Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars is a puzzle platformer in which you guide tiny windup dolls to safety by manipulating the environment around them.
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Story & Themes
This is not a game that emphasizes story. There is one image at the beginning of the game (shown above) that depicts Donkey Kong kidnapping Pauline, a red-dressed woman first introduced as the damsel in distress in the original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game. There is also
a single image at the end of the game which resolves the “plot.” That’s it.
Once awakened, the Minis will continue to walk in a straight line until they hit an obstacle. The player must use the stylus on either the 3DS’s touch screen or the Wii U’s GamePad to create metal girders, moving conveyor belts, magnetic platforms, or springboards to help guide the Minis to their goal. Often, multiple Minis will be walking around at once, and if they get separated it can be quite tricky to pay attention to them all at the same time.
Save Points
This game saves every time you complete a level.
Difficulty
Tipping Stars starts off simple but gets incredibly difficult.
Heads Up!
Violence The windup dolls can fall on spikes or be attacked by bad guys, but they just fall apart into their toy components. There is no gore.
Scary Imagery The precise timing sometimes required to finish a level might make a player feel nervous or edgy. It can be incredibly frustrating to plan out your entire solution and then lose when you're near the end.
Discrimination In almost every Mario vs. Donkey Kong game, Pauline is wearing a tight-fitting red dress and is kidnapped by the evil Donkey Kong. The resolutions to these plot lines are often problematic and show Pauline first being rescued by Mario and then forgiving Donkey Kong instead of teaching him how and why his behavior is unacceptable. These games provide a great opportunity to discuss the Damsels in Distress trope with your kids.
Online Community
In this game, you can create levels and share them with the world, or play levels created by other players. There is a space for a written or drawn description with each level, but Nintendo has pretty strict standards and keeps everything family friendly.
Conversation Starters
- Why do you think Pauline is always being kidnapped?
- How did you solve that puzzle?
- How do you decide whether or not you should tip someone stars?
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