I just downloaded this for review purposes yesterday as only my second WiiWare release - my first being Bomberman Blast! - but I wanted to run something by you guys to see if it was normal.

When you press the Home button, it brings up a brief overview of the controls, but if you want to read the rest of the Operations Guide you have to quit out of the game and connect to the Wii Shop Channel, read it there and head back to the game through the Menu. Do any other games have this rubbish piece of functionality, or just this one?

Yes. It's the same thing in Mega Man 9, Toki Tori, LostWinds and World of Goo. I agree: That's not very comfortable. I like it better when there is a built-in manual like in the VC games.

Not certain since I've not played it much, but I think Snowboard Riot is that way as well. Again, not certain and I'm at work so I can't check

ALL WiiWare games are like that, I suppose they're saving space by keeping the manual online.

Yes, it's for every WiiWare game, in order to save space. It's a bit naff, and the least they could do is make pdf versions to print off for yourself, but on the bright side: at least you get to read the instructions before buying the game giving you a better idea of whether or not you'll like it.

It's totally weak. I've noticed on the Japanese Nintendo site that some WiiWare games have their manuals available for download in .pdf form (sadly not all -- it would make translation/note-taking easier!).