This was my first time trying the hardest mode. With how unstable the game is with game crashes, I will probably switch over to Score Attack and do the hardest mode there. Score attack atleast lets you select the stage, but only gives you a few lives to beat the stage. The first life starts you fully powered up and able to take a few hits it seems. Not the ideal way to play this mode, but with the uncertainty of game crashes and being locked into a single game (no saves), this seems to be my best option. I had the game crash twice on the final stage, back to back on normal before finally beating it. This mode is much harder and a crash would be a massive waste of time.