History Main / EasierThanEasy

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Persona 3}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/EasierThanEasy_160.png]]]]

->"If you have a bucket that holds two gallons, and another bucket that holds five gallons, how many buckets do you have?"
-->--''Film/{{Idiocracy}}''

** The ''VideoGame/BrutalDoom'' GameMod has the Power Fantasy difficulty, which increases the enemy count to the same number as vanilla Doom's two hardest difficulties, but reduces the damage the player takes by 70%, [[note]]By contrast, vanilla Doom's easiest difficult reduces damage taken by 50%[[/note]], allowing the player to basically mow down hoards of monsters with minimal effort. The difficulty description describes it as being made for game journalists, a TakeThat at the infamously awful playthrough of ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' by Polygon.

* The UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers cartridge versions of ''VideoGame/DigDug'' and ''Ms. VideoGame/PacMan'' have a "teddy bear" level, in which the action starts slower than normal. Many UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} games also had a "teddy bear" level, though whether it was EasierThanEasy or just Easy varied from game to game. Some games even had two-bear and three-bear levels for variations that were still easier than normal, but not as easy as the one-bear level.

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch version of ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' adds optional "auto-steering" and "auto-acceleration" features that prevent you from falling off the course and moves the kart forward without having to bother with the button, respectively.

* ''VideoGame/PacMan'' and ''Ms. Pac-Man'' for Atari home consoles ([[UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} 2600]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Atari 5200}} 5200]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}} 7800]]) let you choose the number of ghosts, up to 4. Unsurprisingly, it's pretty easy with one ghost.

** ''Minecraft'' also has Creative Mode, which entirely removes your life and hunger bars, makes you fireproof, impossible to drown, invincible to all damage, all mobs ignore you, and you're capable of spawning in any item in the game from an in game editor menu. Officially it's meant for people who create custom level maps, to save them the time and trouble of gathering up all the resources to make the sprawling dungeons you may have seen, but it can be quite therapeutic to go into a world with it and wander about, with no concern for almost any damage, even from Creepers.

SDepending on the developers, they can pull an EasyModeMockery by cutting down features on it, or add a plethora of AntiFrustrationFeatures to avert that trope.

* Most of the ''Creator/{{M2}} [=ShotTriggers=]'' series of shmup ports have Super Easy mode, which not only lowers the game's difficulty DIP switch setting to the lowest, but also introduces additional features to make the game even easier, such as auto-[[SmartBomb bomb]] (when hit, the player fires a bomb automatically if they have any instead of dying), increasing the player's shot power, and if the game has multiple loops (including [[EndlessGame infinite loops]], ending the game after the first loop. Game-specific examples:

Sometimes features EasyModeMockery.

* The console version of ''VideoGame/AlienHominid'' has TS ("Thumbsucker") mode, in addition to Easy, Normal, and Hard. You get infinite lives and grenades but if you beat the first three levels you're presented with a screen of your character in a diaper, admonishing you to grow up and play like an adult.
* The ''Manga/SailorMoon'' beat-em-up ''Sailor Moon R'' has a mode where you play as TagalongKid Chibi-Usa. Enemy variety is way down, and she's so short that every attack just goes right over her head. Think Oddjob in ''VideoGame/GoldenEye'' in a beat-em-up setting.

* Picnic difficulty in ''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight]]''. While other games in the series do have their own "easy" difficulty, none are as easy as this entry. The game might as well be playing itself with how much damage everything takes and how little your party receives. In this mode, the game only starts to become difficult when you reach the 6th Stratum, and by extension, the DLC 31st floor with its own challenging superboss.
* ''VideoGame/ScienceGirls'': After complaints that the initial release was NintendoHard, [[http://hanakoforum.nfshost.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=486 an update]] made the original difficulty, "Graduate", and added two, progressively easier difficulty levels: "Standard", which adjusted the amounts of damage done to make things a bit easier, and "Elementary", which is "Standard", but it refills your health at the end of every battle as well as adding a GradualRegeneration-style of RegeneratingHealth, ''during'' combat.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel III'' adds the "Very Easy" mode for players who just want to enjoy the story. This also allows players to just breeze through the game and almost instantly breaking the BreakMeter bosses and mooks have.

* ''[[VideoGame/FateEXTRA FateExtra CCC]]'' allows the player to use Gilgamesh as their Servant. In the Franchise/FateSeries [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight works]] [[VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia prior]] [[Literature/FateZero to]] the game, Gilgamesh was [[WorldsStrongestMan stated to be the most powerful Servant who could be summoned]], [[DramaPreservingHandicap his only defeats occuring because his arrogance was holding him back]], and even then he was still almost invincible. So he is [[PurposelyOverpowered just as overpowered as you would expect.]] The developers stated that they considered using Gilgamesh to be cheating, to the point that using him is actually called "Cheat mode."

