I recommend using the extra continues or lives trick before changing difficulties. I don't remember there being adn easier difficulty, only harder. But I do know that whatever tricks appeared in EGM bitd were correct.
EDIT: I just tried all the tricks linked above and they all worked. As Nick Rox would say, you need to "utilize skills". Use two fingers, one on either direction, and rock the d-pad rapidly as you rapidly press Select.
Unfortunately, the easier difficulty only seems to give you power-ups faster or enemies who take multiple hits perhaps take fewer. But it's not much different.