head to head

Beijing 2008 cover artvsSuper Mario World cover art

Beijing 2008vsSuper Mario World

Beijing 2008 leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Super Mario World leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION7 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION3 /10
Beijing 2008Super Mario World

Axis by axis

Execution7 vs 7

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads1 vs 0

Beijing 2008 leans harder on reads: Rivals race in parallel; local humans add a sliver

Variance1 vs 1

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization3 vs 4

Super Mario World leans harder on optimization: Secret exits and route knowledge add a modest solvable layer

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

Beijing 2008

full breakdown

Super Mario World