Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training Reviews

Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training is ranked in the 30th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Metro GameCentral
Top Critic
4 / 10
Jan 7, 2020

Regardless of what it may or may not do to your brain age, this is a disappointingly low effort remaster with serious technical issues and a lack of interesting content.

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5.7 / 10.0
Jan 15, 2020

It's not that Brain Training Switch is a bad game it's just that it's not as relevant or interesting as it was over a decade ago. It's worth checking out if you want to test your Brain Age or as a gift for Grandman but there are plenty of better games you could be playing.

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Cubed3
Top Critic
6 / 10
Jan 1, 2020

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch is a missed opportunity to throw together a comprehensive package of mini-games from past entries on a hugely successful console.

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Feb 6, 2020

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Switch doesn't feel suited to Nintendo's latest portable, with the awkward use of the stylus and flimsy handwriting recognition sapping the joy from sharpening your smarts. There's still plenty of fun to be hand with the brain-teasing puzzles, but limited content ensures this is a far cry from the Nintendo DS original

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6 / 10
Jan 7, 2020

What's here is entertaining enough, but you're likely to have lost interest within a month; if ever there was a series that Nintendo should have turned into a mobile game instead, it's this one.

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7 / 10.0
Mar 1, 2020

This brain trainer will keep you occupied for a couple of weeks thanks to the many, many missions. Unfortunately there isn't anything new to experience even though it's fun to learn with the game. Switch Lite owners may want to hold off on buying this one since they can't play that much due to the limitations of the Switch Lite.

Review in Dutch | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Feb 12, 2020

Dr. Kawashima is back but his Switch comeback has its flaws.

Review in Slovak | Read full review

GameSpew
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Jan 7, 2020

All things considered, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch certainly isn’t as good as its predecessors.

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3.5 / 5.0
Jan 5, 2020

All in all, Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training is fun diversion of the Nintendo Switch that makes most of the brain's clever neuroplasticity component that allows you to improve your memory and thinking. While it is reminiscent of the original game, it does create a totally new experience on the Nintendo Switch, particularly with its unique control systems.

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3.5 / 5.0
Jan 22, 2020

Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training will be a welcoming experience for new and experienced players. For those that have played the games before there might not be a wave of newness. Nevertheless, the game puts you straight back into the mentality of slowly improving your brain age. The exercises can be hard, the Sudokus can be brain-burning – though there are others to relax to. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training won't captivate players for hours on end but it has the potential to keep players coming back for their 30 minutes of brain training every day.

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Jan 3, 2020

Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch takes what the original DS games did so well and pushes it to the next level. With the integration of the Joy-Con, multiplayer games and challenging tasks, this is by far one of the most varied ways to keep your brain active through gaming. However, some of the features - like handwriting and motion sensing - don't work as intended consistently. In addition, those who have a Switch Lite will, unfortunately, miss out on a lot of the content.

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GameMAG
Top Critic
7 / 10
Jan 6, 2020

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch is an excellent brain trainer in the pleasant form of interactive non-boring tests, which keeps the head in good shape, but has a number of certain technical roughnesses. The main drawback for Russia is that there is no Russian language, which greatly reduces the potential audience of the project in our country.

Review in Russian | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Dec 28, 2019

Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training is an update of the old formula but lacks variety in its content.

Review in Italian | Read full review

85 / 100
Dec 20, 2019

An effective update of the proven formula that we enjoyed many years ago. Anyone can enjoy it, although we expected a little more variety.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Unscored
Jan 2, 2020

While I doubt this will blow up in the same way the originals did, Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch retains a lot of what was so good about the original games, with their universal appeal and focus on short bursts of training that don’t outstay their welcome.

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Unscored
Jan 2, 2020

Besides that, playing Brain Training is a great start to the day. It allows me to mentally reset, try some hard-hitting challenges and get on with my day. For now and then, the Nintendo Switch version is rather ideally made.

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Unscored
Jan 2, 2020

Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch is a welcomed addition to the series

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Unscored
Feb 28, 2020

If you’re looking for a fun game to challenge you and keep your mind focused and busy for a short period of time (because after too many training sessions per day, Dr Kawashima tells you to leave training and rest your brain), then it’s definitely a brilliant update on an already great game.

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Dave Aubrey
Top Critic
Unscored
Jan 8, 2020

Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch isn't likely to hit the same spot that the original game did over a decade ago, but it offers a very similar experience. If you enjoyed it then, you'll enjoy it now, but given how many similar mobile apps are commonly available, this feels far too expensive and prohibitive as a full-price retail release. Perhaps future DLC and updates could bolster the experience, but as of right now, I've come away fairly cold.

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Unscored
Dec 20, 2019

Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch is a solid return for the series, mixing classic minigames with a handful of new ones that use the Switch's various capabilities – and which exclude those with a Switch Lite. Just as with the original, it's going to be easy to drop in for a few minutes a day and test yourself, but this isn't really doing much more than the DS games.

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