Entitled to over $10 million in royalties from the Brain training game alone, the self confessed work-a-holic Ryuta Kawashima prefers spending time on his research and development than earning mega bucks.

Royalties from the brain training software for the Nintendo DS alone have reached 2.4 billion yen ($US22 million), with 17 million titles sold worldwide since its debut in Japan in May 2005.

Not a single yen has gone in my pocket,

said Ryuta Kawashima, the scientist behind the smash-hit “brain training” games on Nintendo DS portable consoles

Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it.

Under the rules of his employer, state-funded Tohoku University, Kawashima could take up to half the proceeds with the rest going to the school.

But Kawashima, married to a high-school classmate with four sons, is happy to live on his annual salary of around 11 million yen ($US100,000).

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