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"Hana Ta(a)ka Daka!?" (also referred to as "Long-Nose Goblin") is a colorful and somewhat unorthodox horizontal cute-em-up (cute shooter) developed by Taito (and Natsume) and released in Japan in 1991. The game is about two young fox children (a princess and an honorable young boy) who are taken by surprise one day when they see a cryptic message on their door. When removed, the young fox boy is attacked off-guard and the princess is kidnapped by the minions of a notorious Tanuki. Powerless to match the craftiness and treachery of the Tanuki, he pleads for the aid of the mighty forest Tengu (otherwise known as "The Long-Nosed Goblin") to rescue the beautiful flower of the animal kingdom, to which the Tengu accepts. The young fox boy tags along on the journey not far behind. From there, the journey just becomes strange as you battle animals, machines, monsters, Japanese school girls, ninjas, witches, and a whole host of bizarre characters while inching your way towards the bad Tanuki boss.

The game is known for its distinctly colorful presentation, nice Japanese-style music, and fairly steep challenge curve, but there are some other things about this game that should be pointed out. "Hana Taaka Daka!?" is also interesting because it shys away from some popular shooter themes, introduces a few unique aspects, makes the slyness of the Tanuki boss prevalent throughout the whole game in the form of various traps, and also features a side-objective in the form of gathering various pieces to a picture which are scattered throughout the game's many multiple pathes and secret areas (the more you collect, the more you can see of the ending illustrations). This was and still is an uncommon theme in shooters and is presented quite well to Taito's credit by challenging casual shooter fans with an initial playthrough and challenging harcore shooter fans by collecting everything and aiming for the highest scores possible. The game is appealing enough where you're determined to get a little further each time and not just put the controller down and has adjustable difficulty settings as well.

As for the actual gameplay, there's a bit to say about it. For starters, the player character does not die in one hit like many shooters. Instead, you start as a medium-sized Tengu by default and can grow when collecting power-ups or shrink when hit, which lowers your power but also decreases the size of your hitbox. The Tengu by default also has a powerful rapidfire weapon which can be charged to inflict more damage, but can additionally collect a variety of power-ups that enhance you charged shot with different properties or give you different bombs which have a limited amount of uses. While you have health however, this doesn't mean you can't die in one hit. The Tanuki entices the player with a variety of cool power-ups set by traps that require almost split-second timing to grab without getting caught (which kill in one hit and shows a screen of the Tanuki taunt you... risks versus rewards) or sends dangerous enemies to get you with special weapons like vacuums that suck you inside and end your life. He even has areas that manipulate the speed and scrolling of the screen in an attempt to "crush you" and traps that can make you repeat a level from the very beginning if they aren't destroyed. As you can imagine, you will need quite a bit of patience to see the game to completion and even more to collect all those picture pieces.

"Hana Taaka Daka!?" probably won't ever go down in history as one of the best shooters ever made, but it's an enjoyable SHMUP that's hard not to like on some level and actually won't break the bank if you're a collector trying to grab a copy (it is pricey, but it won't break the bank). This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.

Basic Format: Turbo Chip / HuCard