There’s a considerable glut of brain-bending logic-based games on the DS. From straight up quiz games like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy, to more story-driven fare like Professor Layton, the genre is exceptionally well-represented on Nintendo’s handheld.

The market may be clearing out just a bit though, as Nintendo Europe has announced that they will no longer be creating any new Brain Training games. Instead, the company is content to let the franchise stop at two installments, and simply to milk those games for every penny possible. Considering that between the two games the series has moved almost 24 million units, it seems like a fair strategy.

It’s somewhat odd and counterintuitive to gamers to see a company stop making games for a successful franchise, but I guess one has to wonder how successful subsequent sequels would be. Could Brain Training have been the DS version of Madden, selling millions of copies every year in spite of only minor gameplay additions? Now we’ll never know. Goodbye, Dr. Kawashima, I’ll miss your smiling polygonal face.

- Via Kotaku