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Note: Not to be confused with Basic Braining (Video Series)

Coach Oleander's Basic Braining

Son, do you realize that to take my course I will have to pull you into my mind... And you will have to relive every bullet-scarred memory of every battle I have ever faced? It won't be pretty.

–Coach Oleander to Razputin Aquato before the level

Note: Not to be confused with Basic Braining (Video Series)

Coach Oleander's Basic Braining is a level featured in Psychonauts that serves as the game's tutorial. It takes place within the mental world inside Coach Oleander's mind, and is a military-themed obstacle course through which Oleander shows PSI Cadets at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp the basics of maneuvering through mindscapes.

Description[]

Fall in soldier! After a quick propaganda film and a psi-punch to the wall, Raz is introduced to this World War themed psychic training ground. This is the first mental world Raz experiences at Whispering Rock, which exists in the psyche of Coach Oleander. Take the time to collect all the figments and memories to learn more about Coach Oleander and his primal memories.

Old Psychopedia description

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The Basic Braining badge.

Basic Braining was created by Coach Oleander as an obstacle course for campers, supposedly based on his memories of military service. It mostly teaches them about basic movement skills and typical features of mental worlds, but also includes some more advanced acrobatic skills such as jumping across trapezes, and features various settings themed around war and military operations, including those of the army, navy, and air force. In reality, the Coach was never affiliated with any branch of the military (save for the Psychonauts), and the entire course is more of a reflection of his obsession with all things military than of any actual experience he has been through.

At the end of the course is a podium where successful campers are congratulated and awarded their Basic Braining merit badge. Most campers seem to have some difficulty making it through the course's many traps and challenges, however, so much so that it's questionable whether any of them have ever fully completed it at all, save for Razputin—in fact, the coach himself admits that he was not expecting anyone to be able to pass its final challenge.

There is more to Oleander's mental world than Basic Braining alone. During the events of Psychonauts, the course appears to be highly curated so as not to reveal too much about Oleander himself, save for a few elements that hint at a trauma from his youth and some secret plans for the future, left behind either because he could not cover them up entirely or because he does not expect any of the campers to be observant, tenacious, or motivated enough to figure out their meaning. Oleander's personal issues are explored further in the Meat Circus, a mental world made up of his and Razputin's childhood memories.

In Psychonauts[]

Coach Oleander hosts his obstacle course in a treehouse classroom right next to the Kids' Cabins. It appears to be the first class most campers will participate in at Whispering Rock, and it is also the first mental world Razputin gets to experience. To access the course, campers' astral projections are pulled into the coach's mind through his Psycho-Portal.

The Recruiting Office[]

It's a recruiting office, kids, and I'm here to recruit you for the greatest job in the world. Being a Psychonaut.

–Coach Oleander

Raz And Elton Beginning Basic Braining

Raz and Elton inside of the recruiting office.

Raz finds himself next to Elton Fir in a small recruitment office, containing only a desk, projector, and some flags and recruitment posters. The two boys are greeted by a projection of Coach Oleander, who tells them to "sock [him] square in the jaw" in order to start the course. Raz must use his PSI-Punch melee attack to destroy the wall of the recruitment office, revealing the course. Elton charges onto the course, but he explodes almost instantly. When Raz protests that Elton just died, Oleander's voice responds that he simply had his astral projection ejected from the mindscape, and instructs Raz to get moving. After this point, the recruitment office disappears and is replaced by the exploded hull of a fighter jet.

The Trenches[]

The Trenches area begins with a simple platforming section wherein trenches are formed from overhead bomber jets, which Raz must then jump over. The area is littered with military symbols: giant bowie knives, barbed wire, "plants" modeled after ammunition clips, dog tags, and military badges, giant dog tags labeled "Oleander", skulls with military helmets, tires, burning oil drums, naval mines, and projected footage based on World Wars I and II. Even the sky is coloured like military-style camo. While traversing the area, intermittent explosions from overhead bomber jets occur on the field, and fires rage amidst crashed planes.

After jumping over the initial trenches, Raz encounters his first Figment and Emotional Baggage, and Oleander explains how to collect them. Raz then climbs a ladder leading up to a watchtower before climbing up a concrete tower via two pickelhaube-topped poles. He must then descend the other side of the tower, taking care to avoid the flamethrowers built into it.

