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Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, known as Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions,[a] is an edutainment puzzle video game. It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo has stated that it is an entertainment product inspired by Tohoku University professor Ryuta Kawashima's work in the neurosciences.

Brain Age:
Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
North American box art
Developer(s)Nintendo SPD[1]
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Kouichi Kawamoto
Producer(s)Shinya Takahashi
Programmer(s)Shinji Kitahara
Yoshinori Katsuki
Jun Ito
Composer(s)Minako Hamano
Akito Nakatsuka
SeriesBrain Age
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: May 19, 2005
  • USA: April 16, 2006
  • CAN: April 17, 2006
  • EU: June 9, 2006
  • AU: June 16, 2006
Genre(s)Puzzle, edutainment
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

It was first released in Japan, and later released in North America, Europe, Australia, and South Korea. It was followed by a sequel titled Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, and was later followed by two redesigns and Brain Age Express for the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare service which uses popular puzzles from these titles as well as several new puzzles, and Brain Age: Concentration Training for Nintendo 3DS. The latest installment in the series, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch, for the Nintendo Switch, was first released in Japan on December 27, 2019.[2]

Brain Age features a variety of puzzles, including Stroop tests, mathematical questions, and Sudoku puzzles, all designed to help keep certain parts of the brain active. It was included in the Touch! Generations series of video games, a series which features games for a more casual gaming audience. Brain Age uses the touch screen and microphone for many puzzles. It has received both commercial and critical success, selling 19.01 million copies worldwide (as of September 30, 2015)[3] and has received multiple awards for its quality and innovation.[4][5] There has been controversy over the game's scientific effectiveness. The game was later released on the Nintendo eShop for the Wii U in Japan in mid-2014.[6][7]

Gameplay

 
Brain Age is played with the Nintendo DS held sideways.

Brain Age is designed to be played a little each day, similar to the Nintendogs titles and Animal Crossing: Wild World. The Nintendo DS is held on its side, with the touch screen on the right for right-handed people and the left for left-handed people. The game is entirely touch and voice-controlled – the player either writes the answer to the puzzle on the touch screen or speaks it into the microphone. Before the player can begin a Brain Age session, they must input information. First, players must confirm the date and select which hand they write with. The player then inputs their name and date of birth.

At the end of all Brain Age Check puzzles, Training puzzles, Quick Play puzzles, and Sudoku puzzles, the player is shown how quickly they completed it, the player's speed (according to metaphors such as "bicycle speed" and "jet speed", the highest being "rocket speed"), and a tip for either improving the player's brain or a game-related tip. If the player's time or score in Brain Age Check or Training is high enough, it will appear on one or both of the Top Three. The Top Three shown is the player's own top three attempts at a puzzle, while they can also compare the top three with those of other saved players. The player's score is only counted on their first attempt at a puzzle each day.

The player is also awarded stamps for each day they complete the puzzles. When enough is accumulated, the game unlocks certain features such as more puzzles in Training mode, Hard versions of these puzzles, and the ability to customize the player's own stamps.

While the player is navigating the menus outside of the puzzles, Professor Kawashima appears to prompt and encourage the user. Brain Age allows up to four players to save profiles on one DS game card, and these players can interact with each other in several different ways. There are five modes of play – Brain Age Check, Training, Quick Play, Download, and Sudoku.

When starting a session, Kawashima may ask the player to participate in a Picture-Drawing Quiz, which requires the player to draw a person, place, or thing by memory using the touch screen. After the player has done all three, the game will compare their drawing to an example created by the game developers, along with advice of what to emphasize on below its image. If more than one player profile is saved on the game card, images for the day can be compared to those of other players.

Kawashima may also ask the player to participate in a Memory Quiz, which requires the player to recall a recent event, such as what the player ate or the most interesting thing seen on television the day before. Several days later, it will ask for the answer originally provided, and will then compare the answer given several days ago and the answer given on the current day to test the player's recollection skills. The player is not scored on their ability to remember. The purpose of these tasks is to help the player improve their recollection.[citation needed]

Brain Age Check

The game includes four modes: Brain Age Check, Training, Quick Play, and Sudoku. The Brain Age Check gives the player three puzzle minigames to complete. The first is usually a Stroop test, although the player can choose to skip the Stroop test if they are not in a quiet environment or is otherwise unable to speak into the microphone. At the end of the Brain Age Check, the game reports on the player's "brain age", a theoretical assessment of the age of the player's brain. The higher the brain age, the worse the player performed. The best possible score is 20 and the worst 80, according with Kawashima's theory that the brain stops developing at 20. The player may replay the Brain Age Check, but the brain age is registered per day only.

Once the player confirms whether or not they can speak into the microphone, Professor Kawashima will describe the first puzzle. If the player answered that they can speak, the game begins with a Stroop test; if the player cannot use the microphone, the game picks a random puzzle from the following: Calculations X 20, Word Memory, Connect Maze, and Number Cruncher.

During the Stroop Test, the game will display one of four words and colors: blue, black, yellow, and red. One of these words mentioned will appear on screen, in a random color which may not match the color denoted by the word. The player is instructed to say the color of the word, rather than the word itself (e.g., if the word Yellow appears in blue letters, the correct answer is "blue" according to the Stroop effect for details).

In Speed Counting, which requires speaking but does not use the microphone, the player counts up from one to 120 as fast as they can without slurring the names of numbers.

