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Our ratings for games we reviewed in September are now in place, and we now present to you the ones that are on the top of the heap. Each game reviewed receives a 1-5 star rating relative to the other games from that month. Generally, a 3 or higher is considered a "good" rating.

Our final scores are not the product of any traditionally objective measures such as graphics or sound, but simply reflect the games we would most recommend to others. Keep in mind, this listing is comprised of games we reviewed in September, and not necessarily games that were specifically released in September.

5 Stars

Machinarium, $4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This game generated a heck of a lot of controversy when it was revealed that it'd only run on the iPad 2 only, which had us more than a little worried about its performance if it requires top-end hardware. It turns out, Machinarium runs fantastically, despite its Adobe Air-based innards. If you've got the hardware, don't miss this remarkably clever adventure.

Another World – 20th Anniversary, $4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – It's hard to find a game on the App Store with more history behind it than Another World. Touch-based controls (as well as an optional virtual D-pad) along with both original and remastered graphics make for an outstanding port of this classic adventure game.

Tiny Heroes, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – geoDefense and geoDefense Swarm cranked tower defense on the App Store up to 11, and, dare I say it, Tiny Heroes makes a great attempt to crank it to 12. Or, at least, 11 and a half. This fantasy-based tower defense title should not be missed by anyone who even vaguely fancies the genre.

King of Dragon Pass, $9.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – No lie, I've spent more time playing this game than all the other games that we reviewed in September combined. If my exhaustive review wasn't clear enough, here's all you need to know: If you like simulation games, you needed King of Dragon Pass on your iPhone yesterday. I've still got my fingers crossed for an iPad version, but I'm more than happy managing my clan whenever I've got a few seconds to spare on my iPhone.

Monsters Ate My Condo, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Adult Swim and Pik Pok joined forces to bring us one of the craziest matching games we've ever seen on the App Store. The game requires matching similarly colored floors while appeasing nearby color-coded monsters, each with a more ridiculous super-power than the last. Also, you can score billions if you're good. Billions!

4.5 Stars

Fling a Thing, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – It seems physics-based game that rely on flinging mechanics always work well on iOS devices. Fling a Thing follows this formula, and the addition of a crazy art style, excellent puzzle progression, and, well, things to fling makes it a great little game to have.

Gyro13 – Steam Copter Arcade HD, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – It took way too long, but developers are finally starting to utilize the Unreal Engine in some interesting ways. Gyro13 puts you in charge of a cool looking gyrocopter to rescue miners trapped inside of a shockingly dangerous mine. The graphics and sound are great, and the skill requirement makes completing objectives feel like a major accomplishment.

Where’s My Water?, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This super-fun liquid-centric physics game puts you in the driver seat of helping an alligator take a shower. Sure, it's hard to come up with a more ridiculous premise, but maybe that's part of this game's charm. A wacky scrolling mechanic on some levels is the only thing we have to complain about, otherwise Where's My Water is fabulous.

Orbit1, Free – [Review] – The iPad is home to a ton of awesome single-device multiplayer games, and Orbit1 is one of the finest we've seen so far. Simple controls combined with incredibly fun gameplay make for the perfect game to play with friends while waiting in line, or doing anything else where you're bored and have an iPad as well as four people hanging around.

GoatUp, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Jeff Minter's Llamasoft is responsible for releasing quite a few great retro-inspired games, and GoatUp is no exception to that. It's an endless climber with a fantastic retro spin, complete with graphics to match. If you've been a fan of Minter's previous works, make sure you don't miss this one.

jAggy Race, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – What do the best kart racers always have? If you answered "TONS of jumps," you are correct. jAggy Race is filled with jumps and all sorts of other aerial stunts to perform in the wide array of tracks it comes loaded with.

Radballs, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – We fell in love with RadBalls inside of the first few seconds of the trailer, and by the time it was over we were ready to yield our first born to its creator. Oh, yeah, the game is fun as hell too. It's a music-centric matching game that even allows you to use your own tracks. Check it out.

