head to head
vs
Gatling GearsvsSonic Mania
Gatling Gears leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Sonic Mania leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Gatling GearsSonic Mania
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 7
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance3 vs 2
Gatling Gears leans harder on variance: Enemy spawns and drops add mild chaos
Optimization4 vs 5
Sonic Mania leans harder on optimization: Route knowledge dominates speedruns
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.