John Isles, iv presents a document that suffered from major translation corrections, it came up virtually tarnished... DR. ROBOTNIK'S* ____ ___ ____ ____ ___ |\ /| / / \ |\ | | \ / / \ |\ | | \/ | |___ |___| | \ | |___/ |___ |___| | \ | | | | | | | \ | | \ | | | | \ | | | \____ | | | \| |___/ \____ | | | \| ___ ___ ___ ____ |\ /| / \ / \ | | | |\ | / | \/ | |___| | |___| | | \ | |___ | | | | | | | | | \ | | | | | | \___/ | | _|_ | \| \____ A FAQ/strategy guide for Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, or, for those who are completely unknowledgeable of the origin of the game, the North American Genesis release of the game Puyo Puyo. *There is absolutely no way in Hell I am gonna draw the words DR. ROBOTNIK out in ASCII. My thumb would get too sore by hammering the space bar. The number of blisters and bruises would me too high to count... on all fingers and toes, that is. Heck, I'd need a powerful calculator to count that high. ____________ /1. CONTENTS\________________________________________________________________ /\____________/================================================================\ 0. TITLE 1. CONTENTS (You're reading them, stupid!) 2. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION 3. FAQ HISTORY 4. HOW TO READ THIS FAQ 5. BACKGROUND 6. OPTIONS 7. SCORING A. MY BEST SCORES B. BASIC SCORING C. TIME BONUSES (vs. CPU) 8. STRATEGIES A. BASIC TECHNIQUES B. GARBAGE BEANS C. MORE STRATEGIES 9. SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS 10. CREDITS, RECOGNITIONS, & TEN Q's _________________________ /2. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION\___________________________________________________ /\_________________________/===================================================\ Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Dr. Robotnik, and all characters are registered trademarks of Sega Enterprises, ©1993. Puyo Puyo is a registered trademark of Compile, ©1992-2001. All rights reserved. This FAQ/SG is neither authorized nor sponsored by Sega nor Compile. This FAQ/SG is copyright ©2001-2 John Isles, iv. You may alter it (spell/grammar check, make it look all nice and neat, etc.) for personal use only, but you may NEVER-- I repeat: NEVER-- put your name in my place. Also, you are never allowed to remove this disclaimer at all. If you would like to post my FAQ/SG on your site, you MUST ask my permission (by E-mail; address changes will be posted in future versions), but you may neither sell nor trade it for money, goods, etc., nor can you post a pirated version not edited by myself. ALL SUBMISSIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS WILL BE LISTED WITH {##} AND THEIR NUMBERS WILL BE LISTED AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT. _______________ /3. FAQ HISTORY\_____________________________________________________________ /\_______________/=============================================================\ Current version statistics: Key strokes: 23,167 Words & numbers: 3,415 80-char. lines: 414 -0.2- (Completed 2003.1.25) 1. Added a couple more times to the time bonus section of the document. 2. Arranged the time bonus section to, hopefully, a more attractive and more legible format. -0.1.2- (Completed on 2002.6.11) Minor scoring updates. -0.1.1- (Completed on 2002.4.17) Updated time bonuses. -0.1- What you're reading. Started on 2001.1.15; Released 2001.12.7. This version was originally going to have an enemy guide, but chose not to after a creative mind block. _______________________________________ /4. HOW TO READ THIS FAQ/STRATEGY GUIDE\_____________________________________ /\_______________________________________/=====================================\ This strategy guide is best read with a fixed-width font, like Andale Mono, which is a free download available from Microsoft. You will be able to tell if the font you're using is fixed-width if the next two lines are lined up perfectly. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890 .,;:'".,;:'".,;:'".,;:'".,;:'".,;:'" abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz$!?&¢£¥¤*@ ______________ /5. BACKGROUND\______________________________________________________________ /\______________/==============================================================\ Don't blame me for how ridiculous this story is. Blame those bastards at Sega of America. So, here it is... UH-OH! Looks like Dr. Ivo Robotnik has decided to start another reign of terror on Mobius. But, since he's been so overwhelmed by Sonic's power, he's decided not to take control of helpless animals. Instead, he's decided to focus his attention to a VERY little-known Möbian town called Beanville. His intent is similar: Transform these pathetic blobs into robo-slaves. Recycled material from all prior Sonic games. Now, it is up to you, and you alone, to stop him. ___________ /6. OPTIONS\_________________________________________________________________ /\___________/=================================================================\ There are only three modes of play available. _________________ _____/A. SCENARIO MODE\______________________________________________________ /=====\_________________/======================================================\ It's time go get tell Buttnik to get lost! Here, you can try your hand at stopping Robotnik's plan for taking of the city of beans. Your battle against the good doctor lasts for thirteen stages. After winning, you will receive a password to keep your place if you ant to return to your game. _____________ _____/B. 1P VS. 2P\__________________________________________________________ /=====\_____________/==========================================================\ Essentially, it's the scenario mode without a computerized opponent. Garbage block are in play as well. The only thing that needs selecting