head to head

Donkey Kong cover artvsGhosts 'n Goblins cover art

Donkey KongvsGhosts 'n Goblins

Donkey Kong leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Ghosts 'n Goblins leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION8 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
Donkey KongGhosts 'n Goblins

Axis by axis

Execution8 vs 9

Ghosts 'n Goblins leans harder on execution: Committed jumps and pixel-precise throws, no mercy

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

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.

full breakdown

Donkey Kong

full breakdown

Ghosts 'n Goblins