Ueda Castle

The Siege of Ueda Castle (上田城の戦い, rōmaji: Uedajō no Tatakai), also known as the Ueda Conflict (上田合戦, rōmaji: Ueda Kassen) or the Defense of Ueda Castle (上田城攻防戦, rōmaji: Uedajō Gobōsen), were two battles fought between the Tokugawa and Sanada families. On both occasions, the Tokugawa were invading the Sanada family lands during their respective conquests. The first attempt was part of Ieyasu's plans to invade Kai after dealing with the Hōjō. His men fell victim to a deadly water attack, which lead him to eventually call off the siege.

Hidetada led the second march near Ueda Castle, although his primary objective wasn't taking the castle. His apparent mission was to march along Nakasendō, help the Date and Mogami in the east, and then assist the main forces at Sekigahara. During his march, he intercepted the Sanada troops and was ultimately stalled.

Historically, both battles were won by the Sanada despite their inferior numbers.

Samurai Warriors
In the first game, Ueda Castle serves as a battleground between the Sanada and Tokugawa forces.

The Sanada's scenario in Yukimura's upper path story shows Yukimura first told to defeat Tokugawa generals in the north, then lure them into the center into the castle. He is later told to wait for a signal to open the flood gates by his father in order to drown the Tokugawa forces by the rivers and turn the tide of the battle. Frustrated, Ieyasu orders Hanzō Hattori to assassinate Masayuki, where Yukimura must defend him by defeating Hanzō. He then charges Ieyasu's camp and defeats him, winning the battle. However, Yukimura feels that the victory is pointless and begins to lose faith in his resistance against the Tokugawa.

The Tokugawa's scenario in the edit characters' story shows the warrior fight with the Tokugawa against his/her former friend, Yukimura, and the Sanada after the Takeda's defeat at Nagashino. In the battle, the player must succeed in everything that failed in Yukimura's scenario. After winning the battle in the exterior the player must enter the interior of Ueda Castle and proceed to the lowest floor where the player finds Yukimura and Hanzō dueling each other. The player may choose who to defeat, deciding which side the player will fight on in the next scenario, Siege of Ōsaka Castle.

In Kunoichi's story, Kunoichi must hurry to the bottom floor of Ueda Castle to rescue Yukimura from death by Hanzō. If she saves Yukimura from harm, she will fight alongside him at Ōsaka Castle. If Yukimura comes to harm, Kunoichi will infiltrate Odawara Castle to prevent Ieyasu from reaching Ōsaka. Hanzō has a somewhat similar scenario where he infiltrates Ueda to steal a secret letter from the Toyotomi. During this scenario, Hanzō must not be discovered by Sanada troops while trying to reach the bottom floor of the castle in order to retrieve the letter.

The Uesugi led by Kenshin Uesugi also besiege this castle in two different scenarios. One features the undermanned Uesugi army struggling against Masayuki's tactics and the other Sanada clan generals as Shingen Takeda slips away to the capital, Kenshin's lack of focus causes the Uesugi army to struggle and suffer heavy casuaties, before Kenshin heads into the castle personally to capture it for himself. The other is featured in Yoshimoto Imagawa's story mode where the Uesugi fare much better, and are aided by both the Imagawa and Masamune Date's army forming a large coalition. Kenshin teaches Yoshimoto as the battle progresses and they capture each stronghold gradually advancing on Shingen himself, unlike the other scenario, Masayuki is not present and the Uesugi do well enough to send Yoshimoto into the castle with other allies.

Ina's defense of Numata Castle also takes place here and is erroneously still called Ueda in Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends. She has only a handful of soldiers defending the western keep and Masayuki alone tries to enter, claiming to see his children. After he is defeated, a large Sanada army in tow led by Yukimura and Kunoichi arrive, and they pressure the castle with Ina struggling to defend it on all flanks. Tadakatsu Honda's arrival in the north is a relief to Ina, and allows her to muster up the courage to repel Masayuki's final attack before retiring to a life of peace.

In Samurai Warriors 2, The battle remains relatively the same except is more historically accurate. The Tokugawa's scenario is the 1585 battle with the Tokugawa lead by Ieyasu while the Sanada's scenario is the 1600 battle and the Tokugawa is lead by Ieyasu's son, Hidetada Tokugawa.

