On the Download: December 11-17

Just as Hump Day Music was pushed back a day do to my long yet highly entertaining rant of the VGAs, On the Download has been pushed back a day.  It actually worked out for the better since Nintendo released the 10 Game Boy Advance games for the 3DS Ambassadors to download.  I will get into specifics  in just a few moments.  This week there were quite a good number of downloadable games released on all platforms.  So let's dive into the biggest downloadable games of the week.

To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the game that launched them to superstardom, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto III for iOS and Android tablets.  Back in 2001, GTA III laid down the groundwork for the open-world genre that populates the majority of games we see today.  The developers at War Drum Studios ported over this PS2 classic to the tablets also added a few new bells and whistles to make the game work on these devices.  The controls have been optimized for the touch screen on these devices, the graphics have been cleaned up so they look much smoother on the HD screens and other options such as instant mission restarts have been added to make the game more suited for playing on the go.  At 5 dollars, GTA III is a steal for one of the great games from the previous generation of consoles.  If you do not already have it for the either PS2, Xbox or PC, which I do, go ahead and pick it up.

For those people like yours truly who bought the 3DS before the huge price drop back in August, Nintendo launched a program to make sure we all were rightfully compensated for the 250 dollars we paid.  That program was called the Nintendo Ambassador program.  Before the end of 2011, all Nintendo Ambassadors would receive 20 free games for their 3DS.  Out of the 20 games, 10 of them would be NES games and the other would be 10 GBA games.  The 10 NES games were released back in September and today, Nintendo has finally released the 10 GBA games.  These 10 games are Metroid: Fusion, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Wario Land 4 and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.  Wow, Nintendo sure gave us bang for the bucks we spent.  Some might take these free games for granted and demand more from Nintendo.  The value in these games alone are well worth the 80 extra dollars we spent especially for the games I missed out on when I owned a Game Boy Advance.  So if you are an Nintendo Ambassador, go on and download your free games just after you finish reading this post.  For everyone else, maybe you should have supported the system before the price drop.

Last but definitely not least, the final downloadable game we are taking a look at today is... wait for it... can I get a drum roll, please... Sonic CD!!!  Yes, this week saw Sega release the classic Sega CD platformer for XBLA, PSN and iOS.  Personally Sonic CD is not my favourite 2D Sonic as that honour goes to Sonic 2, but it is sure as hell one of the best platformers I have ever played.  With these ports, Sega has added a few things that Sonic fans will enjoy.  The inclusion of both the US and Japanese soundtracks will let you bop your head to Sonic Boom while feeling the energy from the Japanese title screen music.  You can play as Tails for the first time in Sonic CD only after beating the game with Sonic.  Lastly, the inclusion of time attack mode and leaderboards add to replay value of the game as you try to get the highest score or the fasted time in order to be the best in the world.  Even if you are not a Sonic fan, at 5 dollars on the consoles and 2 dollars on iOS Sonic CD is one excellent game at one excellent game at one affordable price.