This game.... I would argue has the best opening song ever. "to shine from above"

Sadly a lot of people forget this game exists. I played it when I was a young kid and I remember crying when I finished the game with Sigfried. I was so scary when Soul Edge became stuck to his hand.

I STILL (STILL!!!) haven't beaten my dad yet, after roughly 20 years. He picks Li Long, and I'm good with ALL characters including Li Long. I've done absolutely everything in this game, collected all weapons... hell I even speedrun it... but I still can't beat my (now 50+ yo) father. Completely insane to me.

This game was MY LIFE back in 1997. Die Hard Game Fan magazine was a bunch of liars back then, too. Had my playing for hours trying to unlock hidden characters that didn't exist.

This game is a masterpiece. I also loved the edge master mode and still think all console versions of fighting games should have this sort of story mode.

Man this was my GAME as a kid. One of my favorite PS1 games. The amount of modes, alternate weapons, the graphics, the multiple music soundtracks (Khan Super Session is still one of my favorite fighting game soundtrack of all time) the multiple ending in arcade mode, and of course that godlike intro. This game had it all man, it’s STILL one of my favorite games in the SC series, outdated graphics and all.

Played this game sooooooooooooo much !! Intro is stuck in my head forever.

Welcome to the stage of history.

This game has one of the if not the best opening among fighting games...

Yep, this game was a huge part of my childhood. I remember thinking it was so amazing how you could kick people into the water in Li Long's stage and watch them sink. We were easily pleased in the 90s 😁

Soul Blade is arguably my favorite Ps1 fighting game.

I absolutely love this games. Back in the day, I used to think that the intro was endlessly rewatchable.

I'll never forget when Soul Edge was in the arcades! My favorite was Li Long and I would forever know the franchise seems to kill off the Nunchaku characters! Man, LiLong and Maxi could never get a break!

I had the Japanese version, although it was a pirated copy. I loved it. Soul Edge has some great memories and I think Namco out did themselves at the time when they made this game. Memorable characters, a crazy beautiful intro, a new battle system and fantastic background locations.

I doubt we will ever see a fighting game with as much to offer ever again. Once the paywalls went up, so much of what Soul Blade offered by default became pay gated content across the fighting genre as a whole. The series feels (to me) somewhat diminished of late. A return to form would be nice. The soul still burns!

Now I finally know why the name was changed to Soul Blade

Fantastic video! Was the first PlayStation game I was ever exposed to when a mate of mine in primary school got a PS in '97. Utterly blew my 10 year old mind, and was one of the first games I got with my own PS in '99. Loved the edge master mode, and sunk countless hours into it. For me, it definitely ranks as a tie with Tekken 3 for the best fighting game on the PS. Substance and style in spades.

Thanks for this amazing video,my friend. One of my favorite games of all time.

Best intro! I loved how there are two endings for each character depending on how you held used controls.

First game in a series that didn't follow it's naming standard. A pretty unique situation. Only other series that comes to mind is Red Dead Redemption

One of the few channels on youtube where I can sit through 20 mins + videos comfortably and not even notice it. Amazing stuff, keep it coming, I can't wait till you get to my favourite installment in the franchise, Soul Calibur 2.

first i was hooked on Tekken 3 this was our favorite game... but than way later i bought this cheap and boy ... the story mode was awesome!!

Top Hat does it again. Excellent!!!

That intro theme was life. Then Li Long got killed off the franchise 😤😤😢😢😭😭😡😡

When spend 5 hours binging ur fav utubers content that you missed Its 1am still going strong

There is a ton of Content in this game it spent many many hours spinning in my PS1

my older siblings and I grew up w/ this game and nothing will ever come close to it. It'll always hold a place in my heart

Loved this game too. Really enjoyed Soul Calibur 2 on the GameCube.

It was my first fighting game and nostalgia aside, I'm still amazed on how the lighting and particle effects still look to this day

A game way ahead of its time that did so much on top of the arcade version. Still great to play today

I loved this game still play it every so often

This was the first playstation game I bought; saved all my life savings at 12 years old. Made the choice based on the cover art alone (one of my best bets ever).

As a kid my dad bought me a 'chipped' PS1 with a bunch of games. It was my first console and this was the first game I ever completed. I remember playing a few rounds and thinking to myself 'i'm going to complete it', hours later I was at the final boss and I fu*#ing shat myself once I saw him and heard the music. It was epic and once I finally did it I felt so proud of myself, and that marks the start of my gaming life and the many wonderful experiences I've had since :)

Siegfried's stamp is one of my favourite fighting game moves ever.

