it doesnt seem theres a way to get certain cages without getting certain powers. unfortunately, when going back to older levels using the world map cheat, it doesnt preserve your powers. the only remedy I can think of for this is using the all powers cheat. does anyone know any sort of solution to this?

Once you beat Mr.Dark, the game gives you a password to use in "Continue" that takes you to the world select screen but preserves your powerups. IIRC you can still use the world map cheat once you've loaded that password and retain your powers, either that or it takes you back to the world map after each level, one of the two.

Password if you want to try this is; CH5G4mS1jD