Rose & Camellia Collection Preview

When you hear the phrase Limited Run Games what do you think of? Typically, many will think that there is a limited number of collector’s editions available of a certain game. Others may think that the place selling the game is the only place where you can buy it.

These two assumptions are rather typical if you are not a part of the gaming community. For those unaware, Limited Run Games is a retailer that sells special editions of games with a limited quantity available.

At PAX East, Limited Run Games invited us to check out two of the upcoming games that they will be selling special editions of, RUGRATS: ADVENTURES IN GAMELAND & Rose & Camellia Collection. If you have not heard of either of these games, that is fair. Both of the games are fairly obscure based on namesake, but RUGRATS: ADVENTURES IN GAMELAND has a renowned franchise behind it.

Rose & Camellia Collection

The Rose & Camellia Collection is a remastering of five games: Rose & Camellia, Rose & Camellia 2, crossover title Rose & Camellia vs. La-Mulana, and two new games debuting with this collection (Rose & Camellia 3 and Rose & Camellia 4).

Each game has been remastered with high-definition visuals, a full English voice-over, an anime-styled opening, and two new vocal songs by Cristina “Vee” Valenzuela.

At first, a game about slapping women seemed a bit questionable to me. As we tried the game and the story’s plot was explained, the slapping felt more justified. Do you let those who believe they are better than you walk all over you?

Or do you raise your hands up and slap the taste out of their mouth? As the game progressed, the enemies became tougher and more resilient. Before they unleash their attacks, a visual queue will go off giving you a chance to dodge.

I rarely use motion controls when playing the Nintendo Switch so getting used to the motion controls took a while to get used to. On top of getting used to the motion controls, the sensitivity and precision you need to counter or fake a slap took time as well.

In the final fight against the matriarch, we were close to being knocked out. With 2 health left vs her 8 hp (Flowers), we Dodged, Ducked, Dipped, Dived, Dodged! (Dodgeball) and ended up knocking out the condescending woman. The rush of taking her down after our back was against the wall was thrilling.

Rose & Camellia was originally released as a Flash-made game back in 2007, and more recently got ports for iOS (via the App Store) and Android (via Google Play). Honestly, it will be fun to check out this game in its entirety when it releases this month on April 16th, for Switch.