The Sanada's, a segment of the Western Army, scenario in Yukimura's story has him work with his friends Keiji Maeda and Kanetsugu Naoe. Yukimura starts off by forcing Tokugawa generals towards the river. He then goes to defend the front gate of Ueda. Afterwards, he goes to defend Toishi Castle from his brother, Nobuyuki Sanada, who is fighting in the Tokugawa ranks alongside his wife, Ina. he is then ordered to escort his ally to the flood gates once the Tokugawa forces are in place. Once this succeeds, a frustrated Hidetada orders Hanzō to kill Masayuki. Keiji defends Masayuki while Yukimura defeats the duplicates of Hanzō until he defeats the real one. All forces then charge the main camp and defeat Hidetada. Once victory is achieved, Yukimura and Kanetsugu briefly celebrate when a messenger tells them Mitsunari Ishida and the Western Army were defeated by Ieyasu and the Eastern Army at Sekigahara.

The Tokugawa's scenario has Ieyasu, Tadakatsu, and Hanzō laying siege to Ueda, protected by the combined forces of the Sanada and Uesugi. Yukimura protects the front gate set in hyper mode. in order to weaken Yukimura, the player must overcome ambushes, prevent the flood attack, and avoid Yukimura by going around him and entering the main keep through the back gate and defeat Masayuki. Once done, Yukimura will feel discourage over the loss of the castle and will lose his strength. Kanetsugu, however, will convince the remaining Sanada to charge the main camp. Defeat them to win the battle.

Ueda Castle serves as the battlefield for the scenario in Nobunaga and Nō's story for the elimination of the Takeda. The Xtreme Legends expansion includes the stage in Katsuie's story. The coalition of the Oda, Tokugawa, and Hōjō battle the combined forces of the Takeda, Sanada, and Uesugi. During the battle, the player must protect various Takeda generals that have betrayed the Takeda. In Nobunaga and Nō's scenario, sometime in the battle, the Hōjō will retreat back to there main stronghold Odawara Castle after news of a siege on it reaches the Hōjō, but Kotarō Fūma will comeback later to fight the player. However, playing Katsuie's scenario will have the entire Hōjō charge for Nobunaga.

In the first and second game, the battlefield serves for scenario Defense of Numata Castle where Ina protects the castle from Masayuki, and Yukimura. It is also included in the fourth story of Samurai Warriors: Katana where Magoichi and the player come to aid Ina.

In Samurai Warriors 3, the 1600 battle is replaced with Numata Castle and the 1585 battle is the major focus. The main difference is that Ieyasu allies with Ujiyasu, and together they siege the castle. The Sanada army also gains new generals as the Date (Magoichi and Masamune) and the Uesugi (Kanetsugu, Aya and Keiji) forces assist them. A fire attack, ambushes, and other tricks are used to replace the water attack favored in previous titles. Only Yukimura, Kunoichi, Magoichi, Masamune, and Kanetsugu gets the Sanada side as part of their story, while Tadakatsu, Ina, and Hanzo gets the Tokugawa side. In the expansion, Kotarō also gets the Tokugawa side as part of his story.

In Samurai Warriors 4, Ueda appears exclusively in the Legend of Sanada with the first battle only having the Sanada perspective and the second having both perspectives.

For the first battle, Mitsunari and Kanetsugu arrive to reinforce the Sanada, acting as the representatives of Hideyoshi and Kagekatsu respectively. Masayuki first has Nobuyuki and Yukimura defeat the enemies that have made it within the Ueda's castle town in order to progress the first part of their strategy. Once the enemies within are dealt with, Nobuyuki has the Ōsuga unit lured to the Ōte gate in the south. After Yasutaka Ōsuga reaches the target area, the Sanada forces will begin dropping logs onto his troops and will injure the officer. Naotora then arrives to try and invade through the castle's northern village, but Nobuyuki traps her reinforcements within the village and hits her with a fire attack.

Soon, Ieyasu changes targets and decides to attack the nearby Toishi and Yazawa castles, but Nobuyuki moves to defend the allied positions. Soon Hanzō attempts to ambush the Sanada forces from behind, but peasants intercept him at the underground path, allowing Yukimura to stop the ninja unit. Once Hanzō is stopped, Ieyasu decides to begin fleeing, and the objective changes to catch him instead. After his defeat, the Sanada claim victory and the Tokugawa cease hostilities.

In the 2nd battle, the Western army's side begins similarly to the first battle, but with Yukimura holding on to the central area of the castle instead. He begins by luring the Tokugawa to the Ōte gate again, but ambushing them instead with riflemen. In response, Nobuyuki has Hanzō try to sabotage the castle from within to attack Masayuki, while the Makino unit is to burn down the northern village to clear it of troops. After both plots are stopped, Kai then rallies the frontline troops to try and link up with the officers at Toishi castle. With all their plans foiled, Nobuyuki immediately has Hidetada withdraw, and Lady Hayakawa appears to assault Yukimura's unit to stall for time, and Munenori appears with a ninja unit to try and attack Ueda once again. Soon, Ina emerges to try and stop them, but is defeated, opening the path to Nobuyuki, who blocks them from catching Hidetada. Defeating Nobuyuki will allow the battle to finally end.

