Nintendo has revealed that it is resurrecting the million-selling Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? Series (known as Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! in North America) on the Nintendo Switch.
The game has only been confirmed for Japan at present, but given the massive global popularity of the series, we'd imagine that a western launch will be forthcoming. The game will be known as Train Your Brain: Nintendo Switch Training for Adults in its homeland.
The trailer above shows how the Joy-Con IR camera will be used to detect the shape of your hand, while the Switch's touchscreen will allow writing input via a bundled stylus. Elsewhere, players are pitted against one another in a counting challenge with detached Joy-Con.
Notifications will also be possible when the Switch is docked, via vibration and the controller LED. It looks like this is the first game to make use of this new feature, which was introduced in the latest firmware update.
The game launches in Japan on December 27th with a retail price of 3,480 yen for a physical version which includes the stylus. A download version will cost 2,680 yen, and we're assuming you can use a third-party capacitive stylus with this just fine.
In the meantime, let's remember when Terry Wogan (RIP), Julie Walters and Patrick Stewart promoted the DS version on UK television.
Comments (60)
Switch Lite not supported.
Yes! Another official stylus, I need it just for that woop woop
Does not seem too badly priced. I wonder if Europe will have to wait for years after everyone else before being able to obtain it.
Used to love these on the DS!Looking forward to the Switch version.
@nintendolie Why not? Can you not juat buy a separate pair of Joy Cons?
Hopefully it comes bundled with a stylus in the US! We don’t have the stylus yet
Uhhh awesome!
no mention in past directs and post xmas launch, strange
So happy about this news.
I was afraid that this would be condemned to mobile hell (thank God it hasn't).
And the incorporation of the criminally underused IR camera is absolutely brilliant.
Nintendo kept Australia/Europe waiting five years after the rest of the world to bring Devillish Brain Training here. I hope we aren't kept waiting again.
I assume that the retail package will come bundled with a stylus as well (and perhaps a Dr. Kawashima effigy, muahahahaha).
Bought! Some of those games look a lot of fun.
@Silly_G I could go with a floating head amiibo
@nintendolie I imagine every game will be compatible with Switch Lite going forward.
Beats 1/2 Switch by a mile as long as it's priced right. Nintendo needs to learn these are not $60 games.
@Spoony_Tech : This is a budget release. I imagine that it will have the same retail price as Snipperclips if it comes to the west.
@nintendolie incorrect
@mazzel How's a Switch Lite user going to recharge the Joycons?
@jockmahon I think Nintendo has decided to separate the core stuff from the other stuff. See how Labo and Ring Fit Adventure also weren't in Directs.
@nintendolie https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/browse/productDetailColorSizePicker.jsp?productId=prod840540
@thiswaynow What about the kickstand? Can you buy it too?
A pair of joycons and that recharge thingy will come close to the price of a Switch Lite, may as well buy the real Switch.
A bunch of Switch Light owners will buy this..
Friendly reminder that according to Smash Ultimate, Dr. Kawashima is more powerful than Infinite from Sonic Forces.
Infinite is so WEAK.
@SmileMan64 You think Dr. Kawashima will be in Smash Bros? Pen is mightier than the sword, Dr. Kawashima can fight with words.
I wish there was an official Polish distributor so they would make this game in a language my mother can understand.
@nintendolie You're right, but only if the lower price point is the only reason for you to choose a Switch Lite. But your original statement is still false.
Here here they should release smash TV remake😬😬😀I love it
I might get it just for the stylus.
The original Brain Age was my first game on the DS and I loved it, so I am definitely down for this.
It's great and all that they're putting this on their home console (Switch/Switch Lite), but it's better suited to handhelds- should have been on the 3DS/3DS successor. Look, Wikipedia calls Switch Lite a Switch, and says Switch is a HOME CONSOLE only meant to replace the failed Wii U, and it is NOT the 3DS's successor, so you can stop arguing with me, they're the authority on the internet, and what they say is fact, Switch Lite is a HOME CONSOLE due to being a Switch which is a HOME CONSOLE!
@Strumpan Did you see a Switch Lite in the commercial?
@gamefreak77 Except that Lite doesn't Switch.
I want it! Hopefully it comes West.
I played a lot of the first two on DS, not so much of the 3rd one on 3DS. Still, I will pick this up!
This is amazing, insta buy
@gamefreak77 The Switch Lite is the 3DS successor. Nintendo has merged all their hardware/software efforts into one stream. That is why the next mainline Pokemon game is on the Switch. Going forward, we will be thinking much less in categories of "handheld" and "home console" and more in the categories of "gaming devices" vs. "streaming devices". All these devices will be digital only, the only choice you will have is whether you download a game and play it on a device or stream it from a server.
This must be great for people with brains...
Less flippantly, the price is ¥3480 for physical and ¥2680 for digital. Presumably the lack of stylus differentiates them. That puts it some way under ¥5980 for Link’s Awakening or ¥6980 for BotW (physical and digital).
*All prices not including tax
This is great for those who enjoyed these games. I played the first one for a short while, but stopped playing simply because the demographic this game series was aimed towards didn't include me. I loved the charm of the game though.
Whoa, Patrick Stewart with a mustache!
