Nagashino

The Battle of Nagashino (長篠の戦い) is a battle romanticized for its use of firearms, which were used previously but never as a primary measure by Japanese armies. The Takeda cavalry, known until then as a formidable and impenetrable force, fell against the bullets and the formation Nobunaga fortified. Katsuyori lost several treasured officers, including three of Shingen's four honored vassals.

In fiction, Nobunaga is often praised as the battle's supreme victor, but it was actually Ieyasu who profited more from the battle. He gained a vassal prior to the conflict and was able to expand his territory after their victory.

Samurai Warriors
In this series, this battle signals the end of the Takeda.

The first game has Nobunaga's army defending from the fierce cavalry. With morale low, Nobunaga and his vassals are given missions to protect the supply depot and Mitsuhide. From there, they may provoke the Takeda army to advance by taking an enemy camp and provoking Masatoyo Naitō to charge. They may be given another objective to protect the riflemen so they can fire. If they succeed, their plan to fire the rifles will succeed and Yukimura charges for the main camp. Katsuyori will attempt to flee and the Oda-Tokugawa army pursue him. Should the plan fail, morale will plummet and the battle will be harder to win.

Yukimura's upper path and the player's original character focuses on defending Katsuyori at Nagashino. To secure an escape path, they capture Nagashino castle at the start of the conflict. Keiji and Hanzō both attempt to charge the main camp and take Katsuyori's head. In spite of their efforts, Katsuyori eventually loses patience and orders a full scale assault, falling into Nobunaga's trap. Yukimura, desperate to claim victory, offers to perform a solo charge for Nobunaga's head. With the battle a severe defeat for the Takeda army, Katsuyori safely retreats.

Shingen's version of Nagashino is similar to his son's version. The main difference between them is that Shingen waits and focuses on defense. As he does, rain falls and the Oda rifles become useless. Using this window of opportunity, Shingen orders his men to advance to victory.

Masamune, in his quest to rule the land, also leads a campaign here to defeat Nobunaga and Shingen. Suffering a defeat at Mikawa, he flees with his forces to Nagashino to avenge his loss and simultaneously halt Shingen.

Samurai Warriors 2 better includes Ieyasu and Tadakatsu as a major defense for Nobunaga's camp. The Oda-Tokugawa side of the battle prevents the Takeda advance force from reaching the ally main camp. Once the rifles fire, Katsuyori sees that he is losing ground and attempts to escape. From then on, the battle becomes a chase for his head. Upon forcing Katsuyori's retreat, Nobunaga orders the total annihilation of the remaining Takeda vassals.

The Takeda version of the stage remains somewhat similar to the previous title, with Shingen alive, control remains with Shingen and he will focus on defense by gaining control of Maruyama and holding Nagashino itself. Successfully holding off the Oda and Tokugawa attempts to force Katsuyori's hand will allow Shingen to wait for the rain to arrive and rendering the Oda rifles useless, this allows Shingen to decimate the Oda and the Tokugawa. Yukimura's version of the stage has the ally army already losing and Yukimura is fighting for his survival. In Kenshin's version of the stage however, it has a different backstory: Learning of Shingen's advance to the capital and Nobunaga's attempt to halt the Takeda in Nagashino, Kenshin rallies his army to help Shingen since he believes that he is the only one who can kill his nemesis. Then the battle follows a similar way to the Takeda version except that Kenshin and Shingen work together to face Nobunaga and Ieyasu.

Samurai Warriors 3 has the Oda muskets already firing at the Takeda cavalry much like the previous title. During the Oda scenario for Nobunaga's story, Kunoichi will appear among the muskets to attack them. Suddenly, Shingen appears alive and well while ordering Yukimura to charge at Ieyasu's camp. In Kanbei and Mitsuhide's version, Katsuyori remains as the Takeda commander. Mitsuhide must defeat both Katsuyori and Yukimura in order to win, while Kanbei must defeat Katsuyori before he arrives at the escape point. Only Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Hanbei, and Kanbei gets the Oda side as part of their story.

For the Takeda side, it is exclusive to Shingen with a hypothetical twist. Yukimura and Kunoichi is no where to been seen and is replaced by Sakon and Kenshin, and the Tokugawa is not seen among Nobunaga's army. Nobunaga is also located in the Northeastern garrison instead of his usual spot in the Western garrison, and no muskets are involved in the battle. Finally, Shingen's army starts from the south. The player first need to defeat Mitsuhide first, and then head west to capture the Western garrison, guarded by Kanbei. When Shingen enters it however, he is trapped in the garrison and Nō and Ranmaru ambushes him. As Shingen fights off the enemy in the Western garrison, Ujiyasu shows up as part of the army and must be protected along with Kenshin in order to avoid defeat. After breaking through the Western garrison, Nobunaga's army launch an ambush from the south. Luckily, Kenshin manage to defeat them while Shingen saves Ujiyasu from Hanbei. The player then must defeat Hideyoshi to open the door to the Oda camp and defeat Nobunaga in order to win the stage.

