Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Development staff
Developer(s)	Compile
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Takaya Segawa, Saori Yamaguchi, Hideaki Moriya, Keisuke Saka (design), Manabu Ishihara, Tsukasa Aoki (programming).
Video game overview
Release date(s)	Genesis/MegaDrive NA November 1993 EU November 1993 Game Gear NA December 1993 EU January 1994 Sega Master System EU 26 July 1994 SA 26 July 1994 Virtual Console NA 11 December 2006 EU 8 December 2006
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single Player / Double Player / Endless / Puzzle Mode (8-bit versions only)
Platform(s)	Sega Mega Drive Sega Master System Sega Game Gear Virtual Console PlayStation 2 Nintendo GameCube Xbox PC Nintendo 3DS

File:Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.jpg

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is a modified version of the Japanese puzzle game Puyo Puyo, set in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog universe.

Gameplay

The game is played with two opponents trying to connect as many chains of four or more similarly colored beans as possible in a large grid. As higher chains are achieved, Refugee Beans are sent to the other side. This can only be removed when a neighboring group of beans is matched. The winner is the one whose beans do not reach the top of the grid. There are various modes that allow players to battle each other in various difficulty settings. These determine speed, the initial number of Refugee Beans, and other various things. Dr. Robotnik's level is the fastest of them all. Up to 2 players can play either in VS Mode or in Exercise Mode. In VS Mode, each player can choose between 5 difficulty settings, labeled 1-5 (Easiest to Hardest, where 1 is the lowest drop speed, and 5 is the fastest). In VS Mode, one player must defeat the other in the same way as in Scenario mode. If a player selects Level 1, they play with 4 colors of beans, however, the other levels include 5 colors. Furthermore, in Levels 4 or 5, the game begins with the play area already containing garbage: for Level 4, 18 beans (3 rows); for Level 5, 30 beans (5 rows). Exercise Mode, is a form of practice play where 1 or 2 players can battle out. This mode has three difficulty levels: easiest, normal, and hardest (Level 1, 3 or 5). On easiest, players start with only 4 colors. To level up, the player has to keep erasing beans. Helpers (Big Puyo or Has Bean) will appear when the player gets stuck on Level 1 the first time, but they can only appear once. For Level 3, at random times, Has Bean will drop from the screen to help out. When Carbuncle is placed on a color, it travels in a random direction, following downwards, changing all beans to that color. For Level 5, at random times, a Big Puyo will drop from the screen. When Big Puyo falls, it occupies 2 columns of the grid, and when placed, squashes all beans and removes them from the grid.

Plot

Dr. Ivo Robotnik has hatched a plan to ensure that no music or fun remains on Mobius. To do this, he kidnaps the jolly citizens of Beanville and stuffs them into a giant Roboticizing machine called the "Mean Bean-Steaming Machine" (hence the name, Mean Bean Machine), so that they become devious little robot slaves, as well as getting rid of them. The player must free the beans by defeating each of Robotnik's henchbots one-by-one, and eventually, coming face-to-face with the deranged doctor himself to foil his evil plan.

Bosses

Every stage has a boss the player must face. Each boss plays with different strategies. If the player wins the stage, a password will be unlocked (to start the next stage whenever he/she likes).

Boss List

• Stage 1: Arms - a UFO shaped android with elastic arms.
• Stage 2: Frankly - a scary-looking Macho-Bot who likes to smile.
• Stage 3: Humpty - an egg-shaped robot who has difficulty balancing.
• Stage 4: Coconuts - a robotic monkey who claims to be the Doc's favorite - and "goes bananas".
• Stage 5: Davy Sprocket - a Western-style pioneer who is always searching for trouble.
• Stage 6: Skweel - a literal road hog with wheels for feet and a "sizzling" attitude.
• Stage 7: Dynamight - a small, dynamic robot who likes to blow things up.
• Stage 8: Grounder - a drilling machine who works as the Doc's "tool of the trade".
• Stage 9: Spike - a rebellious, pot-bellied machine who seems to have an obsession for spikes.
• Stage 10: Sir F-Fuzzy Logik - a knight from the Middle Ages who carries a trident.
• Stage 11: Dragon Breath - an armor-clad dragon who seems to have a bad case of fiery breath.
• Stage 12: Scratch - a mechanical rooster who serves as the Doc's right-hand man.
• Stage 13: Dr. Ivo Robotnik - the deranged doctor himself, who invented the infernal bean-steaming machine.

Releases

The game was released in November 1993 for North America markets. The game was never released as a standalone game in Japan. Compile declined the opportunity most likely because the game was too similar to the popular Puyo Puyo, whose sequel was, at the time, already in development (Puyo Puyo Tsu). When the game finally reached Japan, via Sonic Mega Collection, it became known in that country as "Dr. Eggman's Mean Bean Machine".

An 8-bit version was also released for the Sega Master System and the Game Gear in 1993, which featured similar game play, but also included a "Puzzle Mode", in which the player must clear a series of flashing beans amidst a large pile.

On 11 December 2006, Sega released the game on the Wii's Virtual Console, at a price of 800 Wii Points.

