Building comparison
head to head
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsuvsGhosts 'n Goblins
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
Execution · Practiced Mastery
A danmaku arcade shmup where surviving cascading bullet curtains and optimising hyper-cancel chaining pushes execution to its ceiling.
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Capcom's infamously punishing arcade platformer that makes you beat it twice for the real ending.
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Ghosts 'n Goblins leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsuGhosts 'n Goblins
Axis by axis
Execution9 vs 9
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
Surviving dense bullet curtains at high speed demands peak precision
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Committed jumps and pixel-precise throws, no mercy
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
Scripted enemy patterns only - no adaptive opponent
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Enemy spawns are scripted
Variance2 vs 1
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
Rank system and some random bullet timings add pressure
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Red Arremer movement adds slight noise
Optimization7 vs 6
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
Hyper cancels, chaining, and routing for maximum score are fully solvable
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Weapon choice and route memorisation are mandatory
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.