The heroes of the dynasty are back to save China... once more. note
Warriors of Fate, originally titled Tenchi wo Kurau II: Sekiheki no Tatakai (Devouring Heaven and Earth II: The Battle of Red Cliffs) is a 1992 Beat 'em Up action game developed by Capcom and the sequel to Dynasty Wars. Just like it's predecessor, it's adapted from the Shonen Jump manga Tenchi wo Kurau
, which in turn was inspired by the classical Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Following the events of Dynasty Wars, after the defeat of Dong Zhuo, a new warlord and tyrant, Cao Cao, had risen in power, establishing the Wei Empire in the North. Liu Bei, having established himself as the Emperor of the Shu Kingdom, but nearly losing his family in the backstory, learns of Cao Cao's ambitions to expand his territory by conquering all in his path, with the Wei Empire's navy sweeping all over China leaving entire cities in ruins. A desperate Liu Bei then sends his best warriors to intercept Cao Cao's army before the Shu Kingdom can be destroyed.
The game is a somewhat loose adaptation of the Battle of Bowang (AD 202) and Battle of Red Cliffs (AD 208–209) from real-life, where the heroes of the Shu Empire defend their kingdom from Cao Cao's forces, fighting the Wei army across multiple cities before a final confrontation on the Red Cliffs.
The Five Playable Heroes
- Guan Yu (Portor in the English release), the infamous General of the Three Kingdoms era, a mighty Frontline General just the way he is portrayed in history and the myths. Also an easy-to-use Jack of All Stats for players.
- Zhang Fei (Kassar in the English release), the close friend of Guan Yu and his second-in-command as well as a ferocious Blood Knight who craves the blood of his enemies. The Big Guy and Mighty Glacier who deals heavy damage from close range.
- Zhao Yun (Subutai in the English release), the newly-promoted captain who's famed for rescuing his master, Liu Bei's newborn baby son from hordes and hordes of enemies, and a capable Master Swordsman and Fragile Speedster.
- Huang Zhong (Kadan in the English release), an Old Soldier and Cool Old Guy who's equally easy to use as the other comparably younger heroes. A master archer whose bow and quiver holds an infinity amount of arrows, giving him advantage in range for players using him.
- Wei Yan (Abaka in the English release), a more recent recruit of the Shu Army, and a somewhat odd choice in a roster among the playable heroes (since most Three Kingdoms adaptations would focus on the three brothers, and occasionally Zhao Yun). His moveset is more or less the same as Zhao Yun's.
The game was notably repackaged as part of Capcom's Beat 'em Up bundle re-released in 2018.
Warriors of Fate contains examples of:
- Adapted Out: Just like the previous game, the original manga's fantasy elements are all but absent from this game.
- Armor Is Useless: Being based on Tenchi wo Kurau, neither Guan Yu nor Zhang Fei go into battle wearing armor - just a tunic and a clothing. They are just as durable as their fellow warriors, who all wear armor.
- Battle Amongst the Flames:
- The battle against Xu Chu is set inside a burning fortress.
- Given the game is an adaptation of the Battle of Red Cliffs, the iconic scene from the novel with a naval battle atop burning boats is faithfully recreated here.
- Bowdlerise: The iconic scene where Liu Bei's wife hands her baby son to the heroes (in the manga and novel it's Zhao Yun, in the game its the current character being used) before throwing herself down a well to escape the invading Wei army is cut from the World release.
- Carry a Big Stick: Some enemy soldiers are armed with dual maces. And occasionally you can pick up massive spiked maces that, when striking a mook whose health is at a fraction, turn the unfortunate mook into Ludicrous Gibs instantly. There's also a few bosses like Zhang Liao (Kublai-Dakan in the English version) who use a long mace.
- Crate Expectations: Like every good arcade beat 'em up, smashing crates will reveal weapons, food, or objects for points. Oddly enough, the crates appear to be of a modern-day design, despite the setting being in ancient China.
- Demoted to Extra: Liu Bei was one of the main characters from the previous game, but after his ascencion to the throne, he's now relegated to a governing position out of the battlefield, and thus stays out of action for the entirety of the game. He does get to play as the Big Good, though.
- Dual Boss: Yuan Ming and Xia-hou Jie (Jerrek and Basadas in English version) from the sixth stage attacks at the same time, and both must be defeated to complete their level.
- Dual Wielding: Some of the mooks use twin knives for close combat. Cao Ren (Atika in the English version), a boss from halfway, uses his sword and a spiked mace in tandem.
- Eating Contest: After completing each stage, the game will occasionally throw a mini-game where the player characters compete in a victory feast, with the highest amount of points given to the player who cleaned their plates in the shortest amount of time. There's a LOT of food on their banquet table, too: six mantou, three slabs of roast, and a whole chicken...
- Flunky Boss: All of them, except (strangely enough) the Final Boss, Cao Cao, where the players will have to contend with various mooks while facing their generals. This includes even the three Dark Action Girl assasins, which doesn't make sense since you're fighting in Liu Bei's palace (a.k.a your own territory) - the three assassins probably snuck in themselves by disguising as concubines, but the army of mooks?
