head to head

Mario's Picross cover artvsThe Secret of Monkey Island cover art

Mario's PicrossvsThe Secret of Monkey Island

Mario's Picross leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Secret of Monkey Island leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Mario's PicrossThe Secret of Monkey Island

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 1

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance1 vs 2

The Secret of Monkey Island leans harder on variance: Some hidden items require exploration but solutions are invariant

Optimization9 vs 8

Mario's Picross leans harder on optimization: Pure nonogram logic; every puzzle literally solvable.

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

Mario's Picross

full breakdown

The Secret of Monkey Island