Brain Flex Preview

One of the most unique games shown off for Nintendo's DS at today's summit was the tentatively titled Brain Flex, a quiz-style experience that's been out in Japan under the moniker of Yawaraka Atama Juku. Though it's not a traditional game per se, Yawaraka Atama Juku is probably best thought of as a pocket brainteaser. You'll go through increasingly more-challenging tests that run the gamut from image recognition to math problems. We had the chance to both get a brief demo and try out the unique game, which has a surprisingly addictive charm to it.

Brain Flex features three basic modes: practice, test, and versus. Practice lets you get comfortable with the game's fast-paced assault of problems. Test is obviously the real thing, and it features an assortment of challenges that you'll have to solve quickly. You may think games have kept you on your toes all these years, but nothing will sober you up to reality more than trying to force your brain to think quickly. Though the problems you'll face start out easily enough, the game's challenge ramps up considerably and ultimately requires you to use your cognitive skills with the same precision as a champion first-person-shooter player.

We faced a series of problems that started with math (never a good thing), object recognition, and even some reading. Ultimately, the challenges break down into five brain-bending categories: think, identify, compute, memorize, and analyze. Once you're down with a run of tests, a radial graph will reflect how well you did in each of the categories. You'll be given a score and told the "weight" of your brain, along which will come a letter grade that will describe what kind of brain you have--such as a doctor's brain--based on all of the above.

Finally, the game's versus mode throws out tests for eight players, requiring only one game pack. Besides offering some good, fast-paced fun, the game offers a special perk in that it displays the ongoing weight of your brain so that you'll be able to keep track of how you're doing during a match. As far as localization of the game goes, Brain Flex is getting a few tweaks made to its games--namely those that were too dependent on Japanese knowledge or context. For example, a minigame on kanji is likely to be tweaked or axed to work better with the English alphabet.

The visuals in Brain Flex are a charming collection of stylized art that's heavy on squiggly lines. You'll see mostly still images, although occasionally you'll see more-animated fair done in an art deco style. There's nothing to tax the DS, but this isn't exactly graphics-heavy fare.

All told, Brain Flex is looking like the kind of game most people would probably dismiss out of hand. But they'd be surprised at its appeal once they got their hands on it. The gameplay is simple and accessible, the visuals are simple and clean, and the challenge will certainly put most people through their paces. If you're looking for a different kind of DS game--and one that may actually have a positive effect on your brain--you'll want to keep an eye out for Brain Flex (or whatever Nintendo decides to call it) sometime next year.