head to head

Paper Mario: The Origami King cover artvsUndertale cover art

Paper Mario: The Origami KingvsUndertale

Paper Mario: The Origami King leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Undertale leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION3 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10
Paper Mario: The Origami KingUndertale

Axis by axis

Execution3 vs 4

Undertale leans harder on execution: Bullet-hell dodging in scripted patterns

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance2 vs 1

Paper Mario: The Origami King leans harder on variance: Limited puzzle randomness

Optimization7 vs 7

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

Paper Mario: The Origami King

full breakdown

Undertale