How can I get a list of content types? Is there any way to get a list of some of many content types? 

I am not asking to list nodes of content type(s).
List of content types

In code you can have the list of all node content types, using the node_type_get_names() method :

foreach (node_type_get_names() as $name =&gt; $type) {
     // Do something
}


After, you'll have to sort them if you do not want to use them all.

Template override

It is not a good practice to hack any files of the Drupal installation.

But you can easily override any template files provided by the core or a module, directly in your theme folder.

Have a look at this subject : Drupal 7 Template (Theme Hook) Suggestions.

To have a custom content type template, just take the default "node.tpl.php" file, and copy it in your template theme folder, with a name like "node--[type-machine-name].tpl.php" (you'll have to replace the "_" in the type_name by "-").

Custom node add form

And finally I already saw some website using a override node form page using page manager module. But I cannot say how they've done it.