Gnome – Launch Files and Directories from Command Line

The "Edit"-verb really does trigger the "Edit"-action.
(I tested it with changing the "Edit" for .reg files in the registry and running the command.)

Since you made your answer "a partial answer" did you want to know how you would do this in cmd.exe? I don't think it can be done natively in `cmd.exe'.

There is of course ShelExec.

But you can also run powershell -command "start -verb edit textfile.txt" in cmd.exe.

You can even put this in a shortcut with doskey like this:

doskey cmdedit=powershell -command "start -verb edit $1"

Now you can do cmdedit textfile.txt on the cmd.exe-prompt.

Note: for the doskey-'macro' to be available after restarting the computer/cmd-session you need to add this command in your startup-scripts. You can look here for some suggestions to making it permanent.
I would go for the option of putting it in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun.

Edit:

This .reg file does it all for you:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="doskey cmdedit=powershell -command \"start -verb edit $1\""

These settings are in the Registry at this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

To show hidden items, set Hidden to 1 (to hide them, set it to 2). To show system/super-hidden items, set ShowSuperHidden to 1 (0 to hide). Since we're fiddling with the Registry directly, Explorer has to be restarted.

To accomplish all of that and enable viewing of everything, you can use these batch commands:

reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced /v Hidden /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced /v ShowSuperHidden /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
powershell -c gps 'explorer' ^| stop-process

If you prefer to avoid PowerShell, this should also work to kill Explorer:

taskkill /im explorer.exe /f

If Explorer doesn't automatically relaunch on your system, simply run explorer to get your taskbar back.