I would say it is quite a bit harder. I think I can now fairly consistently finish the game on normal mode, but I'm currently working on unblocking the nightmare key, but I rarely actually win.
So far I have 20

and 2 nightmare keys.
I got very lucky the first time with the amount of lives I recieved (2

and 2nd cristal combo on level 9 thanks to

for example). The second time I played very well, I lost my first life at 62, and no more until the 80s if I remember correctly. I got to 90 with 8-9 lives, and finished the game with none to spare. The 90s are seriously hard.