Slapping Your Way to Your Inheritance: A Rose & Camellia Collection Review

By Manuel

Players: 1-2
Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Have you ever played through the slap fight between Tifa and Scarlet in Final Fantasy VII and wondered what it would be like if that were stretched into a full game? Well, wonder no more friends, as Rose & Camellia Collection is here to answer that very specific question! This game comes to us all by way of Limited Run Games, and is available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch at the time of writing. While Switch exclusives are nothing new, this one is a bit unique in that its exclusivity probably has more to do with its reliance on motion controls than anything else. I'm getting ahead of myself though, there are slap fights waiting, and a review to finish! Let's get right into it!

The amazing slapping life?

All of this is over money of course.

As the name implies, Rose & Camellia Collection brings together five games into a single package. It's my understanding that some of these games were flash or mobile games at one point, and several of them are unique to this collection. That said, I'm not totally sure about their origins, so let's pretend we're going into this game fresh for the first time. This collection includes Rose & Camellia 1, 2, 3, 4, and Rose & Camellia vs. La-Mulana. With the exception of the La-Mulana spin-off, all the games pretty much play exactly the same, and act more like chapters within a single game. The plot of all the games centers on the Tsubakikoji family and what is essentially a struggle for the family inheritance. The last male heir has recently passed away, and the first chapter deals with his widow asserting her dominance over her rather cruel in-laws. The next game follows the second daughter of the family getting revenge, and the next the daughter of the family's maid. Though you are given some backstory of the family, and there are visual novel style cutscenes that explain each character's motivations, the plot is largely an excuse to get to the slap fighting. Each scene between the fights is usually only about 5-10 text screens, and each chapter rushes towards a conclusion after the end of the final slap fight ends. Even though this may sound like I'm knocking the game for its lack of story, I was actually surprised that it had one at all. This could've just as easily been reduced to the status of a fighting game-type story where only an intro and an outro would've been bothered with. You get far more than that here, and the writing is suitably funny and off-the-wall. There were times throughout my playthrough where I felt that the gameplay was wearing out its welcome, but I always stuck around just to see what ridiculousness was around the next corner. It's not the most in-depth story out there, but it's excellent for what it is.

This is the game right here!

Why is she up there?!?!

Before I discuss gameplay, I have to mention that I have a soft spot for games that use motion controls. While that's not exactly a unique statement, I hope that it's a sentiment you share too as that's pretty much all you get in Rose & Camellia Collection. This game requires the joycons in order to be played, so dig out that dock if you're a Handheld Mode player. Before we go over the pros and cons of this setup, let's talk how the slap fights work. Each slap fight has two parts to it, the slap and the defense. In order to slap you hold the A button and swing the joycon in an arc similar to a slap. When it's your opponent's turn to slap, you can dodge by holding the R button and singing the joycon in the opposite direction. This all sounds simple enough, but there is a bit more to it of course. Both you and your opponents sometimes have special skills available like a double slap, or a slap fest where you just swing as fast as you can for max damage. Also, each party in the slap fight can counterattack following a successful dodge. The latter is probably the most important factor to any fight, as you pretty much always have far less life than your opponent. The winner is the first who knocks their opponent's life down to nothing, but I think that part is rather obvious.

Though I have a deep love for motion controls, that love stems from the Wii and its Wii Motion Plus Wiimotes. Though the joycons have motion capabilities, they aren't nearly as precise. It was rare that I felt like my movements were one-to-one with what was happening on screen, and the force behind a slap often didn't match the force of the swing that activated it. Seeing as slaps can be weaker or stronger depending on force applied, this actually is rather important in the grand scheme of things. The amount of times I swung with all my might only to see my on-screen avatar barely touch her opponent's cheek were too numerous to count. It made me long for some sort of alternate control scheme, but I'm sure that would've also made the game quite a bit easier. Somewhat wonky controls aside, slapping in real time is a lot of fun. The charm and wackiness of everything quickly makes one forget how inaccurate things are on a technical level. Then there's the fact that the entire game is only made up of about 20 or so slap fights. It doesn't take very long for you to get the hang of things, and the entire experience is over before you know it.

She actually has a tell.

What even is happening here?

Of course, if the game were as simple as just swinging the joycons to slap it wouldn't be a lot of fun. This may not be a complex fighting game, but it does feature some advanced techniques to master if you want to clear the tougher scenarios. The first has to do with timing your slaps, as you can very easily leave yourself open to counterattacks if you're not careful. This is probably the mechanic I had the most problems with as performing a false swing requires you to nudge the joycon a bit but not follow through completely into a slap. Seeing as I've already mentioned how the motion controls aren't the most reliable, you may understand the frustration I felt when my false slaps either went unregistered, or simply turned into the weakest slaps imaginable. Moving onto countering, this technique isn't always easy either as it'll most definitely take you a few hits before you learn the timing of your opponent. Each opponent has their own quirk regarding when they're going to perform a slap, and some of them are even Punch Out-style tells that you have to watch for. These tells can be a sparkle in the eye, or some other non-hand action you have to keep an eye out for. Then there's just general timing to keep in mind too, as even if an opponent has no tell, they still hit at different speeds. Some opponents strike almost immediately after raising their hand, and others take their time. While I don't think this is unfair or anything, knowing when to counter will only come after your opponent gets in a free hit or two. Toss in the added skills of performing a double slap or a backhand, and you suddenly have a lot to watch out for and not a lot of life to play the trial-and-error game. Though it does make for uneven difficulty spikes, I must admit that it does make the gameplay far more complex than you'd think it would be going into it.

I wish each chapter were a different family.

It really is unfair.

Though I do think the graphics are very strong in Rose & Camellia Collection, I have to say that I'm not exactly a fan of the art style. Being a Japanese-developed game, you'd probably expect standard anime art to be featured, but what we get here more resembles a style you'd find in the horror manga of artists like Suehiro Maruo. There's nothing wrong with that particular art style, and it's one that I'm actually a fan of, but it's arguably something of an acquired taste. Seeing as this is already a niche title featuring very niche gameplay, I think a more casual-friendly look would've done wonders for the game. Though that's almost definitely just me nitpicking, there's no getting around the fact that it doesn't take very long to see pretty much all of what the game has to offer. The story makes it clear early on that you'll be playing within a single house against members of a single family, but that doesn't change the fact that there's a distinct lack of variety to the setting and characters. Opponents and protagonists repeat themselves in later chapters, and new opponents are just variants of ones you've already seen and fought. The art is great, the animation is great, and there's even a really cool anime-style intro, but I just found myself wishing that there was more to everything. I guess that's not the worst thing one can complain about though, but it does mean that the novelty starts to wear off quickly once you start to notice the repetition.

Sound is probably where I think the game shines the brightest, but I do have one odd thing to point out. The cool opening cutscene I mentioned earlier features a Japanese-language song, a great one at that, but it's one that's sung by a Western dub voice actor. While I am a fan of Christina Vee, I can't help but feel that her non-native Japanese comes off feeling like a cover one would find on YouTube. You can actually change the language of the in-game spoken dialogue, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to change the opening song to what I assume is its original version. Even though the track sounds great and features people I've met in real life, I can't help but think that the stilted Japanese sounds rather forced. I don't usually like to call out dub tracks like this, but I found it strange that they re-dubbed a Japanese song in Japanese, and didn't do it in English. It makes one wonder why they bothered in the first place. I guess that this song could've been original to this version of the game, but if that was the case, why not get one of the Japanese voice actors to perform it? Anyway, the music is all great besides that one rather big gripe, even though I think it's a bit limited due to the overall small scope of the game. There isn't a single bad track in the bunch though, so you'll be doing yourself a favor if you decide to pick up the soundtrack at some point. Even though I wasn't a fan of the dub performance of the opening track, I was a fan of the English voice acting in general. Everyone is hamming it up in an excellent scenery-chewing fashion, and their performances added a lot of character. The humor is also well executed, and it really fits in with the mood of the game.

Me too, girl, me too.

Slap Rush!

Even though I really enjoyed my time with Rose & Camellia Collection, I can't help but think that it feels like a minigame spread a bit too thin. The game progresses you from one fight to the next, but never really changes up the formula very much. Rather than adding more content, difficulty spikes are what will keep in you in the game beyond the hour or two required to fully complete it. There's a neat multiplayer mode to try out, but I really don't see it being much more than a brief novelty to break up rounds of Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart. That's basically the main problem of the game: There isn't a lot of content here, and the content you do get is shallow. Considering that the game is currently priced at $19.99, I can't help but feel that it's worth maybe half of that at best. This is not a bad game by any means, but its (maybe?) mobile roots shine through even this remake.

Some opponents are just so hard.

Oh yeah, this chapter is rather interesting...

I have really mixed feelings when it comes to recommending Rose & Camellia Collection. On one hand it's fun and silly, and there's really no other game like it. Then you have the flip side to that, where you have to look at the game's shallow, imprecise gameplay and overall lack of content. It's definitely a fun game that's worth experiencing at least once, but its current price feels a bit too high for a casual purchase. If money is no matter to you, then grab this now and go have fun. If you're a gamer on a budget though, maybe wait for it to go on sale before grabbing it. Either way, watch for those backhands, they can be killer!

Check Out Rose & Camellia Collection on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/rose-and-camellia-collection-switch/

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Story: A
Gameplay: B
Graphics: B+
Music/Sound: A
Value: C

Overall: B

Pros:
+ It's a game that centers on slap fights. What's not to love?
+ The art and animation are both top notch.
+ Similar to the visuals, the game's music and voice acting are among the best I've ever heard.
+ The story is crazy and wacky in all the right ways.
+ Though they can be a bit hit or miss, the idea of performing the slap fights with motion controls is a neat one.
+ The La-Mulana chapter is a nice bonus.

Cons:
- The motion controls can be pretty inconsistent, even unresponsive, at times.
- Despite its funny and unique premise, there isn't a whole lot of content here.
- Can be fully cleared in a couple hours, and there isn't much reason to return to the game outside of its multiplayer.
- Rose & Camellia's current price of $19.99 feels just a bit too high.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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I still really like this song!

#RoseAndCamellia