Ha! I remember it blowing away other games I'd had at the time graphically - mad how things look in retrospect! Still got many hours out of collecting all the weapons for all the characters on the PlayStation 😁

I remember playing this cabinet in my local bowling alley as a kid and having my mind blown! thanks as always for the great retrospective

Soul Blade was the only game intro I listened to without skipping it. The intro sold it for me when I seen it on a news channel, it was a big deal

First time i played this game was way back in 2010 (Holy cow its been a decade lol) I was 14 years old at the time and it was the FIRST TIME i ever heard of any games in the series that came out before SoulCalibur 1. Due to how i was like back then i didnt like it as much as i do now. I was playing it on an emulator called ZiNC (and still do sometimes), and currently right now i mostly play the PS1 version. I love this game so much and i definitely appreciate being able to walk in the game without holding the guard button (unlike every game after Soul Edge). It was was also nice to play a Soul game that doesnt have any guest characters, not that its bad to have guest characters, but it is something that is overdone in my opinion especially nowadays with fighting games. Plus Soul Edge has THE BEST soundtrack because of the Kahn Super Session OST. By the way, thank you for bringing that up, most people would miss that somehow lol

Aw dude. I kinda missed the 32-bit era during high school, but I had a neighbor who was kind enough to lend me his PS1 and a handful of games, including this one. Naturally, my brother and I went nuts for hours trying to beat each other down in Soul Blade, but the real shocker was my stepdad, who pretty much hated all video games (outside of a brief addiction to Tetris and Wolfenstein 3D)....but man, this 40-something guy spending hours mastering Cervantes and Hwang was a beautiful moment of harmony in that house for the time we had the PS1. A few years later, after I had graduated college and moved to Japan, my little brother visited me and saw that I had a copy of Soul Edge and, sure enough, he asked me "Hey, can we do a round of Soul Blade for old time's sake?" You better believe we did. Thanks for sparking up some old warm memories, Top Hat Daddy.

Man how nostalgic to hear the ost of this game again. I remember managed to unlock all weapons, Sophitia!, Siegfried!, Soul edge, and Seoung Han Myong. Good game with terrific ost. Better than tekken 2

i love how you can minijump stab opponents on the ground in this game. too bad the removed that in the sequals. also the mechanic where you can lose your weapon was great and the clashing weapons

My friend's and I would play this game in the arcade every weekend, once it hit Playstation we could not stop playing this game. Please cover the other soul caliber games!!

Amazing game most epic fighting game opening ever. Blew my mind back in the day. Weapon mode was amazing. Dreamcast version next.

i was obsessed with this game. I HAD to beat it as every character to see their endings and secret "hold square" endings too. and the other weapons too

Yes please! Let's see some more Soul Calibur stuff!!

Great video. And yes, this game was amazing. I purchased it when I bought my first PlayStation and never stopped playing it. I wish there was a remake version of this game. I would love to play it again, but that opening theme song, best ever!!!!

Used to have a arcade machine around my elementary school I was so lucky I played it everyday and the raft stage was Epic

Amazing video, one of my favorite fighting game series.

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this game. The only Soul game I ever owned til 6. Hope you will continue with this and cover the Calibur games

I remember playing it at the arcade and some guy slammed the arcade buttons and looked at me saying "stop doing the same sh#t over and over" 😁

Sorry for being late to the party, but I have two key points: 1) I worked at Babbage's back in 1996, and our store had the game's intro showing on repeat. I used that video to sell SO MANY copies, it was amazing. 2) I sadly hurt my back in later years, but I used that time healing up to beat Edge Master mode with EVERY character. My favorites were Voldo, Li Long, Seung Mina, and Siegfried. One of the greatest games I ever played. Surpassed only by it's sequel Soul Calibur.

