Warriors of Fate, is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up game 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 Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on September 18, 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 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. One or more of Wei’s generals appears at the end of each stage as a boss – e.g., Li Dian, Xiahou Dun, Xu Chu, Cao Ren, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and the infamous Lu Bu as the final boss. After defeating them all, Cao Cao himself must be confronted and defeated before he escapes. 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 levels. 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 the long bow for Huang Zhong). Each character except Zhao Yun was given a special wrestling throw of their own. Unlike the first game, Dynasty Wars, Liu Bei is not playable. The playable characters are Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, four of the famous Five Tiger Generals, and Wei Yan. (In the US version, they are named Portor, Kassar, Subutai, Kadan, and Abaka respectively.)