Dr. Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training

Last year was a great year for those who like mysteries and puzzle games, with a brand new Professor Layton title that offered more brain teasers and mini games than ever before among the biggest releases of 2012. For 2013 though, Nintendo is continuing to help sharpen our minds with a new brain training game that promises to help us focus – or at least, asks us if we can.

Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training: Can You Stay Focused? comes to the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL this April 12th having recently been delayed for a month, so what does the game feature and will it turn us from jelly-brained idiots into genius rocket scientist bods in a matter of days? Well, it’s unlikely, but why don’t we take a look at what the good Doctor is prescribing in this latest effort?

So once again, all the brain teasers here have been developed with the cooperation of the now infamous neuroscientist Dr Ryuta Kawashima. But while many of us are by now familiar with the series, this new Devilish Brain Training entry will be the first to be released specifically for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, with the last lot having appeared on the Nintendo DS. As you can tell from the title, the emphasis has been placed on improving the gamers’ concentration and focus, so if you feel like you’re getting a bit hazy in your old age, this could be the game for you.

The idea is that you play through some of the exercises just for a few minutes each day – and over the course of several weeks, you should start to see some personal improvements in how you are able to concentrate and focus your thoughts. This, it is claimed, will allow you to train your working memory in a way that will aid things like information storage and much more. Of course, there are still games out there like New Super Mario Bros. 2 that will offer you pure fun, but why not give Devilish Brain Training – with its 30 exercises and challenges – a spin after each bout of Mario action before you switch of your 3DS? You never know, it could make all the difference.