Dr. Brain

Last updated
Dr. Brain
Genre(s) Adventure, edutainment
Developer(s) Sierra On-Line (first series)
Knowledge Adventure (later series)
Publisher(s) Sierra On-Line (first series)
Knowledge Adventure (later series)
Platform(s) DOS, Windows, Macintosh
First release Castle of Dr. Brain
1992
Latest releaseThe Adventures of Dr. Brain
1999

Dr. Brain is a series of educational games introduced by Sierra On-Line in 1992. The objective of each game is to solve a series of puzzles to aid characters named Dr. Brain who changed from title to title. After Sierra was acquired by CUC International in 1996, the series would be continued by their Knowledge Adventure division who turned it into a more action-oriented game.

Contents

Games

Sierra

Sierra produced four titles in the series from 1992 to 1996. The first two games, Castle of Dr. Brain (1991) and The Island of Dr. Brain (1992), are hybrid puzzle adventure games created by an in-house team at Sierra. After the second game was released, Sierra acquired another company, Bright Star Technology, known for its educational games. The series was turned over to a Bright Star team, explaining the change in direction from the second game to the third. [1] The third and fourth are The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain (1995) and The Time Warp of Dr. Brain (1996).

The first two Sierra games follow Dr. Thaddeus Egghead Brain, an elderly absentminded professor, while the last two follow Dr. Thaddeaus Puzzle Brain the Third (the brother of Egghead and uncle of Dr. Elaina Brain). Dr. Brain was 'reincarnated' as Dr. Cranium in Quest for Glory IV (both Dr. Brain and Quest for Glory series are designed by Corey Cole, though Dr. Cranium mentions once that one of his descendants would get "his very own game"). The background information for Dr. Cranium in the Shadows of Darkness Hintbook written by Lori and Corey Cole states that Dr. T. Egghead Brain is Dr. Cranium's great-great grandson.

Knowledge Adventure

Knowledge Adventure later released four games based on the original series: [2]

The new series is set in 2326 following a new Dr. Brain, a twenty-something genius instead of an old mad scientist (though this may be explained by identifying the young man with Pro). In the newer games, there are generally less education-oriented and more problem-solving puzzles, although most are third or first person games involving throwing switches and stunning guards (IQ Adventure and Action Reaction).

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References

  1. "The Math Garden - TheCan.org".
  2. "Adventures of Dr. Brain - JumpStart". www.jumpstart.com. Archived from the original on 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2020-01-22.