The game was also included in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

Trivia

• This is the first Sonic game to be based on a cartoon, that being Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Interestingly all of the opponents are derived from the first episode, "Super Special Sonic Search & Smash Squad" (all but those from the main cast appear briefly as bounty hunters at the beginning of the episode). The Game Over screen is also based on a shot from the original promotional pilot.
• The beans sprites are also used in the game Kirby's Avalanche, a Super Nintendo Entertainment System refitting of Puyo Puyo by HAL Laboratory.
• Along with Sonic Spinball, this is the only game on the Master System/Game Gear that is faithful to the Sega Genesis version.
• This is one of the few games in the franchise that Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't appear in.
  • It is also one of the few games where it doesn't include Sonic's name in the title.
• The Beginner's course from Puyo Puyo was removed in this game; however, the three stages can be accessed via hacking. When doing so, the Puyo Puyo characters Skeleton T, Nasu Grave, and Mummy are all visually replaced by a character with Coconuts' intro and Scratch's mugshots.
• Similarly Puyo Puyo's Sound Test option was omitted, but can still be accessed via hacking or setting the game's region to Japanese.
• The Game Gear version of this game is featured on Nintendo 3DS's eShop Virtual Console.
• The game was given a subtle reference in Worlds Collide #12, as the motherboard titled "M.B.M." that was sabotaged by Dr. Wily during the When Worlds Collide crossover.

Enemy Portraits

	Standard	Win	Losing	Lost
Arms	File:Mean Bean Machine - Arms.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Arms win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Arms losing.jpg	Arms lost
Frankly	File:Mean Bean Machine - Frankly.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Frankly win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Frankly losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Frankly lost.jpg
Humpty	File:Mean Bean Machine - Humpty.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Humpty win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Humpty losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Humpty lost.jpg
Coconuts
Davy Sprocket	File:Mean Bean Machine - Davy Sprocket.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Davy win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Davy losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Davy lost.jpg
Skweel	File:Mean Bean Machine - Skweel.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Skweel win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Skweel losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Skweel lost.jpg
Dynamight	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dynamight.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dynamight win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dynamight losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dynamight lost.jpg
Grounder
Spike	File:Mean Bean Machine - Spike.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Spike win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Spike losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Spike lost.jpg
Sir F-Fuzzy Logik	File:Mean Bean Machine - FFuzzy Logik.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - FFuzzy win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - FFuzzy losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - FFuzzy lost.jpg
Dragon Breath	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dragon Breath.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dragon Breath win.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dragon Breath losing.jpg	File:Mean Bean Machine - Dragon Breath lost.jpg
Scratch	File:Mean Bean Machine - Scratch.jpg			File:Mean Bean Machine - Scratch lost.jpg
Robotnik

References

Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off games

Sega Master System	Sonic Spinball (1994) · Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (1994)
Sega Mega Drive	Sonic Eraser (1991) · Sonic Spinball (1993) · Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (1993) · Wacky Worlds Creativity Studio (1994) · Knuckles' Chaotix (1995, 32X) · Sonic 3D Blast (1996)
Sega Saturn	Sonic 3D Blast (1996) · Sonic R (1997)
Sega All-Stars	Sega Superstars (2004, PS2) · Sega Superstars Tennis (2008, multi-platform) · Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010, multi-platform) · Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012, multi-platform)
Sonic Riders	Sonic Riders (2006, multi-platform) · Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008, multi-platform) · Sonic Free Riders (2010, Xbox 360)
Sonic Storybook Series	Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007, Wii) · Sonic and the Black Knight (2009, Wii)
Mario & Sonic	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007, multi-platform) · Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009, multi-platform) · Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011, Wii) · Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2012, 3DS) · Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013, Wii U) · Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016, multi-platform) · Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (2019, Switch)
Super Smash Bros.	Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Wii) · Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (2014, 3DS) · Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014, Wii U) · Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018, Switch)
Sonic Boom	Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (2014, Wii U) · Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (2014, 3DS) · Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom (2015, mobile) · Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice (2016, 3DS)
Arcade and redemption machines	Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car (1991) · UFO SegaSonic (1992) · Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) · SegaSonic Popcorn Shop (1993) · SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter (1993) · SegaSonic the Hedgehog (1993) · Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1993) · Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) · Air Circus (1994) · Curling Holiday (1994) · Sonic's Space Tours (1994/1999) · Sonic the Fighters (1996) · Sonic the Hedgehog (1997) · Sonic & Tails Spinner (2002) · CR Sonic (2003) · Sonic Spinner (2007) · Sonic Live! (2008) · Sonic Sports Basketball (2010) · Sonic Sports Air Hockey (2010) · Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Arcade (2011) · Sonic Athletics (2013) · Sonic Ghost Shooting (2013) · Sonic Brain Ranking (2013) · Sonic Dash Extreme (2015) · Sonic Blast Ball (2015) · Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition (2016) · Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Arcade Edition (2020)
Other	Puzzle Construction (1991, TeraDrive) · Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld (1994, Pico) · Tails and the Music Maker (1994, Pico) · Sonic's Schoolhouse (1996, PC) · Sonic Shuffle (2000, Dreamcast) · Shadow the Hedgehog (2005, multi-platform) · Sega Splash! Golf (2008, PC) · Sonic the Hedgehog (2008, Didj) · Team Sonic Racing (2019, multi-platform) · Sega Streaming Theater Sonic Edition (2021, PC) · Sonic Speed Simulator (2022, multi-platform) · The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023, PC)
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