At the turn of the year, Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch saw the grand return of the mind-stimulating franchise which proved to be so popular on Nintendo DS. It's a decent comeback, even if it does feel a little undercooked, but it feels right having Dr. Kawashima's name back on Nintendo's latest machine.
To celebrate the game's launch, Nintendo has published an interview with the man himself - Dr. Ryuta Kawashima - as well as game developers Kouichi Kawamoto and Kenta Kubo. Siliconera has provided a translation of selected parts from the interview, which we've shared for you below.
Here's what the three said when asked about how the game's development began:
Kouichi Kawamoto, producer: “Personally, the reason I began the project was because, for some reason, some of my acquaintances who didn’t know I was in charge of the DS Brain Age were saying that they wanted to play Brain Age again. However, the DS game has many outdated elements nowadays, so I can’t recommend it, so I thought that we should bring it to the latest platform.”
Kenta Kubo, director: “Since Brain Age: Concentration Training, I’ve still been discussing proposals with Dr. Kawashima… and around two years ago, I spoke to Kawashima, and said that “We’re thinking of a Brain Age game for the Nintendo Switch.”Dr. Kawashima: “During seminars, I’m asked by those who played Brain Age on DS, 'What game is coming next?'. However, it’s sad that those people would say that they were really into the game in past tense. And then, I’d ask further, and it would turn out that those people who played the game with their kid back then are beginning to reach that age… The age where you start forgetting things.”
Dr. Kawashima goes on to talk about his hopes for the new release:
Dr. Kawashima: “What’s important is ‘continuation’. This is something not just about Brain Age but games in general must deal with. Aren’t there a lot of games where you play it once and then stop playing? As a specialist in this field, I want players to continue their brain training for extended periods.
To do so, we’ll let them form groups, and have them play the game among their friends. That way, even when their brain age shows they are 20 years old (in the Brain Age series, 20 is the youngest you can go), you might have situations where one person wasn’t able to surpass the time set by their girlfriend… (laughs)
Our research up until now has proven that doing brain training with others affects how long people continue with it quite clearly. Competing with others is an effective way to have players continue on for even over 10 years.”
Despite being available in Europe, Japan and Australia, we're still yet to hear of a North American release for the new game. If such a release does get announced, we'll be sure to let you know.
For those of you with access to Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch, have you been enjoying your time with it? Let us know in the comments.
[source topics.nintendo.co.jp, via siliconera.com]
Comments 13
Meanwhile in America
I get it but the Switch has things like color graphics so why is the game
Mostly B&W and look horrible in comparison to the Wii Brain Academy?
It's fine. Good for quick blasts of a few minutes per day between proper games. I agree it was overpriced for what it is though. £20 for the game including the stylus would have felt fair.
" Competing with others is an effective way to have players continue on for even over 10 years"
Brain Age Battle Royale
I really disliked the 3DS one (it felt more like work than a game) and really loved both DS games. I enjoyed the Big Brain spin-offs (though more for their party game aspect than anything).
I still can't decide if I'll get it if it comes to the US, but that is b/c I'd have to play in handheld mode - and these days my eyes need a bigger screen (I understand the game requires touch input, so my desire isn't possible).
Dr. Kawashima: You must play Brain Age continually to get the best for your brain.
Me: But I have to play other games, work and some of us have children to tend to.
Dr. Kawashima: No, you must stop doing everything else but play Brain Age.
The whole world takes Dr. Kawashima's advice and after several years, no more children were being born in the world because we have to continually play Brain Age. After many, many years the last human dies but at least their Brain Age score was a 20yr old brain.
Masterpiece right here. To many games do the same old garage
Nintendo of America has forsaken us...
Respect for game developers who can be this honest in the face of adversity (or a game that didn't sell well)
@ALinkttPresent : There is the possibility that it won't be coming to America as the current version is quite UK-centric with its British spellings (at least as far as the Reading Aloud and Word Scramble activities are concerned, though there may be others).
If they do make a version specifically for the U.S., I would be tempted to import that as well (assuming that there will be a retail version) simply to shake things up a little bit as I would have exhausted all of the content in the Australian/European version by then.
@stevep : The Brain Training games have always been very minimalistic. They aren't the most visually appealing games, though the low-polygon head of Dr. Kawashima gives the series a certain charm. While I had skipped on Big Brain Academy back in the day, I would love to see Nintendo revisit their more casual franchises in the near future, as I felt that a lot of what made the DS/Wii libraries so unique and broad had been eroded by the advent of smartphones. I would easily prefer a proper and complete retail package to F2P garbage on mobiles (though Nintendo are, unfortunately, including in-app purchases in an alarming number of their games these days).
@cyrus_zuo : I had been awaiting Devilish Brain Training for all those years, so I was also quite disappointed as the Devilish Brain Training activities were absolutely excruciating (and I hadn't bothered with them after the first few days of playing). I loved the other activities in the package, but the core of the software left a lot to be desired. Either way, I'm glad that it did (finally) come to Australia, but I wish it had been more like previous games in the series.
@Xylnox my 20 year old brain puts down games for fun with girlfriend. My now 37 year old brain still puts down games for fun with wife. We have 4 kids. Also just finished a session of smash with kids now it’s wife time
@Donutman I think it's cool when you hear about parents spending time with their kids. As I am getting older, I'm wanting more and more to start a family and have kids.
This is a game from snother era. First ones in DS sold millions (before mobile games offer mini games like that for free). Now they just sell few thousands...Looks like a game that was developed for 3ds and was ported to switch last minute (that's why they offer a stylus)
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