i SUCK at mean bean.
nowadays, you can play it online through "puyo puyo vs" along with a texture pack that makes the entire game look and sound a bit like the robotnik version. it just got open sourced but it's iffy to set up and multiplayer may not work due to version issues and other stuff. if you want online, get it through the official website, i heard that the github version is somehow borked in that regard
that or when in doubt, play puyo puyo tetris 1 and 2, even if the netcode is apparently a bit iffy. also now the community is angry due to the fact that the newest game known as "puyo puyo puzzle pop", with new voice lines and new everything, is basically locked behind a very expensive paywall called "being an apple user who also has the apple arcade subscription". and the series is basically on the star fox/f-zero "if you want more games based on this franchise, buy this game that we clearly know won't sell well due to bad decisions" cliff. that moment when the community made a better multiplayer than the official products roflmao xd lololol
Somehow I didn’t play this spinoff but I did play sonic spinball and sonic schoolhouse (which was one of my first games ever)
Wasn’t it some Tetris clone? My friend had it on their Genesis when I was young, and we’d turn it on after we’d melted our brains playing other games all day
Mean Bean Machine is pretty much a westernized port of Puyo Puyo, which was itself a Tetris clone. The developer initially felt Puyo Puyo wouldn't be a hit with western gamers, so they replaced the characters with Sonic universe characters (or made new ones up).
I played Mean Bean quite a bit as a kid, but one of my brother's friends stole it along with a few other games.
it's also on the snes as "kirby's avalanche" if you are a kirby fan. similar game
also puyo puyo on the genesis has different instruments compared to mean bean machine, mean bean's drums are more punchy and the bass is much different. differences video
unlike mean bean, puyo puyo actually stops the music for the digitized voicelines for arle and co, which is a bit jarring
the music in mean bean is basically based on kraftwerk (there's a hidden song in the game's files that sounds very similar to "Home Computer" and was used at one point in betas! i don't know much about music)
oh man Puyo Puyo what a DEEP cut.
That's so lame it got stolen; I remember when I realized that someone had stolen my GBA and all my games for it. Really sucked
