Yamazaki

The Battle of Yamazaki (山崎の戦い, rōmaji: Yamazaki no Tatakai), also called the Battle of Mount Tennō (天王山の戦い, rōmaji: Tennōzan no Tatakai), is the well-known conflict that follows the Incident of Honnōji. As the Oda officers were spread across the land during Nobunaga's assassination, few could reach their lord to assist. Hideyoshi, who was ordered to suppress the Mōri, quickly dealt with his opposition through peace negotiations. With his new allies, he raced back to Kyoto and targeted the man responsible for Nobunaga's death, Mitsuhide. The battle served as Hideyoshi's first step for power.

Samurai Warriors
In the first game, the player can only be alongside Mitsuhide. They have to defend Mt. Tenno from being captured by the Hashiba forces. However, in the Xtreme Legends expansion, the player can fight on the Hashiba side. Magoichi fights alongside Hideyoshi and sets an ambush to the cave halfway through the battle. In the second game, the stage is quite different as there are more unique characters on the Hashiba side. Like in the previous game, the player starts by trying to seize Mt. Tenno. Successfully capturing the mountain results in cannons firing on the enemy main camp, but if it is captured by the enemy they will start firing cannons at the allied main camp. Playing on the Hashiba side gives an option to cut off the Akechi's escape route at Shoryuji. In the middle of the battle, Sakon Shima will reinforce the Hashiba troops, but when playing in his story scenario, the battle has not so much progressed yet. This scenario also serves as the stage for Mt. Usa, where the Azai-Asakura forces fight against the Oda forces.

Ginchiyo's version serves this as the Pursuit of Yoshihiro stage. Yoshihiro is camped on Mt. Tenno raining cannon fire. He also has a few Tokugawa officers on his side. If Mitsunari or Sakon are defeated or either Toyotomi camp is taken, the battle is a loss. Ginchiyo must first help by capturing Shoryuji. Kojiro also ambushes Sakon and must be defeated. Kotarō attempts to aid the Shimazu by taking the southwest Toyotomi camp. Once the tide turns, Yoshihisa will aid his brother. Once the obstacles are eliminated, only Yoshihiro remains.

In Samurai Warriors 3, the battle remains relatively same expect Motochika fights on the Akechi side, while Hideyoshi receives a few more unique characters like Kiyomasa Katō and Masanori Fukushima. The main difference between the previous incarnations is that Hideyoshi initially refuses to avenge Nobunaga, but Kanbei convinces him not to miss this chance to continue Nobunaga's ambition. Hideyoshi, Nene, and Kanbei gets the Hashiba side for their story, while Mitsuhide and Motochika gets the Akechi side.

In the Moushouden expansion, Gracia gets Yamazaki as her second stage, though only for the Akechi side. The battle is going smoothly, but after Hideyoshi's defeat, Mitsuhide gets ambushed and the player lost track of him. Gracia will then need to defeat the officers that ambushed Mitsuhide, while escorting Motochika to the south gate of the map. After that, Hideyoshi returns with another army, in which Motochika suggests that Gracia should escape from the battlefield. Gracia would head east, while Motochika would hold off the enemy reinforcements coming from Mt. Tenno. However, Motochika was killed as a result and the remaining Akechi Army all fled. Gracia then has two option, she can defeat Hideyoshi once more along with his enemy reinforcements and then head towards the escape point, or avoid the enemy reinforcements and head towards the escape point immediately. When Gracia reaches the escape point, Tadaoki will stop her from doing so. The player will need to defeat her husband in order for Gracia to reach the escape point.

Motonari's version is exclusive to his story as the final battle against Nobunaga. He starts at Mt. Tenno with the Tokugawa trying to take it. After dealing with some of the Tokugawa forces, Motonari races to Ieyasu's camp, only to find that the Mikawa lord had put Hanzō in his place. Ieyasu then appears by the river alongside Kai and remnants of the Hōjō, and they charge towards the undermanned mountain. Defeating them will cause Nobunaga's main forces to arrive, though the player may counter this by eliminating Ieyasu's double with an Ultimate Musou to trigger the appearance of allied reinforcements. As the Oda army advances, the undermanned garrisons and Hideyoshi must fall to face the enemy commander.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, it serves as the second to last stage for Wei where they fight against the Orochi forces. However, Da Ji defects to the enemy forces. If she is defeated it will open the last Gaiden stage for Wei. In the end, Cao Cao reappears after being gone for the whole story. He, along with Dian Wei, joins Cao Pi's forces flr the final battle against Orochi.

