Robotnik has his own game...and it's perfect! - [A Mean Bean Video] 

I love that they used the final bosses theme for puyo puyo in the versus mode in mean bean. It's the best song in the game and it implies you'll have no challenge greater than another player.

Plot twist you're actually still playing as Arle but you just can't see her

The 8 bit version of this game is also really good. That's the beauty of Puyo Puyo; it's simple yet addictive.

I like to think that Robotnik isn't worse at Mean Bean than he was back in the day. It's just that Sonic got lots of practice with the Puyo Puyo crossovers that his skills eclipse Robotnik's.

The Sonic Mania version is also fun. It's an unlockable extra game mode, too! I was disappointed when I unlocked it for the first time, since I was expecting little character portraits or even the characters themselves in the centre of the screen. I don't know what's with me and character portraits; I also liked it in early FPSes when your player character's face was shown in the HUD.

We remember this game because it was one of only two games (until very recently) to reference sonic media outside of the games also the fact the Robotnik replaced Satan and how in a crossover in Sonic Runner with Poyo Poyo, Eggman worked with Satan. Also we think the AOSTH design was use in some later fleetway comics and in the sonic 3 McDonald's toy line which we think made it somewhat iconic as a Robotnik design.

I would personally love to see the Mean Bean characters return, even as DLC for a Puyo Puyo game.

As a Puyo fan, while I prefer the original series, it’s nice to see a different take. It’s just a shame that Mean-Bean doesn’t have the offset rule found in games after it.

I was never any good at puzzle games but looking back, I'm thankful they localized this based on Dr. Robotnik and the AoStH show. I remember it was on Toon Disney around the time the Mega Collection came out, so the timing actually worked for me as a child. It's also nice to have a little way to memorialize the show since we will never have the localized American version of Sonic ever again. And the RU-vid Poops ensured this show's legendary status lol.

This game destroyed me as a kid on the GameCube compilation disk. I did end up beating it though! Multiplayer was so fun too! I have it on the OG console now though. 😎

Finally someone who likes the soundtrack from Dr Robotnik Mean Bean Machines Soundtrack More than Puyo Puyos and I love the Yippie and Yeehaw sound effects. I love the drums in this game. They should make a Aosth Robotnik cameo in the new Puyo Puyo Games.

To be honest, my favorite puyo puyo has to be the second because in the first it doesn't have rollback garbage so even if you're doing good you're still going to get dumped with rocks and the second game if you make a combo you can defend yourself and I feel that one feature makes it eons better.

For anyone who is looking to spend an hour learning about Puyo Puyo in a charmingly irreverent way, I'd recommend the Game Centre CX episode on it. Watching someone try and learn the extremely complex and brutal tactics involved is wonderful and it's one of the best episodes of the entire show. (and thats saying something considering it's been around nearly 20 years)

I absolutely adore Puyo Puyo in all its forms, whether it's the original, the newer games, Mean Bean Machine, Kirby's Avalanche, the Mean Bean mode in Sonic Mania, or the Puyo bonus mode in Hatsune Miku Project Mirai. It's just so fun to play

I've played this game as a wee lad but could never get past the second stage. Honestly, I've never been a fan of Puyo Puyo-esque games, but I absolutely LOVE that this game is based on that one Sonic cartoon. They really played into the whimsical energy it had while giving every character so much personality, and of course, they turned Robotnik's henchmen into official videogame characters! Truly a unique entry, even if it's just a side game.

The Sonic encyclo-speed says in the story for the game it's up to you and Has Bean Hero of Beanvile to stop Robotnik so i guess you are playing as yourself with Help from Has Bean

Puyo Tsu is the definitive version of the game, and is the standard format for most of the series, with Fever being the only real optional ruleset that has found any long life, and the fact that Arle keeps Tsu pairings in Fever as her playset says a lot about the paired approach to the Puyo

Glad you covered DRMBM. A childhood favourite of mine. I remember that the instruction manual referred to the "rocks" as "refugee beans"

I always considered that I was playing as sonic himself, despite we never seeing him in the game.

