I think a great thing about fighting games these days is that, as competition and esports have become more notable, balance has seemingly become more of a priority for developers. We see more balance patches these days, as developers attempt to make each character as competitively viable as possible, while maintaining their individuality (for the most part).
That said, some do it better than others. Maybe asking which is worse when it comes to balance is a bit silly in the wake of Tekken 7 at Evo Japan where 6 of top 8 was the same character (who did just get affected in a patch), but I'd like to consider the overall life of the game. Even though, I'd been hearing about Akuma a lot before then...
I think one of the standouts is Street Fighter V. Each season, people have complained about a certain set of characters, and many have definitely been problems depending on the season. But any time you look at a top 8 at a major, the variety is indisputable. And with season 5, I feel like the game is at the best place it's been, balance wise.
On the other side, for me I think it's FighterZ as the worst. What people argue is that it's just the nature of a VS game for balance to be wack, but with most characters having the same win conditions and the way the universal mechanics work, we always see the same handful of characters, and I got sick of it. Maybe it's because they're 2v2 and have a more "freeform" manner of assist calls, but MvCI and BBTAG didn't have as much of an issue as FighterZ has always had. While they've improved aspects of the game over time, it's always had the issue of a small percentage of the overall cast being the ones you'll see played in tournaments.
That said, some do it better than others. Maybe asking which is worse when it comes to balance is a bit silly in the wake of Tekken 7 at Evo Japan where 6 of top 8 was the same character (who did just get affected in a patch), but I'd like to consider the overall life of the game. Even though, I'd been hearing about Akuma a lot before then...
I think one of the standouts is Street Fighter V. Each season, people have complained about a certain set of characters, and many have definitely been problems depending on the season. But any time you look at a top 8 at a major, the variety is indisputable. And with season 5, I feel like the game is at the best place it's been, balance wise.
On the other side, for me I think it's FighterZ as the worst. What people argue is that it's just the nature of a VS game for balance to be wack, but with most characters having the same win conditions and the way the universal mechanics work, we always see the same handful of characters, and I got sick of it. Maybe it's because they're 2v2 and have a more "freeform" manner of assist calls, but MvCI and BBTAG didn't have as much of an issue as FighterZ has always had. While they've improved aspects of the game over time, it's always had the issue of a small percentage of the overall cast being the ones you'll see played in tournaments.
