head to head
vs
Contra 4vsKatana ZERO
Contra 4 leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Katana ZERO leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Contra 4Katana ZERO
Axis by axis
Execution9 vs 8
Contra 4 leans harder on execution: One-hit deaths under dense bullet patterns demand near-perfect inputs
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance1 vs 1
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization5 vs 6
Katana ZERO leans harder on optimization: Planning the perfect room-clear sequence
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.