Kanegasaki

	Retreat from Kanegasaki
Date	June 1570
Location	Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture
Result	The Oda and Tokugawa successfully retreat.
Forces
Oda; Tokugawa	Azai; Asakura
Commanders
Nobunaga Oda; Ieyasu Tokugawa	Nagamasa Azai; Yoshikage Asakura

The Battle of Kanegasaki (金ヶ崎の戦い) refers to the Oda army's forced retreat from the Azai-Asakura alliance. This battle is the first mark of Nagamasa's betrayal to the Oda, and Hideyoshi's rear defense for his lord's escape is one of his fabled accomplishments under Nobunaga.

Role in Games[]

Samurai Warriors[]

The battle first appears in Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends, even though it shares the same map as Anegawa. It is featured in Hideyoshi, Ina and Tadakatsu's stories. Nobunaga is not present in the retreat, and Nagamasa appears later in the skirmish. Hideyoshi first lures a few enemy generals into Magoichi's ambush, where the latter suddenly eliminates them. Keiji appears shortly afterwards, and the group must make their way to the escape point. At a certain point, Nagamasa and Oichi appear and they begin to charge the fleeing Oda-Tokugawa army. The player must defeat Nagamasa to win the battle.

The battle is revamped in Samurai Warriors 2, and is presented as its own map. Oichi gets Kanegasaki as her second stage, and Nagamsa gets Kanegaski as his fifth stage. On the Azai-Asakura side, the player must quickly pursue Nobunaga (who is present this time in the retreat) before he reaches the escape point. Aiding the Asakura army helps the player to receive reinforcements. Many Oda officers, such as Katsuie and Magoichi, also appear as the player begins to reach Nobunaga. In Nagamasa's version, it has a hypothetical twist where the Azai army surprisingly joins the Oda-Tokugawa alliance after preventing Nobunaga from reaching the escape point to take down the Yoshikage Asakura, who Nagamasa claims to be their true enemy.

The Oda-Tokugawa version requires the player to safely aid Nobunaga's retreat, while defeating all of the enemy ambushes. When Nobunaga is about to reach the escape point, the main army of Azai-Asakura appear and they quickly begin to pursue Nobunaga. The player is not required to defeat them, instead protecting Nobunaga's retreat remains the main objective. Only Mitsuhide gets the Oda side as his first stage.

In the second expansion, Toshie gets Kanegasaki as his second stage, specifically for the Oda side. The difference from Mitsuhide's version is that only Nobunaga and Hideyoshi is available as allies and enemy reinforcements shows up trying to stop Nobunaga as the player progresses through the stage. Nagamasa and Oichi will also show up near the end of the stage and try to stop Nobunaga, in which the player must defeat.

This map is also used during Magoichi's story mode, where he has shoot Nobunaga during Mitsuhide's betrayal. As his assassination is quickly noticed Magoichi escapes from Honnōji and wanders through the Kyoto passage. The map is filled with mist and no mini-map is visible. During the stage, Magoichi can rescue peasants and defeat the remaining fake versions of the Oda/Akechi army, including Noh, Ranmaru, and Nobunaga. Kotaro later shows up near the end of the battle after Nobunaga's defeat, in which the player must defeat. The endless escape ultimately ends when Hideyoshi finds the wandering Magoichi.

Musashi's tournament of champions uses also this map, though it is set in the evening instead of night. He competes against the greatest warriors all over the land, including Keiji, Tadakatsu and Sakon. The climax of the event is a duel with Kojirō, who only appears if the player has impressed him enough with swordsmanship skills.

Kanegasaki returns in the third title and its map is based on Iga (like Hanzō's first stage). It serves as Hideyoshi's third chapter in his story, as well as Nobunaga's second chapter on the Oda side. For Hideyoshi's version, Nene, Hanbei, and Kanbei also support Nobunaga's escape as well. The player will need to defeat Nagamasa in order to open up a path to the escape point, which is located southeast.

The Azai side is only exclusive for Nagamasa's third chapter. First, the player must find Nobunaga in each forests, only to find Mitsuhide instead. Ieyasu will then show up and attack Yoshikage Asakura, in which the player must protect him and defeat Ieyasu, or else it is a defeat for the Azai side. After Ieyasu is defeated, Nobunaga and Hideyoshi shows up. Unlike the Oda side in which the Escape Point is located southeast, Nobunaga's Escape Point is actually Northeast. Player must quickly defeat Hideyoshi before they can catch up to Nobunaga, or else the stage will fail.

In the Xtreme Legends expansion, only Noh gets Kanegasaki as her third chapter, specifically for the Oda side. Like Nagamasa's version, the Escape Point is located Northeast. Player will need to escort Nobunaga while defeating the Azai/Asakura army, including Oichi and Nagamasa.

In Samurai Warriors 4, this battle is the fourth in the Oda story. Nobunaga cannot be controlled and escapes quickly, once Hisahide Matsunaga negotiates with Mototsuna Kutsuki to secure safe passage to Kyoto. Upon Nobunaga's escape, the other Oda officers have to escape in various directions and must be protected, if too many fall, the stage ends in defeat. Once they've been protected, Nagamasa Azai and Yoshikage Asakura arrive, defeating them both ends the battle. The Azai version features Hideyoshi and his forces left, with Nobunaga Oda having already fled the scene entirely. Toshiie Maeda and Keiji Maeda put up a strong front defense for the surrounded Oda forces, the plan is to slowly encircle and take out other parts of the Oda forces as they look for their opening to escape. Takatora Tōdō and Yoshitsugu Ōtani play an important role in hindering the Oda forces here. Soon after, officers such as Noh and Hisahide Matsunaga seek to escape, defeating them will prompt Hideyoshi to open his gates and be the final obstacle.

