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| Source // Moby Games |
Your mental fitness is as essential as your physical fitness, so sayeth Dr Kawashima, and a whole load of other health professionals besides. Inspired by his work, Nintendo put together a brain training game for the Nintendo DS, known here as Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, a daily dose of maths puzzles to exercise your brain.
It can't just be maths, can it?
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| Source // Moby Games |
Fun Times
This is the man himself, one would assume, and as you can see, Brain Training is a simple little game. A quick play mode gives you a burst of activity if you find yourself in need of something to do, Sudoku is always mentally engaging if that's your thing, but the heart of Brain Training is the Daily Training. It is here where the good Doctor will keep checking in on you, testing you, pushing your brain further than it usually does to make you smarter, or at least not decline with age.
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| Source // Moby Games |
If your brain looks like either of these, you're doing good, and Brain Training is here to help you reach these kinds of activity levels, one challenge at a time. It does so through several little tests and brain teasers, involving some quick thinking, some accurate stylus doodling and a clear voice.
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| Source // Moby Games |
Frustrations
That's where things can take a turn a little for the worse. We don't all have neat handwriting or clear environments to speak into the microphone. While the recognition is quite good, if you don't quite swipe the stylus in ways the game expects, you might be hanging around for a few seconds - during timed tests, of course - correcting errors or, worse, having a mistake flagged up through no fault of your own (save your sloppy handwriting, I guess).
I actually picked up a copy of this from somewhere, complete with user data for a Margaret and a Donna. There's not a whole load of identifiable information, save for an estimation of their brain age (sorry, ladies, keep practising) and what they once watched on TV, long, long ago. 'Damages', apparently.
I didn't want to faff around with emulating this one, as it uses the mic, the stylus, timed challenges, and requires you to turn the DS sideways, like a book. I'll let the Internet provide the images here. Thanks, Internet.
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| Source // Moby Games |
Further Fun Times
This is perhaps the most recognisable part of Brain Training, the quick arithmetic. A bunch of sums, solve them as quickly as you can. My first attempt resulted in an estimated brain age of 46. Some work needs to be done there...
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| Source // Moby Games |
You can retest your brain age only once per day, so it's best to get some training in before seeing how you fare. It can come in many, many forms. I thought Brain Training was 'just' maths, but these kinds of tests give your noodle a work out too. I would assume we're even using different parts of our brain for various tests, for that thorough work out.
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
After a few tests, I was not as lucky as this individual. My brain age for today got worse, dropping to 60. Ouch. Guess I need to do some more Sudoku. What's that? Sudoku is separate and doesn't count towards any brain training? Oh. Well, it's got to count for something, surely.
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| Source // Moby Games |
Final Word
I only played around with Brain Training for a little while, enough to see what it's all about. The key to making it work for you is logging in day after day to earn your stamp and train your brain. Graphs and stats and progress tracking will give you some indication of how well you're doing, but I assume there are better apps on peoples phones these days. Does Brain Training still hold up?
Well, any amount of mental exercise is healthy, if that's the gist of Dr Kawashima's message, so yeah, if you've got a DS kicking around and want to use it every day, go right ahead. Sequels and spin-offs seem to exist, and it's found in practically all charity shops these days. It's not hard to find.
But in this form, it is perhaps hard to make use of. It's easy to get involved with, no real experience is needed, but it does help if you can speak English, write the Latin alphabet, draw the Arabic numerals and own a Nintendo DS.
Your mileage will vary, I guess I'm trying to say. I finally found out what Brain Training was all about, got told in no uncertain terms that I need to do better, then closed the DS for a more stimulating endeavour - writing this post.
It won't turn me into a genius, but at least it keeps me active.
Fun Facts
While many support its use in preventing dementia, Nintendo stick to their guns and insist they're an entertainment company, not a medical one. They just happen to have made it with the name and support of a neuroscientist.
Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, developed by Nintendo SPD, first released in 2005.
Version played: Nintendo DS, 2006.