Hmmm, you're probably right, Terra, those last few points do make things difficult, even for seasoned mappers.
I'd like to see how much Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was tweaked when played attached to Sonic & Knuckles - this would be done by comparing full maps of Sonic 2, both with and without the Sonic & Knuckles "Lock-On" cartridge. While I understood that the somewhat incomplete Sonic 3 was rectified with Sonic & Knuckles, I didn't think they had the foresight to do anything with Sonic 2, not considering that Sonic & Knuckles was "smart" enough to not only take level data but also modify it.
I remember a friend's birthday party (he was a Sonic fan) a week after the release of Sonic & Knuckles and he was demonstrating it with Sonic 2. I made the assumption that Knuckles was merely added to the game, and that there was no point to climb around since the original game never intended for anyone to do that. I kind of got egg on my face when someone was climbing around in Chemical Plant Zone and found a power-up TV thing on top of a wall that most likely could not have been there before. But of course I know that it's a lot to ask for more Sonic maps. I would lament about Sonic 3D Blast more, otherwise.
(While I like Knuckles, I always thought it was a little awkward to have him here...with Sonic games you were always running speedily past things, and his gliding was not as fun or as fast or as exciting as running, and climbing was slow too.)
On a side note, I hadn't noticed that Tails's name of "Miles Prower" was a play on "miles per hour" until relatively recently.
Anyway, back on topic, I didn't play much of the oldschool Sonic games, but of them I played 2 the most, so I'm looking forward to these maps for nostalgia's sake.
Think you can find a way to map the half-pipe bonus areas? o_0
