Brain Age – Concentration Training

Brain Age – Concentration Training, known in Europe and Australia as Dr Kawashima’s Devilish Brain Training: Can you stay focused?, is an educational puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo. It is the fourth major entry in the Brain Age series and the first made specifically for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan on July 28, 2012, in North America on February 10, 2013, and in South Korea on September 5, 2013. It later came to Europe on July 28, 2017, and Australia on July 29, 2017, five years apart from the initial release.

Dr. Kawashima presents the game’s purpose as being to counter prevalent subpar concentration skills onset by social media and other aspects of modern life. Brain Age: Concentration Training features a selection of activities and minigames that are designed to stimulate and improve the player’s concentration and working memory interspersed with brief lectures by Dr. Kawashima. Improvements to mental strength supposedly happen as the player advances to levels of higher challenge reflective of the player’s current concentration subskill. Amidst training activities, Dr. Kawashima mentors the player.

There are 3 types of training modes: Devilish Training, Supplemental Training, and Brain Training. Unlike past installments, the 3DS is held in its standard position, rather than sideways (except for Relaxation Mode). The player utilizes the handheld’s touchscreen and microphone to perform training and minigames. In the training mode for the player’s working memory, Devilish Training, the player is assigned with a training exercise for 5 minutes. In the exercises, the difficulty is adjusted to match the player’s efforts.

The difficulty level goes up if the player completes the routine with 85% or more correct, or if both questions are answered correctly. The difficulty level remains the same if the player receives between 84-66% correct, or if only one of the questions were answered correctly. The difficulty level decreases if the player receives 65% or less correct, or if both questions were answered incorrectly. In this and all other modes, new content is unlocked gradually as a reward for players returning to the game on subsequent days.