Talk:Difficulty

Ultra-spicy mode

Are all enemies stronger in ultra-spicy mode? Or just some of them? --Ben (talk) 09:21, November 9, 2020 (EST)

I think it may be too soon too answer. Don't think anyone's done the research yet. — {Espyo^T} 15:25, November 10, 2020 (EST)

It seems like enemies like sheargrubs, mini bulborbs, and other small threats have the same health as Normal Mode. Hard and Ultra Spicy only affect stronger enemies, ones that take a bit in order to defeat. I haven't really checked, but I've noticed that some enemies I can defeat easily without any problems. Bosses seem to be very hard to beat on Ultra-Spicy when over half the day has passed. I'm going to do some field testing between Normal, Hard, and Ultra-Spicy and report findings. If anyone is interested in ripping the game files this might help us more. — {Plaalt^T} 07:45, November 16, 2020 (CST)

Getting hard mode badge

I have completed on hard mode, got the final report, it says 'story cleared' but I didn't get my hard mode badge nor am I able to access ultra spicy mode

Any clues why this is so? – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 223.206.234.113 • (talk) • (contribs)

It may be because you changed the difficulty at some point during the playthrough. Doing this makes difficulty-related badges unobtainable on that save file. — Soprano_(talk) 15:57, December 29, 2021 (EST)

Completed the game twice now starting on Hard mode, same outcome that it says 'story cleared' but no badge nor Ultra Spicy option – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 45.43.71.24 • (talk) • (contribs)

Did you reset the save file before starting the run, or start from day 1 or 2? — Soprano_(talk) 16:48, January 5, 2022 (EST)

Brilliant! thanks for your advice, it was spot on, now on Ultra Spicy – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.5.49.33 • (talk) • (contribs)

Source on HP Comparison

It appears that the Reddit post cited at the bottom of the page has been deleted. It likely contained useful information, is there any way of recovering the deleted post? If so, it may be a good idea to take the information that was in the post, and put it in the page here directly, so the information doesn't risk getting lost again. If the post isn't recoverable, we may need someone to test again, or give us more precise data from the code. As the difficulty modes in this game are a thing I often see talked about and explained slightly incorrectly, it'd be nice to have all the correct info present in one place. — {GoldenTerrabyte^T} 3:37, July 7, 2023 (MST)

There might be some sites that archived it, but it's irrelevant. The health points need to all be carefully studied and documented on the wiki. — {Espyo^T} 12:56, July 7, 2023 (EDT)

Yeah, that source was supposed to be a temporary source until the enemy healths were properly analyzed, but that still hasn't happened. — Soprano_(talk) 18:46, July 7, 2023 (EDT)

Pikmin 4 difficulty difference notes

I decided to try running some experiments in the Piklopedia mode after noticing some differences in Relaxed mode, and this is what I've determined:

-While the hazard death time for Normal is ~6.6 seconds, Relaxed strangely seems to have a time of ~16.6 instead of the ~12.6 I was expecting. This suggests the hazard kill speed to be around 0.25x instead of 0.5x.

-Through throwing Rock Pikmin at a Aristocrab Offspring, which dies in 8 hits on Normal, it dies in only 2 hits on Relaxed, and 16 on Fierce. The health multiplier on Relaxed may be 0.25x, while Fierce is 2.0x.

-Alternatively, it seems like some of the methods to instantly kill creatures are reduced to dealing half of their health on Fierce? Feeding most enemies a Bomb Rock or throwing a Pikmin on top of most Dwarf Bulborbs, Sheargrubs, and even Skeeterskates seem to be affected by this. The only ones exempt are the Spectralid family, Honeywisps and Bulborb Larvae. Strangely, none of these scenarios play any animations on inflicting damage. Potentially a glitch?

-Enemies seem to be more resistant to being frozen on Fierce. An Ice Blast fed to a creature or detonated near one only advances the ring halfway. This also does not play any animations.

-Enemies are also more or less resistant to being stunned depending on difficulty: with a Lightning Shock, the baseline is 7 seconds, while Relaxed is 14, and Fierce is 3.5. The resistance multiplier (if it exists) is 0.5x and 2.0x respectively.

-On Relaxed, Pikmin seem to be immune to bottomless pits? When thrown into one, they teleport high above the rookie and fall down, presumably when they'd normally hit the death barrier below. Once again, this does not play any animations; they just... appear.

-The amount of Pikmin that can be eaten at once is doubled on Fierce. Notably, any enemy that eats one Pikmin at a time will consume two at a time instead.

This is all I've noticed thus far, although there are probably other details I haven't noticed. Hope this helps! Pokokoki (talk) 07:24, November 14, 2025 (EST)

To add to this, aside from the enemies being able to eat double the amount of Pikmin; Swooping Snitchbugs can pick up 4 Pikmin at once and both Jellyfloats' attacks stay the same. – Chazmatron, signing off! (TALK) 13:05, 14 November, 2025 (GMT)