The developers gleefully brag that the Hardcore Mode is “anything but fair”. In the mode, enemies shoot three times as fast, and reload just as fast. Boulders and traps will appear in the most unforgiving places, and when players get hurt, they lose double health - that never regenerates.
Even more gleefully sadistic, if you die, the game not only restarts, but it kicks you back to the Xbox Live Dashboard, forcing to re-load the entire game.
If that weren’t enough, the only way to get the Strings of Steel Achievement is to play the entire game on Hardcore Mode in one sitting without dying.
This is a callback to some of the outrageous tricks players did with the Megaman games way back when. This is one tough hombre, muchachos.