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I do not think games are crippled by easy modes. Easy modes make the game more accessible to more people, such as casual gamers who want a way into the deeper aspects of the hobby, players with certain disabilities, parents who want to play with their gamer kids, kids who want to play with their gamer grandparents (this is our future, you guys), gamers who are too drunk to manage anything harder (this is our past, present and future, you guys) and so on. It allows gamers, many of which paid money for the game, to tailor their experience, and also to access more of the game that they paid for. It's no good if you shelled out £60 for a new release and can't get past the third level. Furthermore, if games are to be taken seriously as an art form, people need to be able to experience the whole thing. Especially those with stories. No other art form supplies the story as a reward for demonstrating esoteric skills, nor do they withhold their endings if they find you unworthy.
Games are not crippled by easy modes. They are crippled by lazy design.
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Definitely. My little brother vastly enjoys playing platformers, but some of the trickier jumps are far past his current playing level. Now with the white tanooki suit he can stand on spikes and not worry about goombas or koopa troopas. This way he can actually access more of christmas present when ever he's playing with himself.
Luckily though our parents are avid gamers. His dad is a professional Street Fighter player and his mom was a professional Killer Instinct player so if there's anything he still can't manage to do they can carry him through it. I really like Mario games for how accessible they are.