The first Switch game I played online was Puyo Puyo Tetris. In recognition of Mean Bean Machine, I chose Robotnik as my display name. Puyo Puyo really is a brilliant puzzle game. Very little has changed since the original. I believe counter hits were implemented in the second edition, which allow you to effectively perform a combo that will partially or fully cancel an opponents incoming attack instead of both attacks just dumping garbage on the opponent at full force. It was a necessary addition for real competitive play, but it's still amazing just how much the original got right. I just haven't found as much depth in any other puzzle game of this nature.

I loved mean bean machine a bunch, I mainly played it on a plug in play that had a collection of genesis games but I couldn’t get very far in it. Playing it again recently it’s super fun seeing all the wacky robots and their expressions. It’s a good game and I’d love to see the robots make more appearances in things.

Not that this is gonna happen but the thumbnail made me want AoSTH Robotnik and the sassy Kirby’s Avalanche Kirby to be in the more recent Puyo Puyo games, that’d be cool

Mean Bean Machine was my introduction to the Puyo Puyo series, which I am now a huge fan of. Getting really long chains is super satisfying. There are some quality of life changes that make later Puyo Puyo games more enjoyable to me (neutralising opponent attacks, having 4 colours of puyo/bean instead of 5, general improvements to controls, etc) but the Mean Bean Machine is still a fun game that I play through every once in awhile. If you haven't already, check out some of the newer Puyo Puyo soundtracks. The amount of bangers in the series is astronomical. Puyo Puyo Fever is a consistently solid soundtrack, where pretty much every song is great.

The only thing that holds MBM back for me is that it's based on the original Puyo Puyo instead of the superior sequel. The game is still a blast to play through and the music is priceless.

I don't think we're playing as Has-bean because the instruction manual says he was "the jolliest bean before he was turned into a robot", but I suppose he could be a robot that maintained his will somehow and is rebelling. I, like you, always thought I was the one battling Robotnik's badnicks instead of playing as a character.

After playing other puyo games, it's kinda hard for me to come back to Mean Bean. I love the characters and setting of it for sure; fricking love AOSTH. But the old Puyo 1 ruleset is kinda wack. The offsetting feature that Puyo 2 introduced really helps with the competitive feeling. Without it it's just first to 5 chain instantly wins lol.

And this game was also released around the same time in the west on the SNES as well, as Kirby's Avalanche!

my room mate i had years ago, i swear to god was the goat of that game. he would deliberately let everything pile up on his side and somehow was getting a freaking 10x combo chain and shit every time. absolutely blew my mind.

Oh my god! This was THE game I was the most addicted on the Genesis library when I was around 9. I eventually became a beast that could do 7 combo chains with ease, now I’m 14 and I kinda lost that skill, I can do 4 chain combos but it takes me a while. I remember beating this twice on Hardest back in the day.

it would be cool if they did entire series out of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

I agree that the player character from mean bean is that bunny vibing in the hud. It's name is "Hasbean", and it is a hyper detailed robot designed to help Robotnik subjugate the bean villagers.

I never played this game but I was familiar with it before watching this video and that it also came from Puyo Puyo. The first time I played it was in Sonic Mania and I enjoyed it there. With how colorful they are they make me think of them as candy in a way too. I also like how it's conveniently an unlockable separate mode there for those who just want to play that. That was rather considerate of them. I remember watching playthroughs of Mania and it was amusing to see the ones who weren't familiar with Puyo Puyo/MBM since they would just call it Tetris instead. 4:45 Now that I think about this, Sega almost did the same thing to Popful Mail by replacing the characters with those of Sonic. Making a new character that is apparently Sonic's long lost sister. The game was going to instead be called "Sister Sonic" but fans sent in letters against this decision and so they released Popful Mail unaltered. It's another interesting case of localizing for the western audiences since they deemed the original game to be too "Japanese" for them. 8:15 I think this is the most fascinating point that I learned from this video about them taking from Kraftwerk. I think it was for the best that they replaced it though so they won't get in trouble. The series has since had copyright issues with music. Sonic 3 being the biggest example of it. 10:17 I wonder if there was ever a situation of a kid in the 90s accusing Kirby's Avalanche of copying Mean Bean Machine and not being aware that both were derived from the same game. Anyway, I enjoyed this video and the final thing I want to say is that I spotted that Mean Bean reference in the Sonic sequel trailer. It was a rather subtle way to sneak it in.

