So I saw your comments about that and some other issues... if you play the latest version of the hack I released with Karatorian, those graphic glitches and the error you mention in 7-4 don't exist because they were fixed in the final bug fix version. But the source code Karatorian released to the public didn't have the last bug fix update. I think this caused those errors to be present in the X1 version and the later version put out by Triforce99. When I first saw your hack posted I was confused about the bugs you mentioned, but when I got the source code and saw it wasn't up to date, it made a little more sense
I have been thinking about how to fix that one soft-lock area with the mushroom, and still penalize you for doing it wrong, just not make you wait for the clock to run down
Oh, I didn't know. I mainly played Triforce99's version, and assumed that was the latest one. Sorry about that misunderstanding.
For 2-3, I thought long and hard about what the original developers were trying to do. My belief is that they were trying to give you a mushroom, but prevent you from getting a Flower. The ability to lock yourself out of getting a mushroom was unintentional, I believe. I tried about 12 different versions of this room, and finally settled on what you see in this picture:

If you are VERY careful, you can get a fireflower from this room by crouch jumping. That requires never stepping past the powerup box. In that case, you'll get the flower, then fall down through the gap rather than clipping through the blocks on the right side. If you have moved far enough to the right to hit the hidden block, you are no longer able to fit through the gap on the left side (Edit: I tried again, and it is JUST possible to get the fireflower and clip through, but you have to really know what your doing ahead of time!). However, the mushroom, since it is allowed to travel off-screen, will still fall down on the left side and get to you, preventing a softlock.
I didn't really like changing the layout like this, but it was the best solution I could come up with that didn't produce obvious clipping.
I will say that I'm ecstatic for the changes you're putting in, adding the new powerups and such. When this is finished, I may invest in the hardware necessary to mod my Super Mario game and watch to add this as the 3rd game, in place of Ball.