What a series to delve into. The original motivation for looking into this series was part of a thought exercise to figure out how many "real" games Nintendo published for the DSi Shop, as they frequently tended to release multiple versions or volumes of a particular game series. Some of these split versions/volumes actually feature unique, brand new content separate from the game they originated from, such as the three variants of A Little Bit of... Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training, which feature exercises that don't appear in either of the Nintendo DS games that predate them.  On the other hand, many other DSiWare games were simply an original game split into multiple pieces, such as the various DSiWare versions of Electroplankton. I'll write more about this all in a future article. However, there were five DSiWare games that I couldn't figure out: the five volumes of Kyou Kara Hajimeru Facening: Gao Tore Mini, or "Facening Training Mini" as I refer to them for simplicity's sake. Did these games have original content? No one had written about them online, so I decided to play them thoroughly to see for myself.

A Summary of the Series

The series was directed and produced by Fumiko Inudo, a Japanese beauty expert who believes in the practice of strengthening muscles in the face in order to maintain a youthful, approachable look. The series was entirely developed by Intelligent Systems. with a rather strange order to its releases: first, a Nintendo DS game sold with a camera cartridge called Facening de Hyoujou Yutaka ni Inshou App - Otona no DS Gao Training (shortened to Facening Training for the rest of the article), followed by a DSiWare spin-off called Atsumeru Egaochou and five smaller DSiWare titles collectively named Kyou Kara Hajimeru Facening: Gao Tore Mini  (shortened to Facening Training Mini for the rest of the article). The series would end with its only Western release, the European-exclusive Face Training, one of the only physical games released exclusively for the Nintendo DSi. All of these games use a camera to guide you in stretching the various muscles in your face and to help you improve your ability to express emotion. It can also help you look younger by reducing wrinkles and signs of aging, or you can use it for relaxation and to remove tension from your face.

Facening Training

Interestingly, the most visually distinct game of the series. This game takes some clear inspiration from the Brain Training series in terms of menu layouts and how you interact with the disembodied head of a professional, in this case being Fumiko Inudo. But it has a bit more of a comforting vibe, the menus are colourful but the colours are muted to not overstimulate, very different from the sterile presentation of the Brain Training series and later games in this series.

The game has Inudo ask for your name, what hand you use to hold the stylus and will snap a quick photo of you. She then provides you with a daily Q&A session where you ask her a question related to facial exercise, such as "do I need to exercise my face every day?" or "is this exercise useful for men?". After that, you're free to check out the various menu options.

None of these exercises are particularly difficult, at most, they might be awkward to perform. For me, I found the nasalis muscle exercise to be quite awkward as you need to narrow your nostrils without moving your mouth, which isn't something you're likely to do unless you visibly cringe at things frequently. I say "need to", but this game doesn't rate your performance or chew you out for blatantly not trying. Inudo just wants you to try your best! But really all the game expects you to do is face the camera to start the exercise, and that's it. The camera will overlay arrows or markers over parts of your face to guide you, and it works well enough if you're in decent lighting conditions. Aside from the daily recommended training, you can choose to go extra-curricular and perform individual exercises or other premade routines that focus on specific parts of your face or focus on specific goals (tightening skin, shaping the neck, etc), but these exercises and routines must first be unlocked by playing the game daily.

Photos

As previously mentioned, the game takes a photo of you on the first day you play the game. After that point, maybe every week or so, it'll prompt you to take further photos and you can review those photos here! It's a neat idea, especially since I played Face Training seriously for 50 days. Spoiler alert - I didn't particularly notice any changes to my face after all that training, since I'm in my late 20s and my skin is still pretty youthful, but it was cool to see my hair change from day to day!

Settings

Weirdly the most engaging part of the game for me since this is where most of the unlockables are found! There are a selection of animated wallpapers and colours for the various menus and different stamp designs for after you finish your daily training and stamp the calendar. There's also a cool feature exclusive to this game where you can wink at the camera to progress through game text! Not sure why this got removed in later games, certainly would have been nice for lazy ol' me. All of the daily Q&As and the Credits can be found here as well. Information about the unlockables can be found below.

Facial Recognition Test

My personal least favourite part of the game and the only part of the game that actually ranks and judges your performance. The game gives you four facial expressions to imitate and hold for a short while, and the game judges how well you imitated each expression with 0 to 3 stars each. You're then given a total score from 0% to 200% and an accompanying letter grade for each 10% you achieved. Admittedly, this test isn't so bad in this game for a couple reasons. Firstly, the DS camera cartridge actually seems to be a better quality than the DSi and DSi XL camera, though I couldn't find any concrete information on the specs of the camera cartridge. Secondly, this game has much lower standards in terms of what you need to achieve for the two unlockables gated behind it, only requiring 100% at most, and I could achieve that probably 1 in 3 or 4 attempts, so not too bad at all.

Facening Training Mini series

The next main entry in this series came in the form of five DSiWare titles, released exclusively in Japan. Each of these titles only has 3 or 4 of the original game's 16 facial exercises, but you basically get the full game by owning all five titles. In fact, aside from the ability to connect Atsumeru Egaochou with the Japanese version of WarioWare: Snapped!, I believe these five games are the only other DSiWare titles that share save data with each other. In this case, all of your progress, such as exercises done, photos taken and features unlocked, is tracked between all five games. You can even directly switch between the five games within the games themselves, without needing to exit to the Nintendo DSi menu!

Conclusion -Do the DSiWare games have original content and did Face Training actually help?
Quite clearly, the DSiWare games altogether count as a separate entry in the series. They overhauled the aesthetics of the series and put Miles as the central character, which would then carry over to the one Face Training game to be released in the West. So when I finally write an article on "how many games did Nintendo really release on the DSi Shop", this information will be put to great use.

Now, did Face Training actually help me to train my face? Uhh... no, not really, haha. Well, it kinda did. Some parts of my face definitely feel much more flexible, which I think has made me a more facially expressive person. I'm not totally sure that's something I really needed, but at least it was fun to explore. Maybe when I get older and I actually start forming wrinkles, I can dive back into this series and test out its anti-aging effects. I will give a special shout-out to the Trapezius Muscle exercise for being a miracle remedy for neck pain whenever I fall asleep in my office chair. I guess the game is doing more favours for my neck than my face.

Written by Scott of Luckless Heaven.

Proofread by someone who is delighted that they finally didn't have to throw their "don't use quotes on game titles" pillows at anyone this time.