Keep in mind there are other tricks that make the last 2 stages easier, like being able to bomb the destructibles of the stage 6 boss (which means defeating him easier) and at the same time max the zan at 5,000, then you get a 1UP at the very beginning of stage 7 from that, then you can get another one on stage 7 with destroying tank wheels.
There is suiciding in the original, just nobody does it because the rank cushions are so shitty, but they are there. The famous video linked on the shmups strategy thread, the AZY player, suicides in that clear to somewhat control the rank. That's why I'm surprised when anyone says there was no suiciding in PS, because in the first clear anyone saw and the one used to explain the game to people, he suicides.
You ultimately shouldn't need as many men in PSSC to clear it as you do in the original and they come out over twice as often (1200 instead of 2500 plus ones for maxing it at 5000) plus the game difficulty is slightly toned down in various ways. It's plenty beatable.
I don't like how in ver 1.01 you control rank by building up a medal chain and then letting one drop, in my opinion that's the worst idea for rank control I've ever heard.
A lot of ideas too that you'd think of that might sound doable in a hack, aren't. I mean maybe someone out there could figure them out, but hacking comes with a lot of limitations you wouldn't expect, it's not like having the source code.