In Samurai Warriors 5, this stage appears as the first in chapter 4. Unlike past titles, the Tokugawa are not a part of this battle in any capacity. For the Oda forces, it features the capture of Kanegasaki castle and then the escape from Kanegasaki while Mitsuhide's starts with the castle already seized. In any case, once the initial Asakura waves have been routed, Yoshikage calls for Nagamasa's help. Though Nagamasa looks like a welcome presence at first, he soon turns against the Oda for breaching the conditions of their alliance. To help Nobunaga escape, Oichi and surprisingly Katsuie must be defeated to secure the northwestern escape route. In Nobunaga's version, reaching the escape point marks the end of the stage, in Mitsuhide's, once Nobunaga escapes, Nagamasa Azai must be defeated and no enemy officers are allowed to enter the escape point, which Toshiie Maeda stays behind to defend.

After the battle, there is a sniper in the woods who is aiming to take out Nobunaga, Noh sees it and gets in the way of the shot, protecting her beloved and dying there, hardening Nobunaga's heart. Mitsuki pursues the sniper but is unable to see anything more than their bird-like crest, which is later revealed to be that of the Saika Renegades. The hypothetical version starts off similar to Mitsuhide's version but once Nobunaga and Noh work better in sync to dispatch the Azai forces, they are able to uncover Magoichi and the Saika renegades in hiding to the left, where Magoichi is now no longer able to kill Noh. His defeat here ensures Noh's safety for the reverie chapter.

Warriors Orochi[]

A daytime version of Kanegasaki is featured during the first two Warriors Orochi titles. In the first game, Masamune attempts to destroy the main resistance by raiding their undermanned stronghold. Huang Zhong, who is in command of the area, will send a lone messenger for reinforcements. Lu Bu may also try to disrupt the messenger until Tadakatsu Honda arrives to challenge him. If the messenger makes it through the northwest route, reinforcements led by Xiao Qiao will arrive. If the messenger makes it without the player losing a single officer and the reinforcements came, they can impress Tadakatsu.

In the sequel, this battlefield serves as Wu's second stage, play as Ling Tong. Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao act as third party allies while the enemy commander Dong Zhuo is in hiding. Once Goemon confesses the tyrant's location upon his defeat, the player must accompany Xiao Qiao and Okuni at the western part of the map. Once the enemy's main forces have been drawn out, swiftly defeat Dong Zhuo to end the battle. After the battle, Zhou Yu, Xiao Qiao, and Goemon joins Wu.

This serves as the location of the underworld in the events of Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate. The coalition first visit it before entering Yggdrasil, fighting off Odin first before engaging in a climatic confrontation with Orochi's forces once and for all. With the Greeks, Mystics and Other Warriors working together, they manage to overcome Orochi and put him to his final rest. The demons led by Da Ji surrender this time, working with the coalition in future battles. This also appears in a flashback stage where Odin takes trials in the Underworld to return to the living. Hades lets him escape as he is 'impressed' by Odin but this is later revealed to be a ruse when all Hades really wanted was to use Odin's fear of death to harness Yggdrasil's power for himself in the future. The coalition visit the underworld again when they learn Hades is bad, and many warriors of the coalition have to face phantom versions of themselves in order to obtain the Sacred Bident.

Kessen[]

In Kessen III, this battle is one of the major battles in chapter 4. Nobunaga at first plans to attack what he perceives to be the defenseless Asakura in Echizen. While he knows this breeches the alliance he has with Nagamasa, he plans to keep it a secret from his brother-in-law, believing in the latter's character. He does this battle without Ieyasu's help. Nobunaga's men perform the normal procedures until an urgent report states that Nagamasa has betrayed them and is charging the Oda's rear. Nobunaga orders an emergency retreat to Gifu while Hideyoshi volunteers to act as the rear guard.

The main objective of the stage is to have Nobunaga reach the escape point within the alloted time limit. Hideyoshi and two other officers stay on the river bank and withstand the enemy onslaught at the southern part of the map. Nobunaga and his vassals run uphill and curve around the map's forested area along the mountain path. He needs to keep going until he reaches the shining goal point on the other side. He is first assaulted by the Asakura troops and the Azai troops, including Nagamasa, ambush him as he continues forward. While the Asakura have the larger numbers, the Azai troops are the biggest threat to Nobunaga's safety.

Ideally, players should succeed with minimal casualties in this conflict. It helps to switch between both battalions and to only send out their best officers. If players clear the battle with Hideyoshi still alive, Masanori Fukushima will join Nobunaga's army as a secondary officer.

Game Nihonshi Kakumeiji[]

This battle initially pits Nobunaga's forces against the Asakura, though the situation will turn for the worse once Nagamasa's troops arrive as enemy reinforcements. After defeating every hostile unit, the player must move Nobunaga to the western castle in time to clear the stage.