Word Memory gives the player a list of 30 four-lettered words. The player is given two minutes to study the list and memorize as many words as possible. After the time is up, the player must write down as many words as they can in three minutes. To spell words that were not on the list won't make the player lose marks but the system won't recognize them. On the contrary, spelling an on-list word will count as memorized and even the test will notify the players if they already wrote this word in case they rewrite it.

Connect Maze gives players a randomly created group of circles, with letters and numbers in them. The player must follow the pattern A-1-B-2 until reaching M-13 as quickly as possible.

Calculations × 20 presents the player with 20 simple calculation equations that includes addition, subtraction, and multiplication. On the top screen are the problems which scroll up as answered whether right or wrong, while the touch screen is used to write out the answer. This test is also available in the training section.

Number Cruncher mental agility game that displays several numbers, which vary in their appearance and on-screen behavior and above it is a question, such as "how many numbers are blue?" or "how many numbers are moving?", which the player must answer as quickly as possible.

Training

The Training mode allows the player to play a variety of training programs, with all but one of them being exclusive to the Training mode. Once the player completes at least one program, Kawashima awards them with a stamp, which he places on the current date. If the player completes at least three programs, the stamp will expand in size. After accumulating a certain number of stamps, Kawashima will award the player with a new program, difficulty mode, or additional feature under the Options menu. Each program can be played as many times as the player likes, although only the first play-through of the day will count in the graph for that puzzle.

Minigames

There are nine training programs in Training mode:

  1. Calculations × 20, which is the same as the one found in the Brain Age Check. Mental agility exercise with a total of simple calculation 20 questions that includes addition, subtraction, and multiplication.
  2. Calculations × 100, which is the same as Calculations × 20, although with 100 questions instead of 20. There is a hard mode that includes simple division.
  3. Reading Aloud, which gives the player an excerpt from a classic story such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Little Women, and tasks the player with reading the story aloud or mute to see how quickly they can do it. The player progresses through the excerpt by pushing Next, until they reach the end of the excerpt. If the player pushes Next too quickly, this will be found as cheating, and the program will count the activity as undone.
  4. Low to High: The game instructs to remember several numbers in boxes; those boxes appear with no numbers but at the count of 3, numbers appear only one second. Once gone, the players have to remember the numbers from the lowest to the highest and click the correct box, while failing to order the numbers will count as mistake. Depending on if the player gets right or wrong the number of boxes increase or decrease, meaning that the game has an adaptive difficulty between at least 4 boxes to a maximum of 16.
  5. Syllable Count shows several phrases, one after the other, on the top screen, and the player must write the number of syllables in each phrase on the touch screen.
  6. Head Count features a random number of people on the top screen (e.g. 4). After a few seconds to allow the player to count the number of people, a house falls over them. The player must watch the screen carefully, as the people inside will leave the house and more people will enter the house. This will eventually cease, and the game asks the player to write down how many people are currently in the house. The puzzle gets more difficult as the player progresses in it. There is also a hard mode in which people also come in and out of the chimney.
  7. Triangle Math: A kind of calculations (most of the time addition or subtraction, but sometimes may include sign rules such as -(-3)= 3) in tier format just like Pascal's triangle that the player must solve. This exercise also features a hard mode with an additional tier.
  8. Time Lapse displays two analogue clocks (e.g. one at 2:45 and one at 7:30), and requires the player to calculate the difference in time between those clocks, in that case answer would be 4h 45min.
  9. Voice Calculation, which is similar to the Calculations puzzles. However, this puzzle requires the player to speak the correct answer loud just like the Stroop Test.

Quick Play

Quick Play can be played by anyone, whether they have a saved file or not. Quick Play allows the player to play three modes – Quick Brain Age Check, Quick Training, and Quick Sudoku, all only providing the player with one of the easy puzzles in each of these modes to try. Quick Brain Age Check only allows the player to play the stroop test. In Quick Training, the game only allows the player to play Calculations × 20. In Quick Sudoku, which is only available for North America, Europe and South Korea, the player may only play the easiest Sudoku puzzle available. At the end of each session, the player's brain age or time will be assessed, and Kawashima will give a preview of the full game.

Download

A player with a copy of Brain Age can send certain game data to other Nintendo DS consoles using the DS Download Play feature. They may either download Quick Play mode to this player's Nintendo DS, or Calculations × 30, a variation of the other Calculation puzzles which can be played by up to sixteen people. This mode is not supported in the Wii U Virtual Console version.

Sudoku

Included in the North America, Europe, Australia and Korea versions of this game is a Sudoku mode, which features more than 100 puzzles across three different modes – Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Sudoku involves a 9×9 grid with numbers in every square. Some of these numbers are visible, while others are not. The objective is to fill in the hidden numbers using the visible numbers as hints. Each row, column, and 3×3 grid has nine squares in it, and each must contain each number in the range from 1 to 9.

