Fantendo Holiday Showcase 2012/NextGen Solo/Neo Super Mario Land

WHAT'S THIS? A NextGen Solo Mario game?! Yes indeed, my friends! We are officially announcing the existence of Neo Super Mario Land! This game will be a 2.5D platformer akin to the New Super Mario Bros. series, but it will be quite far from the standard formula, hence why we gave it the "Land" title, referencing back to the originality of the Super Mario Land Game Boy titles. It's a Mario game with some...NextGen Solo flair added to it!
==Story==
It's the night of the New Star Fest, a special time in the Mushroom Kingdom where the residents watch as special Lumas become brilliant Power Stars, and rise to protect the kingdom from evil. As new stars form in the skies above, a dark cloud contrasts with the deep nighttime blue of the sky. As it draws closer to the ground, it drifts towards Peach's Castle, and its shape can be seen. It's Ztar, followed by Bowser in his Koopa Clown Car! Bowser swoops in and grabs Princess Peach from the castle balcony, while Ztar spreads darkness and causes the new stars to fall from the sky, turning them to lifeless, hollow stone. Ztar and Bowser retreat, with the Princess in tow, to the Koopa Kingdom.
It's up to Mario to restore the Power Stars and rescue the Princess!
not original enough for you? well i'm not going to spoil it all... :P
==Artwork==
Now, maybe I can draw my original characters decently, but good god can I not draw Mario and Co. I'm not just going to copy and paste already made pictures though, so a lot of the artwork for this game will be slightly edited to make it look the way I want it to. Example:
There will be a few original characters for this game that I will either draw in 2D or make in 3D, so don't worry! I'm not just turning up the contrast on all the characters. :P
==When can you expect this game?==
I'll be putting up the page very soon! :)