head to head
vs
Adventure Island IIvsSonic Mania
Adventure Island II leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Sonic Mania leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Adventure Island IISonic Mania
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 7
Sonic Mania leans harder on execution: High-speed reaction platforming
Reads0 vs 1
Sonic Mania leans harder on reads: No human opponent
Variance2 vs 2
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization5 vs 5
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.