- Giant Mook: Oversized, muscular, bare-chested mercenaries who fights unarmed, but simply towers above the rest of the mooks. They can choke quite a bit of life from you with a Killer Bear Hug if you let your guard down.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: When playing as Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, they go in the battlefield bare handed (they only get their Serpent Spear and Green Dragon Blade if they're mounted on a horse). It deals the same amount of damage as swords wielded by Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, and Huang Zhong.
- The Goomba: The lowest-ranked infantrymen of Cao Cao's army are hardly a significant threat, appearing in large numbers but can be killed easily. They do have a special move that have them clinging on your characters' backs and hacking at you furiously, but even that can be shrugged off without too much effort.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: As usual, Liu Bei and the forces of Shu Han are treated as unambiguously heroic and virtuous.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Also as per the norm, Cao Cao is treated as an evil despot whose rule would bring untold bloodshed and suffering.
- Hufflepuff House: The Kingdom of Wu, the last of the eponymous three kingdoms of the era, plays a very minor role in the story. Its ruler Sun Quan and his advisor Lu Su appear between the fourth and fifth stages so the heroes can bring Zhuge Liang's proposal for an alliance to defeat Cao Cao to them. They then are never seen or mentioned again and the kingdom itself is promptly swept aside during both endings, apparently putting up very little resistance against either Cao Cao (in the bad ending) or Liu Bei (in the good ending).
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Your characters regain health by feasting on various gourmet, including mantao, dumplings, pot roasts, noodles, and a complete Peking Duck which boosts your health to maximum.
- Man Bites Man: In one of Zhang Fei's special moves, he will grab and bite his nearest enemy multiple times, with a gory red geyser coming out.
- Mook Carryover: Lu Bu (Temujin-Khan in the English release) in this game is revealed to be serving Cao Cao, somehow, after his defeat from the previous game. Despite their real-life equivalents having much more opposing relationship in real life.
- Ms. Fanservice: The female spectators of Stages 5 & 6 are this, giving a good view of their ample bottoms to the camera.
- Multiple Endings: There are two endings, in fact, depending on whether you managed to defeat Cao Cao in the final stage.
- Bad Ending: Cao Cao pulls a Disney Villain Death by seemingly throwing himself off a waterfall. Your heroes, who assumed Cao Cao to be dead, returns to the capital city to celebrate. Only for the story to reveal that Cao Cao is still alive, went back and re-established his army, now stronger than ever, and returns to conquer the entirety of China.
- Golden Ending: Cao Cao is defeated and captured. With the invasion thwarted, the players return to the Shu Kingdom as heroes, as China prospers in the glorious reign of the Kingdom of Shu for centuries to come.
- Never Found the Body: In the Bad Ending: Your heroes assumed Cao Cao to be dead after the villain throws himself down a waterfall, and returns to the capital city to celebrate. Alas, Cao Cao is still alive, and eventually conquers China.
- Palette Swap: A few enemies, including the low-level infantrymen, those archers in turbans, chubby mooks with maces, muscular bare-chested brutes and several others are made of recycled and recolored sprites.
- Post-Script Season: This game serves as one for the manga, which ended after the defeat of Dong Zhuo.
- Sleepy Enemy: The game has levels where you infiltrate Cao Cao's outposts. The guards in the areas are asleep with some of them even holding wine bottles, but trying to tiptoe past them will wake them up and cause them to attack you. It's preferable that you strike the nearest sleeping enemy and take down a few before they realize your presence.
- Spin Attack: All four of the playable characters can execute a spinning move by pressing a combination of the attack and jump button, for knocking out surrounding enemies.
- Summon a Ride: The game have certain areas where you can collect gongs. Picking up one will have the sound of a gong going off, followed by a horse instantly coming to your side, which makes you faster and give you a height advantage over most mooks.
- Spinning Piledriver: Guan Yu and Zhang Fei both have a special piledriver move that deals severe damage on enemies.
- This Cannot Be!: Cao Cao says this word-for-word after his defeat."No! This cannot be true! How can I possibly have been defeated by you!"
- Throw a Barrel at It: Sometimes mooks can throw barrels at you. Other times you can find barrels as obstacles, where you can smash them or just a low kick to send them rolling into enemies.
- Time-Limit Boss: The Final Boss, Cao Cao, is pathetically easy to kill with only a small health bar and a minor thrown bomb attack. However, if you don't kill him within the fifteen second time limit, he escapes and you get the Bad Ending.
- Weapon Specialization: Lu Bu, the second-to-last boss, uses a whip as his sidearm. Oddly enough while Lu Bu has been depicted in multiple media involving the Three Kingdoms, this is the only one where he's shown preferring using a whip as a weapon.
- Wolfpack Boss: Three Dark Action Girl female assassins - Mei-Mei, Mei-Ling and Mei-Ya - sent by Cao Cao attacks you in tandem, all at once, at the end of one level.
