The first question that has to be answered before we can fully discuss game balance, is of course: What is game balance? There is no correct definition for a balanced game, and many different people use different definitions. For example, in most fighting games, balance means that there are no characters that are vastly stronger than others, and that any character could beat another character. On Smogon, a site dedicated to competitive Pokemon, balance is defined by having the highest number of viable Pokemon in the metagame possible.

Generally I will refer to a balanced game as a game without a clear superior strategy or tactic, such as choosing a certain race or character. Furthermore, it’s important that there is no strategy that can easily win, but takes almost no skill. For example, many fighting games have a character that can easily defeat most players by spamming a single attack. This does not mean it’s the best character, as a skillful player could easily beat him, but it’s still harmful to the game balance.

So why is game balance important? Well, as a starter it makes the game more fun. No one likes getting his ass kicked by someone that spams one unit or attack, and simply overwhelms you with a very simpleminded strategy. Furthermore, it diversifies the metagame, giving people more choices. If there are some races that are vastly superior to the rest, all matches will end up playing out the exact same way, and the metagame becomes stale.

Finally, it’s to make sure the winner of a match is really the better player. If a worse player could potentially win from a better player by using overpowered game mechanics, then the game fails as a competitive game. And that is of course something to be avoided in a competitive game.

An example of bad game balance is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The character Metaknight is vastly superior to the rest of the characters, and has no good counters: Its best counter is Metaknight himself. This means that everybody will end up picking Metaknight, and the game soon gets boring and stale. If a good player would pick a character like Captain Falcon (who is currently placed at the very bottom of tier lists), and a bad player would pick Metaknight, the Metaknight player will probably rape the better player. That means it fails as a competitive game (not that it was meant to be a competitive game, but still).

I hope the concept of game balance is a bit clearer now, and that people will understand its importance. Now I will be able to discuss the finer details of game balance.