Content mode and Normal mode are different in more ways than just enemies. Normal mode has some balancing done with equipment. Here's how I rate the difficulty and my overall experience with the 2 modes that are currently out. Content mode: Content mode is kinda like baby's first rom hack. It closely matches vanilla in difficulty. Something about that which I haven't thought about until now though, is that vanilla only had 1 superboss, Culex. He was pretty hard, and all optional bosses match that. They are all just like Culex, it's just that there are so many of them. What makes content mode even worthy of the title "difficulty hack" is the fact that the superbosses are the main attraction. I give it a 1/10 in difficulty, this is because, if you know what you're doing, you can blast through any boss without breaking a sweat. The ultimate boss can even be beaten without blocking! I give it a 6/10 for the overall experience, because it's not too much fun just blasting through even the toughest bosses. I do however like the feeling of blasting through them. In the end, it was made for people who wasn't very experienced with vanilla/difficulty hacks, so I can't really give a fair opinion because of that, but it'll do for now. Normal mode: Normal mode is currently the main attraction of the hack. It's balanced and challenging even if you know what you're doing, and you're not forced to learn every little trick about an enemy to beat it, even at the very end. It does however get tough eventually, but not to where you need to be a master to beat it. The biggest difference between this and content mode, besides being a lot tougher, of course, is that certain accessories have been buffed/ nerfed. The double-turn items have been nerfed and some of the high tier non-double-turn items have been buffed to not get totally overshadowed by the double-turn items. Another tweak to these powerful pieces of gear, is how you unlock some of the best ones. I will mark the next section as a spoiler for those who hasn't made it that far, and doesn't want to be spoiled. Just know that you need to meet certain requirements to get a reward from a later boss. All these changes put together makes normal mode pretty rough. I give it a 6/10 in difficulty due to a certain late postgame boss, the rest is about 3-4/10. I also give it a 8/10 for the overall experience, because you have to really work to get further. Take the Axem Rangers, in content mode, you can just plow right through them on your first try (I somehow managed to die to them 3 times when playing content mode, oops), but you'll probably have to be prepared before facing them in normal mode. (In which I beat them on my first try, don't ask) I hope this can help some people to decide which version to start out with. Thanks for reading!

Hey all, I just started playing this mod 2 weeks ago and I think it's AWESOME. You can really see the hard work that's been put into the 9 different versions and it really is top of the line. Anyway, I noticed Version 9 has some significant differences from what's in this Version 8 guide: http://ngplus.net/InsaneDifficultyArchive/www.insanedifficulty.com/board/indexab10.html?/topic/7319-the-ultimate-game-content-spoiler-q-a-thread-v80/ Has anyone made a Version 9 guide? Has anyone compiled a list of the Version 9 bosses/locations? Is there still a way to upgrade armor in Version 9? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!