What is the best melee focused game of all time?

POWER STONE!!!

In all seriousness though, I voted for Bayonetta.

Oh man, this is so difficult for me to choose between Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, Ninja Gaiden Black, and Ninja Gaiden 2. All four are my favourites and I could pick one on any given day. I will go with Ninja Gaiden Black today though.

In which genre?
Plenty of different types of games utilize a melee combat system. Dying Light, Tekken, Dead Rising, Devil May Cry, The Technomancer, Streets of Rage etc.

Dark Souls 2 for me, it was my first souls game so the experience I had with with has not been matched.

Any genre, the only requisite is being a game focused on melee combat.

Ninja Gaiden

Nothing beats that.

Dragon's Dogma, nothing else comes close. The game has some massive flaws but combat is the area second to none. It was so well designed that it didn't even need a lock-on system. Made classes more than just a stat change, stabbing/ smashing a dragons belly as it takes flight is awesome, and stunning enemies for a grab and throw is beyond humorous.

I would otherwise give it to Ninja Gaiden Black, Bayonetta, or Bloodborne.

It's tough because many of these have strengths and flaws.

However, for raw melee combat? I'm still convinced Dogma is untouchable.

The first Virtua Fighter ... Soul Calibur

Double Dragon

Devil May Cry 3 ( the original super hard game )

Mount and Blade: Warband is probably the best of them. It isn't as flashy as Bayonetta or Bloodborne, but the melee combat is spectacular in its own way.

Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden.

In that case I suppose it must be Street Fighter 2 Turbo for the sake that it focuses solely on Melee combat and the impact it had in the Industry.

@RSM-HQ: Combat is not the only parameter tho, that said, i'm very excited to play Dragon's Dogma on PC.

@Planeforger: Mount and Blade is cool but very rough around the edges imo, not even close as an all-around game.

@Treflis: I don't think a fighting game can compete with the sheer grandiosity of some of these games, but to each his own.

Fighting games ( beat'em-ups) tend to be the most melee focused games since they entirely revolve around using a melee combat system to defeat an opponent in a arena.

Games like Dark Souls, Devil may cry, Condemned Criminal Origins also has Melee combat but they also focuses on other elements like exploration, leveling system, loot retrival. Meaning it is not the sole focus. If one asked which game that contained a melee combat system that I thought was the best, I'd go with Condemned Criminal Origins.

But if Melee combat is to be the sole focus in a game, Then games like Street Fighter, Tekken, Dead or Alive, Toshinden etc. has that focus. Among them, Street Fighter 2 Turbo had the biggest impact in the industry, with Mortal Kombat gnawing at it's heels for being a large reason as to why there are now "age restrictions" on video games.

So that's why I think Street Fighter 2 Turbo holds that title.

It has to be Tekken with between 100-200 unique moves for each of the 40 individual characters that the game usually has. Non of the games on the list you made are close to what you see in the fighting game genre when it comes to melee combat in videogames

@brenobnfm: The question was about combat, melee to be exact. So for me Dragons Dogma took priority. I love a lot of the games listed, but many of them have range focus and buffs/ debuffs.

Even though Dragon's Dogma has them as well, its attention to melee combat is a huge draw to the game. Something about Dogma just feels more raw and up close than everything else. I really hope they build on it with a true sequel because Dragons Dogma Online took it back a few steps and that wasn't a good idea.

Smash Bros Melee xD

None of those games.