First... man, sorry to hear about your rough 2015. My 2016 is shaping up to be "one of those years" thus far, so I can sympathize.
Second... heh, I have my own story about a "cursed" game...
Third, regarding the "Shovel Knight/Freedom Planet" thing... hrm. I'm leaning towards Freedom Planet, because *all three* of the LPers I follow (raocow, Roahm Mythril, and Pink Kitty Rose) have done Shovel Knight. Mind, if you *want* to do Shovel Knight, I'd hardly object, because that game is teh awweeeessssuuuuummm, but I've never seen Freedom Planet in action, so that'd be cool.
And finally... looking forward to the future Mario projects. I'm enjoying your Lost Levels run (I haven't posted, but I *have* been following it), even though like you, I'm not wild about the game itself. SMB3 is especially going to be fun. I absolutely love that game. Still my favorite of the 2D Mario games.
Yup.