The Rocket[]

Upon reaching the platform at the bottom of the tower, Raz encounters Bobby Zilch, who angrily complains about not being able to get past a large flaming rocket obstacle. Raz suggests there must be a "more advanced route", but Bobby mockingly kicks Raz off of the platform, offended by the implication that he'd be less advanced than Raz. Lili Zanotto saves Raz from hitting the ground by using Levitation, but says she was only doing it to protect a strange meat-plant growing out of the field, which she is attempting to communicate with using Herbaphony. She remarks that she's seen one just like it in a recurring nightmare she's been having before levitating Raz back up to the platform.

From here, Raz has two options to get past the rocket—there is indeed a more advanced route hidden in the bushes, which leads through an underground area reminiscent of a bunker containing a bunch of floating platforms to jump across, or he can simply climb up the ladder attached to the opposite side. Using the classified route allows him to skip the next obstacle, which consists of a bottomless pit that must be crossed by jumping across two flying blimps that circle around.

Climbing the Bunker Cannon[]

The next area involves climbing around a giant, Oleander-shaped bunker cannon. Raz shimmies across the ledge beneath the bunker's cannons, which Vernon Tripe is also shown doing before being blown up. At the top of the bunker cannon is a large tower with a net hung over the side which Raz must then climb. Benny Fideleo is seen climbing it, and as Raz passes him Benny warns Raz not to make him look bad before crying out in fear for Bobby and then exploding.

Minefield and Plane Crash[]

At the top of the wall is a minefield, which Dogen Boole is standing in front of, cowering in fear. Raz has the option of guiding Dogen across the minefield in exchange for arrowheads, or he may simply traverse the minefield alone. Triggering a mine results in Raz being teleported back to the beginning of the minefield.

Raz must then climb another flagpole to raise a flag with Oleander's face on it. This opens the "mouth" of a large gate shaped like Oleander's face.

Past the entrance is the interior of a flaming plane about to crash, where Raz encounters Vernon again. The boy begins telling an endless story about a time he took his dog Lady for a very long walk. Raz must melee the door of the plane and jump out of it, which results in Vernon being sucked out of the plane as well.

Whac-a-Soldier[]

Raz falls out of the plane into the middle of a whac-a-mole minigame inside a prison camp-styled enclosure, where Crystal Snagrash and Clem Foote are located. Unlike the trenches, the ground in this area is covered in snow while snowflakes fall from a blue-colored sky. They say they're unable to complete the game and ask Raz to try it, cheering him on as he does. After completing the minigame, Oleander ejects Crystal and Clem for their obnoxious cheering and opens the gate to the next area. Past the gate Raz encounters his first Memory Vault- Oleander's Pride, and a PSI-Popper Generator. Oleander explains what memory vaults are, saying he has "nothing to hide", then Raz punches a giant soldier cutout to reach the next area.

Minigun Cannon and Bunnies[]

This area features a large bunker cannon with a minigun amidst a snow-covered forest, and a large swath of land which Raz must cover while the minigun fires at him. To do this he must punch and run between areas of cover. Once Raz reaches the cannon and climbs atop it, Bobby Zilch climbs out of it, revealing that he was the one shooting at Raz. Raz jumps into the cannon and enters another area with a flagpole, which he climbs to open another Oleander-shaped entrance. He rides a red-colored tunnel and exits at the next area.

The Shipyard's Walls[]

This area features a red and orange sky, a large battleship and tall walls made out of ship hulls which Raz must scale by various means. After reaching the top of the first wall, he encounters a Mental Cobweb, which Oleander explains he will need to come back with the Cobweb Duster to get rid of. After scaling the second hull via tightropes, he reaches the trapeze area.

The Trapezes and The Rail[]

This area begins with a series of trapezes attached to stationary fighter planes. Chops, Elka Doom, and J. T. Hoofburger are shown attempting to stretch across the trapezes together, but all three campers fall off while Oleander remarks how difficult these obstacles are. As Raz is an acrobat, he is already quite capable of jumping across the trapezes by himself. After clearing them, he glides down a set of rails, at the end of which Bobby Zilch is waiting to block his path. Raz can either simply jump over him, or punch Bobby, knocking him into the water below, after which he'll copy Bobby's mocking victory dance. Either way, he slides onward into another Oleander-shaped entrance with jagged teeth.

