Task Force Harrier

[Obiwanshinobi]

So I just stumbled upon this one in MAME and blimey, is it stylish. The presentation is somewhere around Battle Garegga and Gun Frontier (you heard me) and it's not just the graphics; it's the lot. I wouldn't be surprised if both Gun Frontier's and Garegga's artistic direction turned out to be influenced by Task Force Harrier.
The shit part is the hefty input lag it sports in MAME (UPL's own Omega Fighter Special from the very same year 1989 it is not). I'd really like nimitz and his pals to unleash their devil magic upon this one, or just someone to improve the emulation. By hook or by crook it badly needs to become more playable.
Can't say the first level impressed me with the gameplay, but the Xevious-like layer thing (it came out five years before RayForce, mind you) is a well-boding feature.
If you just thought about Task Force Harrier EX for the MD/Genesis, it's a different game. EX is vertizonal, the weapon system seems different and the presentation, quite unsurprisingly, got butcherd (although the quality of music and commentary - yay! - remains pretty good). The commentator is awesome, by the way. Think DP and Dangun Feveron rather than DDP and DDP DOJ. He's enthusiastic in a likeable way. Last but not least, EX doesn't have this much input lag in Kega Fusion. UPL don't seem to have much to do with the console game, though.

[Domino]

Too fucking long levels.

[ROBOTRON]

I had this game at one time but got bored playing just the 1st level. Didn't care for it. I remember seeing this cart at a flea market near me cheap...I might go back and get it and give it another shot.

[`Throwdown]

Eh, it's not bad for free It's a shmup, that's about it.

[MachineAres 1CC]

The game is definitely great. I originally played it on Genesis and then I was blown away shortly thereafter when I played the arcade version. I loved the Genesis one already, but the arcade version made it much more playable. The production and just everything about it seems just right. I can't really agree on the thing about input lag, I've been running it on my full size standup MAME cabinet and there's no input lag at all. What kind of controller are you using?

[Obiwanshinobi]

The console game seems to be better known than the arcade original. Although the first level of the coin-op game feels strangely uneventful, it certainly isn't long. Haven't bothered playing much further because of the lag. My point is, every person gushing over the art of Battle Garegga should check out Task Force Harrier in MAME as its presentation is pretty badass in a proto-Garegga way. Or just everyone interested in artistic curiosities in games. It's got rather unique, "unclean" graphics (in a way I haven't seen in any shmup released before it), pretty great, slightly Irem-ish cyber-harpsichord tunes, and some cool sound touches (most notably the commentator). There's a kind of "would-be classic" feel to it if you ask me and - again - I'm talking about the original. The console game's presentation is nowhere near it.

I can't really agree on the thing about input lag, I've been running it on my full size standup MAME cabinet and there's no input lag at all. What kind of controller are you using?

I'm using a DualShock 2 via an adapter and it's okay for less laggy games (Omega Fighter Special feels tight). Task Force Harrier in the MAME version I tried it out sports what I call two frames' worth of input lag (3 by some other people's nomenclature) and feels too loose for my liking. Normally I avoid this laggy games in emulators (such as Garegga, even with the sprite buffer hacked out). There's too much stuff with better controls out there. I can as well wait until someone fixes it.

[Ed Oscuro]

Ye, I almost got a board a few times recently. It is actually rather ugly for when it came out. That being said the powerup system is interesting, and so is the variety of missions. To be honest this is an idea that perhaps would be better done with polygons where you aren't coming up with totally new graphics sets for different types of missions...but it's certainly presentable.

Fun point, in the last version of MAME I played it on the tanks seemed to be sitting on top of their bunkers. *cue In Soviet Russia joke*

Decent, rather average all around, not bad. No scoring to speak of that I saw so it's simply survival play.

[Obiwanshinobi]

It is actually rather ugly for when it came out.

Hmmm... Although this kind of colour palettes tend to divide opinions (for some Ikaruga is pretty, for others it's just brown; I for one do not comprehend other people's gushing over the PS2 port of Resident Evil 4's graphics - it's not the worst looking PS2 game, but aw, come on, I've yet to see a better proof that PS2 needed more RAM for textures), just look at the details: those graphical touches, the sheer amount of stuff on ground you can demolish, all these things before Raiden came along do stand out. The presentation certainly is beyond average (it clearly pushes the hardware too; I think all those fast shots are supposed to make up for the number of hostile sprites being low).
Was there any vertical scroller sporting graphics this detailed and the environment this destructible before? It's a 1989 game for goodness' sake. Toaplan shmups have cleaner, more "antiseptic" looks. The dirtyness of Task Force Harrier must have been a novelty back then. I guess this kind of stuff either works for you or just doesn't. Also, the sound, for the year 1989, is nothing short of phenomenal.

Decent, rather average all around, not bad. No scoring to speak of that I saw so it's simply survival play.

Bombing the ground targets (and point blanking the bosses to destroy them within time limit) seems quite ahead of its time. There are also some medals to pick up.
Actually I enjoy this bombing more than RayForce's chaining, though to be fair, the former seems easier.

[Wenchang]

Wow, thanks for the recommendation. On first impression this game reminded me of Gun Frontier and Air Duel. What an interesting game. It's got some Toaplan in it, yet it also has a very pre-Toaplan Xevious style ground bombing(just not done with a precise cursor like that). But some of the enemy attacks and the art style look forward to later games like Air Duel and Gun Frontier. So far I'm digging this game quite a bit.

[Riot Zone]

Solid classic old school game! Have the pcb can play it for hours and not get sick of it. Plus I have a lot of fond memories playing this game when I was a kid with my friends at 7 eleven in the late 80's!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Knowing UPL's earlier shooters, they probably wanted to throw more stuff at you and make it more manic, but seems like the technology wouldn't allow them to at this level of eye candy, so it ended up somewhat half-baked. What's left is still pretty solid.

Bombing the ground targets (and point blanking the bosses to destroy them within time limit) seems quite ahead of its time.

Nah, I take it back. Konami's Ajax did pretty much the same (i.e. point blanking with Xevious-like bombs) in the year 1987, only with a cursor.