History Main / HardModePerks

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'''s Master Mode (as part of the first DLC pack) makes weapons with bonus modifiers (such as increased attack strength, durability, throwing range, etc.) more likely to appear early on than they might in Normal Mode. As well as this, many bridges and tall cliff areas are now guarded by floating platforms manned by enemy archers in Master Mode, many of which also carrying treasure chests that have a high chance of containing a weapon with a modifier. The archers themselves also frequently drop all types of arrows (except Ancient Arrows) if you can beat them, making them a nice source of the more powerful arrow types. On top of that, all enemies also drop nearly double the amount of arrows and monster parts compared to Normal Mode (and not just the Master Mode exclusive mooks). Of course, you're likely to need them given that each enemy is moved up a [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority colour level]] (which dictates how much HP and base attack power they have) from their forms in Normal Mode.[[note]]The former highes-level (silver) are ranked up to a new level, golden[[/note]] Additionally, going through the Master Trials permanently doubles the [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield Master Sword]]'s attack power, which usually only happens in dungeons or near Guardians.

** Villagers killed by zombies are guaranteed to turn into another zombie when they would be killed on easy. It is then possible to cure the zombie, thus turning it back into a villager, and getting cheaper trades. This is completely impossible on peaceful for obvious reasons. Even cheap trades aside, villagers level up as you trade and get new and better trades as they do: replacing a villager killed on easy means back to level 1, while curing a zombified villager means you get the original levelled-up villager back.

* In ''VideoGame/BugFables'', defeating story bosses with the Hard Mode badge lets you to claim extra badges as rewards, some of them you can't find through other means. You can still get the badges on Normal Mode, but you'll have to buy them.

* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoFever2'' lets you use the points earned in matches for an in-game shop that can unlock extra background info or items to be used in Story matches. Higher difficulties will naturally increase the points multiplier, but there are also items you can equip that can nerf your abilities such as reducing the power behind your chain spells or disabling the ComebackMechanic entirely. Winning a match with those disablers active will also multiply your point count by a certain percentage.

* ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad'' allows you to set the difficulty level of each mission from 1 to 4 on the arcade cardless version, 16 on the arcade version with cardslots and ''GHOST Squad Evolution'', and 20 on the Wii port. Higher difficulty levels open up more branching paths; some are simply there to challenge the player, but some paths provide higher scores than ones only available on the lower difficulties.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' treats Chris's game as hard mode as he has less item capacity and doesn't have access to the bazooka. However, in lieu of bazooka ammo he gets extra ammo for all other weapons: 23 handgun clips instead of Jill's 17, 18 shotgun shells to Jill's 12, and 6 cylinders of magnum rounds to Jill's 4. As the shotgun is more versatile and the magnum more powerful than the bazooka, this can be ''preferable'' to having the bazooka and can even outright negate Chris's item capacity disadvantage since he has one less weapon and ammo type to fill his items. Even [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRemake the remake]] kept this advantage, but as they took considerable other steps to balance Chris, his mode can only barely be considered "harder" than Jill's in that game.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'': Lyn Hard Mode gives you considerably more freedom than Lyn Normal Mode, such as allowing you to use Wallace's Knight Crest on Kent or Sain (or nobody) instead of Wallace. Eliwood and Hector Hard Mode also let you obtain the Silver Card about halfway through the game, making Funds less of an issue in Hard Mode than Normal. Finally, although all enemies get bonuses to their stats in Hector Hard Mode, that includes enemies who can be recruited.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has difficulties that range from peaceful (no mobs spawn) to nightmare (enemies deal high damage and death is permanent), with certain benefits ''only'' being available on the higher difficulties:
** Peaceful means you miss out on mob-exclusive loot altogether. While ''most'' of this is available via other means, Blaze Rods are ''only'' dropped by Blazes. This means the entire End Dimension, the closest thing to a goal this game has, is completely unavailable in peaceful. This means you can't win the game, you can't obtain an [[NotQuiteFlight Elytra]] or [[HammerSpace Shulker Boxes]], and even a lot of resources become too rare to use effectively unless you crank the difficulty up higher. You also can't craft Beacons, as you need to fight a Wither for one ingredient.
** Even items that ''are'' still obtainable on peaceful become prohibitively rare without being able to obtain them from monsters. Gunpowder can now only be obtained as a rare ''purchase'' from the Wandering Merchant which locks players out of reliably using TNT, bones can only be obtained 1.1% of the time from fishing which makes obtaining bone meal and taming wolves a rare ocurrence, ender pearls are only obtainable by trading or Piglin bartering preventing a player from playing with such a fun movement technique, and slime balls can only be bought or very rarely obtained from a sneezing panda (themselves a rare mob) which basically locks the player out of using sticky pistons, ''the'' most useful redstone block in the game. Players on higher difficulties can just stock up on these in high quantities very easily via combat or by building mob grinders.

