Oh, yes, and near-grab works. Take advantage of that, don't run into the trees, instead brush very slightly against them, you might get the pill. That takes practice too, though.
My tips: First of all, the technique is to grab safely placed pills and to not go for the ones hidden among obstacles. Your main goal is to get a 5x combo, then you can just chill and try not to break it for as long as you can. To do so, 1) Turn your "eye colour-and-shape-filter" on, and pretend you can see only the trees, rocks and pills. Of course, it takes practice. 2) Don't forget that you have four arrow keys. After learning to steer left and right, get used to going up and down the screen and going in circles around trees. 3) If you miss some pills, don't go to the very top of the screen. Instead, grab the immediate next ones. Hope that helps a little.
Most efficient way to get the badge: Get the spike power-up, and, after that, focus more on keeping your ball in the centre than rolling the other ones off, because then you can crush the ones that stay on, anyway. Keep collecting the 'smaller' power-ups, as then the ball will be easier to control. Hope this helps!
I really like it that you don't get hit when you lightly brush against the obstacles, and yet you pick up the powerups just when you come near them. Although, for acquiring the hard badge, a restart button would come in handy...
...the colour swapping didn't work for me... Well, the idea is good and everything, but it'd have to be composed differently and would need a lot of improvements to make an awesome game.
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