is a brain training game developed by Namco Bandai

Namco Bandai

, also known as the Bandai Namco Group, is a Japanese holding company formed from the merger of Namco and Bandai. It has interests in toys, video games and arcades, anime, and amusement parks. The new entity was founded on September 29, 2005...

 and tested by Dr. Kawashima

Ryuta Kawashima

is a Japanese neuroscientist known in PAL regions for his appearance in the Brain Training series of video games for the Nintendo DS -Biography:Kawashima was born...

, famous for his Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 games Brain Age

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, also known as Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions, is an entertainment video game that employs puzzles. It was developed and published by the video gaming company Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console...

 and Brain Age 2.

History

The game was originally developed in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 for i-mode

I-mode

NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a mobile internet service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocol, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail and the packet-switched network that delivers the data...

 devices, with the name 川島教授の全脳トレ (Kawashima Kyoju no Zen Noh Tore, Professor Kawashima’s Full Brain Training). Today there are already 11 games available for i-mode phones in Japan, plus an arcade machine

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 with printable cards and online hi-scores.

In 2007 the European branch of the Namco Bandai mobile division released the Java ME version, Brain Coach with Dr. Kawashima, with a selection of 10 minigames from the Japanese games and localized names per country. The game enjoyed great success, topping the charts for several months in countries like France, Germany and Austria. In 2008 the sequel More Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima was released, with 15 new minigames, hi-score upload to Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 and Sudoku

Sudoku

is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...

.

An abridged version of the game is also available for purchase by Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless

Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....

 cellphone subscribers.

In May 2009 a PC version was also released with the name Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima.

Namco has announced a Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...

 version of the game.

Gameplay

The game is structured around a set of 15 minigames which are used in the different game modes.

After selecting a profile (there are 3 slots for different users) a cel-shaded 3D Dr. Kawashima will accompany the player when browsing the menus and will explain the minigames. After playing each minigame in any of the game modes, player's performance is rated via a ranking of items found in nature, which includes creatures such as plankton, a whale or a giraffe.

All the statistics of each player are kept in his/her profile; the game offers the possibility of uploading this data so it's available both in the official website and Facebook.

Game modes

Brain Training : Presents 3 minigames and it’s only available once a day. The outcome will be recorded so the player can check his/her progress.
Brain Age : Presents the player with 1 minigame, after which, depending on the performance, the calculated Brain Age of the player will be shown. Just a limited number of minigames are suited for this mode and again it’s only possible to play it once a day.
Quick Play : Allows playing any of the unlocked games as many times as wished.
Sudoku : It's a classic Sudoku game adapted to touch screen; in the beginning it’s locked, until the user achieves a ranking of Earth on any of the minigames.
Challenge : Up to 4 players can select a minigame and compete in hotseat multiplayer.

Development

The minigames are designed, tested and implemented by the Namco Bandai team in Japan. After selecting the most interesting ones, some components of the development team will go to Dr. Kawashima’s Lab at Tohoku University

Tohoku University

, abbreviated to , located in the city of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture in the Tōhoku Region, Japan, is a Japanese national university. It is the third oldest Imperial University in Japan and is a member of the National Seven Universities...

, where every game will be played while monitoring its effect on the brain of the player.
With this method it can be scientifically proven that the minigames stimulate certain regions of the brain; these regions are shown before starting every minigame in the final game.

List of Minigames

• Memory
• Arithmetic
• Rock, Paper, Scissors
• Inverted Numbers
• Predominant Number
• Red Minus Blue
• Shape Construction
• Answer the Question
• Rolling Shapes
• Follow the Pencil
• Add 3*
• Broken Calculator*
• Inverted Panel*
• Reverse Dice*
• Pipe Connection*

Games with * after the name are currently unavailable on the Verizon Wireless edition.

List of Titles by Language

The game is called Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima on the App Store worldwide, even though when a language is selected the name switches to the local one used in the Java ME mobile version as follows:

• English: Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima
• French: Stimulation Cérébrale avec le Dr. Kawashima
• Italian: Brain Magister con il Dr. Kawashima
• German: Gehirn Joggen mit Dr. Kawashima
• Spanish: Brain Magister con el Dr. Kawashima
• Japanese: Kawashima Kyoju no Zen Noh Tore

External links

• Official Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima site