Gone are the days when games were played to entertain us. With the advent of Brain Age, there came a slew of Nintendo memory games in the market. “Edutainment” is what this genre is called. One thing that’s bothering me is, are these games effective? Do they really exercise our brains or is this just another marketing strategy so that parents will not be guilty with letting their kids spend their time playing games?

Let’s look at the undisputed champ of all Nintendo memory games, Brain Age. This game promises that by playing it for minutes per day, it will improve your brain. I have a confession to make. I enjoyed playing Brain Age, well solving Sudoku mostly. What makes it stand out from the competition is that it offers plenty of puzzles to solve everyday without being monotonous. Even though the game’s almost 2 years old, it is still the game to beat in this genre.

There were other Nintendo memory games that came after Brain Age but nothing can’t compare to its superiority. Even the repackaged Mega Brain Boost (Brain Boost Beta and Gamma in one game) can’t capture the simple yet engaging game play of Brain Age.

Then there are games like Left Brain, Right Brain and the more recently released Brain Assist. These are examples of games that hopped on the brain game bandwagon but failed miserably. The developers should have first played some Nintendo memory games to sharpen their brains. These games are too easy that your brain wouldn’t even use a single brain cell.

Like what I said before, games are supposed to be entertaining. Brain Age did the right thing. It made training your brain fun. Do you know of a Nintendo memory game better than Brain Age? Let us know about it.