Difficulty

The Wonderful 101 features 5 selectable difficulty levels for increased accessibility, added challenge, and replayability.

Selecting a Difficulty[]

Subscreen remaster operation select — Difficulty Select in Operation Select

The game prompts you to chose a difficulty level when story mode is played for the first time, and also the next time you return to story mode every time Operation 00A Epilogue is completed.

If you're finding the game too difficult, too easy, or want to change the difficulty for any other reason, the difficulty level can also be changed at any time from the Operation Select or Intermission menus: on these menus, the Subscreen will display the difficulty select.
In the Wii U Version, this difficulty select menu can only be controlled by tapping the Gamepad's touch screen.
In the Remastered Version, this difficulty select menu can be controlled moving the Right Analog Stick up and down or using Scroll Wheel when the Subscreen is displayed.

Difficulty Effects[]

The selected difficulty level primarily affects the following aspects of the game's combat:

How much damage you deal to enemies.
How much damage enemies deal to you.
How frequently enemies attack.
Which enemies are encountered in Missions in levels.
The Score requirements for every Mission and Operation.

The selected difficulty may also provide additional bonuses or penalties to your abilities, which will be listed below.
Many enemies also have altered behavior and new (or removed) attacks depending on the difficulty. As there are a lot of enemies differences in total, enemies that have any changes in their behavior and attacks will have those differences noted on their respective pages instead of here.

Because the selected difficulty level only affects combat mechanics, things such as the items or collectibles found within levels do not change depending on the difficulty. The sole exceptions to this are the Wonderful Figures obtained from completing Kahkoo-regah Secret Missions, which are different across Normal, Hard, and 101% Hard, and the GEATH-Circles/Kahkoo-regahs themselves, which are considered different on each difficulty and do not appear on Easy and Very Easy.

Additionally, there are a variety of Bottle-caps pertaining to playing the game on every difficulty level.

Difficulty Levels[]

Very Easy[]

For those looking for an easy way out, that just want to get this over with already!

Very Easy is one of the three difficulty levels available at the start of the game, and the lowest difficulty level. Very Easy is recommended for first-time players who are new to action games, or professional game reviewers.
Very Easy is also the only difficulty level selectable in the Wonder-Size Cadet Demo.

In addition to the changes from Easy and increasing the damage you deal to enemies even further, Very Easy also features two major bonuses to your abilities to help you through the game:

In The Wonderful 101: Remastered only, attacking armored or blocking enemies no longer causes Unite Morphs to break on contact, making combat against enemies such as Hoedowns much easier. There are exceptions where Unite Morphs can still break, however.
Your Vitality Gauge fully regenerates on its own any time you're below full health. This regeneration stops momentarily after taking damage, but you can still easily recover all your health in any situation by avoiding enemies.
You have an infinite Unite Gauge, making Unite Energy management completely irrelevant. (this is identical to the effects of the Infinite Energy Custom Block.)
Enemies deal approximately 50% damage to you compared to Normal.
You deal approximately 400% damage to enemies compared to Normal.
In Missions, the enemies present on Normal, Easy, and Very Easy are fought on this difficulty level.
GEATH-Circles cannot be found on this difficulty level, meaning there are no Kahkoo-regah Secret Missions.

Difficulty Wii U full automatic quirk — Full Auto equipped to an invisible Slot 05

Very Easy is also related to the Full Automatic Custom Block:
In the Wii U Version, Full Automatic is obtained for free by playing on Easy or Very Easy for the first time, and when first obtained it will also be automatically equipped into the first open Custom Slot, which can be a slot that has not actually been unlocked yet (which may cause some confusion if you've already played a higher difficulty first.)
In the Remastered Version, it's now given to you for free at the start of the game regardless of the selected difficulty, and it will only be automatically equipped into Slot 01 if you select Easy or Very Easy the first time you start the game in a new save file.

Easy[]

For those looking to take their time and have some fun.

Easy is one of the three difficulty levels available at the start of the game. Easy is recommended for most first-time players.

Easy primarily affects how much damage you deal and take compared to Normal, but there are a few other changes as well:

In The Wonderful 101: Remastered only, attacking armored or blocking enemies no longer causes Unite Morphs to break on contact, making combat against enemies such as Hoedowns much easier. There are exceptions where Unite Morphs can still break, however.
Enemies deal approximately 50% damage to you compared to Normal.
You deal approximately 200% damage to enemies compared to Normal.
In Missions, the enemies present on Normal, Easy, and Very Easy are fought on this difficulty level.
GEATH-Circles cannot be found on this difficulty, meaning there are no Kahkoo-regah Secret Missions.