Scientific effectiveness

Many neurologists recommend the game for prevention of dementia or Alzheimer's disease.[8] Nintendo of America has refused to support any scientific claims to the benefits of the game, stressing that they are in the entertainment business.[9]

One study involved 600 Scottish students with one group of students who played twenty minutes of "Brain Age" before class daily for nine weeks and a control group that studied regularly. The students were tested at the beginning and end of the study. In the end, the group that played Brain Age improved test scores by 50%. The time to complete the tests in the Brain Age group dropped by five minutes, and this improvement doubled that of the control group.[10]

Another study involving 67 ten-year-olds found no evidence to support claims that Brain Age improves cognitive function better than other means of training one's brain.[citation needed] However, the game states that the best indications of brain age are when the user is at least twenty years of age. Professor of cognitive psychology Alain Lieury at the University of Rennes, France said: "The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine. But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test". Helping children with homework, reading, playing Scrabble or Sudoku, or watching documentaries, matched or beat the benefits of Brain Age. The children were split into four groups. The first two completed a seven-week memory course on a Nintendo DS, the third did puzzles with pencils and paper, and the fourth went to school as normal. Researchers found that children playing Brain Age failed to show any significant improvement in memory tests. They did do 19% better in mathematics but so did the pencil-and-paper group, and the fourth group did 18% better. In memorization, the pencil-and-paper group had a 33% improvement, while the Brain Age group performed 17% worse. In logic tests, the Brain Age group had a 10% improvement as did the pencil-and-paper group. The children who had no training improved 20%.[11]

It has also been stated that the same effects of "keeping the brain sharp" can be achieved by either playing Sudoku, Tetris or talking with friends.[12]

A study conducted between March and August 2010 in Sendai city, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, assessed the impact of the brain training game on the elderly, using a double blinded intervention. Results showed that playing Brain Age for 4 weeks could lead to improved cognitive functions (executive functions and processing speed) in the elderly.[13]

Development

Nintendo was looking for something new to develop that would appeal to both traditional and casual gamers. In one of the meetings, the Chief Financial Officer of Nintendo's Japanese division suggested reviewing a published book titled Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain, which was enjoying a great deal of success in Japan. Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, arranged for a meeting with Professor Ryuta Kawashima, the author of the book.[14]

As both Iwata and Professor Kawashima were too busy to meet under normal circumstances, they both agreed to meet for an hour during the Nintendo DS launch. The original meeting became a brainstorming session that lasted for three hours, in which Professor Kawashima explained the basics of his studies. Iwata assigned a team of nine developers to develop the game and to have it ready in 90 days for demonstration.[15]

Brain Age's sound director was Masami Yone,[16] while the music was composed by Minako Hamano and Akito Nakatsuka, both having composed music for Nintendo games as early as 1993 and 1987 respectively.[17][18] The main menu song from this game was later used in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[19]

Reception

The initial reaction from retailers was that of concern about the new title's ability to sell. The most important retailers in Japan were given the game for 15 minutes to test it out. In the end, Nintendo secured nearly 70,000 orders for the first shipment, an amount above most expectations. In comparison, the sequel had over 850,000 orders placed before its launch.[14]

Brain Age met with positive sales figures. The game debuted selling around 43,000 copies in May 2005, considered a good number for an educational title. Although most titles only stay in the Japanese weekly top ten list of games for a couple of weeks, Brain Age managed to stay, as of January 2006, between the most sold games for 34 weeks (except three weeks). As of June 11, 2006, Brain Age has sold 2,322,970 copies in Japan alone.[26] It was the 94th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 140,992 copies, with total lifetime sales of 3,750,890.[27] During its first three weeks on sale in North America, Brain Age sold 120,000 copies,[28] becoming the fifteenth title in the top U.S. video game charts during the month of May in terms of units sold.[29] In Europe, Brain Age received critical acclaim, becoming number 1 in the Nintendo DS sales chart, and number 4 in the all-platforms chart on debut,[30] and selling more than 500,000 units in just over two months.[31] As of January 22, 2007, Brain Age has sold over 2 million copies in Europe.[32] As of October 30, 2007, Brain Age has sold over one million copies in the United Kingdom.[33] It was the 10th best-selling Nintendo DS game of December 2008 in the United States.[34] As of September 30, 2015, Brain Age has worldwide sales of 19.01 million.[35]

The game was received with generally positive reviews in the Western market,[21] though some criticized the game for poor voice and handwriting recognition at times.[36][37] The game's design earned it Edge magazine's EIEF06 Edge Award for innovation.[citation needed] In 2007, Brain Age received the Interactive Achievement Awards for handheld game of the year.[38] The game has also been featured in numerous media apparitions including newspapers and television in different countries, including the United States (Time magazine[39][40] and Discovery Channel[41]) and Australia (featured in Seven News[42]). Wired included the game in its list of "The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade" at No. 5, due to how it "bucked the dominant trends" and "ushered in the era of games that are (supposedly) good for you, like Wii Fit".[43]

International release

The positive sales figures and overall reception in Japan led to Brain Age being released in various countries around the world. In the North American market, the game is known as Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and was released on April 17, 2006, and included 108 Sudoku puzzles of different levels of difficulty. Nintendo gave out copies of the North American version of Brain Age at the 2006 Game Developers Conference. They also shipped free retail versions to special members of the Nintendo NSider Forums. Both groups received their copies before the official release date. It has also been given away to certain retailers with the purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite.[44]

The game was released as Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in the UK and Ireland. Like the American version, this version also features Sudoku. All 3 parts are saved on one cartridge.[45] In the UK, its initial television commercials featured Chris Tarrant.[46] Nicole Kidman, Ronan Keating, and Patrick Stewart feature in current European commercials for the Brain Age series.