1112 episode 03, $4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – We enjoyed ourselves through the first two episodes of 1112, and the third installment is no different. I'd start with the earlier games first, just so you're playing everything in order. Now… If the developer could start releasing more than one episode a year…

DrawRace 2, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The original Draw Race was a ton of fun and Draw Race 2 is better in absolutely every way. The line drawing control mechanic is fantastic, and the menu system could potentially fool people into thinking it was a real serious business racing game.

The rest of the game ratings can be seen in their respective rating categories (also found in the sidebar navigation): 5 Stars, 4.5 Stars, 4 Stars, 3.5 Stars, 3 Stars, and 2 Stars.

As always, we expect there will be some debate about relative scores, but keep in mind that everyone's personal ratings may vary based on individual tastes.

For more of our favorite iOS games, check out our "Best iPhone Games" category which includes all of these monthly posts as well as other special compilations of the greatest games the App Store has to offer:

• So You Just Got a Verizon iPhone… Let's Get You Up To Speed!
• So You Just Got an iPhone 4 – An App Store Gaming Guide
• Best iPod Touch and iPhone Games: 2010 Buyer's Guide
• 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Eli
• 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Blake
• 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Brad
• 2010: TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Jared
• Best iPod Touch and iPhone Games: 2009 Buyer's Guide

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You might remember back last month when CAVE announced that their excellent manic shooter Espgaluda II [$11.99/Lite] would be gracing the larger screen of the iPad in the near future. We even caught a quick glimpse of the title in action during their UStream broadcast, though it didn’t offer much insight due to some dodgy camerawork. Well today CAVE has sent along a brand new trailer for what will be known as Espgaluda II HD, along with some other interesting new details.

First off, and probably not coming as a shock to those familiar with CAVE’s work, Espgaluda II HD will only be compatible with the iPad 2, and won’t support the original iPad. The extra horsepower and especially the extra RAM afforded by the iPad 2 is a necessity in pushing the crazy amount of bullet and explosion sprites that are a hallmark of CAVE games.

The next bit of info we’ve learned is that the title’s special “iPhone Mode” created specifically for the iOS release of Espgaluda II will be getting a brand new BGM soundtrack and will be rebranded “Smartphone Mode”, likely due to the game’s intended release on additional platforms like Android. This mode change will be part of the new HD version of the game and will come as a free update to the regular versions as well, along with the new music.

Finally, and the part that I found most interesting, is that CAVE is planning on spinning off both the retooled Smartphone Mode as well as the original Arcade Mode into their own separate games. You’ll get the full versions of each mode from the original Espgaluda II game, just in individual app form. These spinoffs will be available in iPad 2 HD flavors as well as smaller versions for 3rd generation iPhone and iPod touch devices and higher.

I think this is a neat idea since CAVE games are on the higher end of the App Store pricing spectrum, though quite worth the price of admission as evidenced by our review of Espgaluda II. These spinoff games featuring just a single mode each should come in at a cheaper price than the full experience, giving a broader spectrum of players the chance to get in on the action.

But therein lies the problem, we don’t actually know any pricing information for these spinoff games or for Espgaluda II HD, and a release date doesn’t get any more specific than a Fall 2011 window. CAVE promises to drop this information on us soon over on their Cave World website, so we’ll keep a set of eyeballs planted in that direction and bring you those additional details as soon as they’re divulged.

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So, we got a build of Forever Drive and decided to put the pedal on the floor in order to bring you some early impressions. And, wow, guys, does this seem cool.

With Forever Drive, Supermono Studios is taking a smarter approach to user-created content design: instead of asking players to mold and shape entire experiences, it asks that they mold and torture a fraction of a blip on an infinitely expandable super-highway. By managing user expectations before people even begin creating, Supermono is freeing its users from failure and the game’s players from having to filter out tons of garbage. Most user-created content titles, including Media Molecule’s venerable series starring a boy made of sacks, do not practice any kind of control or creative constraint, which is what makes Forever Drive unique, and as we’ve been discovering, pretty fun.

