If the price came down I'd definitely give Plattchen a go, but there's so many new WiiWare titles of interest coming down the pipe that I want to hang on to the points I've got left for them as long as I can.

My roommate and I had a blast with Niki's Rock N' Ball. Like you said, it's very Bubble Bobble-ish, so I think it's best played with a friend. Neither of us had a problem with the controls despite all the complaints I'd read. The physics are such that you have to gain a bit of momentum if you want to achieve the maximum jumping distance. You can't just roll forward for a tenth of second and then jump and expect to go very far. I suspect this is what those who complained about the controls failed to grasp. You have to get a sense for how much momentum is needed to jump a certain distance because how far you jump is determined solely but how much momentum you have before you push the jump button. Also, if you hold down the jump button your character will jump continuously. So what you end up doing quite often is controlling your character by bouncing him all over the maps(you can wall jump also), which is pretty damn fun and not like any other 2D action/platformer I've ever played.

The bubble system from bubble bobble isn't replaced by nothing like you said it seemed. What you may have failed to notice through the videos you watched is that in order to kill most enemies you have to turn into a rock first, otherwise you'll die. Being a rock slows you down substantially and you can't jump very high or far in rock form either. So, since you should be trying to finish the levels as fast as you can(there's a medal system) you actually do have to find a balance between being in invulnerable rock form and completely vulnerable non-rock form. Some of the enemies bound around real fast, or they send you flying around real fast if you touch them, so you've gotta be pretty quick on the trigger to avoid dying. You'll think your fine and suddenly an enemy will come flying in from above and you won't be able to get to the rock button fast enough...and then you die. Plus there's platforms that disappear if you turn into a rock and this usually results in death. So yeah, I don't think the game is shallow by any means. For 500 points I'd say give a try, especially if you have somebody else who'll play it with you.

Hmmm, okay that is a different aspect that, as you say, isn't obvious from the videos.

Well, depending on what's on offer this week I may just take the plunge on Niki...

If you do, Sean, I'll be interested to hear what you think.

Can't speak for Plattchen but Niki was terrible.