Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

About Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (1993) is Compile's Puyo Puyo reworked for the West with Sonic the Hedgehog villains, a competitive falling-bean puzzler against Robotnik's henchbots.

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine in Depth

On the planet Mobius, home to bean-like creatures, Doctor Robotnik plans to rid the world of fun by kidnapping the citizens of Beanville and turning them into robot slaves with his Mean Bean-Steaming Machine. His Henchbots round them up in dark dungeons, and the player, as Has Bean, breaks in to free them. Has Bean is Puyo Puyo's Carbuncle under a new name and reacts with different animations depending on how the player plays. Almost all of the other characters are replaced with ones from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon.

Pairs of beans fall onto each player's grid and can be moved and rotated until they land. Four beans of the same colour vanish, dropping any beans above them, which can set off further matches as chain combos. Chains send grey refugee beans to the opponent, which cannot be matched directly and only clear when a match is made next to them, and a player loses when beans spill over the top. Scenario Mode pits the player against 13 increasingly tough computer opponents, 1P vs 2P Mode lets two people battle, and Exercise Mode is for practice; the Game Gear and Master System versions add a Puzzle Mode of set bean layouts to clear. Critics praised the play, particularly in two-player competition, but criticised the difficulty and the genre's familiarity.

Making Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

Compile developed it from its own Puyo Puyo, first released for the MSX2 in 1991, and Sega published it for the Genesis and Game Gear in 1993 and the Master System in 1994. Reviews were generally positive. Mega's Andy Dyer found it simple and not challenging enough, IGN and Nintendo Life liked that it was built for two-player competition, and Computer and Video Games found it as addictive as Tetris with more colourful visuals, while Gamezebo criticised its difficulty and "ancient" password system. The Game Gear version was also well received. It has been re-released in many compilations, including Sonic Mega Collection, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and Sega Genesis Classics, as well as on the Virtual Console and Steam.