Soul Blade was indeed a fantastic title, but I will always have a soft spot for Bushido Blade.

the best opening cgi for a game ever which suited to the theme song plus Taki was a bonus

Hey, Top Hat Gaming Man. I have some suggested fighting and beat 'em up games that you should cover in future videos. Beat 'em Ups: Battle Circuit Knights of the Round The King of Dragons 64th Street: A Detective Story Warriors of Fate Fighting Force Die Hard Arcade Dynamite Cop Double Dragon (1987) Undercover Cops SpikeOut: Digital Battle Online Fighting games: SoulCalibur Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo 64) Dead or Alive (original) The King of Fighters '94 Tekken (original) Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix Virtua Fighter 2 X-Men: Children of the Atom Marvel Super Heroes (you know, the one game with only Marvel characters) Mega Man: The Power Battle Tech Romancer Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters Sonic Championship (known as Sonic the Fighters in Japan) Battle Arena Toshinden Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (1998 arcade game) Double Dragon (Neo Geo) Samurai Shodown II Mortal Kombat II Primal Rage World Heroes Savage Reign Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Super Dragon Ball Z Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Battle Arena Toshinden Bloody Roar Ultra Street Fighter IV Fighting Vipers BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

Name a 3-D fighter on the Saturn. This game ate it's lunch!

One of the best intros ever....and Cervantes theme which I consider to be one of gaming epic anthems even to this day.

I remember the first time I beat the game, I played as Hwang, and his ending creeped me out.

Another great video, mate I remember 'back in the day' when this game came out, it was something special & it still holds up today even for the Edge Master mode, iirc there were 70 weapons to unlock!

SoulBlade was one of the first 3-D fighters along with Tekken I ever fell in love with. I was 12 in 1997, got the GH SoulBlade, Tekken and Tekken 2 on PlayStation for X-Mas of '97

I'm one who always likes to see a series to its completion. Good games to completion is an even bigger bonus. Cheers.

Would love a straight port of Soul Calibur for the Switch.

One of the most slept on video game soundtracks of all time

I have an odd story regarding my copy of the North American Soul Edge. Yes, you read that right; Soul Edge! It was late fall of 1996, shortly before the Christmas season. For months I had been following the game on IGN and reading up on it in GamePro, patiently awaiting the day when I could play Tekken with swords! I found an add in the local Bargain Finder (think Kijiji or Gumtree) for " Soul Blade " and freaked out knowing that the game won't be released until the new year! Needless to say I begged my mom to drive me to the seller's house (kind of sad as I was 18 at the time) and that evening we went. Here is where things get interesting. When I met the seller at his door, he had 2 copies of Soul Edge; 1 Japanese and 1 NA. He asked me if I had a mod'd Playstation because if so I he'd sell me the Japanese copy for $20 less. I had no clue what a mod chip was (yet) so I went with the NA version (obviously as I live in Canada). He then pointed out that despite the game being labeled as " Soul Edge " it was in fact " Soul Blade "; Like I cared! I hurried back to the car and did not wait to rip off the packaging and cracked open the instruction book as we drove away. I assure you, the good reader, that the copy of Soul Edge was NOT a bootleg. It was a genuine region 1 NTSC Playstation disc, sealed new in package. The title Screen showed and said " Soul Edge " and the game was in full English. Here is where things get weird. There was only Original and Arranged options for the soundtrack, and the endings had no QuickTime events rather simply played out. Before someone says something along the lines of Mandela effect or misplaced memories, both my brothers as well as about a half dozens of my friends can back me up on this. I had the game early, and it was still named Soul Edge. Unfortunately the game was stolen at my brother's party 2 years later (along with my memory cards that contained a 100% complete FFVII save file) so I can't show physical proof. I did pick up the game again in the following months, but alas it was merely a generic copy of Soul Blade. To this day my brothers and I still refer to the series as Soul Edge ever after we got far more playtime with the following Dreamcast, GC, and PS2 sequels titled Soul Calibre. It's what we grew up on!

Best fighting game of all time I'd say. Nothing has beaten it since. It was just SO intriguing... each character's storyline had me gripped, I felt I was IN the game itself.

Havent seen the vid, but you get a like cause i love soul blade! Everyone forgets it was the first one!

Yes to the Soul Calibur 🙌 Transcending the world and it's history... A tale of Souls, and Tophats. Eternally retold!

I love this channel. Love the nostalgia trip. Soul blade was one of my top fighting games. ...but is that Obama at 4:33?? 😂😂😂

The intro alone made this one of the best PS1 games.

Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords eternally retold...

Great work. Would love to see more from this series!

Top Hat Gaming Man, you should cover the original Dead or Alive. Can you please cover that game in a future video?

Glad you got to this game. As seminal as they come.

