Task Force Harrier

Task Force Harrier
North American arcade flyer
Developers	NMK Jorudan (console)
Publishers	Arcade JP: UPL NA: Sammy1 Sega Genesis Treco
Composer	Tenpei Sato
Platforms	Arcade, Sega Genesis2
Release	Arcade JP: October 1989 NA: November 1989 Mega Drive/Genesis JP: December 20, 1991 NA: 1991
Genre	Scrolling shooter
Mode	Single-player

Task Force Harrier^a is a 1989 vertical scrolling shooter video game developed by NMK and published by UPL for arcades. It was released in Japan in October 1989 and in North America by Sammy in November 1989.³ It was ported to the Sega Genesis by Jorudan and Treco as Task Force Harrier EX^b in 1991.⁴ Hamster Corporation released the game as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in May 2021.⁵

The game is a conventional scrolling shooter, in which your mission is to penetrate a hostile communist military force situated inside Russian territory. The player takes control of a Harrier fighter jet with two types of main weapons. The first type can only shoot flying opponents, such as enemy planes and copters; the second, a bomb-type weapon, can only hit ground enemies, such as tanks and turrets. The player can also acquire escorts to increase firepower. Changing the formation of the escort fighters results in different shot patterns and also affects the maneuvering speed.