> There are some benchmark games that I relied on in the past as a quick check …

Try looking at the "transliterated line-by-line literal" programs:

https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/...

> But that's super deceiving because …

… that's labelled [ Contentious. Different approaches. ]

Try removing line 11 from

https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/...