* ''VideoGame/OneMustFall2097'' has 'Punching Bag' below 'Rookie' on its difficulty setting. 'Veteran' is the default normal setting.
* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' has a "Sleepwalk" mode.

* In ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', according to what appears in the saved games menu, the Easy "piece of cake" mode was numbered "1". With the DNSKILL''n'' cheat code which set the difficulty to n−1, it was possible to set the difficulty to 0 and even -1, the latter having no enemies at all (though [[EasyModeMockery it also made the final level of each Episode unwinnable]], since victory is triggered by ''killing'' the boss).

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch version of ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' adds optional "auto-steering" and "auto-acceleration" features that prevent you from falling off the course and moves the kart forward without having to bother with the button, respectively.
* ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'' has a variety of easy mode concessions, including line indication and ''automatic braking''. Probably the most infamous, however, is the ability to rewind time, on any difficulty, without limit or penalty.

* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero: World Tour'' and every game in the series subsequently released have a "Beginner Mode", where as long as you hit any button at all at the right time, you succeed. The penalties for missing notes are also reduced; you can win with an average of 13% of notes hit on Guitar. It is technically possible to fail, but only if you wait through half of the song without touching the controller.
** The ''VideoGame/{{DJMAX}}'' series from ''DJMAX Portable Black Square'' onwards has this feature...in ALL modes, with no way to turn it off (allegedly in order to avoid legal troubles with {{Creator/Konami}}). You get full percentage and 80% of the points for a note for hitting the wrong button at the right time.
** As singing works differently from the instruments, Beginner mode when singing is even easier: the pitch does not matter at all and you get full points as long as the microphone detects any sound. A favorite trick is to place the microphone in front of a fan to get an automatic 100% on any song.
** The ''DJ Hero'' games also have the same Beginner mode, but they somehow managed to make the game even easier than ''Guitar Hero''. It is not possible to fail in ''any'' difficulty in this game, but the Beginner mode does Guitar Hero one better and ''stretches the timing windows''. Not only can you hit any button for any note, you can also do it way out of rhythm and still have it count.
* ''VideoGame/UmJammerLammy'' had an Easy Mode that plays like the ''Guitar Hero'' example. As long as you do ''something'' at the right time, you're doing it right.

* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' mods that utilize the now discontinued ''Mic'd Up'' engine, such as ''[[VideoGame/FridayNightFunkinENTITY V.S. A.G.O.T.I.]]'', have a Noob difficulty below Easy, which despite [[EasyModeMockery its mocking name]] does indeed make the charts even simpler.
* ''DJMAX Portable Clazziquai Edition'' offers a two-button mode in which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin you only use two buttons]] and the analog nub, as opposed to four in the next easiest setting (four buttons).
* ''VideoGame/{{DJMAX}} Technika''[='=]s Lite Mode originally had four lanes of notes. A Platinum Crew update reduces it to 3 lanes of larger notes. Ironically, those used to harder modes tend to get thrown off by 3-late Lite due to [[DamnYouMuscleMemory the larger notes resulting in some spatial screwiness]].

* ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders Extreme 2'' has an Easy mode which gives the player infinite lives, but they can't use the level-select feature - they can only play the 'A' versions of the stages.
* ''VideoGame/{{XOP}}'' has Very Easy and Easiest difficulties below Easy.
* It's possible to set ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' to give yourself infinite lives, in a game where losing a life instantly respawns you in the location you died. At that point, it's less a test of completing the game and more completing it while dying less than a hundred times.
* The console ports of ''VideoGame/RadiantSilvergun'' have a Very Easy difficulty. It is very easy...[[NintendoHard relatively speaking]]. Enemy attacks are still no slouch on this difficulty, especially the ones not based on [[BulletHell bullets]].

* After you survive ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' (and its sequels, excepting 3 and 4), you get access to [[LevelEditor Custom Night]], which allows you to alter animatronic AI between 0 and 20. It's more well known to set all AIs to 20 to give yourself [[HarderThanHard the game's hardest challenge]], but you can also set them all to zero and give yourself a night to relax. It's notable that you're still not completely safe, as the DynamicDifficulty will raise the effective difficulty a few steps during the night and you can still [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1 trigger Golden Freddy]] or [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 release the Puppet]] on this difficulty. It's normally used for getting a good look at rare events.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' introduced Phoenix Mode. Not only do units not die, incapacitated units revive ''every turn'', making it literally impossible to lose unless any ''other'' conditions aren't met, especially in the ''Conquest'' route, or [[spoiler: the Avatar dies in Chapter 5 (the one with their TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening)]]. [[EasyModeMockery However, one can only play Phoenix Mode on Normal.]]