@Spoony_Tech 3480 Yen is around 30$.
This looks wholly inferior to Concentration Training/"Can You Stay Focused" with the lack of n-back exercises.
@SmaggTheSmug
Forgive me if I am confused (well, that is my natural state, to be frank), but is it the case that Nintendo games released in Poland don't have Polish subtitles?! Genuinely interested / concerned! Especially as my wife is Polish (not a gamer, though).
The last Brain Training game bombed on the 3DS after the NDS entries became 15-20 million sellers, so I'm genuinely shocked this series is making a return as a paid Switch game rather than a F2P mobile title. I figured any franchise that sees a 95% sales drop from one generation to the next would suffer such a fate or straight-up get canceled.
Hopefully this doesn't bomb like the 3DS entry - the budget price and inclusion of the stylus will help - but mobile gaming has devalued educational games dramatically over the last 10 years, so I'm not getting my hopes up.
Between this and Ring Fit Adventure, DS/Wii era Nintendo seems to be back. Switch Music and Switch Sports in 2020?
@westman98 - the 3DS entry was a memory trainer instead of the type of brain training in the DS games.
The 3DS game was shockingly hard and frankly, NOT ANY FUN!
The DS games were great games, and this looks maybe a little too much like them?
I'm definitely down to buy another game in the series. I loved the previous ones on the DS, and forced myself through 15 hours on the 3DS game before I decided it just wasn't a good game.
I expect if this is done well, it will do well. If it is not fun, like the 3DS game, it will sell badly. Nothing too shocking about that.
This actually looks really good!
(It's just a really good commercial as well )
This and Big Brain Academy, pretty please.
@cyrus_zuo
I'm pretty certain the poor sales of Devish Brain Training has less to do with its quality (or lack thereof) and more to do with the F2P mobile gaming destroying the market for paid educational games on dedicated game systems.
@westman98
Mobile surely had something to do with it.
...but I think the fact that Nintendo didn't even do a Retail release says volumes about how well they thought it could do (and it also materially affected how well it did do).
We can watch the new game's sales and see.
If it sold 50% of the 2nd game (the first game is crazy out of reach) or 10x the 3rd game I'd say it showed there is an opportunity.
Very excited for this
@cyrus_zuo
Oh yeah, Devilish Brain Training not getting a retail release in Europe/Australia until 2017 is laughable.
But I can't blame Nintendo too much. In Japan, Brain Training 1 sold ~4 million copies, Brain Training 2 sold ~5 million copies, and Devilish Brain Training sold <500,000 copies. The situation was even worse in the Americas.
Devilish Training was weird, it felt “off” compared to the first two.
@nintendolie If you meant "not shown" by "not supported", you're right.
Definite buy.
@nintendolie I think I don't need to answer that question for you!
Once again, the IR pointer is in good use
This will definitely be a helpful release for the older demographic, but I hope it avoids the same fate as Concentration Training and actually releases this year.
By the way, I guess we have the December first-party game at least (or is it...?)
Brain Age is such a better name.
@nintendolie His Final Smash will involve turning into his concentration mode and burying everyone under numbers.
Kawashima is the only one that can rival Baldi's Power of Math.
So switch lite is supported provided you have separate joycons and a stand. Yay
@nintendolie That is sad and another reason I won't bother with a switch lite. Biggest problem i had with brain age is it doesn't randomize activities as Elevate would do (though they stopped updating and was way too expensive at over $100). I'll still respect the attempt and unlocking everything lol devilish training was crazy I admit. Does help the aging process with non-gamers I believe too.
@Ooyah Nope. Only Switch game I have with any Polish in it is Worms (but only for the Worm barks, not menus). There is no Polish option for the interface either (although I have an American import console, maybe there is one in European ones).
Meanwhile PS4 games sometimes have even Polish voice acting and they have had Polish as console UI language option for a long time.
It would really help Nintendo to establish itself with more localization, but they don't care for the market apparently.
@westman98 People blame mobile for eroding everything but I think it's actually because the 3DS was destined to sell less then the DS due to a shift particularly amongs Nintendo casuals. Their first generation consoles tends to sell more due to hype thus attracting more Nintendo casual gamers in the process. While their second generation of said systems has always aimed at having more higher calibre games and more unique features that target a niche "core" audience thus these casuals left or there are less of them. Just look at the Switch, there are to this day still people that only have BotW as the only game they have on their system. And the Switch while doing well will most likely and so far has sold less then the sales of the Wii and DS.
I don't think people buy more mobile phones or games and there are suddenly more casuals on these devices, otherwise the PS4 won't hit 100 million in sales, they just buy less Nintendo consoles because the hype has died and they are realistic with their money.
People basically see phones > other brand consoles > Nintendo devices. That's how it is.
Its more to do with the philosophy behind the companies and what they stand for that causes their sales to rise or decline.
Nintendo wants to sell us premium toys and games where art imitates life but that's not what many people believes games and consoles are. They are essentially targeting a niche.
Sony is an entertainment congmerate that believes in the latest motion capture technology in terms of entertaining the masses and Microsoft see games as like a PC software knockoff: that they are cheap thrills.
So people will buy said devices they sell accordingly.
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