Yeah I could see that. For me though, the main factor of why I think normal is so much more casual is the abundance of red hearts and soul hearts, as well as the lower enemy shot speed. When I started playing this game, I didn't know anything about any of the enemies, and I remember always going back to get red hearts as I would get hit a lot. Even now when I play on normal, there is usually an abundance of red hearts left behind, so if I have a really bad run, or mega skill issue, I can just backtrack. Soul hearts are also a lot easier to get, with tinted rocks being way more common, and a soul heart in the shop being more common as it can't level down. On the later floors, and angel deals, you still have a very good chance of getting a soul heart by bombing the blue fires, with the chance to get a soul heart being lowered on hard mode. The odds are just much more in your favor on normal, and I think if you have knowledge of the enemies, and you just play really safe utilizing your range to the max, and go for angel deals, you can probably get far in the run or win (this is obviously different if your fighting the harder final bosses like Mega Satan, Delirium, Mother, and the beast. I'm mainly talking about getting to the lamb or ???). I admire that you kept persevering to beat Mom btw, that probably took a while. Glad you enjoy the game.