To me at least, I feel like porting older addons is a good thing (As long as that creator gets credit)
It preserves history and makes things just a little more accessible .
I understand this side of the argument, but for a different reason. I see the appeal of porting old content to newer systems, in the same degree that old games are given a modernized game engine to run. It keeps that old content still playable and sometimes with some quality of life not present in the old version.
However, you are only
preserving history if the game files are left unmodified.
Grabbing, say, a Spider-man comic book and removing or adding panels to keep newer audiences engaged is practically an adaptation, but not preserving history. That's modifying history.
In that same vein, modifying an old mod to make it run on a newer engine is not preserving history either.
Mods are intended to be used on the same engines it claims to run in, usually the latest at that moment. You can't run Eggmanway 5 on newer versions of the game because several systems and lists have ben changed radically, but it's still fun to play it in 1.09.4.
Downporting 2.2 features to 1.09.4 so you can play EW5 is preserving EW5's history, but modifying EW5 to run in 2.2 isn't (plus it kinda loses its charm when you do that).
Also one more thing: We never use those mods on like Master Servers
Just because you or your friends don't doesn't mean other people won't try doing the same.
didn't Sonic Team Jr have Pipe tower zone ..?
that was technically done without permission of Nintendo but they still credited the og creators .
Pipe Towers is inspired by the Mario games. And last I checked, the assets are original artwork also inspired by the Mario games.
Pipe Towers is not a port of something previously made in a Mario game.