Changban

The Battle of Changban (長坂の戦い, rōmaji: Chōhan no Tatakai) is a chase with Cao Cao tracking down Liu Bei. Cao Cao, who wanted to invade and end Liu Bei, is trying to capture his foe. Liu Bei, lacking the troops and resources, is advised by Zhuge Liang to flee for safety.

Dynasty Warriors
In this series, Liu Bei must flee to the river and escape to the awaiting boats. Loyal peasants will beg to accompany his escape and must be guarded from Cao Cao's forces. During the earlier titles, players could search the city area to find Liu Bei's infant son Liu Shan (erroneously named Liu Chan in these earlier titles). They could also slay Xiahou En to obtain a special power up from the Sword of Light he drops. All of the games allow Zhang Fei to reenact his famous stand on the bridge in the map. Zhao Yun's act of rescuing Liu Shan is also emphasized in Dynasty Warriors 4 and Dynasty Warriors 5, and becomes a main objective in Dynasty Warriors 7 - the young Liu Shan is called A Dou in this installment.

Liu Bei's manner of escaping and his placement of forces differs in each game. Usually, he placed near Cao Cao's army and retreats through a myriad of hills and mountains. In Dynasty Warriors 2, he starts from the south and works his way up. He has no peasants with him and is only concerned with reaching the dock area. Generals such as Xiahou Dun, Xu Huang, and Dian Wei will block his path. Once the boats arrive, he is pleased with the reinforcements and turns his army around to fight.

Dynasty Warriors 4 and its spin-offs are the only games where A Dou in this battle can be picked up as a battlefield item. If collected in those games, he will reward the player with a 60 second unlimited Musou boost. In the original game, collecting him on horseback will trigger a special variable cutscene with the player's character receiving the child from Liu Bei's dying wife. The Xtreme Legends installment through Zhao Yun's Legend Mode has him appear in a random red box out of a set of many others around the entire fortress during the start of the battle, while in the original map he only appears in a set location depending on which route has been cleared for Liu Bei to take. Advance has him in the corner of one of the central battlefield areas of the map.

The following titles have him stationed near the northern part of the map and fighting his way south. Guan Yu guards the boat area for his brother and will usually be stationary along with one of Liu Biao's sons Liu Qi. Along with ensuring their lord's safety, the Shu army is also asked to protect the peasants that wish to accompany them. Once Liu Bei reaches the boat area, he will either wait for the rest of his army to join him or escape at will, ending the stage. Dynasty Warriors 6 discards many optional scenes found in older titles and focuses more on the chase, moving at a much quicker pace than previous titles. Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun continue to have special movies during this battle. When they safely escape, Shu unites their army with Wu and the Battle of Chi Bi occurs.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends features a what if scenario for the Battle of Changban where Xu Shu follows Zhuge Liang in joining Shu as a strategist and is present for the battle. The peasants are too exhausted to continue fleeing from Cao Cao's forces, so Xu Shu devises a plan to capture Wei garrisons. Once this is done, Shu ambush units are hidden within the garrisons and attack Cao Cao's forces as they arrive. This allows Shu to take control of the battlefield and rout Cao Cao's forces.

Wei's objectives for this stage in every title is to capture or stop Liu Bei in his tracks. The quickest way of achieving this goal is to aim for Liu Bei, ignoring all of his generals along the way. Defeating his men -or the peasants accompanying them- may slow his progress through the map in certain titles. Even if they should succeed, however, the narrative will usually state that he escapes death. A few scenarios, however, will have Liu Bei perish here.

Warriors Orochi
This battlefield serves as second stage in the Wu storyline in Warriors Orochi. Ordered by Da Ji to sever the resistance led by Lu Xun, Sun Ce is ordered to fight against his former comrades from Wu. Rather than feel distressed by the ordeal, he enjoys testing his might against them. Zhou Yu warns his friend to be careful of Lu Xun and Sakon's tactics. Lu Xun orders a fire attack on Sun Ce's main camp and, when that fails, he orders a simultaneous attack from Ling Tong and Gan Ning. Sakon, who is more interested in testing the Little Conqueror, withdraws if he is defeated. When the rebellion is stopped, Sun Ce is rewarded by having Taishi Ci freed from Orochi's imprisonment.

In Warriors Orochi 2, Shingen and Kanetsugu face Masamune's army here during the Samurai story. Their goal is to convince the upstart to join their cause against Orochi. Shingen's army is located in the south western position while Masamune is stationed in the north. To counter the ferocity of the Date rifles and Sima Yi's tactics, Shingen conspires to ignite a fire attack by using the boats in the area. Kanetsugu volunteers to do the deed and travels east towards the docks, pushing past several Orochi loyalists and Keiji. Once the fire attack succeeds, Shingen's army gains a substantial advantage and Masamune loses his means to counter the Takeda cavalry. They fail to convince him to defect but gain Sima Yi as an ally after the battle's conclusion.

Warriors Orochi 3 has the stage use the Shu and Oda army as opponents for the coalition. While Hanbei, Jia Xu and company try to fend off a fire attack and a musket assault planned by Mitsuhide, they fail to notice a village full of civilians under siege by the Oda. The village is destroyed and the civilians killed, Dian Wei arrives too late and goes on a rampage attacking Coalition and Shu-Oda troops alike. While Jia Xu and Kanbei use their strategies to throw their enemies off, Ujiyasu, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and Daqiao arrive to save them, but soon have to deal with Zhuge Liang's backup plans. In the redux stage where Dian Wei arrives in time to save the civilians and subsequently joins the coalition, Jia Xu uses his foreknowledge of the battlefield to prepare countermeasures for every one of Zhuge Liang and Mitsuhide's ambushes, significantly turning the battle in favor of the resistance.

Kessen
In Kessen II, Cao Cao prepares to march on Jing Province with Zhang Liao and Liu Bei decides to leave for Xia Kou. However, Liu Bei is unexpectedly abandoned by Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang and Mei Sanniang. In despair, he tells his brothers to leave him as well. An enraged Guan Yu hits him and reminds him of the oath they had took. The two brothers swear to never forsake him and Liu Bei agrees to not give up.

Shu's account provides three strategies for the player to choose. One allows Zhang Fei to hold a bridge to delay Cao Cao's army. Another has Guan Yu guarding the fastest and straightest path to escape. The final one is the longest, but possibly the safest route through the nearby forest. Zhuge Liang will appear mid way as reinforcements in the battle after attempting to assassinate Cao Cao. Mei Sanniang will appear near the end as well. In this version of the encounter, Himiko guards the escape point and must be defeated in order to win the battle.

Wei's version of the stage counters the three strategies mentioned in Shu's narrative. The player must succeed in routing Liu Bei's army to score a victory. Regardless of whether or not Cao Cao captures Liu Bei, the fleeing army will be rescued by Sun Quan.