head to head
vs
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year DoorvsThere Came an Echo
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); There Came an Echo leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year DoorThere Came an Echo
Axis by axis
Execution3 vs 2
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door leans harder on execution: Action commands and stylish moves
Reads2 vs 3
There Came an Echo leans harder on reads: Enemy AI scripted, allows limited prediction only
Variance3 vs 3
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
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.