The Moushouden version has Ranmaru gets the Oda side as part of his story. It is the same as Mitsuhide's version, except that Gracia is also present in the battle. The player must defeat both Katsuyori and Yukimura in order to win.

In Samurai Warriors 4, the stage is playable in both Takeda and Oda storylines. On the Takeda side, the player's aim is to help all of the allied officers retreat. On the Oda side, the enemy generals are lured to the palisades, where the Oda destroy them with their rifles. The battle continues to go well for the Oda and Katsuyori begins to retreat, though is defeated by the Oda forces. While Hisahide stays in the main camp protecting Nobunaga, Oichi and Katsuie offer their support by helping on the front lines.

During Spirit of the Sanada, Nagashino acts as a multi-stage battle. The first stage involves the actual siege of the castle against Ieyasu before Nobunaga's arrival. The stage begins at night, with Naotora just arriving with other Tokugawa reinforcements to aid Ieyasu. Kunoichi is then sent to eliminate Sune'emon Torii's unit. Sune'emon's defeat allows a fake one to take his place and keep the reinforcements from mobilizing. Hoping to find the reinforcements himself, Kagetada Matsudaira begins leaving the castle to find his allies. Once Hanzō arrives, Naotora will begin her advance to the castle. Kunoichi senses something amiss and will reveal enemy engineers preparing to sabotage the Takeda.

Tadasuke Ōkubo's unit then emerges from hiding to try and attack Katsuyori. At this point, Masayuki orders the troops to prioritize Nagashino instead of engaging Ieyasu's reinforcements. Seeing that they cannot defeat the enemy, Naotora decides to attack Katsuyori before retreating. After Naotora's retreat, Nobunaga's men arrive.

In the second part of the battle, Shitaragahara, the Sakuma forces quickly surrender over to the Takeda and must be protected from Oda troops. While engaging the enemy, Hanzō's spies target Masayuki, much to his surprise as they are not aiming for the traitors. Shortly after, Nobunaga's first set of riflemen emerge and shoot down Masatoyo Naitō. Once Masatoyo is killed, the Sakuma unit return to the Oda and lock the main gate leading to Katsuyori, forcing Masayuki to take a detour. While Masayuki is stalled by Naotora's unit, Nobutsuna Sanada is the next to fall while Masateru and Katsuyori are forced to engage Tadakatsu. Afterwards, Masatane Hara is falls to the enemy bullets, but Masayuki is finally able to provide Katsuyori with relief for his retreat.

Once Tadakatsu is defeated, Masakage Yamagata, Nobufusa Baba and Masatsugu Tsuchiya begin charging straight at the palisades to buy Katsuyori time to escape. Masateru and Masayuki join the assault and aim at Nagahide Niwa to further distract the Oda. As Katsuyori moves, he is ambushed by Nobuyasu Matsudaira's men. After Katsuyori is rescued form the ambush, Masakage, Masatsugu and Nobufusa all fall together. Seeing his allies dead, Nobutada Anayama deserts the Takeda, leaving Katsutuke Atobe isolated. Hoping to stall even more, the Sanada brothers aim for Nobunaga, only for him to retreat upon their arrival. After the battle, Masateru chooses to continue chasing Nobunaga, while requesting Masayuki to remain with Katsuyori.

The final stage of the battle details Katsuyori's retreat after the losses of Shitaragahara. Using the cover of night, Masayuki volunteers to first investigate the area, only for Katsuie and Nō to greet them. Kunoichi then reports the arrival of Kōsaka unit that had arrived from Kai to rescue them. However, Ranmaru, having tailed the Kōsaka, arrives to attack Katsuyori. After Ranmaru's defeat, Tomoharu Komiyama arrives to help the escape. Their path is then blocked by Mitsuhide before having to face Nobunaga himself. After defeating Nobunaga, Masayuki rejoins Katsuyori back to Kai.

