You may have noticed that we don't cover mobile gaming on GamesRadar. The reason for this is because, traditionally, mobile games stink. Sure, we played Snake in the early days of mobile phones because... well, everybody did. But when a long line of squares that eats pixel pies was the best game on the platform, it was easy to put the phone down and play something a bit more substantial.

But that's all changed. We've already had 16-bit quality gaming on iPod Video - (most notably a great version of the original Sonic), and now Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone have got games that rival PSP and DS. In fact, we'd say the graphics on iPhone are better than those on DS. An interesting development indeed. So we've teamed up with MacFormat to run down through ten of the best games on the iTunes Apps Store.

Super Monkey Ball | £5.99 / $9.99 
Who would have thought the iPhone's processor would be this convincing when handling a 3D game? OK, so the monkey itself is a sprite inside a transparent circle, but everything else – skybox included – is full, solid, smooth 3D.

And who too would have thought that the tilt sensor was anything more than a feature for recognising when the device is being held on its side? Rolling your monkey in Monkey Ball is as easy as tilting the iPhone. While it can be hard to know where the central point is, it works better than we ever imagined it could.

The game itself is commendably thorough (and features almost everything the console version would) and is still as fun as ever, only now it comes with control so instinctive it feels strange to go back to using a joypad.

Critter Crunch | £4.99 / $7.99
Yes, it's essentially another gem-matching game, but there's a difference. You control the little monster at the bottom, and use your long sticky tongue to feed smaller monsters to bigger monsters. When they're full they pop, releasing point-giving gems or power-ups such as garlic to force everything up a line, or watermelon pips to shoot unruly critters down.

It's a little too sluggish to load, but it's adorably Japanese and some clever thought has been put into gameplay to ensure that it's not just a dumb point-and-tap affair.

The styling may be a bit too schoolgirl for some, but we love it; Critter Crunch is one of our favourite games for the iPhone.

Asphalt 4: Elite Racing | £5.99 / $9.99
This is currently the best-selling app on iTunes and it's easy to see why. Its graphics are full 3D and getting on for PS2 quality. Sure, the frame rate is a bit low and the 3D is a bit glitchy, but considering the size of the platform it's surprisingly convincing. There's even the option to see cutaways of your takedowns, just like in Burnout on PSP. While Asphalt has never really been essential in any of its guises, it's competent here, and if you want a technical showcase you could do a lot worse.

 
Above: See that steering wheel? That's one of the touch-screen control options. Tilting works too, or you can just push the screen at either side

Brain Challenge | £5.99 / $9.99
This is a going to appeal to anyone who's played the brain size game on Facebook. It even features the same 'heaviest item' game where you have to use logic to identify which item is heaviest with sets of weighing scales displayed on the screen.

There's plenty here to keep you entertained and it offers the usual daily tests and excersises in the manner of Dr Kawashima's Brain Training on DS. Seeing each area of your brain given a bar on a chart makes you wonder why you're so weak at one area. Especially if, like us, it's the visual games. You know, like we play every day? Bah.

Crash Nitro Kart | £5.99 / $9.99
Yes, we want Mario Kart on iPhone too, but seeing as that's highly unlikely, Crash Bandicoot will have to do. In any case the similarities are startling: race a kooky character round a series of tracks, driving through boxes to reveal various offensive and defensive power-ups. While it looks pretty good (almost as smooth as the PSP version from PSN), the tilt-the-iPhone-to-steer control system isn’t particularly easy to get to grips with. We’d also like to see a multiplayer option, but it’s still huge amounts of battery-sucking fun.

Above: It's a fully-featured game on a wafer-thin tablet. What's not to like?