Building comparison
head to head
Mega Man 2vsMetal Slug 3
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Mega Man 2
Execution · Practiced Mastery
NES platformer that codified boss-weakness ordering and tight jump-and-shoot play.
Metal Slug 3
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Arcade run-and-gun whose one-credit clears demand total spawn memorization and twitch.
Mega Man 2 leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Metal Slug 3 leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Mega Man 2Metal Slug 3
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 9
Metal Slug 3 leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Mega Man 2
precise jumps and boss dodges under pressure
Metal Slug 3
one-hit deaths demand frame-level dodging and aim
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Mega Man 2
robot masters follow strict patterns
Metal Slug 3
every enemy wave is scripted
Variance1 vs 2
Metal Slug 3 leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Mega Man 2
deterministic once stage layouts known
Metal Slug 3
branching paths vary runs slightly
Optimization6 vs 6
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Mega Man 2
weapon-weakness ordering is the classic solve
Metal Slug 3
memorizing spawns is the path to a one-credit clear
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.