I remember the first time I went through Hell, Spur and Nemesis in hand. Took me forever to actually beat you. But then I did, oh how excited I was! Then, I tried it with the snake, the run improved, but it was more than likely from my improved skills. The Machine Gun had similar effects on my time but Ballos was rather annoying in his second form. Then I tried it with minimal weapons, stripped of the best weapons the game has to offer, I faced off with hell with weakness. The blade was my friend, made short work of the second and third forms, with the second and third levels working. Although, the last form gave me quite the trouble, with the lack of missiles and other powerful weapons, I had to rely on Curly to kill any assailants whilst I tried to hit between the eyes. Eventually it was done.
I'm now in the process of trying to beat Hell with 3 HP with the Spur and Nemesis. Although it's really tough for me just cause of the second room, I usually take it slow with the bub and when the landscape stops being flat, rush forward sends some bubbles to my backside. Although I've only passed the room once. And when I did reach the third room, it lasted quite a while. I got to the part when there are two archers you have to time just right to get past and kill without killing yourself. When I thought of something, I jumped and hit a freaking spike. I have never been able to get that far since then.