Fantastic video. Answered every question I ever had about this game... and several I didn't!

Spike (Stage 9) is the furthest I've ever got in Mean Bean. Maybe one day in the future I might get to Robotnik, but at the moment, I am content that I've gotten further than pretty much everyone I know.

Best version of Puyo Puyo bar none. They should make a sequel!

I grew up with Mean Bean Machine, and it's been my all-time favorite puzzle game for the last 30 years. Tetris is fun, but it doesn't translate to a multi-player experience very well. Even playing through Puyo Tetris (where I learned that Mean Bean was actually Puyo) only makes me want to go play some more Mean Bean Machne. In recent years, I've played Puyo Fever and Kirby's Avalanche, and even those don't quite match up.

I really loved the easter egg in the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 movie. Stone's coffee shop is called "The Mean Bean".

I appreciate this game all too much it's absolutely fantastic and I love it a lot also the designs of the robot's translated quite well into a 16 bit format also love those yeepie and yeehaw sounds everytime a chain of beans gets transported to the opponent's side of the screen

I feel like I'm lucky now to able to do 12 or 11 chains in singleplayer endless now

Wasn't expecting to see someone call Mean Bean better than Puyo Puyo Tetris considering it's just Puyo 1 reskinned with Puyo 1 ruleset. Though, this is coming from a guy who struggles with 5 colour puyo with Puyo 1 ruleset I'd have to say that I feel basically every puyo game from 2 and after is better than mean bean. I'm really just not a fan of Puyo 1 ruleset honestly so that heavily influences my opinion

So, here's the thing you missed. We're not playing as Hasbean, you're playing as you. If you go into practice mode, and slam a ton of beans down you can get 2 "special" beans unique to that mode. The Giga bean, a monster blob of a bean that shatters through a whole 3x3 column top to bottom, or hasbean will jump up and make a sort of 'snake' wiggling across and down your rows changing all beans to the same color as the initial one they touched, thus making one massive mega chain to explode. These events can ONLY occur within the practice mode.

It's such a shame this game is completely inaccessible to colourblind players like me. The blue and purple cannot be told apart quickly enough to be able to play with enough speed. Same with green and yellow. I couldn't even comfortably get through the mini Bean Machine in Sonic Mania. Yes, I know they have different shapes, but they are too small to be able to use quickly.

Honestly this game was always better than the original puyo puyo, incredible music and fun characters that give so much in just a few facial expressions and about two lines of dialogue lol. Plus it's Sonic, how much better could it get??

I don't agree with a lot of your points on puyo puyo as I love the story(especially in 20th some of the stories were so funny), gameplay and characters of puyo puyo tremendously, I do respect your opinion. I don't think you are right on puyo puyo doing well as a series at the moment. The only three games that were released this decade were chronicles, tetris and tetris 2. All of which weren't mainline puyo puyo games. I fear that their won't be another puyo puyo game as the last two were both tetris games and while it sold well, most people only bought them for the tetris and sega knows that another puyo puyo game might under preform

9:10 3 words that describe robonik's feelings: holly and jolly.

bruh the colums vibe and music is so good

Puyo Puyo Tsu (the translation of SNES version at least) is absolutely worth looking into in my opinion above all the other Puyo games. It Has a similar amount of sass, and great gameplay that improves upon the original! However, I do agree that Mean Bean Machine is essentially better than the original Puyo… and better than a lot of the current entries, which drag on for far too long and have gotten irritating in terms of character writing. Too bad there isn't a mod for Puyo Tsu that replaces everything with Mean Bean Machine elements, such as more badnik opponents and a super-charged Robotnik as the hidden final boss.

Still hyped that in the Sonic 2 trailer, the oneoff latte joke from Sonic 1 has progressed to Robotnik's henchman working for a coffee shop that has MEAN and BEAN on the chalkboard A "Mean Brew" can be seen which is a nitro cold brew with a shot of espresso. Order it at Starbucks! They definitely won't hate you!

