Task Force Harrier

[uncletom]

Since no one really speaks about this awesome game, besides in threads where the PCB has been sold, I have decided to get the matter going for this quite old but perfectly underrated shmup.

Task Force Harrier - UPL 1989 (.. that's about the same time as Golden Tee Golf first appeared)

So who's played it? And what do you have to say about the game? I've just bought it on YJ after 'discovering' it in MAME, and I just love it. XX Mission with a twist of Raiden och Metal Slug together. Why didn't this game get more attention?

[Xonatron]

I have always loved this game, playing it only a few times in my life when I was a child at the arcades. I believe it was ported to GENESIS or SNES and I played the port but it just wasn't the same.

[Xonatron]

I believe it was ported to GENESIS or SNES and I played the port but it just wasn't the same.

Genesis:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_Force_Harrier_EX

[LordHypnos]

I've heard that the Genesis version of this has the highest quality voice samples on the Genesis. Never played or anything though.

[EmperorIng]

The Genesis port has surprisingly great voice samples. Commence Operation!

But it's also probably the ugliest Genesis shooter there is. Still sort of fun, but man, I hope you like gray and white backgrounds for four stages in a row. Doesn't keep me from being silly enough to want to own a copy.

The arcade game always looked interesting. I'll have to give it a whirl.

[chempop]

Pretty excellent box art! I haven't played it, but if I find a cheap loosie genny cart I may give it a whirl.

[Nifty]

I'm pretty sure this was NMK developed and UPL/Sammy published, which of course means it's good Seriously though, I thought they had nothing really worthwhile in-between Saint Dragon and Hacha Mecha Fighter, but TFH is pretty solid and I'd say above average for the time period. The biggest thing I don't like is how samey all the powerups look, which gets in the way of keeping that kickn' screen-length ground missile.

[uncletom]

Yes, the powerups seem pretty simple, but they fullfill the purpose well. You build your guns, there are I think two types of missiles/secondary fire, what is interesting here are the veriaty of bomb.

The scenery is a bit dull.

[Nifty]

Oh sorry uh I meant the actual pickup icons, it's hard to tell what sub/weapon matches with which

[uncletom]

Right, yes I understand. Poor looking powerup 'medals'.

I really didn't know there was a port to consoles. I thought this game was on arcade PCB only. I just now googled for Task Force Harrier Megadrive pictures and I was very surprised, not in a good way though.

[EmperorIng]

Well, I like some of the features of the port, like the variable plane speed and option formation. The graphics are a pretty big downgrade though, like I mentioned. The music is better on the Genesis, having played both now.

I had a long play-session with the arcade version last night. The mame set says "US Version?", so I'm not sure if there's a difference between the two. One MAME can play both, while shmup mame can only play the US Version(?). The only difference I've noticed is a "Licensed by Sammy" on the title screen.

One, I like how the game has native autofire. Saves me the trouble of setting things up! On a small, pointless aesthetic aside, I like the color of the bullets (smoky purple). Not used too often, but one is often used to dodging funfetti or orange ping-pong balls in most shmups. However, it also has snot-green bullets, which look less than nice.

Two, that Bomb II (the ground missile Nifty mentioned) is pretty good, covering a whole column of the screen in a fiery death. Though Bomb III looks like it has its uses. For those curious:

Bomb I: two-to-four explosions in front of your ship
Bomb II: column of explosions running out in front of your ship
Bomb III: "ripple" explosions with a wide blast radius

However, maybe there was something off in the difficulty settings, because once I got myself at max powerup in level 3ish, I was pretty much cruising along for a good 2 1/2 stages. Your hitbox is surprisingly small for the time, and your fast speed either means you nimbly lead all aimed attacks away from you, or you stupidly ram into ones while dodging others.

All in all, it's a decent game. Probably something even I can 1CC with a little practice. Lol hey Trap, maybe you should stick this one in the tournament too!

EDIT: now I really am an idiot, since I picked up the genesis port (at least for cheap though!).

[Despatche]

are you using older mame? task force harrier wasn't even fixed until recently... but shmupmame v4.2 at least has both sets. i think the unlabeled one is an "everything but US" set?

[uncletom]

A good summary there, Emperor. Thanks.

[EmperorIng]

are you using older mame? task force harrier wasn't even fixed until recently... but shmupmame v4.2 at least has both sets. i think the unlabeled one is an "everything but US" set?

I'm using shmupmame 4.2, which only has "US Version?"

MAMEUIFX32 has both sets, so I use that in this game's case. I chalk it up more to mame being a buggy pain in the ass than anything else.

The default extend rate is one at 200,000, though I don't know if the 'proper' setting is where it has extends incrementally at 1mill 2mill or something silly like that. I don't think I anywhere near approached the extend rates so it might not even matter. Ed Obscura's [barren] score topic on this forum has extends set to default.