head to head
vs
Donkey KongvsSuper Mario Bros.
Donkey Kong leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Super Mario Bros. leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Donkey KongSuper Mario Bros.
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 8
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance1 vs 0
Donkey Kong leans harder on variance: Barrel bounces add slight unpredictability
Optimization6 vs 5
Donkey Kong leans harder on optimization: Stage patterns and score routes fully learnable
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.