The "Wuss" mode is probably closest to the vanilla version. I tried fighting the Black Rabites of the vanilla game and the Wuss mode side by side, and I think the Wuss mode is still harder - though not hard by any means. In the vanilla game, casting merely Power Down on the Black Rabite makes his physical attacks do 1 HP damage, while in the Wuss mode, a combination of Protect Up + Power Down reduces the damage of his physical attacks to ~86 HP.
Basically, I use the Wuss mode if I just want to experiment and breeze through everything, Easy mode if I want a casual playthrough, Normal mode if I want challenge (all my playthroughs have been on Normal so far), and Hard mode if I want excuses to break my controllers.