I used to play this game for hours upon hours back when I was a kid. I would play it again if I had the chance. 😏

Alright but I cannot emphasize enough how entertaining the Puyo cast are when they're just getting down to shenanigans and aren't having to deal with an extremely depressed old man almost destroying the multiverse by being depressed. Especially Schezo.

I really, strongly recommend you try out Puyo Puyo Tsu rather than rest on your laurels with Mean Bean Machine. The step up gameplay-wise (the addition of counters and two preview Puyo pairs rather than only one, among other qol improvements) with Puyo Tsu from MBM/Puyo 1 is essentially equivalent to that of Smash Bros. Melee to Smash Bros. 64. I can understand preferring the characters of Mean Bean, but when regarding the gameplay you’re gonna have much, much more fun with Puyo Puyo Tsu (or any following Puyo game for that matter) over MBM/Puyo 1.

I'm sorry the generic robots are more expressive and interesting than PUYO CHARACTERS!? Obviously you haven't gotten invested in Puyo lore but those guys are way more interesting then most of the robots who were background characters in a single episode of a show. Sorry, puyo just has one of my favorite cast of characters. Characters like Arle, Schezo, Draco, Witch, Rulue, The Dark Prince a.k.a Satan are all so fun and lovable and have great personalities!!!! But I am someone who plays games mostly for the plots, so there is that But you can't tell me a pump looking robot is more interesting than an imortal Dark Mage who can't help but speak an innuendo and has a shockingly sad backstory.

Saw this yesterday, really well done.

I always get stuck on stage 2. The face he makes when he wins scares me a little.

I had no idea mean bean was ripped from another game. Very interesting

As a kid I couldn't beat Coconuts on the game gear version, now I'm a god at it. I play it on my PS3, part of the Sega Mega Drive Collection or whatever it is.

As someone who beat this game on the hardest difficulty it really is a fun game.

Kirby’s Avalanche was better than Robotniks mean bean machine.

Columns fans, there's dozens of us!

The last phrase you said gave me you know who has black n red eyes vibe

The second Sonic movie references this game with the coffee shop Robotnik's assistant Agent Stone set up - The Mean Bean.

bassicly puyo puyo

its good when they bring back it to sonic mania

Honestly I’d love a video just on adventures of sonic the hedgehog

I personally don't think MBM is superior to Puyo. Like you said, if you played one, you played the other, it's the same, but with a different flavor But yeah if you're a Sonic fan, why not playing that version over the og Puyo1, but if you're into the gameplay and want more, you'll have to do without those characters. Which isn't perfect if you're not really fan of the designs and all but, if you don't mind it, you're in for something really cool, Puyo is a great series I get why you could think how you do, but saying that a reskin of the first game is better than the entire series and that they got it right the first time is maybe a bit too much (knowing that its sequel ruleset is one of the main two used competitively still to this day). But, eh, it's your opinion, it's alright

bruh Kirby's avalanche has some weird dialogue 💀

What if in an alternate timeline, Japanese artstyles were already popular in America in the early 1990s? And if Puyo Puyo came out in USA without any changes? While Sonic had his own puzzle game in 1993? Including Sonic, Amy, Tails, Ray, and Mighty as they beat Eggman, Metal Sonic, and Badniks with puzzle matches. Imagine growing up with altered memories in that timeline.

Puyo got it right first time around? Dude there's zero ability to defend yourself in Puyo 1/ Mean Bean. Getting any chain higher than 5 is a pointless waste of time. It was Puyo Puyo Tsu that added the ability for you to counter and reflect enemy attacks, allowing for more playstyles beyond having to give up if the enemy is a bit faster. The new Puyo games have this feature too of course. That's just extremely nostalgia blind. It would be really cool if they updated mean bean to have these integral features or better yet, referenced it in future puyo games, but as it stands I can't play mean bean even with my own nostalgia because it's just objectively inferior

Kirby likes to reference Puyo puyo.

The kraftwerk influence is strong but also I swear the vs. Robotnik music was based off Wash it off by Foetus

Snooping as usual I see.

Lol I enjoy playing that game. Even though I can't get past the second level

What would have made it even more perfect is if they got Jaleel White to record Sonic singing "SEGA".

