Kessen III

Kessen III is an action-strategy game and the final known Kessen title. It implements gameplay elements from the Warriors series and the longest title of the three. The game claims to recount the history of the Samurai Warriors characters (a similar claim was also made for Saihai no Yukue). In the game's manual, the producer gives the following foreword:

''"Kessen III" represents a new style of game play, standing at the confluence of Action and Strategy geners, which unifies the worlds of interactive entertainment and cinema. May you be carried away in the excitement of battle and the thrill of commanding legions of your own troops in your quest for peace and power.''

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 adopts a new attire various times throughout the game. As time passes, Tokichiro and Motoyasu will also be called by their recognizable historical names.

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

Main Army

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

Additional Allies

 * Kazumasu Takigawa
 * Narimasa Sassa
 * Sessai Taigen
 * Oyuki
 * Ittetsu Inaba
 * Ujisato Gamo
 * Hanbei Takenaka
 * Tenkai Nankobo
 * Sakon Shima
 * Hanzō Hattori
 * Sanchez
 * Masanori Fukushima
 * Kiyomasa Kato
 * Otsune
 * Saizo Kani
 * Takatora Todo
 * Yoshitsugu Otani
 * Joki Kaisen
 * Ginchiyo
 * 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 - originally exclusive to the Enjoy Disc but also available for the US release

NPC allies

 * Motoyasu Matsudaira
 * Tadakatsu Honda
 * Okatsu

Shogunate Forces

 * Yoshiaki Ashikaga
 * Fujinaga Isshiki
 * Fujitaka Hosokawa
 * Mitsuhide Akechi
 * Toshimitsu Saito
 * Murashige Araki
 * Nagayasu Miyoshi
 * Masayasu Miyoshi
 * Tomomichi Iwanari
 * Tatsuoki Saito

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

Sub Enemies

 * Yoshimoto Imagawa
 * Nagamasa Azai
 * Yoshikage Asakura
 * Hisahide Matsunaga
 * Tanba Momochi
 * Terumoto Mori
 * Kennyo Honganji
 * Magoichi Saika
 * Masamune Date
 * Petro

Others

 * Dosan Saito
 * Luis Frois
 * Philip II of Spain

Allusions

 * Super-deformed dolls of Da Qiao and Yukimura Sanada appear as two objects from Tokichiro's goods. Nobunaga says he'll take everything the merchant has and two soldiers run off with the dolls.
 * When Toshiie first starts out, he is seen wielding Yukimura's third weapon from Samurai Warriors.
 * Ieyasu's theme in this game is a reprise of his music from Kessen.