The pinball star, in my opinion, was the absolute worst star in the game back in the original version. The collision was even worse, you would constantly get stuck in walls or just fall through them, resulting in cheap deaths. Didn't help that dying still kicked you out of the level back then, making you lose your red coins. But as you said: it's way too easy now. I feel like Kaze was just lazy here: instead of fixing all the janky stuff he just removed all the punishment for said janky stuff.
As for Course 13: this stage is weirdly hidden for some reason. It's
between final boss town and alien wale town
Somethings telling me you're gonna like this level's aesthetic a lot. It's one of the best courses in the game if you ask me.