head to head
Dead or Alive 1 UltimatevsMortal Kombat
Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate leans Execution (Competitive PvP); Mortal Kombat leans Reads (Competitive PvP).
Dead or Alive 1 UltimateMortal Kombat
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 7
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads7 vs 8
Mortal Kombat leans harder on reads: Human opponents adapt; conditioning and counter-guessing rule
Variance1 vs 1
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization4 vs 5
Mortal Kombat leans harder on optimization: Frame data and matchup study converge to known answers
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

