Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine/Gameplay

The game is played with two opponents, each controlling one of two grids. Beans fall from the top in groups of two, coming in various colors and one pair falling each "turn". The player must attempt to arrange the beans into groups of at least four beans all of the same color; should they do this, the beans in the group will disappear.

Players must also contend with clear, or 'refugee' beans which are deposited in the player's grid by their opponent removing larger chains of beans. If a player is able to cause a chain reaction by removing one set of beans, and hence causing another set to group and disappear, and so on, the resultant number of refugees deposited will be far higher. Refugee beans cannot be removed by being arranged into groups of four; the only way to remove them is to remove normal beans adjacent to the refugee. A player can attempt to send refugees to their opponent in order to frustrate their attempts to remove beans. The player whose screen fills up with beans first loses.

The game has three main modes. Scenario Mode has the player going through thirteen levels facing against Robotnik's badniks (which include Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts, and various badniks from the first episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog) before facing off against Robotnik himself. As the game is played, Robotnik's henchmen become increasingly skilled and beans begin to fall faster, making it more difficult to arrange them into desirable configurations. Upon the completion of a level, the game gives the player a password enabling them to start from that point in the game next time they play. Exercise Mode allows the player to play without a CPU opponent, with gameplay going faster as the game goes on. Another player may join in at any time. 1P vs 2P Mode allows two players to compete against each other. The Game Gear version of the game also features Puzzle Mode, in which players must use a limited supply of beans to clear a screen.