There have been quite a few Kart Racing games on the iPhone platform: Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, Shrek Kart, Cocoto Kart Online, etc. But none of them has really lived up to the grandaddy of the genre: Mario Kart 64. Krazy Kart Racing adopted many of the features of the brilliant title we all know and love and then made it their own with unique characters, krazy-fun levels, and an original soundtrack.

Currently, there are 10 Konami characters, including Power Pro-Kun, Frogger, and Pyramid Head; 16 creative tracks to play on; five single player modes; and an online mode. Krazy GP (Grand Prix) is the mode where you will most likely spend the majority of your time. There are four cups, each with four tracks, including the typical game-play we’ve all come to love. Trials is a mode where players will complete different challenges such as beating a level in a certain amount of time, or collecting bells scattered throughout a track. Beating these trials is necessary to gain access to the next cup in the Krazy GP mode. Free Run and Time Attack are self-explanatory. The final mode, Mini Battle, allows you to play a game of Chicken, in which you attempt to stop as close as you can to the edge without falling off, and also Bomb Chaser, in which one character is strapped with a bomb and must pass it on to another character before time expires or else be eliminated.

Each track requires around two to four laps in the Krazy GP mode. Power-ups are a must for games of this sort. Blue boxes contain a speed-boost power-up, while the red boxes contain all sorts of attack and defense mechanisms. These can be activated through a button in the lower right-hand corner next to the brakes. While I never had much trouble activating these, they are relatively small, which may be a burden to some players.

What really sets this game apart from the others is the level of personality put into it. This is most apparent in the sounds. The music is fun and childish, and the noises coming from the players are just plain funny. It makes the game feel like it was actually made by regular people and not humanoid robots programmed with artificial senses of fun and humor.

Another plus to the game is the two different control styles. Of course, tilt is the default. By now, developers have pretty much mastered the art of tilt controls and, as expected, the tilting in this game is natural and intuitive. Surprisingly, though, the touch controls actually work as well as the tilt. Instead of a button on each side of the screen, there is a bar at the bottom where you simply slide your finger back and forth to steer. This is a lot smoother than most other touch control schemes out on the market. Both options include a very useful jump that can be activated by tapping anywhere on the screen.

While the graphics don’t really bring anything new to the table, they don’t need to. The cartoony fun remains constant as does the super-smooth frame-rate. Needless to say, this game’s got a permanent spot on my phone. It is, dare I say, the closest we may ever get to Mario Kart 64 on the iPhone. Try to pick this one up before the insane $1 Konami sale ends, but if you can’t, buy it anyway. It’s a steal at any price.