You can't just say that all the traps are game mechanics when the Classic games are literaly pure gameplay and the mannual references them, boss dificulty is diferent then canon dificult, otherwise the carnival zone barrel is the hardest boss, plus if you are going by that then Knuckles one shotted Super Sonic in base and the Big Arms can take Sonic out of his super form but it can't for Knuckles
The Big Arms example is actualy gameplay mechanics, not the traps, otherwise in Sonic 2 Sonic talking Eggman's spaceship to go to the Death Egg is also gameplay mechanics, they are cutscenes and Sonic fell for them, and the fact that Knuckles even makes traps goes against he being a brute
Eggman helping Knuckles in the traps is headcanon and requires more assumptions then Knuckles making them himself, going against Occam's razor