head to head
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is optimization, and it is a single point.

Execution · Pure Mechanics
Punishing beat-em-up execution with zero margin and memorised stages.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Luchador metroidvania mixing brawler combos with demanding color-switch platforming.
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Guacamelee! leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
Brutal difficulty and no continues punish every missed input
Guacamelee!
Combo brawling and dimension-swap platforming challenges
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
Enemies attack in fixed scripted patterns
Guacamelee!
Enemies telegraph fixed patterns
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
Stages never change between attempts
Guacamelee!
Authored world with no randomness
Guacamelee! leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
Character-swap management and memorised layouts are the path through
Guacamelee!
Ability routing, combos, and secret hunting
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.