(WARNING: The events and situations depicted in this comic did not actually occur in the video game “Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine”! This is a work of fiction!)

Man, did I love Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine or what. It was my first exposure to Puyo Puyo, even though I had long-heard about how awesome it was in Japan, and (I think) this was the first western release of the game, so of course I absolutely devoured it upon release. It was an addictive puzzle game in single player, but when you had two equally-matched human players fighting it out, sending waves and waves of junk blocks back and forth between each other…I really can’t think of many games that come close to how fun and instantly addictive as this was.

And it still holds up! I recently started playing it again as part of the Sega MegaDrive Collection on PlayStation 3, and found myself surprised at how much fun it was. It’s quite a soothing experience when you’re in the zone. For some reason I’ve developed a habit of intentionally filling the playfield with random blocks and then trying to clear it all out at the last minute, and the cartoon characters are great to watch. Give it a try, it’s on practically every platform ever!