head to head
vs
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!vsPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 5
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time leans harder on execution: Acrobatic platforming chains need timing; rewind softens failure
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
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! leans harder on optimization: Planning girder placements for perfect scores is the real game
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.