You play as a mother forest creature whose children have gone missing, and you must go through over 100 levels to get them all back. The main game mechanic is to pick up and throw your offspring to solve puzzles, eventually getting all of them (and yourself) into the door at the end of each level. The Mother's Day 2012 update added a Level Editor, integrated online leaderboards and a "Sharing is Caring"
website to hold both of these.
Offspring Fling! contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Gender: The main player character is definitely a female, but what gender are the two other forest creatures?
- Anti-Frustration Features: Get close enough to the dev time and a distinct ninja-themed staff ghost will appear to give you clues on how to beat it.
- Bee Afraid: A staple enemy starting at about level 51.
- Cartoon Creature: The species of Momma and her babies is only ever given as 'forest creature'.
- Disappeared Dad: The father of Momma's many babies is never seen.... until you unlock the special world, where you play as him. He reunites with the mother in the ending sequence.
- Guide Dang It!:
- The Parry ability, which is given no hint of except for in the name of one Steam achievement, along with the fact that the ninja character gives you the ability to jump after parrying. Both these skills are required for the last set of levels.
- Jumping with a baby on your head usually results in reduced jump height, unless you jump and then pick up the baby in mid-air while still holding the jump button, which causes you to jump at your normal height. The game never tells you this, and yet it's absolutely essential for getting gold and dev times on certain levels.
- Developer replays don't show up unless your best time is close enough, causing this as you try to figure out the correct strategy.
- Level Editor: Since the Mother's Day update.
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Nintendo Hard: The last twenty levels require extreme skill and precision to beat, let alone earn their dev times. - Racing Ghost: After you beat the level, a ghost of your fastest run starts playing through the level. Once you get close enough to the dev time, a second staff ghost appears alongside the normal ghost to show you exactly what you need to do to beat the dev time.
- Shoutout: To Evo Moment #37. The last bonus level is named "Daigo" and requires a string of 25 consecutive parries.
- Stylistic Suck: The official trailer is an Affectionate Parody of cheesy Nintendo Power commercials. There's even a bonus version made to look like a faulty VHS recording.Announcer: Challenge your friends for the crown of ULTIMATE MOTHERHOOD!
- Unnamed Parent: The player character is only ever called 'Momma' in official materials.
- Weaponized Offspring: The main mechanic of the game is more along the lines of Applied Offspring, but you can throw your children at enemies to stun them. At the end of the game, this is also how you land the final blow on Dinobaus.
