Fairness and Balance in Fighting Games

It adds no depth, I’m not going further into that argument since it has been dealt with a long time ago (note: pay attention to Viscant’s posts).

IAD pressure / rushdown. One, the other, or both.

Not if you design your game and its characters around those new systems. People keep ignoring that I’ve been saying this the entire time. I’m not just saying, throw everything into the fighting game and all of a sudden you have depth. Both of us know it doesn’t work that way.

With your platformer example. Kirby is a platforming series where the main character can fly for an indefinite period of time. So if you can fly, why spend any time on the ground? Because the game is designed knowing that you can fly, hence there are a rather large amount of enemies in the air. In addition, while you can fly, you are more vulnerable while doing so, having only access to a weak attack that simultaneously removes your flight when you perform it. Secrets and items are most often on the ground. There are a rather large amount of vertical scrolling sections during levels. The game is designed so that the player isn’t tempted to just fly over the entire level like you can with the P-Wing in SMB3. (Although that was an intentionally broken power.)