Focus young Padawan: Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training is back

The latest entry in the phenomenally successful series, Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training, is launching on Nintendo 3DS family systems.

In a busy world with ever more distractions, it can be hard to stay focused on the things that matter.

This helpful new title aims to address that problem, with new devilish training activities that are designed to give everyone's working memory a rigorous workout.

First introduced in 2006, the Brain Training series is designed to stimulate the brain, and aims to help players improve their mental agility through a number of bite-sized challenges and activities.

It's already been 10 years since More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? was released in Australia and New Zealand, and with so much information being thrown at us in our daily lives, we all need to take some time to blow away those mental cobwebs.

Working memory allows the temporary storage and manipulation of information, it's essential for carrying out daily activities such as replying to someone in conversation, thinking out the steps of a recipe, or anticipating an opponent's moves in sports.

Dr. Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training aims to train working memory and thereby help players to hone their powers of concentration, through a selection of exercises called devilish training.

An example of this devilish training is a game called, 1-Back, in it, players will be challenged to answer a series of maths problems but with a devious twist.

Instead of immediately answering the problem that appears on screen, players must remember the solution, then when the next problem appears, they must input the answer to the previous problem instead.

Of course, while doing this they must also solve and remember the answer to the second problem, ready to input it when the third problem appears.

It's supposed to be perfect for anyone who's ever forgotten what they were looking for when they entered a room or never remembers where they've put down their car keys.

While the devilish training exercises are demanding, they are also quick to play, and the game encourages players to practise them for 5 minutes per day.

The difficulty level also gets adjusted automatically based on a player's performance, so everyone can train at his or her own level.

Players can also enjoy the following content:

• Training Supplements: A selection of favourite exercises from previous Brain Training games.
• Brain Training: These include card games, musical challenges, and logic tests, some of which are new and some of which return from previous Brain Training titles.
• Time Out: Relaxing activities designed to give your brain a break.
• Concentration Challenge: Test how long you can concentrate on a series of 2-Back Devilish Calculations.

In total, the game offers 30 exercises and minigames, 17 of which are brand new for this title.

Furthermore, for those who enjoy adding a competitive element to their training, multiple save slots allow players to test themselves against other family members using only one copy of the game.

The game is compatible with any system in the Nintendo 3DS family, including Nintendo 2DS and New Nintendo 2DS XL.