Brain Age Express

Brain Age Express
Developer	Nintendo
Publisher	Nintendo
System	DSiWare
Release Date	Math JP December 24, 2008 US April 5, 2009 EU June 19, 2009 Arts & Letters JP December 24, 2008 US August 10, 2009 EU October 23, 2009 Sudoku JP April 22, 2009 EU July 24, 2009 US August 17, 2009
Rating	ESRB: E

Brain Age Express' (known in PAL regions as A Little Bit Of... Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training) is a series of DSiWare games developed by Nintendo. The initial two releases cost 800 Nintendo DSi points while the Sudoku release costs 500. The games are a mix of activities taken from Brain Age and Brain Age 2 with new activities thrown in.

Information

A new addition to all three games that wasn't in the original release is the ability to add a photograph to represent the player's profile. Alternatively, if the player doesn't wish to use the DSi Camera they can instead draw a picture in it's place.

Returning activities for Math are Calculations x 20, Calculations x 100, and Triangle Math from Brain Age and Change Maker from Brain Age 2. New activities include By The Numbers, Sum Totaled, and Multi Tasker. In By The Numbers, players are shown two rules and a number and must answer whether or not the number falls under both rules. Multi Tasker challenges the player to solve a series of equations while keeping track of a separate puzzle with people going in and out of a house. At the end of the equations the player is asked how many people are currently in the house. Sum Totaled has several numbers floating around the screen that the player must add cumulatively together. It also features an interesting Battle Mode where a faceless character travels through a tower facing against enemies made of numbers. Players defeat the enemies by adding the numbers together.

Returning activities for Arts & Letters include Read Aloud from Brain Age and Word Scramble and Piano Player from Brain Age 2. New activities include Photo Recall, Meet and Greet, and Word Attack. Photo Recall presents the player with a group of photos and then they have to select the last one they saw. In Meet and Greet the game presents a picture of a person, along with their name and occupation. The game will present several people in a row, sometimes even at the same time. The player must remember this information as they will be tested from memory what a given individual's name and occupation was. In Word Attack several words flash by on one screen and players are challenged to write what words they saw from memory. An interesting Space variation of this game will feature a rocket ship at the bottom fo the screen and words at the top. The words quickly change into black boxes and the player must write down what the word was to successfully blast the word.

Activities shared between both games are Themes and the Virus Buster mini-game from Brain Age 2. Themes ask the player to record or capture themselves acting out a specified part for the game. This is mostly just for fun and the player can even move the photos to an SD Card for later viewing. Virus Buster is a special modern version of Dr. Mario controlled by the stylus and features relaxing versions of classic Dr. Mario themes.

Sudoku features a heavy focus on the Sudoku option that was featured in the prior releases. It also allows for brief daily Brain Training sessions on the side. A unique feature to this release is that the percent of puzzles solved appears on the game's icon in the DSi Menu.

Legacy

Sequels

The next Brain Age game would be Brain Age: Concentration Training for the Nintendo 3DS.