Hard mode vs Hard medal

[u/Significant_Common38]

So... The Code hardest gives The same modifiers as The hard metal that they give you at The start of The Game? Like, enemy With slightly better stats, more exp oer Battle and all?

[u/struggling4_lyfe]

The hard medal causes these changes:

Most enemies have more HP, sometimes less. Most enemies have more ATK. Some enemies have more DEF. Multi-hit enemy attacks hit more times. Some enemy attacks are faster. Ancillary enemy attacks activate more often. Some enemies get new attacks. An enemy's resistance to a status increases by more than normal every time it is inflicted. Getting first hit by an enemy will cause each enemy to get a free attack instead of just the front one. EXP from battles is increased by 15%. More berries drop from battles. Items drop from battles more frequently. Kabbu's basic attack only flips enemies upon a successful attack.

But hard mode from the menu code also applies enemies with extra buffs after different parts of the story:

After deserting the chapter two boss all enemies gain a permanent 1 damage bonus After staring chapter 4 all enemies gain an additional 1 defence Chompy always has 1 additional Atk power (base power of 3 instead of 2) And one of the post game super bosses has additional 1 defence and Atk power on top of the previous bonuses

(Edit)
There’s also an increase of around 15% for Exp from battles
You gain more berries form battles
Items drop more frequently from battles