Building comparison
head to head
Sonic 3D BlastvsSuper Mario Land
Neither is harder. They score identically on all four axes, so the difference between them is in kind, not degree.
Sonic 3D Blast
Execution · Practiced Mastery
Isometric movement control while herding Flickies along memorised routes.
Super Mario Land
Execution · Practiced Mastery
Mario's compact Game Boy debut with odd physics, shooter stages, and Sarasaland instead of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Sonic 3D Blast leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Super Mario Land leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Sonic 3D BlastSuper Mario Land
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sonic 3D Blast
Isometric momentum control and Flicky herding need precise movement
Super Mario Land
Tiny screen and slippery physics demand careful jumps
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sonic 3D Blast
Robotnik bosses run fixed patterns
Super Mario Land
Fully scripted patterns
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sonic 3D Blast
Flicky and badnik placements never change
Super Mario Land
Minor secret rooms, quickly mapped
Optimization4 vs 4
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sonic 3D Blast
Routing each zone for Flickies and emeralds is learnable
Super Mario Land
Short levels with simple optimal routes
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.