head to head
vs
Castlevania III: Dracula's CursevsDevil May Cry 4: Special Edition
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Castlevania III: Dracula's CurseDevil May Cry 4: Special Edition
Axis by axis
Execution9 vs 8
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse leans harder on execution: Brutal platforming and tight whip timing throughout
Reads0 vs 1
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition leans harder on reads: Bosses are fixed patterns, never adaptive
Variance1 vs 1
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
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.