head to head

Metroid cover artvsWario Land: Super Mario Land 3 cover art

MetroidvsWario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Metroid leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).

EXECUTION5 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
MetroidWario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Axis by axis

Execution5 vs 6

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 leans harder on execution: Platforming jumps and shoulder-charge timing

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 2

Metroid leans harder on variance: unmarked secrets and bombable blocks hide the map

Optimization6 vs 6

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

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

Metroid

full breakdown

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3