In the eastern perspective, Yukimura first appears at Toishi castle to challenge the Eastern army. Nobuyuki first orders the troops to take care of the threat, but is only greeted by the Anayama unit trying to deceive them. Then, the Hotta and Yanada surrender to the Eastern army and open the gates leading to the northern village, but Nobuyuki sees through the fake defection and has an extra unit rescue the Makino unit after they are lured in. Soon after, both Yukimura and Kunoichi appear, and the shinobi begins marching for Hidetada while Yukimura rallies the castle's defenders. By this point, Nobuyuki has Hidetada leave the battlefield to prioritize the march to Sekigahara, but Masayuki has Kai's forces ambush Hidetada, and Masayuki finally begin marching out of the castle. Kunoichi then reappears to try and attack Hidetada once again but is defeated. Once they reach the retreat point, Yukimura arrives to try and cut them off, but the Eastern army defeats him and escapes the battlefield.

4-II also introduces a new version of the first battle from Nobuyuki's perspective along with a new eastern army version for both Nobuyuki and Lady Hayakawa in the second battle.

For Nobuyuki's version of the first battle largely follows the previous version, but with Naomasa accompanying his mother and leading the siege on Toishi castle. Ina will also emerge at the center of the battlefield once the Ii unit has been defeated, but she will be forced to withdraw by Nobuyuki.

Nobuyuki's version of the second battle largely mirrors the Eastern version, but with many of its dialogue changed.

In Lady Hayakawa's version of the second battle has her aid the Eastern army in taking the outer garrisons of Ueda, but Kunoichi's unit emerges soon after to ambush Hidetada. After Kunoichi's initial defeat, Masayuki appears and order simultaneous ambushes throughout the frontlines and through the conquered garrisons through Ueda's hidden paths. Seeing the futility of wasting any more time, the Eastern army attempts to break through the central castle town to leave for Sekigahara, but Kunoichi reemerges to ambush them. Kai then appears, challenging her friend to battle. After Kai's defeat, Lady Hayakawa begins looking down on herself for not facing Kai in earnest unlike Nobuyuki to his brother, but he comforts and encourages her to meet Kai once again without hesitation.

Spirit of Sanada has Ueda Castle first built beside the strategic Numata Castle under Masayuki's request to Ieyasu in order to ward off any potential attacks from the Hōjō. As soon as the castle is built, Masayuki defies Ieyasu's order to give Numata to the Hōjō and barricades himself at Ueda Castle while forming an alliance with the Uesugi. Upon learning this, Yukimura is given permission by Kagekatsu to return home temporarily.

The first Ueda conflict is divided into three main parts: The spy battle, where Kunoichi and Sasuke must protect the local ninjas from Hanzō's night attack and eliminating ninjas that have invaded the province before the main army, the main battle of Ueda, comprising mostly of Masayuki and Yukimura's famed defense of the castle, and the rout at Kangawa, following Nobuyuki's pursuit of Ieyasu's defeated forces. The Sanada's resounding victory at Ueda is soon reported to Hideyoshi, who orders Ieyasu to desist and for Masayuki's audience at Ōsaka. This battle allows the Sanada to become one of Hideyoshi's vassal lords, but as a lesser lord, must only act as the Tokugawa's yoriki instead.

The second conflict first occurs after the Sanada split themselves over supporting either Mitsunari or Ieyasu, and any supporting Ieyasu leave Ueda to join Nobuyuki at Numata. The second Ueda conflict is split into three main parts: The evacuation of soldiers from the nearby Toishi Castle, where Masayuki orders the castle to be abandoned and its men to reinforce Ueda, the second battle at Ueda, where Masayuki and Nobuyuki pit the Sanada retainers and each other against one another, and the pursuit of Hidetada at Someyadai, where Masayuki and Yukimura attempt to stop Hidetada's further attempts to reach Sekigahara. In spite of their great victory, Mitsunari is defeated at Sekigahara, leading to the collapse of their allies. Due to the overwhelming odds that Masayuki and Yukimura overcome, Ieyasu and many Eastern generals deem them too dangerous, but Ieyasu relents to the appeals of Nobuyuki, Tadakatsu and Hidetada and exiles father and son to Kudoyama instead. Nobuyuki is then given Masayuki's position and domain for his service, including Ueda Castle.