You got to at least appreciate Supermono’s core design conceit. It’s shooting from the hip with Forever Drive — there are no curated races, no lifeless campaign, and no attempts at narrative. Through and through, this is a racing game about racing forever, and it’s built by you and everyone else. The basic idea behind this is simple. Supermono wants you to play a racing game about the journey instead of the destination. That's some next level stuff.

“What we've tried to create is a very streamlined experience — something a little different from the "load a track, do 3 laps, stop, repeat" gameplay that's become almost universal in driving games,” Supermono’s Dave Ferner told us earlier this year.

“We're trying to create something that feels more like an epic journey, with that feeling of discovery and wonder you get driving fast into an unfamiliar land…”

I recently gave the level editing portion of the title a go and I’ve been surprised by how deceptively simple it is and how graceful most of your projects tend to be, even if you’re just goofing around and attempting to make something phallic. You’ll probably never make a level on par with 1-1, but you’ll make something that works and fits with the game.

Basically, there are two parts to the creation process: track editing and environmental editing. The former editor lets you build a small swathe of track from one end of the editor to the other, while the latter gives you the power to add scenery. Other tools give you the power to raise or lower the track where you please, as well as make fine adjustments on the turns you may or may not choose to have.

It’s not rocket science and I think that’s important: execution on design concepts floating around on your head is about as hard as drawing your bedroom realistically from the picture you see when you close your eyes. By making the editor simple and keeping the bar low with the amount of content you’re responsible for, Supermono is constricting the scope of your ideas, but not their potential.

And while whatever you make will probably be gold, there are tricks to making a good track, as I’ve learned from Dave. He suggests paying attention to the actual curvature of tracks, how a straight benefits the overall design, other high-concept-y things. He also suggests checking out this article by Luke McMillan called A Rational Approach To Racing Game Track Design, which is crazy good read if you’re into design or production.

"One of the main barriers to mainstream acceptance of user-created tracks is the complexity of the editors — we didn't want a PC style professional tool with a million hotkeys, we wanted a super-streamlined editor which was fun to use," Ferner tells us. "We honestly spent months on that thing — it takes a lot of work to make something simple out of something complicated!

"And because our game relies on users to create the content, we aimed to create an editor that was almost a mini-game in itself — there's even some unlocks which you can only get by building popular tracks, and we may even put a highscore table for track creators… it's all a big experiment, but hey, you never know until you've tried it!"

If a section of track somehow manages to suck, you’ll be able to down-vote it. After enough, it’ll be removed from the rotation.

The track I made while farting around (after the no-no shaped one, that is) was a simple “S”-shaped joint. The game automatically integrates in spots where players can drift to earn XP (which is currency used to purchase upgrades, cars, and more stuff for the editor) and it also auto-scaled the height in order to accommodate some lackluster building placement. The actual placement was a simple as dragging and dropping or pinching to zoom to smooth out the rough spots. You’ll see a few images of it if you look around this write-up.

We still haven’t seen the full-full game — you know, the one with the potentially hundreds of thousands of user-created sections of tracks, so we haven’t really dug into the core of the experience. We’ll definitely do that when the game goes wide later this October.

On that note, this is definitely a game that’ll live and die by its audience. At the end of the day, it’s a title that is relying on a community and a vast one at that, so we’ll have to wait and see how people react it hits and how long they’ll stick with the user-creation component in a post-release environment. Provided there is an audience, Forever Drive has the potential to fulfill the promise of its insane conceit, and really, we can’t wait to see if it can manage.

