Kessen

Kessen is a strategy game produced by Koei.

Story
The 1st Kessen, which literally means "decisive battle" in Japanese, is a real-time strategy game for the PlayStation 2. The game is set near the end of the Warring States period in Japan, beginning with Sekigahara and historically ending with the Osaka Campaign. Before the player begins a story, they're entreated to a message by the producer, stating that the game fulfills his desire to create a movie that could be controlled. To follow suite with this statement, the players can choose to win or lose battles to experience a different storyline. Events that occur can either be abridged dramatizations of history or completely original yet fathomable scenarios. Cinematics and the music are similar to the samurai film genre with characters adopting a tone complementary to the setting. Players begin the game as Ieyasu Tokugawa and are free to eventually unite the land or lose their conquest. After the last confrontation, they can play a second time with Mitsunari Ishida. Once both scenarios are cleared, players can choose their next leader and adjust the difficulty level to their liking. Each time the player completes a scenario, the branching storylines they earn can be seen in the "Battle History" option at the starting screen. The main composer for the series was Reijiro Koroku, who is known for his orchestral work in Japanese TV dramas and select NHK taiga dramas.

Gameplay
Each storyline is a continuous string of battles between the two armies. Story segments take place before the planning and strategy phases. Special cutscenes can also occur during battle.

East

 * Ieyasu Tokugawa
 * Tadakatsu Honda
 * Naomasa Ii
 * Yasumasa Sakakibara
 * Ietsugu Sakai
 * Tadaoki Hosokawa
 * Nagamasa Kuroda
 * Masanori Fukushima
 * Hidetada Tokugawa
 * Terumasa Ikeda
 * Masanobu Honda
 * Takatora Todo
 * Kiyomasa Kato
 * Masamune Date
 * Kojuro Katakura
 * Yoshiaki Mogami
 * Toshitsune Maeda
 * Saizo Kani
 * Hideyasu Yuki
 * Takatomo Kyogoku
 * Tadanao Matsudaira
 * Tadayoshi Matsudaira
 * Toshitsune Maeda
 * Hirotaka Terasawa
 * Naotaka Ii
 * Tadatomo Honda
 * Yasukatsu Sakakibara
 * Yoshimasa Tanaka
 * Yoshikira Kato
 * Hirotaka Terasawa
 * Okatsu

West

 * Mitsunari Ishida
 * Sakon Shima
 * Yoshitsugu Otani
 * Hideie Ukita
 * Yukinaga Konishi
 * Yoshihiro Shimazu
 * Toyohisa Shimazu
 * Hideaki Kobayakawa
 * Hidemoto Mori
 * Hiroie Kikkawa
 * Ekei Ankokuji
 * Satoie Gamo
 * Morichika Chosokabe
 * Teruzumi Akashi
 * Masayuki Sanada
 * Yukimura Sanada
 * KanbeiKuroda
 * Yoshinobu Satake
 * Muneshige Tachibana
 * Terumoto Mori
 * Katsunaga Mori
 * Shigenari Kimura
 * Matabe Goto
 * Masaie Natsuka
 * Naoshige Nabeshima
 * Harunaga Ono
 * Shigemoto Matsuno
 * Kagekatsu Uesugi
 * Kanetsugu Naoe
 * Keiji Maeda
 * Hideyori Toyotomi
 * Sasuke, Saizo, and Kosuke

Battles

 * Skirmish at Kusegawa
 * Battle of Sekigahara
 * Escape from Minakuchi
 * Retreat from Ueda
 * Defense of Hakone
 * Battle of Harima
 * Defense at Seta
 * Battle at Mount Fuji
 * Summer Battle at Osaka
 * Winter Battle at Edo

Story
Kessen III is the final known Kessen title. It implements gameplay elements from the Warriors series and is the longest title of the three. The game claims to recount the history of the Samurai Warriors characters. Nobunaga Oda is the uncommonly heroic protagonist with a sincere ambition to end the land's chaos. He and his generals visually age as the game progresses and adopt a new attire various times throughout the game. As time passes, Tokichiro and Motoyasu will also be called by their recognizable historical names. The game's story remains modestly faithful to his historical battles until Mitsuhide's betrayal at Honnoji. Additional playthroughs unlocks cinematics that show a second side to the story as well as an additional ending. It is the only game in the series to include a dual language option, allowing the player to switch between the English and Japanese voices.

Gameplay
Though the gameflow is structured in a similar manner as the previous titles, each stage is greatly expanded.

Oda Army

 * Nobunaga Oda
 * Toshiie Maeda
 * Nagahide Niwa
 * Yoshinari Mori
 * Kicho
 * Katsuie Shibata
 * Tokichiro Kinoshita
 * Koroku Hachisuka
 * Yoshino
 * Amalia van Kyre
 * Ranmaru Mori
 * Kanbei Kuroda
 * Nagayoshi Mori
 * Oichi

Allies

 * Kazumasu Takigawa
 * Narimasa Sassa
 * Sessai Taigen
 * Oyuki
 * Ittetsu Inaba
 * Ujisato Gamo
 * Hanbei Takenaka
 * Tenkai Nankobo
 * Sakon Shima
 * Hanzō Hattori
 * Dominico Sanchez
 * Masanori Fukushima
 * Kiyomasa Kato
 * Otsune
 * Saizo Kani
 * Takatora Todo
 * Yoshitsugu Otani
 * Joki Kaisen
 * Ginchiyo Tachibana
 * Bokuden Tsukahara
 * Muneyoshi Yagyu
 * Musashi Miyamoto
 * Shikanosuke Yamanaka
 * Goemon Ishikawa
 * Keiji Maeda (with a Samurai Warriors savefile)
 * Ina ( with a Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends savefile)
 * Sen Rikyu (only with the Enjoy Disc from the Treasure Box set)
 * Kotaro Fuma
 * Matsu

NPC

 * Motoyasu Matsudaira
 * Tadakatsu Honda
 * Okatsu

Shogunate Forces

 * Yoshiaki Ashikaga
 * Fujinaga Isshiki
 * Fujitaka Hosokawa
 * Mitsuhide Akechi
 * Hidemitsu Akechi
 * Toshimitsu Saito
 * Murashige Araki
 * Nagayasu Miyoshi
 * Masayasu Miyoshi
 * Tomomichi Iwanari
 * Tatsuoki Saito
 * Teruzumi Akashi
 * Motochika Chosokabe
 * Yoshihiro Shimazu
 * Ujimasa Hojo
 * Terumoto Mori

Takeda Army

 * Shingen Takeda
 * Katsuyori Takeda
 * Nobukado Takeda
 * Masakage Yamagata
 * Masatoyo Naito
 * Nobuharu Baba
 * Baisetsu Nobukimi
 * Masayuki Sanada

Uesugi Army

 * Kenshin Uesugi
 * Kagekatsu Uesugi
 * Kanetsugu Naoe

Other Enemies

 * Nobukiyo Oda
 * Yoshimoto Imagawa
 * Samanosuke Yamaguchi
 * Nagamasa Azai
 * Yoshikage Asakura
 * Hisahide Matsunaga
 * Sandayu Momochi
 * Kennyo Honganji
 * Magoichi Saika
 * Masamune Date
 * Petro Cortez

Others

 * Dosan Saito
 * Luis Frois
 * Philip II

Battles

 * Okehazama
 * Inabayama
 * Echizen
 * Anegawa
 * Kyoto
 * Nagashino
 * Ishiyama Honganji
 * Kai Province