Building comparison
head to head
Bullet SoulvsGhosts 'n Goblins
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is reads, and it is a single point.
Bullet Soul
Execution · Pure Mechanics
A vertical-scrolling bullet-hell shoot-em-up.
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Capcom's infamously punishing arcade platformer that makes you beat it twice for the real ending.
Bullet Soul leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Ghosts 'n Goblins leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Bullet SoulGhosts 'n Goblins
Axis by axis
Execution9 vs 9
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Bullet Soul
dense bullet dodging demands precise reflexes
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Committed jumps and pixel-precise throws, no mercy
Reads1 vs 0
Bullet Soul leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Bullet Soul
bullet patterns fixed, not adaptive
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Enemy spawns are scripted
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Bullet Soul
minimal pattern randomness
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Red Arremer movement adds slight noise
Optimization5 vs 6
Ghosts 'n Goblins leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Bullet Soul
pattern memorization for scoring runs
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Weapon choice and route memorisation are mandatory
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.