Real Football 2009 has been available on the iTunes Apps Store for a few weeks already and is pretty much an essential purchase seeing as it's the only 3D footie game on the system. But, interestingly, it's also just come out on DS.

Apart from the PSone port of Crash Team Racing, which runs old tech on new, this is the first genuine multi-format game that spans iPhone and a contemporaneous handheld. So obviously the world needs to know: which is best?

Graphics
The assets (such as 3D player models and stadia) used for each version appear identical, so we can draw a fair conclusion from the comparison. And the result is… there's simply no contest. Not only does the DS version run in a lower resolution due to its screen, the frame-rate is noticeably rougher than the super-sleek iPhone version and it moves slower too. The iPhone is simply superior.

Above: The DS version

Above: The iPhone/iPod Touch version

It's true that the iPhone version doesn't look as good as, say, FIFA on PSP, but it's smooth, chunky and actually quite pretty. The players may look like PSone footballers (on both versions), but at least they're full 3D.

Winner: iPhone

Sound
The sound is much of a muchness, and neither version has full commentary. The DS version's chants seem to repeat much faster than the iPhone version, but there's nothing really here to recommend one over the other.

Winner: Draw