Noname asked and I was curious as well, since it doesn't specify in the rules:

Does hard path require the second playthrough to get the "true" ending? Or is it only the first run through to Z?

I'm only posting this for clarification:

If I change the player setting from the default (starting the game with 2 lives/3 bombs in stock) to a higher setting, would this be okay? I did see one run that does this on the leaderboard, so I assume this is fine as it is something in the game settings as opposed to using a third party utility?

I'm just wanting to make sure (I'm going for Normal, and was considering increasing my lives at the start). I'm not wanting to get anyone in trouble by any means - the run in question would have been a 1cc regardless - but just wanted to make sure this was allowed before I tried to submit a run.