I know it's a crazy thing, but maybe enjoy the current 4th gen instead of massively speculating based on "evidence"?
The SS Ticket, or any of the ones I mentioned, aren't there to "prevent crashing." The ???-type is there because of the coding, so they had to make a plate for EVERY type, and ??? is the type Curse is. The SS Ticket is a key item that was just never used. There are actually several key items programmed into the game, as well as a Shellos sprite, that was never used.
You can speculate all you want. But when a GSC doesn't get re-made, I hope you don't throw a hissy fit, because many already have.