No, I think my problem is just the ubers part. I think there's something that I'm just missing. I was also trying to pull those off while sitting back with a cat in my lap, so that could have been giving me trouble

In fact, I seemed to have the opposite reactions that you did. The ubers were insanely difficult to me, but everything else just came naturally and I really got into it! I didn't have any problems with the normal tricks, although I would agree that it doesn't feel as natural to stop a trick by pressing the A button. It felt much more natural to have to hold a control stick and have to maneuver yourself upright. Other than that and the ubers, I think the controls are really cool.