Why does Soul Blade have three soundtracks?

Because Namco would not choose. So the player does.

Home conversions usually lose things. The PlayStation version of Soul Blade (Soul Edge in Japan, 1996) gained two entire soundtracks. It shipped with three complete scores the player can switch between: the arcade original, a rearranged studio version of that score, and a third written from scratch for the home release.

That third score is the Khan Super Session: sixteen new tracks by the band Khan, led by Benten Maru, working with composers Taku Iwasaki, Masumi Ito, Yoshiyuki Ito, and Aki Hata. Where the arcade score, largely by Takayuki Aihara, plays the sixteenth century straight, Khan plays it as world fusion, rock, jazz, funk, and vocal pop, including the full version of the intro song, The Edge of Soul. Its album, released December 18, 1996, is the home score preserved on CD.

THREE SCORES, ONE DISC

Arcade, arranged, and brand new

Soul Edge · Japan, 1996

The Japanese release, where all three scores debuted together. A fighting game had never carried this much music before, and few have since.

Soul Blade · America, 1997

The Western release kept all three scores intact, under the changed name the Library's Soul Blade pages explain.

Longer Than a Round

Most Khan Super Session tracks run far longer than any single bout lasts. Players who wanted the whole songs used the game's sound test, which turned a fighting game into its own album player.

Edge Master Mode

The new score was showcased in Edge Master Mode, the home version's adventure style addition, so the mode built to sell the port was also the stage built to sell its new music.

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Why does Soul Blade have three soundtracks?

THREE SCORES, ONE DISC

THE FIRST WORD