head to head

Super Mario Bros. cover artvsSuper Monkey Ball: Banana Mania cover art

Super Mario Bros.vsSuper Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Super Mario Bros. leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION8 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE0 /10OPTIMIZATION5 /10
Super Mario Bros.Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Axis by axis

Execution8 vs 9

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania leans harder on execution: Tilting the stage demands surgical analog precision

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance0 vs 0

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization5 vs 4

Super Mario Bros. leans harder on optimization: Level memorisation and warp routing are fully solvable

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

Super Mario Bros.

full breakdown

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania