Warriors of Fate

Warriors of Fate is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up produced by Capcom. It is the second arcade game based on the Tenchi wo Kurau manga, following Dynasty Wars. Originally released to arcades in 1992, home versions of the Sega Saturn and PlayStation were released in 1996. A version for mobile phones followed in 2005. Capcom later included an emulated version of the arcade original as part of the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle released digitally for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows in 2018.

Gameplay
Warriors of Fate is a beat'em up with nine stages. Each contains large mobs including spearman, archers, strongmen, bomb-wielding opponents, and at least one Wei boss. There can be up to three players on-screen at the same time. Using two buttons, Attack and Jump, the characters all have standard moves typical of Capcom side-scrollers of the day. Common enemies including Wei soldiers such as bandits, privatees, wrestlers, fatties and thieves will keep popping up from everywhere. In the end of each stage there is a Wei general as stage bosses, e.g., Li Dian, Xiahou Dun, Xu Chu, Zhang Liao, Cao Ren, Xu Huang, the infamous Lu Bu as final boss. After defeating them all, there is also Cao Cao himself who would try to escape. The game also has two bonus stages that require rapid pressing of buttons.

There is also a variety of weapons in the game which can be picked up. As with most side-scrollers, food is used to replenish health and can be found in various breakable containers in the game level. One notable feature of the game is the ability to summon a warhorse which adds more attacks to the characters, generally involving pole-arms (except long bow for Huang Zhong). Each character except Zhao Yun was given a special wrestling throw of their own, like in Final Fight and The Punisher. Unlike the first game, Dynasty Wars, Liu Bei is not playable. The playable characters are Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, four of the famous Five Tiger Generals, and Wei Yan (in the US version, they are named Portor, Kassar, Subtai, Kadan, and Abaka respectively).

Story
In the Japanese version, Tenchi wo Kurau II follows Liu Bei's plight in Jingzhou from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a history-based novel from China, set in the Three Kingdoms period as Cao Cao sets to invade his lands. In Warriors of Fate, Shu Han, led by Liu Bei, as in the novel, was everything "good" and "righteous", while Wei, led by the ever suspicious and cunning Cao Cao, is portrayed as "evil" and "bad". Liu Bei's warriors begin by fighting Cao Cao's forces at the Battle of Bowang, then Battle of Changban, then finally join up with Sun Quan to fight at the Battle of Red Cliff. If the Five Tigers slays Cao Cao, Wu and Shu join forces and unites Wei and returns the Han back to rule and restore peace, if not Cao Cao escape and history continues as intended with the land in turmoil and the eventual demise of Shu.

In the English adaptation, however, the Three Kingdoms theme was lost, and most names have been changed to names of Mongolian origin. The story takes place in a fictional realm where the evil overlord Akkila-Orkhan (originally Cao Cao) of Shang-Lo tries to conquer his neighbouring countries, converting them into ruin and despair. Kuan-Ti (originally Liu Bei), with the aid of the five great warriors, stands up against the conquering shadow and fights to defend his people and lands.