Great video as always! Those groaners at the start though! Hahahahaha! I still consider this my favorite in the series. Soul Calibur is a strong second, but I don't think the sequels ever managed to be as enjoyable or as ground breaking as this one. That Edge Master mode that allowed the unlocking of weapons with different stats was amazing! While the sequels would have similar modes, I feel this one had the best. It was just such a complete package; I don't think it's ever been eclipsed.

My favorite fighting game on the PS1. This, the original Guilty Gear and Bushido Blade 2. I like how they made Siegfried's ending the canon one

Super Khan session ost is ultimate chef’s kiss!!!!

This game used to be my favorite game to play on my PS1 back in the day.

This is still my favorite game in the series. The PS1 version added the edge master mode and a horde of alternate weapons for each character. The art direction was still realistic and had not tuned into anime nonsense. This game also had my favorite version of the edge master mode. Same with the music . This game is grossly underrated.

the grueling battle ended with the victory oh Sophitia 😁

Who played this game at the time and then later played Soul Calibur on Dreamcast when it came out? That game completely blew Soul Blade out of the water, and Soul Blade was already one of the very best playing/sounding/looking PSX games, yet somehow Soul Calibur utterly destroyed it in every way. It's possibly the closest thing to a "perfect" game to ever be released. It had everything and zero flaws. It was also hands down the best looking game i'd ever seen on a home platform, including high-end PC's of the time. The only thing that could compete were certain Sega Model 3 arcade games, like Daytona USA 2, and that was running on £12K+ hardware. So while i have fond memories of Soul Blade, it's Soul Calibur on Dreamcast that i always think of when i hear that name.

The song epic calling is like church music in my life. I still play arranged version in my cars music box to this day. Li longs stage. Howrangs stage.Are still playing in random mode!!

remember seeing the arcade cab as a kid just recently started playing this as a long time soul calibur fan its cool to see where it came from

I still have my copy of Soul Blade

I loved playing Soul Blade. The Kahn score was excellent, and I miss the weapon break feature. Wasn't there a game by the name Soul Edge in America already? I thought that was why they change the name of the game in the states?

One of best fighting games of all time !!!!!! ... I fell in love with this game at 6 years old on the Playstation 1 in the mid 90s ... I'm 31 now and we now are on the Playstation 5 ... I still believe this is one of the best fighting games of all time. .. the best in the series no doubt .. this game alone has made me a lifelong Playstation Nation gamer!! 🎮

I used to have this game and it's a classic for sure

The hidden characters in the game was fun to unlock i think there was 3 of them

the opening is one of the memorable experiences I had almost 30 years ago

KZfaq surprised me with amazing game channels everyday this week. I’m thankful

I would ask you to do a video on Garou Mark of the Wolves but I already know that you will :)

Playing now, after whatching this video

Great Vidéo. Many thanks for the quality of the analysis of the era that Soul Edge come in. Please continue to talk about the franchise from Each era/ Generation of Consoles to date.

BEST FIGHTING GAME OPENING MOVIE EVER!!

Yeah do more soul calibre videos please , I've just ordered a copy today of soul blade, looking forward to playing it again,

Cervantes's theme 🖤

first game of PlayStation I played was this and Tekken in an arcade. Memories

Isn't Taki's bio wrong? It was stated her daggers were losing power so she wanted a shard of it to reforge it so she can seal demons still, in the sequel its stated she got her wish.

Can you look at the first Soul Calibur game👹🗡👻

Just got into the franchise. been playing this and Calibur. Taki is my favorite b)

The one thing I recall about this game is it's catchy opening theme "Edge of Soul".

I was so excited for a weapons based beat em up that was smooth! Man this game was incredible, i have to agree that the character graphics In game play wasn't great in comparison to some, but tbh it worked so well i never cared! I can understand you didn't want to give away endings but Mitsurugi's ending was very unique shame it wasn't mentioned. Did you know? (You probably do, but in case you don't) 1. Mitsurugi is also a Sword fighting Martial Art? 2. Khan Super Sessions - The Edge of Soul (intro song) is an actual song and is longer? 3. There's an official soundtracks for all the music aswell? It's so innovative, it's a shame Soul Calibur didn't take on the same innovations. Soul Calibur great game though. I would of preferred Soul Calibur II to of had a different name so you could have Souledge/blade, Soul Calibur, Then i dunno Soulgauge or something like that carrying on a series of names. However marketing nightmare 😆 Still loving your stuff man hopefully i'll be caught up soon and i can join in on comments in real time! 😆😆