Submission Text Full Submission Page
Brain Age 2, also known as "More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima" in PAL regions, is a sequel to Brain Age. It is a puzzle game to exercise your brain a little each day. You will play a variety of puzzles to train your brain. Although there has been controversy over the scientific effectiveness of the game in keeping your brain active, the game got very popular.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: desmume-0.9.6
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Is a demonstration
  • Manipulates luck
  • Uses game restart sequence
  • Launches a rocket in every minigame

About the run

I was going to draw a detailed picture in every math problem. However, my previous Brain Age TAS got a lot of criticisms that it is slow-paced. After all, I gave up the idea of drawing a lot of detailed pictures and decided to make a quick-paced run that aims to launch a rocket in every game.
The main feature of the run is Piano Player.

Brain Age Check

It aims to be the youngest brain age. To achieve the objective, the run must be complete within 1050 frames. There are only 11 math problems and the average time for answering is about 95 frames. This is enough to draw some pictures without failing to achieve the objective.

Sign Finder

I draw no detailed picture here. Since the run aims to launch a rocket, it must be complete within 815 frames here. However, there are no less than 20 math problems. In other words, I must answer in 40 frames, in each problem, on the average. This is too tough to draw pictures.

Piano Player

This is the climax of the movie.

Word Scramble

This is the hardest minigame to abuse the word recognition program. So I wrote strange signs instead of video game stuff.

Memory Sprint

A rocket can be launched by solving all problems, no matter how long I spend. In other word, I can draw detailed pictures. The movie ends here because other minigames can’t be unlocked in the same day.

Special thanks

  • ISM and 890, for their Piano Player run.

