Arcade game developers face the challenge of designing power-ups and special abilities that enhance gameplay without disrupting balance. To achieve this, they employ several key strategies:

1. Playtesting and Iteration: Developers rigorously test power-ups in various scenarios to ensure they don’t make the game too easy or frustrating. Feedback from players helps refine their effects.

2. Risk vs. Reward: Balanced power-ups often come with trade-offs, such as limited duration or increased difficulty afterward, ensuring players strategize rather than rely solely on boosts.

3. Progressive Scaling: Power-ups are designed to scale with the game’s difficulty, becoming more potent in later levels while maintaining fairness.

4. Player Feedback Integration: Developers analyze how players use abilities, adjusting stats or cooldowns to prevent overpowered or underused features.

5. Randomization with Limits: Some games use randomized power-ups but impose constraints to prevent imbalance, like rarity tiers or situational availability.

By combining these techniques, developers create engaging, fair experiences that keep players coming back for more.