Are there any known changes with the way the game plays as Knuckles in the SEGA AGES release compared to the 1992 release? Sonic has the dropdash to distinguish it from the 1992 release, but Knuckles does not have access to this feature. The Sonic 2 (1992) leaderboards currently have many re-releases on several platforms as they all play the same way, rather than separate leaderboards and this may apply for Knuckles on SEGA AGES if there are no changes.
An example of a change in gameplay was found in SEGA AGES Sonic The Hedgehog with the spindash and dropdash abilities disabled, in which the kill plane at the bottom of the camera border was no longer in effect, making a few levels faster or easier to avoid a death.