After the Ōsaka campaign and Yukimura's death, Nobuyuki visits Ueda to meet his sister, apologizing for causing her pain, but Lady Muramatsu comforts her brother, knowing he also suffered through the solitude. Nobuyuki soon begins regretting his choice to split the clan, but his sister then asserts that should he have done so, they would've been completely destroyed. Lady Muramatsu then follows-up that though they were pitted against one another in battle, Nobuyuki and his father and brother were never truly split by spirit. While at Ueda, Nobuyuki also visits Yukishige Yokoya, who still admires his late brother's resolve and dedication to fight with Yukimura until the end.

In order to quell any rumor that Hidetada was weak due to his overly high treatment of the Sanada, Nobuyuki secretly has the Shōgun displace the Sanada from Ueda and Shinano province as a show of force.

Warriors Orochi
In the first game, the battlefield serves as the first scenario in the Shu Story. The player is tasked with escaping to the southeast with Zhao Yun, Xing Cai, Yoshihiro Shimazu, and Zuo Ci. Once they reach outside of the castle, Zuo Ci will disappear for the time being. While escaping, they meet Ginchiyo at Toshi Castle. When news of Zhao Yun's escape reaches Cao Ren, his unit will charge forward only to be stopped by the reappearance of Zuo Ci. Once the player reaches the southeast after defeating Zhang He, the stage will end in victory. Although Zuo Ci doesn't join Zhao Yun's army after the battle, Ginchyo does.

In the second game, the stage serves as the dream mode scenario for Kotarō Fūma, Gan Ning, and Zhang Liao. The task is to capture Ueda Castle by using the Western Path and the Northern Path. On the way, they can have an option to rescue Goemon from Ling Tong. Doing so will cause Goemon to help them. They also can stop Guan Ping from activating the flood attack upon their allies, who is holding off the enemy and protecting Sun Quan, who must not be defeated. Finally, Kotarō will summon his doubles to hold off the enemy at the south, only for them to be defeated by Hanzo's doubles. When they arrive at Ueda Castle, they must defeat Ranmaru, Kunoichi, and Zhuge Liang to capture it. After doing so, some enemy officers will defect to the allied side, while some will fled. Jiang Wei will then arrive with enemy reinforcement and charge with Meng Huo towards the allied main camp. Defeating Meng Huo will complete the stage.

If the player is spotted by Meng Huo's main force before capturing Ueda Castle, the flood attack will immediately happen and Meng Huo's army will launch a full attack at the allied main camp. The player will need to defeat everybody while protecting Sun Quan.

In Warriors Orochi 3, Sima Zhao was originally gonna be a part of this battle in the original timeline, but an argument with Zhuge Dan causes him to go to Odawara Castle instead but both castles fell the Demon army anyway. Traveling back in time to Ueda Castle thanks to Kaguya, Sima Zhao insists on joining the battle together with Zhuge Dan, Sakon Shima, and Zhang Liao in order to rescue Wang Yuanji and Taishi Ci. Upon entering the castle, the six of them, realizing that Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo aren't working together to capture the castle, decide to concentrate on Yuan Shao's men while Yuanji distracts Dong Zhuo to buy time. When Zhong Hui arrives at assist Dong Zhuo, Sima Zhao and the others race to Yuanji's aid and achieve victory. After hearing from Zhao about the future, Zhuge Dan and the others join the Coalition.

Another battle catches Ueda Castle in a time warp which was caused by Seimei Abe. The Coalition fights through the Demon army and the shikigami forces. With Seimei's help, the Coalition drives back Yuan Shao.

During Ultimate, the castle is searched by Gracia, Masamune Date, Sima Shi and other Coalition members to investigate the disappearances of other heroes at the hands of Da Ji. Their search leads them to a trap made by Tamamo, and they are all imprisoned within the mirror realm instead.

When members of the Coalition return to this battle from the future, they are able to avoid being caught by the Divine mirror, and seize it for themselves after defeating Tamamo.

In Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, the castle's western area has been fused to be at the south of Chencang.

Kessen
The second siege of Ueda Castle is given brief mentions during cinematics before, during, and after Sekigahara in Kessen. If Ieyasu loses Sekigahara, he will be forced to retreat back to his home and reunites with his son for support. Mitsunari and his men follow closely in the rear and call upon their Sanada allies for assistance. While their forces don't clash at the castle itself, Ieyasu's escape path cuts through the open plains of Ueda.