During the sequel, the Wu army faces off Kiyomori Taira's massive army here, only to find that they are being led to a deathtrap. The cannon fire from the Taira main camp and the poisonous gas from the sorcerers are troubling Wu and they are trapped by wave after wave of Taira soldiers and believed that death is imminent when Lu Bu decided to march. But later, Lu Bu decided to defect along with his army, Lu Bu himself is not content serving under Kiyomori and decided to take over by force. Wu, with the help of Lu Bu, kills the sorcerers and turned the tide of the battle to their side and finally finishing off Kiyomori. But, the Wu forces fail to stop the Serpent King's rebirth.

The stage returns in the third chapter of Warriors Orochi 3. It begins after the event at Fan Castle, Cao Cao's army finally assemble with Liu Bei, Sun Jian, Shingen, Kenshin, Nobunaga and Ujiyasu, who made a preparation to Koshi Castle. This is the place where Sima Zhao, Sakon, Wang Yuanji, Taigong Wang and Kaguya clashes with the mystic army, led by Nezha and Susano'o. Lu Bu will briefly appear to challenge Nezha only to withdraw after their duel. If player use Diao Chan, she still believe in herself for having another chance to meet him again.

In Ultimate, Sun Jian, Sun Quan, and Kai visit the area, but are attacked by doppelgangers of Sun Shangxiang with other members of the Wu army. The battle starts with saving Magoichi and the Oda army in the field. As the allied troops attempt to move to Nobunaga's aid, Song Qian causes a rockslide, and Zhou Fang and Sun Xiu will ambush the allied army during their ascent. Once the Oda army has been rescued completely, the combined armies charge together against Sun Shangxiang's encampment. After Sun Shangxiang's defeat, Shennong and Kaguya will report that they have found the mirror realm's exit.

Kessen
The area appears as a bonus battle in Kessen III, only appearing during the story on the second and following playthroughs for chapter 13. A year after Mitsuhide's death, Nobunaga has started to spread Christianity and other European teachings with a small establishment in the land. As Luis Frois thanks him during their tour of a church, Toshiie reports that Yoshiaki Ashikaga has joined forces with Petro Cortez to threaten their new rule of peace. Calling on his retainers for one last battle, Nobunaga and his generals faces them in a climatic battle at Yamazaki.

Players are allowed to choose eight units to take on the instigators and Ashikaga sympathizers. The army is split into three divisions with Nobunaga placed in the west and two other formations placed in the center and east. Ieyasu and Tadakatsu also appear to reinforce the central unit and can be ordered to assist on the player's whim. Since rivers separate each force, the three divisions will need to work individually to proceed through the map. As each squadron defeats the set of enemies before them, the gates guarding Yoshiaki's position throughout the map will be opened. With the long time limit players are given, they can take their time to heal or prepare for each confrontation. Eastern ally forces face the most enemies along their path but they are not as fierce as the opposing units in the west and center, which include Magoichi, Miyoshi Trio, and Yoshihiro's forces. If the player loses as much as one unit, they will lose, making the battle even harder.

Upon their defeats, Petro and Yoshiaki die in the conflict. Nobunaga can then continue his peaceful reign and his international relations with Spain, meeting Philip II in person years later.

Yamazaki is also the setting for an optional map in Battle Scrolls mode, a fierce dream match that stars generals such as Shingen, Kenshin, Nagamasa, and others. The map is different than the previous battle as it contains a wide open field in the center with a few mountain valleys in the east and west. Nobunaga, stationed near the bottom of the center, is alone at the start of the battle while he faces Shingen's cavalry. He needs to wait for ally reinforcements to come to his aid as the battle progresses. Clearing the map rewards the player with the ability to use an advanced horse unit at the start of a continued new game.