Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! DS
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Release Date: Apr 17, 2006
User Score
8.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 45 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 45
  3. Negative: 5 out of 45

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  1. reble4life
    Apr 20, 2006
    0
    this gamws soooo stupid! i cant beleve my parents wanted me to play it because mthey think skool is what i should go to to and i dont want to be a stupid nerd. all theseloosers who rated it above 0 are just dumb and have no intelligince if you want to play a awesome game then go play cool pspgames or xbox and ps2 because nntendo is for kids and im even mature ehough to know that,
  2. CazC.
    Jun 22, 2007
    4
    Don't bother buying this game unless you are really serious about having the time to sit down each day and do the same thing day after day to "train" your brain. You would think that you would descover more exciting things while playing but about the most thrilling thing is the game is being able to design your own stamp to mark off days that you have used the game. Also the fact that when you say the doctor in the games name in the title screen he jumps.… Expand
  3. DJT
    Dec 15, 2007
    3
    Do you have a job? How about a significant other? A pet? Bills to pay? Other responsibilities that occupy a lot of your time? THEN DON'T BUY THIS GAME. Seriously... the last thing you want in your stressful life is a nagging video game scolding you when you haven't picked it up everyday since you bought it. Before you pick this one up... just understand the responsibilities surrounding this tite. Stick to Brain Academy.… Expand
  4. julianozuca
    Mar 6, 2012
    4
    To enjoy Brain Age you may have to learn to write again, and that almost reduces the entire experience to frustration.

    The Good: Nice ideas for an innovative dual screen use; good time comparing graphs and drawings with other users; sketching individual stamps is great; funny interaction with doctor Kawashima! Sudoku.

    The Bad: Sometimes it just can't recognize your handwriting, and losin    g points for that is EXTREMELY frustrating; graphs are limited to one month per time, so you can't follow your progress in a long term; normal and hard modes are mixed in one graph, making your average fall when you try the hard mode.

    Good brain training programs, an overall delightful bright sound and the funny doctor's head floating around the screen don't keep Brain Age from being frustrating.
    The major problem here is the not-always-good handwriting recognizing system. Every now and then you'll find yourself scratching the screen here and there while watching the time going by without being understood; or being misunderstood, resulting in lost points anyway. In a nutshell, the pieces fall apart because of a structural defect.
    A little extra encouragement would have been nice too--like giving prizes for reaching higher age levels or completing sudoku--but it's not there. Add to that the disheartening mix between normal and hard modes in the graphs generation and we've got more problems than qualities.

    On the other hand some training programs like Low to High and Head Count and some tests from the brain age check feature like Connect Maze work pretty fine and are well-executed ideas, but that only sum up for a final disappointment feeling.

    In the end there's only a bitter taste in your mouth because it's easy to recognize a good opportunity wasted under technical issues.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 58 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 58
  3. Negative: 1 out of 58
  1. G4 TV
    60
    Although Brain Training asks you to figure out increasingly intricate problems in a short amount of time, there's something quite relaxing about the whole thing. Not worth full price, since there are only nine different games to play here, but definitely a fun time-waster. [JPN Import]
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  2. GamerFeed
    80
    I'm not sure whether my brain's actually benefiting from this special treatment, but I do know that Brain Age is fun to mess around with for several minutes a day.
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  3. Modojo
    60
    Brain Age is a decently amusing distraction, but without the fun and variation of the minigames found in "Big Brain Academy" and with many questions about the actual impact the training has on your brain, its tough to recommend the software too highly.
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