head to head
vs
Castlevania III: Dracula's CursevsHollow Knight
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Hollow Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Castlevania III: Dracula's CurseHollow Knight
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
Hollow Knight leans harder on reads: Bosses run scripted attack pools; not 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.