Suggested Screenshots

2829, 2928, 3059, 3194, 3367, 20504, 22670, 26562, and Piano Player

DarkKobold: Claimed.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3123: Ryuto's DS Brain Age 2 in 08:00.61
Noxxa
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Very nice TAS, and very creative as always. Yes.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
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Sir_VG
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I was one of the ones who loved the concept on the original. I also like this, because it keeps he same stupid fun of the original, while still being different from it. Voting YES.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
Banned User
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
At first it looked like this would be just the same as the first one, but then it became quite different, which is good. However, many of the pictures were quite simple and abstract. Are they so simple because it was not possible to make more elaborate pictures and still have the pattern recognition confused, or were you simply making them simpler to make the run faster? Anyways, that didn't detract from the movie as much as to not to warrant a yes vote.
Editor, Skilled player (1439)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2108
While I liked that you had different games to work with now, ultimately, most of them boil down to the same idea: Abusing the game's number recognition to feed it various pictures. Still, it was very enjoyable, and the absolute best point of the entire movie was the very last picture. Damn hilarious, and thus a yes vote.
Lex
Joined: 6/25/2007
Posts: 732
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Soooo great! Obvious "yes" vote!
Joined: 12/31/2009
Posts: 174
I loved it (you had my complete attention at Piano Player). Yes vote! I have a suggestion for the next run. Use the SRAM from this to access sudoku. I haven't played in forever but I know there is enough space to draw thousands of drawings while completing all the sudoku puzzles. If you could think of that many unique drawings to complete all the sudoku puzzles, I would most certainly watch it all (even if it spans over several hours). Other than that, wonderful job.
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Posts: 4588
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Unlike the first game, I didn't like this one so much. Aside from a few pictures, most were rather boring. Much of the run was also filled with boring segments, such as playing the piano or watching figures running. I don't find entertainment in this run, I'm strongly voting no.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Active player (279)
Joined: 4/30/2009
Posts: 791
No voting. There's barely any Nintendo inspired drawings in this, the random squiggles in the sign finder are easily forgotten, and a good third of the video is taken up by some random dude losing a race 5 times. I enjoyed the first one, but this does not add anything significant. Oh and the Piano section sounded godsawful, highlight it is not.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
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I have a suggestion for future Brain Age runs, don't just randomly choose pictures to draw, but tell a story. Perhaps recreate the intro to Zero Wing or something else famous.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Lex
Joined: 6/25/2007
Posts: 732
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
I'm assuming Nach didn't read the submission text at all.
Joined: 11/16/2009
Posts: 68
Voted no. There were some good parts, but they were, for the most part, far too scarce to hold my attention. I assume when you said that the "Piano Player" part was the "climax" of the movie, you were trying to make it sound as though you had just orgasmed onto the touch screen after playing that SSBB song, then spent the rest of it vigorously trying to clean it off? I actually spent more time solving the puzzles on my own than watching your input on this one, especially during "Word Scramble." Clearly my attention was not where you wanted it to be, but it has a mind of its own, so if you can't capture it, I'm not going to force to go where you want it.
ALAKTORN
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Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 2527
Location: Italy
Dessyreqt wrote:
I assume when you said that the "Piano Player" part was the "climax" of the movie, you were trying to make it sound as though you had just orgasmed onto the touch screen after playing that SSBB song, then spent the rest of it vigorously trying to clean it off?
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I voted yes, more of the same nice stuff
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
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Lex wrote:
I'm assuming Nach didn't read the submission text at all.
You assume wrong. I don't know what you think is in the submission text that redeems it, this run is not entertaining. If the game is too constraining, then the game is not TAS worthy.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Lex
Joined: 6/25/2007
Posts: 732
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Someone asked me "What entertainment?" The main source of entertainment was in the hilarity of the game not noticing the nonsense that was going on and considering him 100 correct. How did you not get that? I don't understand. I have a feeling some people have seen too many TASes by now and are no longer entertained by them in general.
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Lex wrote:
Someone asked me "What entertainment?" The main source of entertainment was in the hilarity of the game not noticing the nonsense that was going on and considering him 100% correct. How did you not get that? I don't understand.
What does that have to do with the submission text? We've already seen this hilarity, we get it, the game is confused, great. Would you now like to watch a 6 hour run of me putting a smiley face on the screen and getting it confused? Surely you will get bored after a while. The beauty of the previous runs weren't just that the game was confused, but that the player could put something creative into his breaking of the game. Something that we could recognize and appreciate. He also managed to pack it full of references to Super Smash Bros which is a popular franchise. Hey, I get what's going on in this run, but how does it entertain? The game is broken, great, I knew that before watching it, I know that 10 second into watching. How do you justify 8 minutes of this? If you're going to play a game like this, then do something with the 8 minutes. This is akin to classic platforming games with an auto-scrolling level where the author doesn't do anything. Super Mario Bros 3 wouldn't be the classic it is if not for the 99 lives collected. Hence I suggest trying to draw a story or something we can follow and be entertained by, instead of just wavy lines or whatever that went on here. If this game is too restricting to draw something entertaining, then it's not TAS worthy.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
ALAKTORN
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Nach wrote:
Hence I suggest trying to draw a story or something we can follow and be entertained by, instead of just wavy lines or whatever that went on here. If this game is too restricting to draw something entertaining, then it's not TAS worthy.
that's where it seems you haven't read the submission text, he purposefully made 'wavy lines' to speed up the TAS because people complained about the previous run being slow
Lex
Joined: 6/25/2007
Posts: 732
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Nach wrote:
Lex wrote:
Someone asked me "What entertainment?" The main source of entertainment was in the hilarity of the game not noticing the nonsense that was going on and considering him 100% correct. How did you not get that? I don't understand.
We've already seen this hilarity, we get it, the game is confused, great.
So, yes, you've seen too many TASes by now and are no longer entertained by what makes them entertaining to people who haven't seen TASes. Notice the 56 likes and 0 dislikes on YouTube? Maybe you should consider what other people not TAS-overloaded would think after seeing this movie.
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Posts: 4588
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ALAKTORN wrote:
Nach wrote:
Hence I suggest trying to draw a story or something we can follow and be entertained by, instead of just wavy lines or whatever that went on here. If this game is too restricting to draw something entertaining, then it's not TAS worthy.
that's where it seems you haven't read the submission text, he purposefully made 'wavy lines' to speed up the TAS because people complained about the previous run being slow
That still doesn't justify this being 8 minutes of boredom.
Lex wrote:
Nach wrote:
Lex wrote:
Someone asked me "What entertainment?" The main source of entertainment was in the hilarity of the game not noticing the nonsense that was going on and considering him 100% correct. How did you not get that? I don't understand.
We've already seen this hilarity, we get it, the game is confused, great.
So, yes, you've seen too many TASes by now and are no longer entertained by what makes them entertaining to people who haven't seen TASes. Notice the 56 likes and 0 dislikes on YouTube? Maybe you should consider what other people not TAS-overloaded would think after seeing this movie.
In terms of judging, you're right, that has to be weighed. But I'm saying this as my own personal opinion, not as a judge. I'll let someone else decide the fate of this run. My opinion is that this run was not entertaining. It was the same thing over and over and over again, and nothing redeemed it. The only picture I was entertained by was the last one, and that entertainment lasted less than 3 seconds. If you enjoy seeing the same thing over and over for 8 minutes and it entertains you great. I don't think this would've entertained me a decade ago either before I've seen hundreds of TASs. In any event, it surely doesn't entertain me now.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Experienced player (764)
Joined: 6/17/2008
Posts: 146
I find no merit in this entertainment/speed tradeoff. Launching five rockets while wasting as much time as possible within that constraint seems like a very bizarre goal; there is little to no merit to be had from speedrunning this game, so an unrestricted playaround would seem to produce the most entertainment. The published run did not employ time constraints and the resulting masterpieces were much more interesting than this run's time-constrained repetitive math class doodles. This run also suffers from massive downtime compared to the published run. There can be only one. Unless an ally of the Seventh Reich conquers tasbrainagevideos.org
Patryk1023
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Wow. Nice playaround run Ryuto. YES!
<Nach> scrimpy is fretty with her sunglasses on I'm here. never visible.
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I'm wondering if some people are voting no because they are comparing it to the TAS of the first brain age game, rather than judging this on its own right. After all, this is not competing with, nor trying to obsolete the first one. I'd say the relevant question is: Assume the TAS of the first brain age did not exist at all. Would you still vote no on this one?
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Warp wrote:
I'm wondering if some people are voting no because they are comparing it to the TAS of the first brain age game, rather than judging this on its own right. After all, this is not competing with, nor trying to obsolete the first one. I'd say the relevant question is: Assume the TAS of the first brain age did not exist at all. Would you still vote no on this one?
I would.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 141
I LOVED this. The perfect balance of artwork and quick sketches. Everything was played at superhuman speed while still having time for novelties. The final picture was awesome as well. YES!