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As if simply touching a screen with your finger and interacting with an iPad game wasn’t magical enough, Disney Mobile is taking things to the next level with a special toy and game tie-in for Cars 2. All Things D recently got a first glimpse at the first “Disney Appmate,” a weird experiential racing game that requires Cars 2 toys. Basically, you turn on the game, put a toy Cars car on the surface of the iPad, and then you push it around and explore (and crash into things in) the virtual top-down world that Disney Mobile has developed alongside the corporeal item.

The meatspace-slash-cyberspace tie-in isn’t a new concept by any means, but it’s interesting to see a new product utilizing the iPad’s touchpad enter the realm. Also, this is definitely the mother of all free-to-play experiments so far. The game part will be free and packaged in with a $20 blister of two interactive Cars 2 toys.

Kids love the gadget and word on the street is that they also love toys, so on a conceptual level this all sounds like a promising venture. We can’t really envision a world in which this actually takes off, but hey, who saw that electricity thing coming? You? Nope.

[Via All Things D, 9 to 5 Mac]

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It’s not a holiday weekend, but EA doesn’t need one in order to drum up a sale. Proof: until the end of this very weekend, you can grab a huge assortment of the publisher’s iPad-specific titles for up to 70 percent off their normal value. In the case of games like Tetris this translates to several, several dollars worth of savings, which is always pretty cool. Here’s a big fat old list of everything it’s marking off and the original price point:

• Scrabble - $9.99 → $2.99
• Risk: The Official Game – $6.99 → $2.99
• Sim City Deluxe - $6.99 → $2.99
• Monopoly – $9.99 → $2.99
• Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition – $9.99 → $2.99
• Shift 2 Unleashed – $4.99 → $2.99
• Command and Conquer: Red Alert – $4.99 → $2.99
• Max and the Magic Marker – $2.99 → $0.99
• Battleship – $2.99 → $0.99
• Clue: Secrets and Spies – $4.99 → $2.99
• Reckless Racing – $4.99 → $2.99
• Snood – $4.99 → $2.99
• The Game of Life – $6.99 → $2.99
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit – $6.99 → $2.99
• NBA Jam – $4.99 → $2.99
• Yahtzee HD – $4.99 → $2.99
• Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 – $4.99 → $2.99
• Dead Space – $9.99 → $2.99
• Mirror's Edge – $4.99 → $2.99
• Tetris – $7.99 → $2.99
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – $9.99 → $2.99

If you're in the market for some wholesome family-oriented entertainment, this is definitely your kind of sale considering the amount of board games available on the cheap. Dead Space, though, will continue to be our number one pick whenever EA throws these sales — it's mad good, guys. Mad good.

[Via Destructoid]

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On the heels of another great release in Grand Prix Story [$2.99], the simulation gurus at Kairosoft have dropped its SimCity-lite offering, Edo Town, in the Japanese App Store. Putting English-based speculation on the back-burner for a moment, Edo Town has you play the role of a city manager charged with putting together a thriving town complete with businesses, facilities, and utilities. No doubt, you’ll have to walk the line between citizen happiness and overall revenue, which can make for some compelling play, as Maxis has proven time and time again.

Now, for the tea leaves — if Kairosoft keeps up with its current model, there’s a good chance we could see an English version of Edo Town as early as next month. If this happens, Edo Town would be the studio’s next US release following it's racing simulation game. Localization is not an easy process and Kairosoft has said before that it has a special release schedule for the rest of the world, however, so let’s keep anticipation in check for the moment.

For what it’s worth, we’re doing our best to independently confirm if we’ll see Edo Town in English. We’ll definitely bring those details when or if we get them.

[Via Kairospot]

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Megastunt Mayhem [$2.99 / Free] is an interesting beast to play. Sure, the game is chock full of monster trucks, school busses waiting to be smashed, and a hard rock soundtrack to groove to. But, beneath its tough clichéd exterior is a deep gameplay system with a fun stunt system reminiscent of the classic Tony Hawk series. Whether you’re looking for a game that requires timing and precision or just looking to smash stuff, Megastunt Mayhem definitely has something for everybody.

