Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain

Genre: Party Game / Minigame Collection

Players: 1-4 Competitive Split-Screen (Local), Online Leaderboards

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

The Big Brain Academy series started out on the Nintendo DS in 2006, following on the heels of the success of the Brain Age franchise, with a similar focus on using a variety of simple math and pattern recognition puzzles to “train” your brain. The actual science behind this claim is somewhat dubious, fans were both enticed by the prospect of playing a game for self-improvement, as well as enjoying some of the simple puzzles in these games. However, Brain Age’s inclusion of sudoku puzzles arguably brought it more attention than Brain Age, which also suffered somewhat for being seen as something of a copycat. Nevertheless, the series continued, with Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree in 2007, and now with Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain in 2021.

Big Brain Academy has a few advantages this time around that it didn’t have in prior installments. Firstly, while Nintendo has released a Nintendo Switch entry in the Brain Age franchise, this game was inexplicably not released in the United States, meaning Big Brain Academy doesn’t have to compete here with its better-known big brother this time around. And in addition, while the Wii entry in the series did include competitive multiplayer, this feature is being pushed as a major element of the game this time around, challenging players to not only “grow their brain”, but to pit their skills against others as well.

Much as with prior entries in this series, Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain does virtually nothing that’s going to impress anyone with its presentation. Its visuals are simple, even a bit plain and boring, with plain text on backgrounds with occasional still photographs, extremely simple cartoony characters to represent players, and crudely-drawn character art for the game’s guide, Dr. Lobe. Some of the minigames feature extremely simple 3D visuals, but mostly that’s it. These visuals are backed by a juvenile soundtrack with pitch-altered nonsensical voice samples. It’s only slightly annoying, I suppose.

As for the games themselves, these are extraordinarily simple minigames where you’re doing something basic multiple times in a row – counting objects on-screen, moving hands on a clock to a designated time, deciding which sample is cut out of an image. If these minigames were done in a rapid-fire fashion like WarioWare, it might inject that simplicity with enough variety to make it fun, but having the same exercise repeated over and over again (just with an increasing skill level) makes them feel like just that – exercises.

And yes, there is some fun in competing with others to prove who has the “bigger brain”, and the game wisely offers players of different skill levels to compete using a handicap, but this handicap doesn’t have any different settings to choose from to adjust over time. And because this is a Nintendo game, these competitions feature some pretty absurd rubber-banding.

There is one other thing I should note here, which is that a few of the minigames feature somewhat awkward controls, with players’ ability to make selections feeling imprecise. The touchscreen controls generally improve on this, and even in two-player competitive mode the touchscreen controls offer an excellent way to compete, but even here a few of the minigames have issues with tiny buttons that are difficult to push quickly as the game calls for.

In the end, Brain Age: Brain Vs. Brain’s value is largely in its facade of being some sort of intelligence training and competition game, a facade that seems unconvincing. As a real education software, it feels lacking, and as an enjoyable game it feels lacking as well. That’s not to say you won’t find any merit here – you’ll likely enjoy this game for a short while, but before long boredom will set in and you’ll opt to play something more engaging.

tl;dr – Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain is a Minigame Collection and Party game with numerous extremely simple games with a vaguely educational theme. However, the educational value of this game is dubious, and its enjoyment as a game is extremely limited by its simplicity. You may have some fun with this one for a short while, but you’ll get bored with it quickly.

Grade: C

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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain

Genre: Party Game / Minigame Collection

Players: 1-4 Competitive Split-Screen (Local / Online), Online Leaderboards, GameShare (Local Wireless / Online)

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Review:

One of the initial batch of games to receive free updates on Nintendo Switch 2 when it launched in 2025, Big Brain Academy is one of those games that Nintendo makes to appeal to “casual” audiences, but I feel that as a game, it’s sorely lacking. And as for a Nintendo Switch 2 update… what even is there to update? It’s not like this is a graphically-intensive or impressive game in any way.

Well, as it happens, this update isn’t concerned with graphics, but with expanding the multiplayer through GameShare, allowing up to four players to play locally or online. And, you know, that’s great for players who want to play “mental exercises”, but I personally don’t think this makes Big Brain Academy any more enjoyable.

As a free update, it’s not bad, but the game that’s being updates is still nothing special.

tl;dr – Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain is a Minigame Collection and Party game with numerous extremely simple games with a vaguely educational theme. However, the educational value of this game is dubious, and its enjoyment as a game is extremely limited by its simplicity. You may have some fun with this one for a short while, but you’ll get bored with it quickly.

Grade: C

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