The Rolling Tunnel of Logs[]

Down another tunnel, the rolling tunnel of logs is the final obstacle of the course. It is a series of half-logs embedded with nails which rotate around a cylindrical chamber of jagged points, like a meat grinder. Oleander taunts Raz, saying there's no way he'll be able to complete the obstacle. Raz must tread carefully across the logs before sliding down a rail to the course's finale.

Finale and the White Room[]

The final room features a large stage, surrounded by giant weaponry shown in other stages of the level and illuminated by a single spotlight. Raz approaches the stage, but Oleander is not there to greet him, believing no one would complete the course. Wandering off, Raz finds an eye-catching door in the wall of the room that's left open, leading into a white, hallway-shaped room. The room's walls have a trim with a pattern showing bunnies and carrots, and at the end of the hallway what appears to be a blueprint is concealed behind a small red curtain. Raz reaches for the curtain, but Oleander stops him and levitates him back to the stage. He then presents Raz with his first Merit Badge and ejects him from his mind.

Afterwards[]

If Razputin chooses to revisit Basic Braining, which he is only able to do after night falls and through the Brain Tumbler, the course will be exactly as it was before, save for the door to the white hallway, which is now chained shut. Upon re-entering, a prerecorded message from Coach Oleander is heard to explain that the coach is currently occupied elsewhere, but campers are allowed to re-take the course at their leisure for extra credit.

Collectibles[]

Figments[]

Basic Braining contains 163 figments, most of which are themed around warfare. For a list of figments and their locations, see the unofficial Psychonauts figment guide.

Figments of Interest[]

Among Coach Oleander's figments, some that stand out include:

  • Several types of medals.
  • Ducks wearing military helmets.
  • Pigs wearing military helmets.
  • A man with a curly mustache in an elaborate biplane somewhat reminiscent of Dick Dastardly's flying machine.
  • A soldier decorating a tiny Christmas tree in the snow, perhaps in reference to the Christmas truce of 1914.
  • A meat cleaver, in reference to Oleander's father.

Emotional Baggage[]

  • Steamer trunk 
    • Bag: Located near the start of the course by the trenches.
    • Tag: ​​Located over a gap, opposite the direction of the trunk.
  • Pink suitcase
    • Bag: Located immediately after shimmying across the ledge of the giant bunker cannon in an area to the left, hidden behind a group of tires which Raz must melee.
    • Tag: Found in the area below the watchtower, and before the spot where Bobby Zilch is first encountered.
  • Hatbox
    • Bag: Located in front of the minigun cannon where the bunnies are.
    • Tag: Behind the second pop-up wall in the same area.
  • Dufflebag
    • Bag: Located in the shipyard area, on the middle platform of the first wall.
    • Tag: Found atop the minigun cannon from which Bobby shoots at Raz.
  • Purse
    • Bag: Located in the trapeze area; after the first two trapezes there is a ladder leading up to an area with parts of planes which Raz can jump on to reach a hollowed-out plane hull where the purse is.
    • Tag: Found immediately after the first two trapezes before climbing the ladder.

Mental Cobwebs[]

  • In the Shipyard after scaling the pole wall.
  • Before the first trapeze, to the left.
  • Before the rail, embedded in the derelict wall to the left.
  • After the spinning log tunnel, to the right.
  • Near the white room in a recess in the floor.

Memory Vaults[]

  • Oleander's Pride - After completing the "whac-a-soldier" mini-game. Oleander tells Razputin to open this vault himself. The memories inside are false.
  • Oleander's Shame - Before the trapezes, behind a mental cobweb (on revisit, requires the Cobweb Duster).

Trivia[]

  • "Basic Braining" is a play on the phrase "Basic Training", which refers to the U.S. army's basic training course.
  • If Clairvoyance is used on the bunnies, it will show Raz as a big, scary butcher, which foreshadows the root of Oleander's negative memories and one of the two final antagonists of the game: The Butcher.
  • No Censors appear in Basic Braining. As Sasha explains later on, Censors are present in any sane person's mind. While it could be argued the coach was keeping them out of his course for the campers' safety, Milla is apparently unable to do the same, as Censors do appear in her training course, even though they could only get in the way of teaching the kids Levitation.
  • Raz will yell "SHUT UP! SHUP UP! SHUT UP!" to Clem and Crystal if he talks to them during the whac-a-soldier minigame.
  • Basic Braining went through five different iterations during the development of Psychonauts[1].
  • Trying to levitate (accessed using cheats) past the punching mini-game will automatically cause Raz to fail it.

References/Notes[]

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