If it’s one thing Megastunt Mayhem does well, it’s style. From the moment you launch the game, its Monster Truck motif is in your face. There are big cars, big vrooms and quite a bit of destruction. The entire game is also visually appealing on both the iPhone 4 as well as the iPad 2 (although it has a MUCH smoother framerate on the iPad 2). I also enjoy the fact that the paid version of Megastunt is a universal app (although it’s important to note that the free version is designed only for the iPhone).

Where Megastunt exceeds beyond the cliché is in its actual gameplay system. Megastunt Mayhem is broken up into a series of objective-based missions along several arenas. Each mission can award up to five stars, which must be collected in order to advance to later missions and locales. The first three stars are always earned by hitting a certain score threshold, while the other two stars are rewards for satisfying various objectives (typically performing a combination of tricks). Each mission is also timed, so you have to act fast if you want to get all the stars. It’s a good system that starts out slow as you learn all the ropes, but quickly ramps up. It’s also made for quick bursts of play, meaning that this’ll be a good game to play on the go when you have a few minutes to kill.

The meat of Megastunt Mayhem is in its trick system. In addition to being able to launch off ramps and destroy cars, Megastunt incorporates a touch-based stunt system that allows you to quickly ramp up the points. Perform several tricks in succession and your combo meter goes up, netting you even more points and cash. I particularly enjoyed the fact that some of Megastunt Mayhem’s stunts were actually pretty complicated and required some timing and precision. Stunts range from a simple backflip which has you swiping down on your truck while it’s in the air, to the ‘Nose Bleed,’ a move that requires you to position the nose of your truck towards the ground while swiping left to right creating a horizontal 360 degree shift. Of course, all this is done while being in the air, so it’s important to line up your jumps and get a lot of hang time. There’s a lot of reflexive action, timing, strategy, and fun.

Adding to the depth of Megastunt Mayhem is an upgrade system that succeeds at keeping you coming back for more game time. After each mission, cash is earned based on your score and satisfaction of objectives. You can then use that cash to repair your vehicle and upgrade one of several attributes (such as armor, nitro and handling), each making your car bigger and better. Once you get a car fully upgraded, you can simply keep using it to score more points and cash or move on to the next car and start again. Obviously, this sort of upgrade system isn’t anything new; in fact most racing games worth their salt have a similar system in place. Still, considering that Megastunt Mayhem isn’t a racing game, it’s nice to see it incorporated competently.

Megastunt Mayhem just seems to get everything right and address most of the standard concerns that you may have about these sorts of games.  Accelerometer and touch screen controls are both built-in, with additional options for modifying the sensitivity of the touch controls or mirroring the tilt controls. In addition, both OpenFeint and Game Center are supported for all your social gaming needs. The trick tutorial is accessible in-game and does a great job explaining each move. Megastunt even includes the all-important option of separating sound volume from music volume, assuring that you will continue to hear your monster truck while listening to your favorite music. Sure, Megastunt Mayhem doesn’t particularly innovate in any way, but it does manage to incorporate a variety of attributes from different types of games and tie it all together in a well-done game.

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Developer Fractiv just introduced a new mechanic and a new character in a free and fresh update to its arcade racing game Lane Splitter [$.99]. New version 2.0 — which the studio says is the game’s most comprehensive update yet — adds Ricky, a character “who looks cooler than you because of his sweet [blue] chopper. Also, police. Yep! For the first time ever, you’ll be asked to avoid the long arm of the law as you switch lanes to and fro at silly speeds. From our tests thus far, escaping the police seems to simply boil down to "just keep driving fast," a conceit that jives with the whole game.

New animations, tweaks, and optimizations are also a part of the  free update. Interestingly, the studio has also added four more characters, but only as IAP. You can grab them one a piece for $.99 or in a bundle for $1.99. The latter is an introductory price for the moment.