Nintendo Australia featured an ad campaign that coincided with its Australian release. During the period of June 15 to July 17, 2006, Nintendo Australia stated that for every copy of Brain Age purchased, Nintendo would donate $1.00 to Alzheimer's Australia.[47]

The game was one of the launch titles for the DS Lite in South Korea, along with English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills!. It was released on January 18, 2007.[48]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Known in Japan as Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training (脳を鍛える大人のDSトレーニング, Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Torēningu, lit. "Train Your Brain: DS Training For Adults"), full title Tōhōku Daigaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Kyōdōkenkyū Center Kawashima Ryūta Kyōju Kanshū: Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training (Japanese: 東北大学未来科学技術共同研究センター川島隆太教授監修 脳を鍛える大人のDSトレーニング, Hepburn: Tōhōku Daigaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Kyōdōkenkyū Sentā Kawashima Ryūta Kyōju Kanshū: Nō o Kitaeru Otona no Dī Esu Torēningu, lit. "Tohoku University Future Technology Research Center Professor and Supervisor Ryuta Kawashima's Train Your Brain: DS Training For Adults"), and known in South Korea as Daily DS Brain Training (매일매일 DS 두뇌 트레이닝).

References

  1. ^ "Spotlight: Nintendo SPD", Kyoto Report, January 26, 2012. Retrieved January 2012.
  2. ^ "Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training Is Making A Glorious Comeback On Switch". September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
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  4. ^ Laura Jenner (August 21, 2006). . GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 29, 2007. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
  5. ^ (PDF). Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. February 9, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 11, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
  6. ^ Phillips, Tom (June 4, 2014). "Nintendo's first DS title for Wii U now available in Japan". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  7. ^ Whitehead, Thomas (June 22, 2015). "Nintendo Download: 25th June (Europe)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  8. ^ Simon Hayes (June 2006). "Nintendo in Alzheimer's battle". AustralianIT. Retrieved January 3, 2009.[dead link]
  9. ^ Catherine Arnst (September 2006). . Business Week. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved 2006-10-23.
  10. ^ "Computer game boosts maths scores". BBC News. September 25, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
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  12. ^ "'Brain training' claims dismissed". BBC News. February 26, 2009. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  13. ^ Nouchi, Rui; Taki, Yasuyuki; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Akitsuki, Yuko; Shigemune, Yayoi; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Tsukiura, Takashi; Yomogida, Yukihito; Kawashima, Ryuta (2012). "Brain Training Game Improves Executive Functions and Processing Speed in the Elderly: A Randomized Controlled Trial". PLOS ONE. Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University. 7 (1): e29676. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...729676N. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029676. PMC 3256163. PMID 22253758.
  14. ^ a b Simon Carless Simon. "Breaking: GDC – Detailed Nintendo Keynote Coverage". Gamasutra. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
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  16. ^ "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! for Nintendo DS – MobyGames". MobyGames. mobygames.com. Retrieved March 8, 2008.
  17. ^ "MobyGames – Minako Hamano". MobyGames. mobygames.com. Retrieved March 8, 2008.
  18. ^ "MobyGames – Akito Nakatsuka". MobyGames. mobygames.com. Retrieved March 8, 2008.
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  28. ^ "E3 2006: 120,000 Brain Age Units in 3 Weeks" February 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine by Daemon Hatfield, IGN, May 9, 2006. Retrieved June 11, 2006.
  29. ^ "New Super Mario Bros. Tops U.S. Console Charts" March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine by David Jenkins, Gamasutra, June 9, 2006. Retrieved June 11, 2006.
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  33. ^ UK DS sales hit 4 million – DS News at GameSpot December 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ Kohler, Chris (January 18, 2009). "Top 10 Games of December 2008, By Platform". blog.wired.com. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
  35. ^ "IR Information : Financial Data - Top Selling Title Sales Units - Nintendo DS Software". from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
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Further reading