* Mistmare, being ridiculously unfinished and all, lets you repeatedly respawn with decreased difficulty.
* ''Videogame/Fallout3'' and ''[[Videogame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]]'' have 'Very Easy' difficulty level that affects combat only and makes enemies much easier to deal with. Especially [[DemonicSpiders Feral Ghoul Reavers and Behemoth Overlords]]. In '3' however, it is kind of double-edged sword, since the amount of [=XP=] you get from ''everything'' depends on it, making hitting last level and best perks take much longer.
* v2 update of ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy4'' added ''Zero'' difficulty which makes the enemies scale half as fast as on ''Easy''. This difficulty was carried on to the fifth game and was retroactively added to the first two in the Steam release (where enemies stats are reduced by 40% instead of Easy's 20%).

* Some ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' games have Zen Mode, in which you'll never lose, but you'll never earn any Neopoints from it.

* The first ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'' has two characters ''extremely'' easy to finish with:
** [[spoiler:[[{{Bifauxnen}} Rei Ijuin]]]]: She simply needs the PlayerCharacter to phone her at least 75 times during the game, and not having any other girl they can finish with. How high the stats are is completely irrelevant in her case.
** [[spoiler:[[ShrinkingViolet Miharu Tatebayashi]]]]: A player who wants to romance her should concentrate on building the PlayerCharacter's stats to the maximum and not go on dates with anyone. She's not affected by "bombs": she just likes high stats.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has a Very Easy Mode, which is basically easy mode, except your health regenerates a bit faster and enemies have even less health. Otherwise it's pretty much the same. Ironically, when you are used to [[HarderThanHard Infinite Climax Mode]], the ridiculous slowness of enemies in Very Easy can actually screw up your dodge timing and get you hurt.

* ''VideoGame/CastleOfIllusion'' has one of these. It's essentially a heavily abridged version of the normal game--you meet the FinalBoss after the third level, and large chunks of each level are omitted.
* ''Freeciv'' has Novice difficulty below Easy.
* In ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', the difficulty runs on a scale of one-tenth increments from 0 to 9. Levels 1.0 through 1.9 are Easy, levels 0.0 through 0.9 are Effortless. You have to pay hearts to play levels on these difficulties and you don't get very good rewards, but at least you'll have no trouble winning. The same system is used for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU''.
* ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansom [[VideoGameRemake EX]]'', in addition to the standard Easy, Medium, and Hard, has "Wussy" and [[HarderThanHard "Crazy"]].
* ''VideoGame/JudgementSilversword'' has a "Training" difficulty level. The catch? You have to ''unlock'' it by racking up points throughout playthroughs.
* ''Hitogata Happa'', the third game in the ''VideoGame/GundemoniumSeries'', has "Euridice" as its easiest difficulty setting, below "Nobilimente", "Allemande", and "Doomsday". On "Euridice" mode, you're given unlimited dolls for the first mission, while the other difficulty levels start you off with 10. The only way to lose on the opening mission is to die after the timer runs out against the boss.
* ''VideoGame/RadiantSilvergun'' has Very Easy mode. Even on ''that'', [[NintendoHard the game retains arcade-standard difficulty]].
* ''VideoGame/JinniZeala'' has "Lollipop" mode specifically for beginners to learn the game.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Doukyusei}}'' was somewhat infamous for being NintendoHard (though it was par for the course at the time of its release in 1992), being next to impossible to beat [[GuideDangIt without a guide]] or without learning the daily schedules of the dateable girls to heart. The 2022 remake, ''Dōkyūsei: Bangin' Summer'', tries to remedy this a bit by adding an optional Easy Mode, which effectively makes the game this trope. Easy Mode not only lets the player know where the girls are just by checking the map, but the player can also access a "Flag list" and just have the PlayerCharacter teleport to the appropriate place and time, removing the time-management aspect of the game altogether. Not only this, but the correct and incorrect dialogue choices are now appropriately flagged as such (Though in some cases, selecting only the purportedly "correct" choices [[GuideDangIt won't progress the story]].)

* Most of the ''Creator/{{M2}} [=ShotTriggers=]'' series of shmup ports have Super Easy mode, which not only lowers the game's difficulty DIP switch setting to the lowest, but also introduces additional features to make the game even easier, such as auto-[[SmartBomb bomb]] (when hit, the player fires a bomb automatically if they have any instead of dying), increasing the player's shot power, and if the game has multiple loops, ending the game after the first loop. Game-specific examples: