TOKYO, Oct 1 ― Famous for its part in the breakout success of Nintendo's handheld DS console, “Brain Age” is being revitalised for the Nintendo Switch.
A puzzle game compendium with the aim of measuring and enhancing players' mental fitness, “Brain Age” is being brought back for the Nintendo Switch era.
Nintendo of Japan has announced “Brain Age: Nintendo Switch Training” for domestic release on December 27.
Though it's just the Japanese edition that has been named and dated, the original “Brain Age” likewise debuted in Japan before gaining international distribution a year later.
The franchise, also known as “Brain Training” outside of North America and Japan, is closely associated with Japanese neuroscientist and self-help book author Ryuta Kawashima, whose work inspired the games.
“Brain Age: Nintendo Switch Training” is to be made available as a digital download or in stores where it will be packaged up with a stylus accessory, harking back to the franchise's Nintendo DS and 3DS origins.
As well as classic bite-size “Brain Age” challenges that test writing, mathematics, and pattern recognition abilities, the Switch incarnation also makes use of the console's infrared scanner to detect hand and finger movements, can receive data from motion sensors in the detachable Joy-Cons, and introduces an optional two-player mode.
“Brain Age: Nintendo Switch Training” is optimised for use with the original Nintendo Switch design rather than the newer, less expensive Switch Lite, and as such contains five puzzles that won't work on the Lite regardless of whether additional Joy-Con controllers are present.
Nintendo has been targeting several different kinds of players through the Switch's expanded games library.
For example, as well as typical mascot adventures such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, it has also pursued enthusiast players with conversions of award-winning games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Diablo III, Divinity: Original Sin II, and Bayonetta, and developed a series of self-assembly virtual reality kits through the Nintendo Labo line.
A long-awaited core entry to the Pokémon franchise, Pokémon Sword and Shield, arrives November 15. ― AFP-Relaxnews
