Yeah, I totally should have made it more clear that you can hold space. Not holding it makes it unnecessarily difficult.
Also... yeah... it kind of was my intention to challenge the player to beat the game by unlocking the easy mode. I realize it's kind of risky as some player might get insulted, but it also should get some players to respond with "Oh yeah? I don't need easy mode! Watch this!" and whether they realize it or not, that definitely gets them more engaged with the game and they're gonna try harder next time.