Well I must have been gone for a long-ass time cos this was the last thing I expected, but nonetheless it can be expected due to the constantly updating nature of SRB2.
To be honest, I've felt the same as you since the release of 2.0. I've been playing since 1.09.4 (I think that's what the version was numbered) and change is scary. There's always a risk of, man are they gonna ruin the game or am I just sticking too much to the old ways lol
The last time I played SRB2 v2.2 I was so surprised and impressed at the progress. I admit I miss the old levels and gameplay because of nostalgia (I literally grew up with this fangame!) but I'm happy it's still being loved and worked on after all these years. And honestly as long as the old versions are up, I'm cool with doing a little wayback machine-style deep dive into that when I'm bored. I do think the old versions should be archived and kept available for download because imo SRB2 is just one of those iconic pieces of media that's been part of people's lives and it would suck to have all that work lost.