I think bouncing really just contributes to the whole momentum thing that seems to give the classics their own 'identity'. If you can learn how to usem it to your advantage, you can get a lot more out of the game.
With this kind of logic you'd think New Super Mario Bros. Wii would get more recognition, as four players who really know the game well can pull off some impressive stunts. Too bad everyone just pegs it as the anti-friend simulator.
Haven't played NSMBW myself, but from all the flack it gets as an 'anti-friend simulator' like you said, it sounds like Sonic 3K with 1 player would be easier to casually and successfully play through than NSMBW with 4 players. If that's true, then that would probably explain why it isn't getting as much recognition. There's also the factor of Sonic 3K having been out for 18 already for more and more people to master and recognize. NSMBW has only had, what, 3 years so far?
NSMBW's reputation is mainly down to the fact multiplayer games end up being a dick-fest, intentionally or not. For example, if 4 people are jumping over a pit at once to land on a small platform, it's possible one or more people who would have made it get hit off the platform by their own friends - whether this is deliberate or not, the problem is that characters have their own hit detection and don't slide through each other. Multiplayer in Sonic titles - especially 2D ones - doesn't work like this, on the whole.
Give it some years. Look at Super Metroid. That game has so many ridiculous stunts available to the player that has the patience (And know-how) to master all of it's advanced techniques/glitches, not unlike classic Sonic games. I'm sure people didn't figure those out the first couple of years after it was released. There will be a group of nerds nerdy enough to pull off some kind of insane shit in NSMBW at some point in time.
Spring Yard is the one stage more suitable to do this. I think it's Act 1 that lets you bounce all the way to the end. And I think some of this is deliberate, yes. Actually, a game with a lot of stunts available if you can get the correct timing is Sonic 1 for Master System. Bridge Act 1 and Jungle Act 1 know what I'm talking about~! And it's so blatantly intentional I doubt they wouldn't use the same resource in the Mega Drive games. It's interesting and a hidden feature. Still, it's even more interesting if the majority of the games' room for this kind of playstyle was unintentional.
