Okay, I don't understand the grade system at all. It almost seems impossible to get higher than C+. Also, some of these games can be unfair, for example, the dog biscuit one. It's fine until they introduce the moving blue blocks. You can easily go to the exact position it tells you to and the blocks move in a way that ensures you're not gonna get that bone. That's pure evil. Also, after a while, yeah, it does get repetative as you'll find yourself playing the same games constantly. It's good for kids, but it's almost insulting to one's intellect, especially with the grade system.
Big Brain Academy
(2006, Video Games - Educational, Rated E, Play it on: Nintendo DS)
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Families compete for "weightiest" brain.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 8 and Up
The good stuff
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Educational value:
What to watch out for
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Violence & scariness:
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Sexy stuff:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Big Brain Academy was written by Jinny Gudmundsen
Parents need to know that this game requires that players be able to read, understand money, and do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; this is not a good fit for kids younger than 8. With younger children, you may need to explain how to play the games under the "Think" category. Because this is played using a stylus on the DS touch-sensitive screen, it's an easy game for parents or other video game newbies to learn how to play. Overall, it's a terrific game for families to play together.
Families Can Talk About
Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
- Families can talk about which of the 15 games they like best and why. Do you think you are getting smarter by playing these games? Can you think of real-life jobs where math computations are a part of the job? Does the educational aspect of the games make you feel good about playing or does it feel more like homework?
Do you play it? Review It!
More on Big Brain Academy
What’s the Story?
The premise behind BIG BRAIN ACADEMY, Nintendo's second title that promotes "exercising" your brain, is that you are competing for the "Biggest Brain," a designation determined by how well you perform on the provided tests. Tests are made up of five one-minute Mini games drawn from a pool of 15 games and divided into five categories: Memorize, Identify, Compute, Analyze, and Think. Your test score is given in terms of grams -- the more grams your brain weighs, the smarter you are.
In the Memorize category, one of the games flashes numbers on the screen and you punch those numbers into an on-screen calculator using the stylus. In one of the Identify games, you examine a grid of objects to find matching pairs. Under the Compute category, you will answer math problems that are written ("thirteen plus eight is"); and under the Analyze category you will have to determine the number of cubes in a picture. At the end of a one-minute game, you receive a score and if you missed any, you can review those questions and retry them.
Is It Any Good?
To compete against family members or friends, you only need one software cartridge, but as many Nintendo DS units as you have players. Parents and kids can go head-to-head answering the same questions to see whose brain is bigger. Since this game is easy to learn and tests skills adults are comfortable with, this is a good way for parents who have not played video games with their kids to jump in.
The brain scoring seems a little wacky but most of our testers were able to add weight to their brains the more they played. These games require players to know how to read, understand money, and do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; so this is not a good fit for those under 8 years of age. It is good for friends and family looking for a video game to play together.
Publisher’s Details
Developer: Nintendo
Released on: 06/15/2006, Price: $19.99, not online enabled
ESRB Rating: E
Released on: 06/15/2006, Price: $19.99, not online enabled
ESRB Rating: E
Our Members Say
See all 28 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
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I rate this title on for age 6 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Educational
A good game for kids, but can be evil at times
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I rate this title on for age 7 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Educational
It's not sequel or prequel to aything. The game instructions are not clear.
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I rate this title on for age 9 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Educational
Maybe it's not for the Average Brain
It's a good game to test your skill within certain game categories, but after a while you get bored because it seems repetitive and get discouraged when your Brain Age grade never gets higher than C+ (I don't want to know what that says about me). My nephew was discouraged after averaging a Brain Age grade of C and although he practiced games within the practice portion, he just couldn't get into it because, according to him, "the challenge is no longer there, especially when I keep getting a C." And so, we both gave the game a break and played Scrabble.
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I rate this title on for age 10 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Educational
- Safety isn't an issue
a classic
for both the wii and DS, this game rocks! very fun to play. i cant really say which ones better... it should definatly b in everyones home comment about review: come AWNN! its not the sequel to brain age...maybe you start playing these games more often...just saying! ;)
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I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
good games
good for your kids for a summer
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Ratings at a Glance
| 100% | of parents say it's educational |
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