  The NA61/SHINE experiment studies hadron production in hadron+hadron,
hadron+nucleus and nucleus+nucleus collisions. The strong interactions program
has two main purposes: study the properties of the onset of deconfinement and
search for the signatures of the critical point of strongly interacting matter.
This aim is pursued by performing a two-dimensional scan of the phase diagram
by varying the energy/momentum (13A-158A GeV/c) and the system size (p+p,
Be+Be, Ar+Sc, Xe+La) of the collisions. This publication reviews recent results
from p+p, Be+Be and Ar+Sc interactions. Measured particle spectra are discussed
and compared to NA49 results from Pb+Pb collisions. The results illustrate the
progress towards scanning the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter.