Warriors Orochi
The stage appears in the first game as a Gaiden stage for the Samurai story. Players need to rescue Shingen and Kenshin from Orochi's army led by Cao Pi and Sun Quan. Once their position is secured a mission to help escort horsemen for an ambush will appear, Cao Ren and various other generals will try to prevent this. During this, Cao Ren will have second thoughts on serving Orochi and when Shingen and Kenshin are rescued quickly enough, Cao Ren will join the Oda. Successfully escorting the cavalry will trigger Kanetsugu's arrival and he will spring the ambush. At this point, Shingen and Kenshin will move out and take the offensive and players simply need to defeat Cao Pi and Sun Quan to win the battle.

In Warriors Orochi 2, Zhang Fei and Tadakatsu work together to fight Lu Bu's army. Lu Bu ignores tactics and sends his army in waves towards Liu Bei. To counter, the Shu army fortify their defenses against Lu Bu's siege weapons. They receive reinforcements from Lu Xun, who is ordered by his lord to assist. Lu Xun suggests a surprise attack on Lu Bu's third base guarded by Diao Chan. Lu Bu forgets about his army and hurries to rescue her. This allows Liu Bei's army and Lu Xun to catch the instigator in a pincer. After the battle, Lu Xun joins Shu and is unlocked.

If player defeat Diao Chan first, Lu Bu will become more angry, still in main camp and start to avenge her defeat.

Players need to rescue Hideyoshi in this stage in Warriors Orochi 3. Ma Chao and his forces need to drive off the Date forces. Sun Wukong is controlling Guo Huai and Ranmaru, defeating him will help to relieve Hideyoshi and free them. At the gates to the Date camp, Masamune will send both the Takeda cavalry and his muskets to deal with the Coalition. When Kunoichi takes action, she finds Yukimura still under Kiyomori's control. Ma Chao and Ma Dai must free him in order to open the gates to the enemy camp.

In the redux, after freeing Lianshi at Tao river, Zhou Tai and company must meet up with her.

In another stage, Ma Chao and his forces engage Kiyomori and a brainwashed Wang Yi in battle. After the coalition turns back Kiyomori, and even with herself freed, Wang Yi still wants to vent her frustration on Ma Chao.

Ultimate adds a different scenario in which the Coalition's interference allow Guo Huai and Ranmaru Mori to free themselves from Kiyomori's grasp. Initially, all the forces are still scattered, but timely reinforcements from the Coalition prove beneficial to Hideyoshi, and the battle continues to play out the same way as it did in the original.

In Warriors Orochi 4, this is the place for the alliance to protect Naotora Ii's bracelet, while they must stop Sima Zhao, Sima Shi, Wang Yuanji and the entrance of Nezha who seeks for Naotora. They can also manage to defeat Mitsuhide, who is still under mainteance of Nobunaga. Another stage is also for Liu Bei's forces to rescue Cao Cao's forces from Ares' army. Together with Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and Xun Yu, they also manage to defeat Demon army and the rampage of Lu Bu. In side story, Zhou Yu along with Kojuro must prevent for seeking Xiao Qiao, who is alongside Masamune.

Kessen
Kessen III stages Nagashino as the decisive battle in chapter 7. Ieyasu requests reinforcements from the Takeda and Nobunaga decides to aid him with rifles. Although he makes an open call for officers skilled with firearms, Mitsuhide excuses himself from the conflict to tame Tamba province. Nobunaga allows the departure and readies his men to march. When they arrive on the battlefield, Ieyasu thanks Nobunaga but worries that the rainfall will spoil their rifles. As Katsuyori is confident that the stormy weather will lead to Nobunaga's downfall, Yoshino assures them that the rain will cease as they fight.

Nobunaga and Ieyasu's armies are stationed on the bottom of the map behind three separate wooden barricades. They face the larger Takeda force from the north who relentlessly charge the three barricades. Since they are crossing a river before Nobunaga's army, their speed is not as quick as usual. Nobunaga can only choose two more generals to assist him since his required generals are himself, Yoshino, Ieyasu and Tadakatsu. Equipping rifles and spamming their troop ability behind the barricades is the simplest way to win the battle. Ideally, only one or two of the barricades will break from the Takeda's assault, which may require one or two strong war generals to defend against the invading forces. If the player can spare quick troops, they may lead them to collect items in the north and around the river.

During the battle, Nobufusa Baba, Masakage Yamagata, and Masatoyo Naitō will receive in-game cutscenes for their deaths.

Game Nihonshi Kakumeiji
With the exceptions of Nobunaga and Ieyasu, all of the Oda officers are musket units for this battle. Despite the player's overwhelming advantage, it is advisable to defeat one enemy unit at a time. Counterattacks are not an issue for both sides due to the difference in attack range.