Heh, I remember when you used -mario to access that 24/7... I always had a tendency to mix -mario and -xmas, for a Mario level with snow. Then I'd load Aerial Garden Zone for no reason in particular (remember the time when AGZ1 was BOTH acts, not just the one? I do). Heck, I remember when -xmas gave you Christmas Hunt, but with Santa in a barrel, rings that were Pac-Man dots, ringslinger that activated once you freed Santa, MMX music...
Actually, that reminds me an awful lot of those old match stages I don't think anyone really remembers anymore... like that one volcano zone, or that stage with the four temples in the corner, some small paths in the middle, and a LOT of bottomless pits around. In fact, I think the only stage from that set that is still around is Zero Ring Zone...
Or hey, remember the special stages in Demo 4? You think 1.09's are hard, then you should give THOSE a spin; they're freakin' impossible. I wonder if a port could be done, just to prove a point...
No, this post does not particularly serve any point, other than nostalgia. But nostalgia's cool, so no worries, right? Right?