Played the first few rooms last night. Scram Kitty feels super-unique and (probably) unlike anything you ever played but awesome. You are on rails but you can jump and gravity pulls you to neighboring rails like those 2D sections in the Super Mario Galaxy games. It's also a bit like VVVVVV but you obviously have more control over your jump and it's playing around with momentum a lot.

Oh and it's also a shooter. Not a twin-stick shooter, mind you. You have no direct control over the direction you're firing in. You're only ever firing straight ahead which means you have to take into account which rails/surface you need to be on to dispose of your enemies. Soon enough you'll be jumping from rail to rail, evading enemies shots while blasting at them.

The goal is to save all the kittens, which is the best reason to do anything, really. Those function as multiple optional objectives in each level. One cat always marks the exit so this is the bare minimum for you: reach the exit. Then there is a cat you save by collecting all those glowy bits which requires mastery of the acrobatics and exploiting the power-jump and momentum properly. Another one you get for taking out all the enemies which might be hiding in hidden areas somewhere in the level. Another one you have to chase after on a timer once you trigger it. There's a countdown ticking while you try to get to it and then it moves to another spot in the level, rinse repeat. This cat requires you to move around the level quickly and efficiently.

Scram Kitty is not an easy game but how hard it is depends on how hard you want it to be. If you just want to move on, the exit is relatively easy to get to but those extra cats offer a nice challenge.

I highly recommended this game who is tired of the same ol' same ol' and likes awesome games. Oh and the soundtrack happens to be pretty cool as well (funky electro music).

Rhod from Dakko Dakko posted a "pro" player showing off their skills on the third main level on Miiverse: https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAABnUYnxpbqMkQ

I'm really digging it, but the game is kicking my ass pretty hard.

@melodiousj: I like that the levels are (so far?) pretty compact so you can properly learn them and choose to save one cat at a time.

I'm actually surprised how decent this game is, considering it came out on the eShop to almost no fanfare. Any good reason to play my Wii U is okay in my book.

Also, is there no tutorial or did I totally miss that? I got stuck for the longest time on an early level until I realized that the maximum height of your jump is proportional to the amount of health that you have. It was kinda cool to piece that together myself (the constantly spawning enemies with health drops should have given it away), but it wasn't super obvious.

Yeah, I picked this up on Friday and quickly learned that there are no checkpoints in the levels. Getting 3 of the 4 cats and then getting yourself killed while trying to get the cat that you have to chase around the level is a bad idea.

@beard_of_zeus: I plan on pestering Brad etc on Twitter today to check this out and do a QL since I think he might like this game. A serious bummer that this seems to be getting ignored because it has not flashy visuals, snappy title and can't easily be describe as "[something]-like."

There actually is a tutorial. The first four stages you play through are it. The game does the thing where it teaches you things through gameplay instead of using the text-bubble crutch. Actual game design! Wow! :)

I played The Vents 2 last night with all the switches. That level was quite a bit larger than the previous ones. I really enjoy how each level becomes your playground that you have to familiarize yourself with deeply to be able to save all cats successfully.

Below is one of the vids that the developer is posting on YouTube/Miiverse. It's a different level but I love the chase cats. They're like a final test that challenges your mastery/knowledge of any given level and the jumping mechanics.