Big Brain Academy (video game)

Last updated
Big Brain Academy
Big Brain Academy cover.jpg
PAL region box art
Developer(s) Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Tomoaki Yoshinobu
Producer(s) Hiroyuki Kimura
Designer(s) Hideki Fujii
Composer(s) Kenta Nagata
Series Big Brain Academy
Platform(s) Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: June 30, 2005
  • NA: June 5, 2006
  • AU: July 5, 2006
  • EU: July 7, 2006
Genre(s) Puzzle, edutainment
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Big Brain Academy [lower-alpha 1] is a puzzle video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was released in Japan on June 30, 2005, and subsequently in other regions in summer 2006. The game was planned to be released in China for the iQue DS system and appeared in the system's trailer, but it remained unreleased. [1] It has been compared to Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! . [2] It was marketed under Nintendo's Touch! Generations brand. A sequel, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree , was released on the Wii in April 2007.

Contents

Gameplay

In Big Brain Academy, tests are done to measure the player's 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. Solving puzzles adds to the brain mass, while failing puzzles reduces the brain mass. The better the player does, the more difficult the puzzles become.

There are three modes of play: Test mode, Practice mode, and Versus mode.

Test mode

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

After the test, the player is given a letter grade. Dr. Lobe (the "headmaster" of Big Brain Academy) also assesses what areas the player needs to improve in and what ranking they would be. Professions include museum curator, librarian, astronaut, investor, fashion stylist, diplomat, caveman, Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, 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):

Practice mode

Practice mode allows the player to select an activity to train their brain. The activities available for play are the same as those available in Test mode, and activities last one minute. Each activity has three levels of difficulty, and the player can earn 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. One to seven players can join a hosting player, whether or not they have a copy of the game.

Reception

As of March 31, 2008, Big Brain Academy had sold 5.01 million copies worldwide. [6] It received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), [7] indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. [8] Big Brain Academy received mixed reviews from critics. [9] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot wrote positively of the game, describing it as "easy-to-learn but reasonably addictive". [4] Craig Harris of IGN gave the game 8.1 out of 10, describing it as "fun", while criticising the game's graphics as "a bit too sugary and happy". [2] Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer gave a mixed review of the game, giving it 7 out of 10, describing it as "fun in an innocent kind of way", while criticising it as too simple. [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as Yawaraka Atama Juku (やわらかあたま塾, lit. "Soft Head Academy").

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine</i> 1993 video game

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is a falling block puzzle game developed by Compile and published by Sega. It was released for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive in North America and Europe in November 1993, and ported to the Game Gear in 1993 and Master System in 1994.

<i>Nintendogs</i> 2005 real-time pet simulation video game and franchise

Nintendogs is a real-time pet simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was released in Japan, and was later released in: North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and other regions. It was originally released in three different versions: Dachshund & Friends, Lab & Friends and Chihuahua & Friends. It has been re-released twice, first as a bundled release with a special edition Nintendo DS with a new version called Nintendogs: Best Friends and later as Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends.

<i>Meteos</i> 2005 video game

Meteos is a 2005 tile-matching video game developed by Q Entertainment and published by Bandai for the Nintendo DS. It was produced by Q Entertainment founder Tetsuya Mizuguchi and designed by Masahiro Sakurai. Meteos was inspired by the video game Missile Command (1980), the film The Matrix (1999) and the television series 24 (2001-2010).

<i>Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!</i> 2005 puzzle video game

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, known as Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions, is an edutainment puzzle video game. It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo has stated that it is an entertainment product inspired by Tohoku University professor Ryuta Kawashima's work in the neurosciences.

<i>Cooking Mama</i> (video game) 2006 video game

Cooking Mama is a cookery simulation-styled minigame compilation video game for the Nintendo DS, and it was later ported to iOS as Cooking Mama: Lets Cook! in 2015. It was developed by Office Create and published by Taito, Majesco Entertainment, and 505 Games. It was awarded IGN's "Best Of E3" award for 2006. It is the start of the Cooking Mama series, with 4 more main series titles on DS and Nintendo 3DS, two spin offs on Wii, and a spin off on 3DS. It also spins off into the Gardening Mama series. For later titles in the series, the publishers and Office Create joined together to form Cooking Mama Limited, which was made exclusively to develop the Cooking Mama series.

<i>Mario Party 8</i> 2007 video game

Mario Party 8 is a 2007 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the eighth main installment in the Mario Party series, as well as the first title in the series to be released for the Wii.

<i>Magnetica</i> 2006 video game

Magnetica is a puzzle video game for the Nintendo DS, released as part of the Touch! Generations series. The game was developed by Mitchell Corporation and published by Nintendo, and is based on Mitchell's 1998 arcade game Puzz Loop.

<i>Wii Sports</i> 2006 sports video game published by Nintendo

Wii Sports is a 2006 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The 1.0 (pre-release) version of the game was released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and the 1.1 version was released in Japan, Australia, Europe, and North America over the following months. It was included as a pack-in game with the console in all territories except Japan, making it the first sports game included with the launch of a Nintendo system since Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy in 1995. The game is available on its own as part of the Nintendo Selects collection of games.

<i>WarioWare: Smooth Moves</i> 2006 video game

WarioWare: Smooth Moves is a party video game developed by Nintendo SPD and Intelligent Systems. The game was published by Nintendo for its Wii video game system in Japan in December 2006, and in Europe, North America, and Australia in January 2007. It is the fifth game in the WarioWare series of games, and the only game in the series to be physically released for the Wii. Like its predecessors, WarioWare: Smooth Moves is built around a collection of microgames that last about five seconds each, and which require that the player hold the Wii Remote in specific positions. The game offers the microgames to the player in rapid succession, by first instructing the player to hold the Wii Remote in a specific manner, and then showing them the microgame. The microgames are divided into several stages, each of which loosely connects the microgames with the help of a story. Additionally, this was the first spin-off Mario game to be released for the console.

