Big Brain Academy

Big Brain Academy, known in Japan as Yawaraka Atama Juku (やわらかあたま塾), is a puzzle video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan on June 30, 2005, and was later released in North America on June 5, 2006, in Australia on July 5, 2006, and in Europe on July 7, 2006. It has been compared to Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!. It is marketed under the Nintendo's Touch! Generations brand.

A sequel, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, was released on the Wii in April 2007.

The TV advertisements for Big Brain Academy was not only to debut the game, but also the Nintendo DS Lite system.

Gameplay

In Big Brain Academy, tests are done in order to measure a brain's mass. The heavier the brain, the smarter the brain is or the better its reaction time. There is no single game mechanism to Big Brain Academy; as it is an assortment of puzzles with no one puzzle having greater priority than the other. There are three modes of play: Test mode, Practice mode, and Versus mode.

Test mode

Test mode consists of a formal test consisting of five puzzles, with one puzzle taken at random from each of the five categories to determine the player's brain mass.

After the test, the player is given a letter grade. Dr. Lobe (the "headmaster" of Big Brain Academy) also assess what areas the player needs to improve in and what ranking they would be; professions include museum curator, librarian, astronaut, investor, fashion stylist, diplomat, cave man, Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, politician, poet, banker, doctor, musician, etc.

There are five different categories of tests with three activities per category. The categories are (followed by their activities):

• Think (Logic-themed questions)
• Analyze (Reason-based questions)
• Compute (Math-themed questions)
• Identify (Visual-themed questions)
• Memorize (Memory-based questions)

Practice mode

Practice mode allows the player to select which specific activity he or she wants to do in order to train their brain. The activities available for play consist of those available in Test mode. Each activity has three levels of difficulty, and the player can earn either a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum medal for achieving a certain brain mass on each difficulty level. A mass of 50 grams is required for a bronze medal, 150 grams for silver, and 250 for gold. The mass required for a platinum medal differs for each difficulty level of each activity; however the exact mass required for each platinum medal is not specified in the game.

Versus mode

In Versus mode, players can compete to determine who has the heaviest brain. Anywhere from 1 to 7 players can join a hosting player whether or not they themselves have a copy of the game.

Reception

As of March 31, 2008, Big Brain Academy has sold 5.01 million copies worldwide.^[2]

See also

• Brain Age and Brain Age 2
• Brain Boost
• Brain Challenge
• English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills!
• Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day
• Minna de Kitaeru Zenno Training
• Professor Kageyama's Maths Training: The Hundred Cell Calculation Method

References

External links

Official websites

• Official Big Brain Academy Site
• Big Brain Academy at Nintendo.com (archives of the original at the Internet Archive)

Reviews

• Big Brain Academy at Metacritic

Interviews and media

• Gameplay Videos at GameSpot