head to head

Mega Man X5 cover artvsSuper Mario 64 cover art

Mega Man X5vsSuper Mario 64

Mega Man X5 leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Super Mario 64 leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).

EXECUTION7 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
Mega Man X5Super Mario 64

Axis by axis

Execution7 vs 7

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance1 vs 1

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization6 vs 5

Mega Man X5 leans harder on optimization: Armor parts, boss order and route knowledge solve the 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.

full breakdown

Mega Man X5

full breakdown

Super Mario 64