I just wanna say @#$% the fact that you only have 2 lives. 3 is the magic number, never change it from that. You have no idea how many times I've died to Master Core because of that crap.

Classic Mode is shockingly difficult on 9.0 Intensity. It still has exploitable AI, of course, and Master Core ultimately boils down to memorization of attack animations, so if you’re skilled enough, you can get through it without even taking damage, but damn… that level of skill is abnormally high.

I’d say doing that is comparable to taking no damage while playing a good Devil May Cry game. It's insane.