2023-11-07 11:16:12
Game News A non-game and a psychologist… The strange story behind the creation of Professor Layton
Published on 07/11/2023 at 12:16
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If we are still waiting for news from Professor Layton and the New World on Steam, the time has come to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the first opus of the puzzle game license that so many players love. For this occasion, we invite you to return to the genesis of Professor Layton and the Strange Village. And the game probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day without this other flagship Nintendo DS title.
How old is your brain?
Our story begins in 2005. That year, the world of video games will welcome a real UFO: Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training Program: How Old is Your Brain?. The principle is simple: answer a series of questions that put your brain to the test. Memory, mental arithmetic, reflexes, observation… Everything goes into ultimately calculating the age of your brain. There is no story, no gameplay to speak of. This is an astonishing non-game. And if Nintendo embarked on the development of this title, in collaboration with a neuroscientist, it is precisely to offer something new capable of speaking to both players and newbies (Touch! Generations range). The goal is of course easy to guess: sell consoles to a new audience. This is how the idea of adapting a very popular book in Japan into a game was born: Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain. According to its author, Doctor Ryuta Kawashima, simple calculations and other daily mental exercises would be enough to delay the effects of old age on the brain. Neither one nor two, the neuroscientist is contacted by Nintendo and the development of Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training Program: How old is your brain? is launched.
On paper, the idea may seem doomed to failure. But as is often the case with Nintendo, this counter-current concept will experience astonishing success. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training Program has sold more than 3 million copies and took pride of place at the top of the best-seller rankings in 2006 (the year the game was released in the West). In Japan, the title even appeared in the top 10 best-selling games of the week for almost 34 weeks. It’s quite simply a hit, so much so that the game was in nineteenth place in the top 50 best-selling games of all time in Japan (according to GoNintendo’s 2010 list). Its sequel was even placed in the top 10 with a remarkable eighth place, between Animal Crossing: Wild World and Pokémon Black and White Version. But if this first opus will give birth to an entire successful license, it will above all send a message to the entire video game industry: there is an audience (and quite a large one) for this type of game.
And this message is not going to fall on deaf ears, especially not on the Level-5 side. Recently, they were notably chosen by Square Enix to develop an opus of one of their flagship licenses, namely Dragon Quest. If on the one hand the studio has the wind in its sails, it is also facing some failures. The highly anticipated True Fantasy Live Online was, for example, canceled in 2004 because the teams faced too many technical problems. When Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training Program: How Old Is Your Brain? comes out, the teams are therefore looking for a new license to develop to transform their trial and become an essential studio. Neither one nor two, they therefore decide to look into the adaptation of another brain gymnastics book: Gymnastics for the mind .
Gymnastics for the mind in Professor Layton and the Strange Village
This time, not a neuroscientist but a psychologist by the sweet name of Akira Tago. Psychologist who was directly contacted by Akihiro Hino, president of Level-5. The guy even went to his office in the Tokyo district of Akasaka. It must be said that working with the psychologist was particularly close to his heart. He actually told Akira Tago that he was a big fan of his books since his early childhood. Is there a better way to start a partnership? In any case, this is how the project of adapting the books began Gymnastics for the mind in-game for the Nintendo DS. But what does this have to do with Professor Layton? Well, you may have understood, this is the genesis of the adventures of our favorite detective.
How did we go from an adaptation of Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training Program to a game combining adventure and reflection? Well quite simply because some puzzles from Akira Tago’s books didn’t work very well in game. Transposing them as is to the Nintendo DS no longer really made sense and Akira Tago therefore began working on new puzzles. First step aside from “the original work”. And then another question began to arise in the face of the influx of brain games of the genre (Brain Trainer Portable, Brain Assist, Brain Boost, etc.). At Level-5, we are indeed starting to worry about releasing yet another brain gymnastics game that is struggling to stand out. You have to find something that will allow the title to stand out from the crowd. And there comes the idea of making this non-game a real game, quite simply, with point’n’click mechanics and, above all, a story to tie everything together.
We thought about how we could make this game a little different from all the others. That’s when we decided not to just make a video game adaptation of a book but to give it a real story. By presenting puzzles throughout the story, you can not only feel the exhilaration each time you solve one but also the exhilaration of moving forward through the story. This makes the game doubly interesting!
Akihiro Hino chez Nintendo Magazine
To do this, the creators at Level-5 turned to Europe and more precisely to England. In addition to the place where the action takes place, it is also the main character who draws his origins from an English reference which is not very difficult to detect: Sherlock Holmes. As Akihiro Hino explained to Nintendo Magazine, the idea was to offer “the combination of an English gentleman as master detective, and a young boy as assistant.” And on the gameplay side, Akira Tago skillfully used the eureka effect to satisfy players and push them to continue again and again. Like Archimedes, millions of players raved about the title’s puzzles which naturally contributed to its success.
Thus were born Professor Layton and his young assistant Luke. Thus was born the Strange Village and its very special atmosphere. Thus was born a puzzle game as addictive as possible. Thus was born a license which sold 18,000,000 and from which we impatiently await the next opus. So sometimes all it takes is a trend and a childhood reading for a great adventure to begin. Perhaps without Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training Program: How Old is Your Brain?, Professor Layton would never have seen the light of day. Maybe without Brain Trainer Portable and the others, Layton and Luke would never have come to life. Perhaps without this zealous psychologist, the puzzles would never have enchanted players as much. All these coincidences gave life to this now beloved license which is celebrating its fifteenth European anniversary. See you in 5 years, for the 20 years. At least we hope so!
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