  • Interview with the localization team at and

External links

  • Brain Training website for UK

brain, train, your, brain, minutes, known, kawashima, brain, training, your, brain, regions, edutainment, puzzle, video, game, developed, published, nintendo, nintendo, nintendo, stated, that, entertainment, product, inspired, tohoku, university, professor, ry. Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day known as Dr Kawashima s Brain Training How Old Is Your Brain in PAL regions a is an edutainment puzzle video game It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS Nintendo has stated that it is an entertainment product inspired by Tohoku University professor Ryuta Kawashima s work in the neurosciences Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day North American box artDeveloper s Nintendo SPD 1 Publisher s NintendoDirector s Kouichi KawamotoProducer s Shinya TakahashiProgrammer s Shinji KitaharaYoshinori KatsukiJun ItoComposer s Minako HamanoAkito NakatsukaSeriesBrain AgePlatform s Nintendo DSReleaseJP May 19 2005USA April 16 2006CAN April 17 2006EU June 9 2006AU June 16 2006Genre s Puzzle edutainmentMode s Single player multiplayerIt was first released in Japan and later released in North America Europe Australia and South Korea It was followed by a sequel titled Brain Age 2 More Training in Minutes a Day and was later followed by two redesigns and Brain Age Express for the Nintendo DSi s DSiWare service which uses popular puzzles from these titles as well as several new puzzles and Brain Age Concentration Training for Nintendo 3DS The latest installment in the series Dr Kawashima s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch for the Nintendo Switch was first released in Japan on December 27 2019 2 Brain Age features a variety of puzzles including Stroop tests mathematical questions and Sudoku puzzles all designed to help keep certain parts of the brain active It was included in the Touch Generations series of video games a series which features games for a more casual gaming audience Brain Age uses the touch screen and microphone for many puzzles It has received both commercial and critical success selling 19 01 million copies worldwide as of September 30 2015 3 and has received multiple awards for its quality and innovation 4 5 There has been controversy over the game s scientific effectiveness The game was later released on the Nintendo eShop for the Wii U in Japan in mid 2014 6 7 Contents 1 Gameplay 1 1 Brain Age Check 1 2 Training 1 2 1 Minigames 1 3 Quick Play 1 4 Download 1 5 Sudoku 2 Scientific effectiveness 3 Development 4 Reception 4 1 International release 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksGameplay Edit Brain Age is played with the Nintendo DS held sideways Brain Age is designed to be played a little each day similar to the Nintendogs titles and Animal Crossing Wild World The Nintendo DS is held on its side with the touch screen on the right for right handed people and the left for left handed people The game is entirely touch and voice controlled the player either writes the answer to the puzzle on the touch screen or speaks it into the microphone Before the player can begin a Brain Age session they must input information First players must confirm the date and select which hand they write with The player then inputs their name and date of birth At the end of all Brain Age Check puzzles Training puzzles Quick Play puzzles and Sudoku puzzles the player is shown how quickly they completed it the player s speed according to metaphors such as bicycle speed and jet speed the highest being rocket speed and a tip for either improving the player s brain or a game related tip If the player s time or score in Brain Age Check or Training is high enough it will appear on one or both of the Top Three The Top Three shown is the player s own top three attempts at a puzzle while they can also compare the top three with those of other saved players The player s score is only counted on their first attempt at a puzzle each day The player is also awarded stamps for each day they complete the puzzles When enough is accumulated the game unlocks certain features such as more puzzles in Training mode Hard versions of these puzzles and the ability to customize the player s own stamps While the player is navigating the menus outside of the puzzles Professor Kawashima appears to prompt and encourage the user Brain Age allows up to four players to save profiles on one DS game card and these players can interact with each other in several different ways There are five modes of play Brain Age Check Training Quick Play Download and Sudoku When starting a session Kawashima may ask the player to participate in a Picture Drawing Quiz which requires the player to draw a person place or thing by memory using the touch screen After the player has done all three the game will compare their drawing to an example created by the game developers along with advice of what to emphasize on below its image If more than one player profile is saved on the game card images for the day can be compared to those of other players Kawashima may also ask the player to participate in a Memory Quiz which requires the player to recall a recent event such as what the player ate or the most interesting thing seen on television the day before Several days later it will ask for the answer originally provided and will then compare the answer given several days ago and the answer given on the current day to test the player s recollection skills The player is not scored on their ability to remember The purpose of these tasks is to help the player improve their recollection citation needed Brain Age Check Edit The game includes four modes Brain Age Check Training Quick Play and Sudoku The Brain Age Check gives the player three puzzle minigames to complete The first is usually a Stroop test although the player can choose to skip the Stroop test if they are not in a quiet environment or is otherwise unable to speak into the microphone At the end of the Brain Age Check the game reports on the player s brain age a theoretical assessment of the age of the player s brain The higher the brain age the worse the player performed The best possible score is 20 and the worst 80 according with Kawashima s theory that the brain stops developing at 20 The player may replay the Brain Age Check but the brain age is registered per day only Once the player confirms whether or not they can speak into the microphone Professor Kawashima will describe the first puzzle If the player answered that they can speak the game begins with a Stroop test if the player cannot use the microphone the game picks a random puzzle from the following Calculations X 20 Word Memory Connect Maze and Number Cruncher During the Stroop Test the game will display one of four words and colors blue black yellow and red One of these words mentioned will appear on screen in a random color which may not match the color denoted by the word The player is instructed to say the color of the word rather than the word itself e g if the word Yellow appears in blue letters the correct answer is blue according to the Stroop effect for details