I don't remember it being any easier. The most annoying design decision about Wing Commander SNES I remember was that the AI would truly attack you one at a time (true to the lore in Claw Marks were Kilrathi wingmen would take turns to attack), while the other AI would keep a perfect distance from you that could never be closed. This is also true on 1 v 1 where the AI would dive bomb you, then retreat to a perfect distance, rinse and repeat. You could never close that gap even with afterburners. There were also other things changed due to limitations, one that stands to mind is your wingman sprite had less rotations, asteroid fields only had 1 collidable asteroid which would spawn directly in front of your path, heading towards you, on a regular basis.
My experience of WC SNES stopped me from picking up the Secret Missions on the SNES, solely due to the PC version being a much better experience.