<i>Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!</i> 2005 video game

Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, known as More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions, is an edutainment puzzle game and the sequel to Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (2005). It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. Before the game begins, the player must perform a Brain Age Check to determine their brain age, which ranges from 20 to 80, to determine approximately their brain's responsiveness. A brain age of 20, the lowest age that the player can achieve, indicates that the player's brain is as responsive as that of an average 20-year-old. After the player is told their initial brain age, they can complete a series of minigames to help improve their brain's responsiveness, after which they can run Brain Age Check again to determine their updated brain age.

<i>Mercury Meltdown</i> 2006 a puzzle-platform game for the PlayStation Portable

Mercury Meltdown is a puzzle-platform game for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). It is the sequel to Archer Maclean's Mercury. Like the first game, the goal is to tilt the stage in order to navigate one or more blobs of mercury to the destination. In contrast to the original, Ignition Banbury had more time and experience developing the game and listened to player feedback, allowing the game to be easier and provide players with more freedom to choose levels. The game has new hazards, enemies, and minigames.

<i>Professor Layton and the Curious Village</i> 2007 Japanese puzzle video game

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a puzzle adventure video game for the Nintendo DS system. It was developed and published by Level-5 in Japan and published by Nintendo worldwide. It was released in Japan in 2007 and worldwide the following year. It was re-released in Australia using the British English localisation and European artwork to replace the previously released North American localisation. Curious Village is the first game in the Professor Layton series, followed by Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. An enhanced mobile port of Curious Village featuring additional cutscenes, subtitled "HD for Mobile", was released in 2018.

<i>Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree</i> 2007 video game

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, known in PAL regions as Big Brain Academy for Wii, is a video game released for the Wii. A sequel to the game Big Brain Academy for the Nintendo DS, it too measures a player's brain's weight, but with new games and puzzles to solve. The game makes use of Miis and uses WiiConnect24 features, allowing competition amongst users' friends, whose codes are automatically imported from the Wii's internal address book.

<i>Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends</i> 2007 video game

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends is the sequel to the Nintendo DS video game Cooking Mama and its Wii spin off, Cooking Mama: Cook Off. The game has twice as many minigames as the original, new recipes, and a new multiplayer "Cook Off" mode. The game includes voice clips similar to the ones used in Cooking Mama: Cook Off.

<i>Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day</i> 2007 video game

Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day is a Touch! Generations puzzle video game developed by Namco Bandai and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was released in Japan on May 31, 2007 as Miru Chikara wo Jissen de Kitaeru: DS Medikara Training and released in North America on October 15.

<i>Game Party</i> 2007 video game

Game Party is a video game developed by FarSight Studios and published by Midway Games. Game Party was retailed as a budget title for the Wii. It is the first game in the Game Party series. It was released on November 27, 2007, in North America; on February 14, 2008, in Australia; and in Europe on February 15, 2008.

<i>Links Crossbow Training</i> 2007 video game

Link's Crossbow Training is a shooting video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. It was bundled with the Wii Zapper peripheral and was the first title to use it. The game was released worldwide in 2007, and in Japan in May 2008. It uses several environments, enemies, and other assets from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as stages for targets with various shootable background objects.

<i>Brain Challenge</i> 2007 video game

Brain Challenge is a mental exercise video game, featuring "brain exercise puzzles". The game was developed by Gameloft Beijing for mobile phone and iPod and released on September 5, 2007. In 2008 was followed by a Nintendo DS version on January 8, an Xbox Live Arcade release on March 12, and a PlayStation 3 launch on November 27. The N-Gage 2.0 version was released on the day of the service's launch, April 3, 2008. A version for WiiWare was released in autumn 2008 on all three regions. The Wii version also uses Miis for the players profile. OnLive also had launched their new streaming game platform with Brain Challenge on July 27, 2010. The game was released for Mac OS X in January 2011.

Brain Age, known as Dr Kawashima's Brain Training in PAL regions, is a series of video games developed and published by Nintendo, based on the work of Ryuta Kawashima.

<i>Big Brain Academy</i> Video game series

Big Brain Academy is a series of puzzle video games developed and published by Nintendo. Similar to the Brain Age series, each game features a number of activities designed to test, measure, and improve the player's mental skills. The first two games were released under the Touch! Generations brand, which has since been discontinued.

References

  1. ↑ "iQue Guest Lounge". iquehistoria.neocities.org. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  2. 1 2 3 Harris, Craig (June 2, 2006). "Big Brain Academy". IGN . Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Bramwell, Tom (June 15, 2006). "Big Brain Academy: Coulda been a contender". Eurogamer . Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Gerstmann, Jeff (June 5, 2006). "Big Brain Academy Review". GameSpot . Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  5. ↑ Logan (July 3, 2006). "Test : Cerebrale Academie". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Financial Results Briefing for the Fiscal Year Ended March 2008: Supplementary Information" (PDF). Nintendo. 2008-04-25. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  7. ↑ "ELSPA Sales Awards: Double Platinum". Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association . Archived from the original on May 20, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  8. ↑ Caoili, Eric (November 26, 2008). "ELSPA: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Reach Diamond Status In UK". Game Developer. Informa. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Big Brain Academy". Metacritic. 2006. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.