I don't know, I've never played X8 on easy mode. From what I hear, easy mode has most of the items unlocked, so you don't have to hunt for them? I would imagine that's the only difference. Now hard mode, that's another story. Limited retrys, harder hitting bosses, enemies in annoying places, plus you get a big handicap in Sigma Palace (won't spoil how). The only difference easy mode has on X5-X7 is boss level and enemy placement, which can make things both easier and harder on you (especially in X6 where you want less Nightmares around to kill Reploids, but want certain enemies in place in order to gain temporary invincibility to cross spikes. Easy mode sucks in X5 too because it keeps the Mavericks from leveling up, so you can't get items or + life/weapon from then).