In Speed Counting which requires speaking but does not use the microphone the player counts up from one to 120 as fast as they can without slurring the names of numbers Word Memory gives the player a list of 30 four lettered words The player is given two minutes to study the list and memorize as many words as possible After the time is up the player must write down as many words as they can in three minutes To spell words that were not on the list won t make the player lose marks but the system won t recognize them On the contrary spelling an on list word will count as memorized and even the test will notify the players if they already wrote this word in case they rewrite it Connect Maze gives players a randomly created group of circles with letters and numbers in them The player must follow the pattern A 1 B 2 until reaching M 13 as quickly as possible Calculations 20 presents the player with 20 simple calculation equations that includes addition subtraction and multiplication On the top screen are the problems which scroll up as answered whether right or wrong while the touch screen is used to write out the answer This test is also available in the training section Number Cruncher mental agility game that displays several numbers which vary in their appearance and on screen behavior and above it is a question such as how many numbers are blue or how many numbers are moving which the player must answer as quickly as possible Training Edit The Training mode allows the player to play a variety of training programs with all but one of them being exclusive to the Training mode Once the player completes at least one program Kawashima awards them with a stamp which he places on the current date If the player completes at least three programs the stamp will expand in size After accumulating a certain number of stamps Kawashima will award the player with a new program difficulty mode or additional feature under the Options menu Each program can be played as many times as the player likes although only the first play through of the day will count in the graph for that puzzle Minigames Edit There are nine training programs in Training mode Calculations 20 which is the same as the one found in the Brain Age Check Mental agility exercise with a total of simple calculation 20 questions that includes addition subtraction and multiplication Calculations 100 which is the same as Calculations 20 although with 100 questions instead of 20 There is a hard mode that includes simple division Reading Aloud which gives the player an excerpt from a classic story such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Little Women and tasks the player with reading the story aloud or mute to see how quickly they can do it The player progresses through the excerpt by pushing Next until they reach the end of the excerpt If the player pushes Next too quickly this will be found as cheating and the program will count the activity as undone Low to High The game instructs to remember several numbers in boxes those boxes appear with no numbers but at the count of 3 numbers appear only one second Once gone the players have to remember the numbers from the lowest to the highest and click the correct box while failing to order the numbers will count as mistake Depending on if the player gets right or wrong the number of boxes increase or decrease meaning that the game has an adaptive difficulty between at least 4 boxes to a maximum of 16 Syllable Count shows several phrases one after the other on the top screen and the player must write the number of syllables in each phrase on the touch screen Head Count features a random number of people on the top screen e g 4 After a few seconds to allow the player to count the number of people a house falls over them The player must watch the screen carefully as the people inside will leave the house and more people will enter the house This will eventually cease and the game asks the player to write down how many people are currently in the house The puzzle gets more difficult as the player progresses in it There is also a hard mode in which people also come in and out of the chimney Triangle Math A kind of calculations most of the time addition or subtraction but sometimes may include sign rules such as 3 3 in tier format just like Pascal s triangle that the player must solve This exercise also features a hard mode with an additional tier Time Lapse displays two analogue clocks e g one at 2 45 and one at 7 30 and requires the player to calculate the difference in time between those clocks in that case answer would be 4h 45min Voice Calculation which is similar to the Calculations puzzles However this puzzle requires the player to speak the correct answer loud just like the Stroop Test Quick Play Edit Quick Play can be played by anyone whether they have a saved file or not Quick Play allows the player to play three modes Quick Brain Age Check Quick Training and Quick Sudoku all only providing the player with one of the easy puzzles in each of these modes to try Quick Brain Age Check only allows the player to play the stroop test In Quick Training the game only allows the player to play Calculations 20 In Quick Sudoku which is only available for North America Europe and South Korea the player may only play the easiest Sudoku puzzle available At the end of each session the player s brain age or time will be assessed and Kawashima will give a preview of the full game Download Edit A player with a copy of Brain Age can send certain game data to other Nintendo DS consoles using the DS Download Play feature They may either download Quick Play mode to this player s Nintendo DS or Calculations 30 a variation of the other Calculation puzzles which can be played by up to sixteen people This mode is not supported in the Wii U Virtual Console version Sudoku Edit See also Sudoku and Brain Age series Sudoku Included in the North America Europe Australia and Korea versions of this game is a Sudoku mode which features more than 100 puzzles across three different modes Beginner Intermediate and Advanced Sudoku involves a 9 9 grid with numbers in every square Some of these numbers are visible while others are not The objective is to fill in the hidden numbers using the visible numbers as hints Each row column and 3 3 grid has nine squares in it and each must contain each number in the range from 1 to 9 Scientific effectiveness EditMany neurologists recommend the game for prevention of dementia or Alzheimer s disease 8 Nintendo of America has refused to support any scientific claims to the benefits of the game stressing that they are in the entertainment business 9 One study involved 600 Scottish students with one group of students who played twenty minutes of Brain Age before class daily for nine weeks and a control group that studied regularly The students were tested at the beginning and end of the study In the end the group that played Brain Age improved test scores by 50 The time to complete the tests in the Brain Age group dropped by five minutes and this improvement doubled that of the control group 10 Another study involving 67 ten year olds found no evidence to support claims that Brain Age