Kid Tripp has more charm than it has pixels

As someone who grew up in the 8-bit days, I have a weakness for retro-styled platformers regardless of the platform. So, when I saw Kid Tripp, I snapped it up without hesitation. What I found was a game that not only looks like the vintage titles of yesteryear, but it's also just as difficult as those games ever were.

Platformers on the iPhone or iPad -- with virtual touch buttons -- usually suffer from a lack of tactile control. Kid Tripp gets around this by having your character auto-run to the right at all times. Tapping on the left side of the screen lets you jump, while tapping on the right makes you throw a rock.

The levels are filled with gaps, pits, spikes and a ton of different enemies that either sit in your path or attack you with projectiles of their own. In short, there are more ways to die in Kid Tripp than you might think. The game gives you 10 lives to start, and you'll burn through those pretty quickly your first time through.

A timer is constantly running in the upper-left corner, which means you'll always have a time to beat once you complete a level, and perfecting a run is really where the game turns into an addiction. If you're into speedrunning games -- or the idea of finding the optimal route through a level sounds interesting to you -- you're going to have a lot of fun here.

Thanks to the ultra-basic graphical style, the game runs as smooth as can be, which is important when perfectly timed jumps are crucial. Everything is bright and vibrant, and each of the four worlds has a unique flair. The experience is polished further by a retro soundtrack that fits the game perfectly.

Oh, and the game has no in-app purchases at all. It's US$0.99, and that's all you have to spend to get the whole experience. That's a rare treat these days, so if you have any interest in old-school platformers, this is the one to buy.