head to head
vs
Castlevania: Aria of SorrowvsExist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Castlevania: Aria of SorrowExist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 3
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow leans harder on execution: Modest action timing
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance3 vs 4
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky leans harder on variance: Damage rolls and drops add modest randomness
Optimization7 vs 7
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.