head to head

Etherborn cover artvsSuper Paper Mario cover art

EtherbornvsSuper Paper Mario

Etherborn leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Super Paper Mario leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).

EXECUTION3 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10
EtherbornSuper Paper Mario

Axis by axis

Execution3 vs 4

Super Paper Mario leans harder on execution: Light platforming demands, well below mainline Mario

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance1 vs 1

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization7 vs 6

Etherborn leans harder on optimization: Each gravity-shifted route is a solvable spatial-logic problem

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

Etherborn

full breakdown

Super Paper Mario