head to head
vs
Aero Fighters 3vsCuphead
Aero Fighters 3 leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Cuphead leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Aero Fighters 3Cuphead
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 9
Cuphead leans harder on execution: Tight dodging and parry timing decide every boss.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance2 vs 1
Aero Fighters 3 leans harder on variance: Minor item drops aside, patterns are fixed once learned
Optimization6 vs 6
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.