head to head

Guitar Hero II cover artvsSpace Harrier II cover art

Guitar Hero IIvsSpace Harrier II

Guitar Hero II leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Space Harrier II leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION9 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE0 /10OPTIMIZATION2 /10
Guitar Hero IISpace Harrier II

Axis by axis

Execution9 vs 8

Guitar Hero II leans harder on execution: Harder charts, hammer-ons, and three-note chords

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance0 vs 1

Space Harrier II leans harder on variance: minimal randomness

Optimization2 vs 2

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

Guitar Hero II

full breakdown

Space Harrier II