head to head

Animal Well cover artvsMetroid II: Return of Samus cover art

Animal WellvsMetroid II: Return of Samus

Animal Well leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Metroid II: Return of Samus leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION4 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Animal WellMetroid II: Return of Samus

Axis by axis

Execution4 vs 4

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance2 vs 2

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization8 vs 7

Animal Well leans harder on optimization: Metroidvania puzzles reward deep optimization.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Animal Well

full breakdown

Metroid II: Return of Samus