An in-game screenshot of the last level of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

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.

 Bosses

Every stage has a boss and if you win the stage you get a password (to start the next stage whenever you like).

Boss List

• Stage 1: Arms
• Stage 2: Frankly
• Stage 3: Humpty
• Stage 4: Coconuts
• Stage 5: Davy Sprocket
• Stage 6: Skweel
• Stage 7: Dynamight
• Stage 8: Grounder
• Stage 9: Spike
• Stage 10: Sir F-Fuzzy Logik
• Stage 11: Dragon Breath
• Stage 12: Scratch
• Stage 13: Dr. Robotnik
• Hidden Stage: Sonic The Hedgehog
• Hidden Stage: Crabmeat

 Plot

Dr. 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 robotising 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. As Sonic is nowhere to be found, 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 plot.

 Releases

The Game Gear version in Exercise Mode

The game was released in November of 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).^{[citation needed]} When the game finally reached Japan, thanks to Sonic Mega Collection, it became known in that country as "Dr. Eggman's Mean Bean Machine", obviously because Dr. Eggman is Robotnik's name in Japan.

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 December 11, 2006, Sega released the game on the Wii's Virtual Console, at a price of 800 Wii Points.^[1]

 Reception

The game, released for the Game Gear, received positive reviews. The Genesis/Mega Drive versions both received 76%.