2000, featured maraca-shaped, motion sensor controllers. The game made use of "social gaming", allowing two player gameplay and providing a spectacle for onlookers. In 2001, "Taiko no Tatsujin" combined traditional Japanese drums with contemporary pop music, and became highly successful in Japanese arcades. The game was later released on consoles in the West (as "Taiko Drum Master") and the franchise continues to receive new installments in Japan. "Gitaroo Man" featured a guitar-playing protagonist, 4 years before the release of "Guitar Hero", though the game employed a conventional rather than guitar-shaped controller. "Gitaroo Man"'s creator, Keiichi Yano, further created "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan", a rhythm game for the Nintendo DS using its touchscreen features, which was a highly demanded import title and led to a sequel in Japan and a Western variation of the game in "Elite Beat Agents".
Harmonix, a company formed from a computer music group at MIT in 1995, released "Frequency" in 2001. The game allowed the player to control multiple instruments and gave a feeling of more creative control. The game was well-reviewed, but its abstract style did not allow the player to give a "performance" as in other games and thus proved difficult to market. "Frequency" was followed by a similar game, "Amplitude" in 2003. Harmonix later released more socially driven, karaoke-themed music games in "Karaoke Revolution" and "SingStar" (2003 and 2004 respectively). "Donkey Konga", developed by Namco for Nintendo and released in 2003 (2004 in North America) achieved widespread success due to its use of Nintendo's "Donkey Kong" franchise.
"Guitar Hero", developed by Harmonix, was released in 2005 by then relatively unknown publisher RedOctane. The game was inspired by "GuitarFreaks", but while that game had used Japanese pop music, "Guitar Hero" featured Western rock music. The game revived the rhythm genre which by this time had begun to get boring, flooded with "Dance Dance Revolution" sequels and imitators. The game had several sequels, with the franchise earning more than $1 billion in sales; the third game was the best-selling game in North America in 2007. Harmonix's later "Rock Band" franchise, which also earned in excess of $1 billion, used multiple instrument controllers and cooperative multiplayer, allowing players to play as a full band. The "Guitar Hero" franchise followed suit with "Guitar Hero World Tour", developed by Neversoft rather than Harmonix. "Guitar Hero" installments based on specific bands, such as Metallica and Aerosmith, were later published. Additional songs could be purchased on the internet and added to "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" games. Artists whose works have been featured in the games have also benefited from royalties and increased publicity, in turn generating further sales of their work. The success of the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" franchises widened the console video game market and its demographics, with the popularity of the music game driving increased sales of consoles. In 2008, it was reported that the music game had become the second most popular video game genre in the U.S. (behind action, having overtaken sports), with 53% of players being female.