improves cognitive function better than other means of training one s brain citation needed However the game states that the best indications of brain age are when the user is at least twenty years of age Professor of cognitive psychology Alain Lieury at the University of Rennes France said The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel As a game it s fine But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test Helping children with homework reading playing Scrabble or Sudoku or watching documentaries matched or beat the benefits of Brain Age The children were split into four groups The first two completed a seven week memory course on a Nintendo DS the third did puzzles with pencils and paper and the fourth went to school as normal Researchers found that children playing Brain Age failed to show any significant improvement in memory tests They did do 19 better in mathematics but so did the pencil and paper group and the fourth group did 18 better In memorization the pencil and paper group had a 33 improvement while the Brain Age group performed 17 worse In logic tests the Brain Age group had a 10 improvement as did the pencil and paper group The children who had no training improved 20 11 It has also been stated that the same effects of keeping the brain sharp can be achieved by either playing Sudoku Tetris or talking with friends 12 A study conducted between March and August 2010 in Sendai city Miyagi prefecture Japan assessed the impact of the brain training game on the elderly using a double blinded intervention Results showed that playing Brain Age for 4 weeks could lead to improved cognitive functions executive functions and processing speed in the elderly 13 Development EditNintendo was looking for something new to develop that would appeal to both traditional and casual gamers In one of the meetings the Chief Financial Officer of Nintendo s Japanese division suggested reviewing a published book titled Train Your Brain 60 Days to a Better Brain which was enjoying a great deal of success in Japan Satoru Iwata the president of Nintendo arranged for a meeting with Professor Ryuta Kawashima the author of the book 14 As both Iwata and Professor Kawashima were too busy to meet under normal circumstances they both agreed to meet for an hour during the Nintendo DS launch The original meeting became a brainstorming session that lasted for three hours in which Professor Kawashima explained the basics of his studies Iwata assigned a team of nine developers to develop the game and to have it ready in 90 days for demonstration 15 Brain Age s sound director was Masami Yone 16 while the music was composed by Minako Hamano and Akito Nakatsuka both having composed music for Nintendo games as early as 1993 and 1987 respectively 17 18 The main menu song from this game was later used in Super Smash Bros Brawl 19 Reception EditReceptionAggregate scoresAggregatorScoreGameRankings78 1 20 Metacritic77 out of 100 21 Review scoresPublicationScore1Up comA 22 GameSpot7 2 of 10 23 GameSpy3 5 out of 5 24 IGN8 of 10 25 The initial reaction from retailers was that of concern about the new title s ability to sell The most important retailers in Japan were given the game for 15 minutes to test it out In the end Nintendo secured nearly 70 000 orders for the first shipment an amount above most expectations In comparison the sequel had over 850 000 orders placed before its launch 14 Brain Age met with positive sales figures The game debuted selling around 43 000 copies in May 2005 considered a good number for an educational title Although most titles only stay in the Japanese weekly top ten list of games for a couple of weeks Brain Age managed to stay as of January 2006 between the most sold games for 34 weeks except three weeks As of June 11 2006 Brain Age has sold 2 322 970 copies in Japan alone 26 It was the 94th best selling game in Japan in 2008 selling 140 992 copies with total lifetime sales of 3 750 890 27 During its first three weeks on sale in North America Brain Age sold 120 000 copies 28 becoming the fifteenth title in the top U S video game charts during the month of May in terms of units sold 29 In Europe Brain Age received critical acclaim becoming number 1 in the Nintendo DS sales chart and number 4 in the all platforms chart on debut 30 and selling more than 500 000 units in just over two months 31 As of January 22 2007 Brain Age has sold over 2 million copies in Europe 32 As of October 30 2007 Brain Age has sold over one million copies in the United Kingdom 33 It was the 10th best selling Nintendo DS game of December 2008 in the United States 34 As of September 30 2015 Brain Age has worldwide sales of 19 01 million 35 The game was received with generally positive reviews in the Western market 21 though some criticized the game for poor voice and handwriting recognition at times 36 37 The game s design earned it Edge magazine s EIEF06 Edge Award for innovation citation needed In 2007 Brain Age received the Interactive Achievement Awards for handheld game of the year 38 The game has also been featured in numerous media apparitions including newspapers and television in different countries including the United States Time magazine 39 40 and Discovery Channel 41 and Australia featured in Seven News 42 Wired included the game in its list of The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade at No 5 due to how it bucked the dominant trends and ushered in the era of games that are supposedly good for you like Wii Fit 43 International release Edit The positive sales figures and overall reception in Japan led to Brain Age being released in various countries around the world In the North American market the game is known as Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and was released on April 17 2006 and included 108 Sudoku puzzles of different levels of difficulty Nintendo gave out copies of the North American version of Brain Age at the 2006 Game Developers Conference They also shipped free retail versions to special members of the Nintendo NSider Forums Both groups received their copies before the official release date It has also been given away to certain retailers with the purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite 44 The game was released as Dr Kawashima s Brain Training How Old Is Your Brain in the UK and Ireland Like the American version this version also features Sudoku All 3 parts are saved on one cartridge 45 In the UK its initial television commercials featured Chris Tarrant 46 Nicole Kidman Ronan Keating and Patrick Stewart feature in current European commercials for the Brain Age series Nintendo Australia featured an ad campaign that coincided with its Australian release During the period of June 15 to July 17 2006 Nintendo Australia stated that for every copy of Brain Age purchased Nintendo would donate 1 00 to Alzheimer s Australia 47 The game was one of the launch titles for the DS Lite in South Korea along with English Training Have Fun Improving Your Skills It was released on January 18 2007 48 See also EditBrain Age 2 More Training in Minutes a Day Big Brain Academy and Big Brain Academy Wii Degree Brain Boost Brain Challenge Minna de Kitaeru