head to head
vs
Shovel KnightvsSuper Mario World
Shovel Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Super Mario World leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Shovel KnightSuper Mario World
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 7
Super Mario World leans harder on execution: Perfect inputs trivialise every jump, spin and cape flight
Reads1 vs 0
Shovel Knight leans harder on reads: Scripted boss patterns, not reads
Variance1 vs 1
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization4 vs 4
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.