Lane Splitter is stupid fun and we certainly got into it earlier this March. If you’d like to learn a little bit more about the crotch-rocketry that fuels this game, you should definitely give our review a read.

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jAggy Race [99¢] arrived on the App Store without much fanfare, but this kart-racing game is an impressive debut release from Swiss developers SevenOnly. The goal is to race your little kart around the track within the allotted time. That sounds pretty easy, except the tracks are totally crazy.

They curve down-and-under, so your vehicle ends up racing upside down with 360-degree gravity. You can do massive jumps on the track which send you flying for ages, even around corners, or to other sections of track. If you've ever played the snowboarding game iStunt 2 Insane Hills [Free] the tracks are just as crazy, but here you're on wheels.

There's no other karts in this game, as you're solely racing against the clock and trying to avoid crashing. A timer starts beeping if you're running out of time, which really gets the adrenaline going, but If you take the corners too quickly you'll fly off the track altogether. Fortunately, there's mandatory checkpoints which illuminate as you pass and act as a re-spawn point if you wipe-out. This is a game of skill and timing as you can't simply hold down the accelerator.

To makes things trickier, there's obstacles to jump, laser barriers in the air, and large rotating saw blades to avoid. If you ram into an obstacle at full speed the kart bounces back, using up precious time, although you can slam on the brakes and speed forward again. And this game delivers a great sensation of speed, on tracks which grow much longer and more complex as you progress.

There's 5 tutorial tracks, followed by 3 worlds of five tracks each. When you complete a level, the next level unlocks and you can unlock an additional 3 bonus tracks by scoring three gold wins per world (making 23 tracks in total).  But be warned: It's not easy to achieve gold results at first, and obstacles can sometimes appear too quickly to avoid if you're not familiar with the track yet. In jAggy Race, memory and quick reflexes come in handy.

The track is only one-lane wide (as wide as your kart) so there's no swerving left or right. Instead, there's buttons to drive forward and backwards on each side of the screen. Or tap both together for braking. Some tracks require a combination of driving forwards and backwards, but there's always arrows conveniently located  to show you which way to race.

Jump buttons are available on both sides of the screen. While you're mid-air, you can optionally tilt the device to do flips. If your kart tips over, or is racing along on two wheels, you can shake the device to upright it. Once you've mastered the controls, there's an option to remove the buttons altogether if you choose. The controls in general work really well, and your fingers never obscure the action.

The retina graphics look great and the "camera" panning is super smooth, starting with a wide view of the track and background, zooming in on the car at the starting post and then tracking the car nicely, despite the rapid turns, drops, jumps and loops.

If you look closely, you'll notice some attention to detail. The kart wheels rotate and Jaggy (which is the name of the driver) looks over his shoulder when in reverse and even blinks occasionally. And the backgrounds are layered with details. There are sheep grazing beside (or sitting upon) the track.  And when the voice says "Ready…go!" at the start, you can accelerate quickly to turbo.

jAggy Race is a fun casual game, but it's also an exciting and challenging game for competitive gamers who want to familiarize themselves with each track for better results. Game Center leader-boards are provided for each track, plus 46 Game Center achievements. jAggy Race is already a good deal for a buck, but the developers advise that new tracks, additional features and a universal version are being worked on already, which will make this game an even better deal down the road.

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WayForward, the studio that’s just finished cleansing and manipulating Majesco’s Bloodrayne franchise into something that’s actually fun to play with Bloodrayne Betrayal for Xbox Live Arcade, is porting the second game in its original Shantae franchise to iOS. In a couple of weeks, the studio plans to launch Risky’s Revenge on the App Store for the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod Touch, a representative has confirmed with us.

Risky’s Revenge debuted on the Nintendo DSi e-store in 2010. Despite the relative obscurity of the platform, people have been downloading and embracing the action-platform game. Heck, its even gathered some lofty awards with the media at large, which isn’t something download-exclusive Nintendo DS games do.