Zenno Training Touch Generations Neurodegeneration Brain fitnessNotes Edit Known in Japan as Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training 脳を鍛える大人のDSトレーニング Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Toreningu lit Train Your Brain DS Training For Adults full title Tōhōku Daigaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Kyōdōkenkyu Center Kawashima Ryuta Kyōju Kanshu Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training Japanese 東北大学未来科学技術共同研究センター川島隆太教授監修 脳を鍛える大人のDSトレーニング Hepburn Tōhōku Daigaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Kyōdōkenkyu Senta Kawashima Ryuta Kyōju Kanshu Nō o Kitaeru Otona no Di Esu Toreningu lit Tohoku University Future Technology Research Center Professor and Supervisor Ryuta Kawashima s Train Your Brain DS Training For Adults and known in South Korea as Daily DS Brain Training 매일매일 DS 두뇌 트레이닝 References Edit Spotlight Nintendo SPD Kyoto Report January 26 2012 Retrieved January 2012 Dr Kawashima s Brain Training Is Making A Glorious Comeback On Switch September 30 2019 Retrieved September 30 2019 Top Selling Software Sales Units Nintendo DS Software Nintendo March 31 2013 Retrieved April 24 2013 Laura Jenner August 21 2006 Brain Training wins Edge award GameSpot Archived from the original on January 29 2007 Retrieved 2006 08 21 10th annual Interactive Achievement Awards winners PDF Academy of Interactive Arts amp Sciences February 9 2007 Archived from the original PDF on February 11 2007 Retrieved February 9 2007 Phillips Tom June 4 2014 Nintendo s first DS title for Wii U now available in Japan Eurogamer net Retrieved June 4 2014 Whitehead Thomas June 22 2015 Nintendo Download 25th June Europe Nintendo Life Retrieved June 22 2015 Simon Hayes June 2006 Nintendo in Alzheimer s battle AustralianIT Retrieved January 3 2009 dead link Catherine Arnst September 2006 Chicken Soup for the Aging Brain Business Week Archived from the original on October 12 2007 Retrieved 2006 10 23 Computer game boosts maths scores BBC News September 25 2008 Retrieved January 28 2009 Adam Sage January 2009 Nintendo brain trainer no better than pencil and paper London Times Online Archived from the original on June 2 2010 Retrieved January 28 2009 Brain training claims dismissed BBC News February 26 2009 Retrieved April 26 2010 Nouchi Rui Taki Yasuyuki Takeuchi Hikaru Hashizume Hiroshi Akitsuki Yuko Shigemune Yayoi Sekiguchi Atsushi Kotozaki Yuka Tsukiura Takashi Yomogida Yukihito Kawashima Ryuta 2012 Brain Training Game Improves Executive Functions and Processing Speed in the Elderly A Randomized Controlled Trial PLOS ONE Institute of Development Aging and Cancer Tohoku University 7 1 e29676 Bibcode 2012PLoSO 729676N doi 10 1371 journal pone 0029676 PMC 3256163 PMID 22253758 a b Simon Carless Simon Breaking GDC Detailed Nintendo Keynote Coverage Gamasutra Retrieved August 23 2006 GDC 06 Nintendo rallies the faithful Archived September 30 2007 at the Wayback Machine by Tim Surette GameSpot March 23 2006 Retrieved June 11 2006 Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for Nintendo DS MobyGames MobyGames mobygames com Retrieved March 8 2008 MobyGames Minako Hamano MobyGames mobygames com Retrieved March 8 2008 MobyGames Akito Nakatsuka MobyGames mobygames com Retrieved March 8 2008 Sakurai Masahiro October 22 2007 PictoChat Smash Bros DOJO Smashbros com Archived from the original on October 22 2007 Retrieved 2007 10 22 Brain Age DS GameRankings Retrieved June 11 2006 a b Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day Metacritic Retrieved May 9 2008 Tsao Jennifer Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day review 1UP com Archived from the original on July 22 2012 Retrieved May 9 2008 Brain Age Review GameSpot Retrieved May 30 2007 BBrain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day DS GameSpy Retrieved May 30 2007 IGN Staff Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day Review IGN Archived from the original on August 11 2012 Retrieved May 30 2007 Media Create Software Sales 29 May 4 June Media Create GameScience June 6 2006 Archived from the original on June 13 2006 Retrieved June 11 2006 2008 top 100 Kyoto zaq ne jp Archived from the original on February 24 2009 Retrieved January 21 2009 E3 2006 120 000 Brain Age Units in 3 Weeks Archived February 4 2012 at the Wayback Machine by Daemon Hatfield IGN May 9 2006 Retrieved June 11 2006 New Super Mario Bros Tops U S Console Charts Archived March 3 2016 at the Wayback Machine by David Jenkins Gamasutra June 9 2006 Retrieved June 11 2006 Kawashima Is Top Doc Nintendo Official Magazine Archived from the original on July 12 2006 Retrieved June 30 2006 Europe goes Brain Training mad Nintendo of Europe Retrieved August 10 2006 dead link Nintendo DS breaks sales records Nintendo Europe January 22 2007 Retrieved May 30 2007 dead link UK DS sales hit 4 million DS News at GameSpot Archived December 12 2008 at the Wayback Machine Kohler Chris January 18 2009 Top 10 Games of December 2008 By Platform blog wired com Retrieved January 19 2009 IR Information Financial Data Top Selling Title Sales Units Nintendo DS Software Archived from the original on April 27 2016 Retrieved 2014 05 24 IGN Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day Archived February 8 2012 at the Wayback Machine Kumar Mathew May 5 2006 Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day The Globe and Mail Toronto Archived from the original on January 16 2009 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards Brain Age Advert In Time Magazine Archived April 23 2006 at the Wayback Machine Kotaku April 19 2006 Retrieved June 11 2006 Players Flex Their Mental Muscles With Brain Age For Nintendo DS Nintendo com January 30 2006 Archived from the original on September 30 2007 Retrieved June 11 2006 Brain Age American TV Ad Kotaku April 21 2006 Archived from the original on September 4 2006 Retrieved June 11 2006 Brain Training featured on Seven News UPDATE Aussie Nintendo com June 2 2006 Archived from the original on June 16 2006 Retrieved June 11 2006 Kohler Chris December 24 2009 The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade Wired Retrieved September 10 2011 Michael McWhertor June 11 2006 Free Brain Age With DS Lite Purchase Kotaku Archived from the original on March 10 2007 Retrieved June 11 2006 Dr Kawashima s Brain Training Revolution Europe Archived from the original on May 20 2006 Retrieved 2006 06 11 Nick Clayton July 15 2006 Nintendo start to think outside the box Living Digital Culture Scotsman com Retrieved August 18 2006 Keep Your Brain Stimulated Dr Elizabeth Zelinski speaks Nintendo of Australia Archived from the original on July 9 2006 Retrieved August 10 2006 매일매일 DS 두뇌 트레이닝 Nintendo of Korea Archived from the original on May 23 2007 Retrieved May 30 2007 Further reading EditInterview with the localization team at 1Up com and Game Informer Mail interview with professor Ryuta KawashimaExternal links EditBrain Age website for North America Brain Training website for UK Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day amp oldid 1171096639, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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