Building comparison
head to head
Mario Bros.vsTime Soldiers
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is reads, and it is a single point.
Mario Bros.
Execution · Pure Mechanics
An arcade test of jump timing and enemy-flipping precision on a single screen.
Time Soldiers
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Rotary-stick aim and dodge execution through memorisable time-travel arenas.
Mario Bros. leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Time Soldiers leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Mario Bros.Time Soldiers
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 7
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Mario Bros.
Precise jumps and bump timing under crowding enemies decide survival
Time Soldiers
Rotary aiming while dodging in all directions is the test
Reads1 vs 0
Mario Bros. leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Mario Bros.
Versus mode adds light human interference, enemies are scripted
Time Soldiers
Era enemies and bosses are fixed arcade patterns
Variance2 vs 2
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Mario Bros.
Enemy spawns vary slightly but patterns are quickly learned
Time Soldiers
Time-period order shifts slightly between credits
Optimization4 vs 3
Mario Bros. leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Mario Bros.
POW block usage and enemy routing have known best lines
Time Soldiers
Power-up management and boss knowledge help modestly
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.