I put "mobile devices" in quotes for a reason. 
It's all the silly awards, the comparing scores to the systems best, the bouncy music etc. Even visually it looks like more modern games.
The course list is a menu. 
I don't really see the importance of it, other than allowing you to go to any "unlocked" (there we go again with mobile type gaming) course you want.
Still - each to their own. The courses I tried could be fiendish, even if they were kinda short. With my trackball I was able to get around some spiral curves, but damn I died a lot.
I hoped the game would have a Marble Madness vibe, given how close it is gameplay wise. Sadly it didn't capture that, instead looking like it was begging for the introduction of micro-transactions. A fun distraction then, but not really something I'm going to obsess over.
On Trackballs, the Kensington's are, first and foremost, mouse replacements. They're not gaming trackballs. Fortunately you can make adjustments to suit your taste within Mame and of course within Windows, and I think you can get a good approximation.
The ball movement on all current models is smooth, with the smoothest being the high-end model (Slimblade) which is what I use for all my work on the PC. The one surprising factoid Kensington don't publish is that it's only 1000 dpi though - which is not a problem for anything I've used it for, but may bother some. Since the models are divided into two button or four button configurations, that might factor in. I bought the Slimblade to see if the larger ball made any real difference - honestly I can't say that for me, it did.
My personal high scores in Tempest, Centipede, and Missile Command did improve though - but I'm not a skilled player and I won't be bothering anyone at Twin Galaxies within the next 100 years. Still, that's not the trackballs fault, I'm just not very good.
Having said that, I know folk around here are perfectionists, and as such I can see there would be reluctance to accept them for gaming. I have no idea what a dedicated gaming trackball costs, but assume they would be better. Of the trackballs I have, the Slimblade exposes more of the ball, so I suppose that would work better in a dedicated controller configuration. However it's reasonably pricey. Still, as I use it as a mouse replacement for all computer tasks, it's a compromise that works well, imo.
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