Very Easy is also related to the Full Automatic Custom Block:
In the Wii U Version, Full Automatic is obtained for free by playing on Easy or Very Easy for the first time, and when first obtained it will also be automatically equipped into the first open Custom Slot, which can be a slot that has not actually been unlocked yet (which may cause some confusion if you've already played a higher difficulty first.)
In the Remastered Version, it's now given to you for free at the start of the game regardless of the selected difficulty, and it will only be automatically equipped into Slot 01 if you select Easy or Very Easy the first time you start the game in a new save file.

Normal[]

For those who stick to the book and like it that way. (Wii U)

For those expecting the Platinum standard. (Remaster)

Normal is one of the three difficulty levels available at the start of the game, and the default difficulty level. Normal is recommended for players who are already familiar with challenging action games.

As the standard difficulty level, all content is available, health and damage levels are fair, and there's no special bonuses or penalties to playing on Normal.

In Missions, the enemies present on Normal, Easy, and Very Easy are fought on this difficulty.
GEATH-Circles can be found on this difficulty, providing access to the Normal versions of Kahkoo-regah Secret Missions as well as the Wonderful Figures awarded for completing them.

Hard[]

For those looking to add a little spice to their life.

Hard is unlocked after completing all 28 story Operations on Normal.

In addition to affecting how much damage you deal and take compared to Normal, Hard's most significant changes are the enemies present in Missions throughout the game: on Hard, more challenging enemies appear more frequently, and late game enemies can appear anywhere throughout the game.

Enemies deal approximately 200% damage to you compared to Normal.
You deal approximately 66% or 2/3 damage to enemies compared to Normal.
In Missions, the enemies present on Hard and 101% Hard are fought on this difficulty. Additionally, certain boss attacks and hazards are now one hit kills, even with a maximized Vitality Gauge.
GEATH-Circles can be found on this difficulty, providing access to the Hard versions of Kahkoo-regah Secret Missions as well as the Wonderful Figures awarded for completing them.

101% Hard[]

For those looking to see if they have what it takes to truly become a hero!

101% Hard is unlocked after completing all 28 story Operations on Hard, and is the highest difficulty level in the game.

In addition to the new enemy setups from Hard and increasing the damage you take from enemies to an absurd degree, 101% Hard also imposes two major handicaps on you:

Extending the Wonder-Liner no longer throws your surroundings into slow motion, meaning all your drawing now has to be done in real-time.
Creating a Unite Morph by pressing the attack button now costs 1 Unit of Unite Energy every time, meaning there's now always a cost to creating a Unite Morph. This adds a new element to Unite Energy management, as you're now punished for excessively creating and putting away Unite Morphs, and it becomes almost impossible to attack if you allow your Unite Gauge to become fully depleted.
Enemies deal approximately 500% damage to you compared to Normal. Additionally, certain boss attacks and hazards are now one hit kills, even with a maximized Vitality Gauge.
You deal approximately 66% or 2/3 damage to enemies compared to Normal.
In Missions, the enemies present on Hard and 101% Hard are fought on this difficulty.
GEATH-Circles can be found on this difficulty, providing access to the 101% Hard versions of Kahkoo-regah Secret Missions as well as the Wonderful Figures awarded for completing them.

No. of Members[]

Difficulty operation select menu — 100 out of 115

Related to the game's difficulty level is the "No. of Members" option, sometimes referred to as the team's size. On the Operation Select menu, a gauge and a bar can be found at the top of the difficulty menu on the Subscreen: the gauge counts how many permanent Wonderful Ones you've recruited in total, and sliding the bar allows you to chose how many Wonderful Ones you begin every level with. By manually setting your team size, you can chose to enter levels with anywhere from as little as the normal minimum of 20 Wonderful Ones, to every Wonderful One you've recruited so far, which can be as high as 115 Members if all Minor and Secret Wonderful Ones have been found.

Setting the team size is a purely optional feature in the game and is never required in any way: its only purpose is to allow you to enter levels with an undersized team as an extra challenge or to make use of Civilian recruits again after finding every Wonderful One.
The set team size defaults to the maximum possible at first. When changed, the set team size is remembered between levels. Any time a new Wonderful One is recruited, the set team size automatically increases by one for the new recruit.

In the Wii U version, the team size can only be set by tapping the bar using the Gamepad's touchscreen.
In the Remastered version, the team size can be set by moving the Right Analog Stick left and right when the Subscreen is displayed. Strangely, there doesn't appear to be a way of changing the team size using keyboard and mouse controls in the PC version of the Remaster.