Imagine if this game was instead called, "Robotnik's Pingas Machine"?

I always figured the protagonist was a self insert as well. Glad I'm not the only one who thought this.

i Absolutely Loved this and still do

i love how the coffee shop in sonic 2 (movie) is called mean bean

Can you talk about extra life sonic from the fleet way comics

For me, my favorite is Super puzzle fighter II Turbo

1:19 Did someone say AVALANCHE? *kirby fans replaced the comments section, the sun screams*

Dr.Robotnicks mean bean machine was hard for me on my Genesis plug n play

I love seeing the real og characters in mean bean that was my shit back in the kiddy days of my semi former self. Edgore eagle away¡

I personally prefer the original games, but i can agree that the characters are WAY better animated than the original puyo. They only have 3 static portraits unlike the animated portraits from mean bean and that the soundtrack in mean bean is better.

I'd never thought someone would call me a maniac indirectly for liking Columns lmao.

The music is fire 101%

Mean Bean is technically functionally LESS than either Puyo Puyo or Kirby's Avalanche, because it lacks the 3 tutorial levels as well as the option to start on level 4. So Kirby's Avalanche is the true reskin of Puyo Puyo.

Actually sorcery saga are called madou monagatari 1-3 (sorry my puyo lore going brrr again)

I still prefer the Puyo Puyo games to Mean Bean due to the characters. And lore. And character interactions. But its still Puyo gameplay so :/ And hey Carbuncle is still in Mean Bean Machine. Renamed to Has Bean but he's there. So at least I still got Carby. But man I find myself disagreeing with EVERY poiny that in this video that you use to say this game is better than Puyo Puyo. Every. Single. One. And honestly I'll argue Kirby's Avalanche is better because Kirby is an absolute savage in that game

6:36 Saying that Mean Bean is better than Puyo Puyo is stretch. Sure, I love Mean Bean's characters and I wish they interacted with the Puyo Puyo cast. However, this western localization has some problems. Mean Bean and Puyo Puyo are practically identical with the exception of Mean Bean lacking a ton of content that originated from Puyo Puyo, such as a protagonist that appears during cutscenes, unique voice clips for each subsequent chain, a greater variation of backgrounds in both in cutscenes and gameplay, as well as the Lesson Stages. Even Kirby's Avalanche easily makes for a better experience than Mean Bean because it actually MAINTAINS all the content from the original Puyo Puyo. Mean Bean also lacks the major improvements seen in Puyo Puyo Tsu, such as playing with 4 colors and the ability to offset (neutralize or send back) incoming Garbage Puyo, which is something that a sequel to Mean Bean could really use, maybe if more Puyo games were localized under the Mean Bean name. Even Sonic Mania's Mean Bean mode lacks these key features, even when Sonic Mania Plus hit the scene in 2018. However, despite all these objective flaws, Mean Bean is pretty under appreciated amongst Puyo Puyo and Sonic fans. I adore the main cast of robotic opponents and believe they're supremely underrated. I'd like to see these guys return someday, perhaps in a future Puyo game, redrawn in that unique modern Puyo artstyle. Mean Bean's characters (including Dr. Robotnik/Eggman) go completely unacknowledged in every anniversary of the Puyo Puyo series and that's so sad to me. @/bringbackthebeans.

Mean Bean Machine was the Bees Knees.

*The yeehaws still haunt me*

Played a game called kirbys avalanche same game but fun regardless

It'll be cool if the NES port would have Sonic 2 Sprites of Robotnik and the robots

I don’t see how it’s superior to puyo puyo, considering it only has one song for every level and puyo puyo has unique songs, but it definitely is a great game for the system. I’m finding stage 2 alone to be really hard to beat!

Did you call me a maniac?

I kinda love it that they brought it to Sonic Mania

My mom beat eggman when i was a kid i thought she was so cool.

dr robotnik in puyo puyo new game imagine asking a question so what character you play in puyo puyo the guy who play dr robotnok-PINGAS

The bean machine

Other people: meh... It's just a Puyo Puyo ripoff... Me: it's just fun. Vector: this is a precious boi and I will cherish it with my life♥️