As many of you are aware, Life is not fair. Yes, the recurring statement that our parents, teachers, bosses, and even spouses have drilled into our heads since we were young. Unless you were born with a silver spoon in hand to a rich family such as the Royal Family, a Shiek, or an oil tycoon, then you probably have struggled at some point. You most likely have wanted to be more or wanted to have more. This is due to how the world puts importance on status. In Rose & Camellia, status is everything. Prove to the neighsayers that you can be more than they ever believed. This is the premise behind the Rose & Camellia Collection.

Game: Rose & Camellia Collection
Developer: Nigoro
Publisher: Wayforward/Limited Run Games
Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed)
Release Date: April 16th, 2024
Players: 1 to 2
Price: Base: $19.99

Although the Rose & Camellia Collection is a remastering of Rose & Camellia 1, 2, 3, 4, and La-Mulana, you will need to play through the games chronologically. Each game/section consists of five fights with increasing difficulty.

In addition to the game’s increase in difficulty, enemies start to utilize a variety of abilities that the player will have to observe in order to predict and dodge enemies’ attacks. Certain enemies will have a flash shimmer before they unleash their attack. As the enemy’s health goes down, they can unleash different attacks or change up their style of dodging.

The game uses a turn-based combat system to fight. The player’s side is called Rose while the opponent is called Camellia. The player takes turns slapping or attempting to slap their opponent. The player can fake a slap to make the enemy dodge and unleash an attack.

Each turn the attacker has a limited time to attack; if the attack misses, the enemy has a chance to counter. The combat system isn’t uniform with damage dealt; an enemy can attack and take away one of your flowers but you may need multiple hits in order to take down one of theirs.  A clear indication of how much damage you are dealing with each hit would be helpful.

The controls for the game are fairly simple. Using the right Joycon, press the right bumper to dodge the enemy’s attacks. Later in the game, you can hold the right bumper in and press right on the directional pad in order to unleash a different kind of attack.

If you can stun the enemy, you can unleash a furry of slap attacks on your enemy to cut down multiple health bars. Progressing through the story you will gain new abilities and new enemies that will help you take on difficult foes.

The first Rose & Camellia is the story of a commoner who is trying to claim what she believes is rightfully hers; the day after her wedding, her husband dies. As the first-born son and the only boy in the family, his widower believes that his birthright belongs to her.

She must take on the women of the household in order to claim the birthright. Turns out there is more than meets the eye with this family and a simple slap won’t solve all the problems, but it will make you feel better.

The story itself is fairly simple however there are more mystical elements to the overarching story than one might think. The characters seem very petty and some of the squabbles seem pointless. The third game is just the story of who is the best maid in the world.

The final boss in that chapter’s dialog can come off as a bit problematic or controversial; in fact, we could see one side trying to cancel the game based on its dialog.

The dialog within the game can be comical and tells a decent tale, however, the story is rather shallow. Unlike many others, the selfish concerns of these characters seem rather shallow and petty. Still, it can be fun to slap this shit out of someone to get your own personal justice.

The Rose & Camellia Collection has received a visual update that has improved the graphics of the game and the overall quality of it as well.

The game features two audio dialog options (English and Japanese) and nine text variations of dialog (Japanese, English, Traditional & Simplified Chinese, Korean, French, Italian, German, and Spanish). The voice acting in the game is decent but seems kind of cheesy at times. The lines they deliver seem like they are reading individual lines rather than interacting with one another.

The game does feature the ability to adjust the music, sound effects, and voice volume. Players can also unlock the collaboration scenario (The Chapter of La-Mulana). If the game seems unfair or unbalanced, you can also turn on Equal Health Mode to even the playing field.

The Rose & Camellia Collection might not have a deep story but the core gameplay makes up for it. Honestly, who doesn’t want to slap someone when they are talking shit to you.

The core controls are fairly easy to understand and the game is easily accessible to most; the hard part of the game comes with having good enough reflexes to dodge. The fact that the story continues to build on itself between sections is refreshing compared to other games. If you fail a slap fight you can either replay the fight or you can go back to the main menu and come back to it at a later time.

After playing the demo at PAX East and then getting to play the full game, we are happy that it caught our eyes. Yes, it may be a one-and-done if only going to play solo, but with Versus Mode you can have slap fights with your friends as the different characters.

Honestly, if you think a game about slapping someone might be of interest to you, then it is worth checking out or picking up. For $19.99, picking up The Rose & Camellia Collection might be worth it at least to try.

Rose & Camellia Collection was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch using a copy provided by Limited Run Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Rose & Camellia Collection is available on the Nintendo Switch