** The higher the difficulty, the higher the odds hostile mobs will spawn being able to pick up dropped items. Not so much fun if one kills you and [[ContinuingIsPainful uses your own gear against you when you try to collect it]], but mobs holding items won't despawn so the player could give something to a zombie villager they wish to cure or create a mob zoo if they don't have a [[CommonplaceRare name tag]] handy. They are also more likely to spawn with armour and weapons, making it easier to get uncraftable chainmail armour.
** Similarly, the higher the difficulty the higher the chance those mobs will spawn equipped with weapons and armor. Since there's an 8% chance a mob will drop its worn equipment, you have a better chance of getting free gear the higher the difficulty goes. Some of which is ''enchanted''.

** In the early games, Nightmare mode gives the player twice as much ammo for item pickups - a bonus that otherwise only applies to [[EasyModeMockery "I'm Too Young To Die", the easiest difficulty]]. [[EnforcedTrope This is pretty much a necessity]], as enemies in Nightmare are not only at their highest concentration, including many lesser enemies replaced with tougher variations, but they also {{respawn|ingEnemies}} a short time after you kill them.
** When playing Hangar on Ultra-Violence or Nightmare, the presence of Shotgunners early on means Doomguy can get a shotgun earlier than on easier difficulties. In the [=PS1=] version, there's even a Chaingunner who similarly can be killed for an early chaingun.

** Villagers killed by zombies are guaranteed to turn into another zombie when they would be killed on easy. It is then possible to cure the zombie, thus turning it back into a villager, and getting cheaper trades. This is completely impossible on peaceful for obvious reasons.

** Similarly, the higher the difficulty the higher the chance those mobs will spawn equipped with weapons and armor. Since there's an 8% chance a mob will drop its worn equipment, you have a better chance of getting free gear. Some of which is ''enchanted''.

* ''VideoGame/BlueRevolver'' has four [[EveryTenThousandPoints point-based extra lives]] on each of the first two difficulty levels, but on [[HarderThanHard Parallel]] mode the game will give out an extra life every 15 million points, and will continue to give extra lives even after your fourth one (at 60 million points) as long as you can earn the points for them.

* ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}} Futari Black Label'''s [[HarderThanHard God mode]] allows the multiplier counter to go up to 30,000, as opposed to Maniac's 9,999. As a result it's much easier to score high (once you tame the BulletHell), to the point where you can get the [[EveryTenThousandPoints extends]] earlier than you would in Maniac if you know what you're doing. In fact, if you play with both player slots active, it's possible to ''[[{{Cap}} max out]] the score counter.''

* In addition to being required for the GoldenEnding, ''VideoGame/{{Contra}} 4'' changes the stage 1 music on Hard Mode to a remix of the original Contra theme. It's generally agreed that Hard Mode has better music, but YMMV.

[[NonIndicativeDifficulty If overdone, the harder difficulties may become easier than the easy ones]], similar to the issues with UnstableEquilibrium. Contrast EasyModeMockery, though Hard Mode Perks can be seen as a subtle form of it as the benefits are locked out on easier difficulties. Some players take offense to Hard Mode Perks, considering them unfair to players who cannot play on the harder difficulty settings.

** Sylvia's skill, ''Alluring Mist'', applies a 10% bonus to your Energy gain when completing a song if you use Lunatic judgement (which makes the timing windows smaller).