To be clear, this is a port and it will have virtual controls as a substitute for the DS’ control functionality. And while that sounds like a bummer, it’s important to note that WayForward is actively tweaking the design of the original game to cater to iOS. In our Q&A below, the studio specifically says it's tinkering with the spacing of environmental objects and the behavior of AI, in addition to overhauling the UI and how moves are triggered.

We’ve played a bit of a developer build and love what we’re seeing — Risky’s Revenge is undoubtedly poised to be a technically and mechanically sound game that we’ll be happy to have with us on the move. As for what’s next on iOS for WayForward? We realize we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but it sounds like its interested in sticking with the App Store in some capacity down the line. The first priority for it, though, is to get this out of the door in the best possible way.

Q&A

Let's pretend that the entire iOS audience hasn't had a chance to see Shantae: Risky's Revenge on the DS' digital store. What is it and what makes it so awesome?

Shantae: Risky’s Revenge is a modern day sequel to the Game Boy Color classic Shantae, originally distributed by Capcom. In it, players guide a hair-whipping, belly dancing genie on her quest to defeat Risky Boots, a sexy pirate who’s determined to rule the world. Nintendo fans will notice the influence of Zelda, Castlevania, and Metroid right off the bat. There are puzzle-filled dungeons, gigantic bosses, magical upgrades, and a humorously flirty-girty storyline. Having developed 3rd party Nintendo titles for over 20 years, we’ve got a good handle on this kind of thing.

What makes it a good fit for the iPhone and iPod Touch?

Shantae is famous for three things; high ratings, hips that don’t lie (whatever that means), and being difficult to find. We’re bummed when we get letters from gamers who want to play it, but don’t have the means. So, moving to iOS should help fix that.

Technically, the game runs silky smooth at a rock solid 60 frames per second, which is essential for an action game. The character artwork gets a huge boost on retina display, and our love of dot pixel graphics is perfectly preserved since there’s plenty of resolution to go around. The iPad version is especially engrossing, since the visuals really stand out.

You're going to have to make do with virtual controls, right? What kind of enhancements, tweaks, or concession have you had to make as a result?

Virtual D-Pads are my personal arch nemesis, so I’m happy to report that ours does the job incredibly well. I should explain that this was not a quick and dirty port… it’s been almost a full year of nonstop work, and we’re preparing a release candidate now. The game has changed over time. Early on, our focus was to make it play exactly like the Nintendo DS game, but over time we saw the need to make it play “proportionately” the same. Meaning, if the player put out X amount of effort as in the DS version, they should get an equal sense of accomplishment in return.

Using that philosophy we made tweaks throughout the game. Platforms are slightly wider, chains dangle a little bit closer to the player’s grasp; enemy behaviors are just a bit different. Players familiar with the Nintendo DSi version will probably enjoy discovering the subtle changes. We also overhauled every menu interface and changed how many of the player’s moves are triggered. We also optimized each version for use with Fling and Fling mini joysticks, and came up with an inspired list of Achievements for Game Center. Overall, there are many more enhancements than concessions.

What do you hope new fans or consumers will get out this particular version of the game?

I hope players will get a kick out of our bizarre sense of humor and appreciate core gameplay fundamentals, maybe fall in love with the characters too. But mostly, we’re just happy to have a stage to entertain on.

I’ve read that WayForward often uses Shantae to demonstrate its abilities with new technology. We’re all under the impression that this is a cohesive and whole game, but is Risky’s Revenge iOS a sign that more is to come from the studio on this platform?

Yes, we’ve done that a lot in the past, and this is indeed a full product. I think with this title, we’re officially on every popular platform out there. As to whether or not there’s more to come? Probably. But rather than porting something akin to a $29.99 retail game, we’d more likely make something specific to iOS from the get go. Right now we’re extremely jazzed to bring Shantae: Risky’s Revenge to iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

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