Building comparison
head to head
Mega ManvsSuper Metroid
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Mega Man
Execution · Practiced Mastery
Demanding platform execution plus a solvable boss-weakness ordering puzzle.
Super Metroid
Execution · Practiced Mastery
Movement execution and route optimisation through a fixed, mappable planet.
Mega Man leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Super Metroid leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Mega ManSuper Metroid
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 7
Mega Man leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Mega Man
Pixel-precise jumps and shots against brutal fixed stages
Super Metroid
Wall-jumps, shinesparks and boss dodges demand precise inputs
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
Robot Masters cycle rigid scripted patterns
Super Metroid
Bosses cycle fixed patterns, never adapting
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Mega Man
Nothing changes between attempts
Super Metroid
Item and route knowledge is fixed once discovered
Optimization6 vs 7
Super Metroid leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Mega Man
Boss-order weakness routing is a known solvable layer
Super Metroid
Sequence-breaking route optimisation is the enduring meta-game
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.