is each player's skill level (one through five). Levels 1 through 3 leave the fields empty, while increasing the speed the higher you go. Choosing level 4 starts you off with a three-row handicap, while level 5 starts you with a handicap of five rows. _________________ _____/C. EXERCISE MODE\______________________________________________________ /=====\_________________/======================================================\ This form of play allows you to play without worry of being bombarded with garbage. This offers the perfect conditions to practice and fine-tune your combos. See below for further details. ___________ _____/D. OPTIONS\____________________________________________________________ /=====\___________/============================================================\ How you can tinker with the game's settings. KEY ASSIGNMENT Assigns either clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation per button. You should have at least one button per direction, and you definitely don't want to have all three buttons unused, meaning you're just playing with the down arrow. VS. COM LEVEL Changes the computer's cheapness, er, . Can be set to EASY, NORMAL, HARD, or HARDEST. 1P VS. 2P Alters the maximum number of rounds to be played before the "Continue?" message pops up. Available options are best: Eight of fifteen; Seven of thirteen; Six of eleven; Five of nine; Four of seven; Three of five; Two of three; Or best... one of one. [gasp!] SAMPLING Toggles on or off what few voice clips are played during the vs. modes (Scenario or 1P vs. 2P). INPUT TEST A handy feature, indeed. Use this to make sure all your controllers are working properly... at least the arrow pad and the A, B, and C buttons. To return to the previous screen, press A + START. ___________ /7. SCORING\_________________________________________________________________ /\___________/=================================================================\ OK, so there isn't a whole lot to write about in this category, but I feel obligated to write here anyway, and add a few extra grams of fat. __________________ _____/A. MY BEST SCORES\_____________________________________________________ /=====\__________________/=====================================================\ These are my highest scores from Mean Bean. I'm vain about these things. And they're two of the seven deadly sins I don't commit often. Did I forget that I have pride in these scores? Practice mode: From level 1: High score: 3,571,003; 2,700 beans 2nd place: 3,550,273; 2,294 beans 3rd place: 3,371,456; 2,193 beans 4th place: 3,097,700; 2,207 beans 5th place: 2,655,138; 2,026 beans From level 3: 2,???,??? <--- I DO know that it was at least two mil. From level 5: None registered Scores THIS high make me want to never play this game again. Best score vs. CPU: 353,916 with 457 beans cleared (By the by, this was achieved on HARDEST, beating all 13 enemies without needing to continue.) _________________ _____/B. BASIC SCORING\______________________________________________________ /=====\_________________/======================================================\ Or, for those who want it simplified even further, how to score points. ___________________ __________/a. General scoring\_______________________________________________ /==========\___________________/===============================================\ First off, you earn one point per bean height dropped. (One whole point? WOW!) Next, you earn more points by linking up groups of at least four. Except for one thing: You are not restricted to straight lines; As long as four are touching, regardless of shape, they match. Groups that look like the standard Tetris shapes score-- T's, S's, L's, even groups that look like 1's and 4's. In short, each bean is basically worth ten points. BUT... with each bean in excess of four, the value for that set of beans increases. Linking up five would score 50 x 2 = 100; Six scores 60 x 3 = 180; Seven would score 70 x 4 = 280; Eight would score 80 x 5 = 400; And add one to the multiplier for each bean on, up to a maximum of nine over the initial value. As such, the multiplier also has a particular part in scoring. The first link starts at one, but suddenly jumps up to eight (???) for the second and doubles up until the seventh where it peaks out, scoring a wad of those glorious points, 512! Hey, that's as high as *I* got that multiplier. Don't really know if it goes any higher than that. _________________ __________/b. Extra scoring\_____(Exercise mode only)________________________ /==========\_________________/=================================================\ In the exercise mode, you and another player can practice your combo skills and reach scores of immense proportions. In short, you don't need to worry about the other player impeding your progress. It's all about scoring. Starting at level 3 will award 40,000pts. immediately. During certain times, however, you will meet up with a character named Carbunkle (or "Has Bean" in this particular version). When Carbunkle arrives, dropping him on a bean will, through the magic of color, transform every other bean he trudges over into the same color of the original bean. His paths are random, but can score many, many points. If he touches the bin's floor without being interrupted by beans, you receive 10,000pts. Things get more bizarre when you start from level 5. Carbunkle is gone, but you will see a being that is simply called a big bean. Generic, but concise. It's so heavy, that any beans that get caught under it scores points. Unfortunately, it's only 10 x L per bean; L = level number. Making uninterrupted contact with terra firma scores 12,000pts. And you also start with a nice, fat 90,000pts. Should you manage to clear the field of all beans, you will receive a bonus of 8,000 + (L x 500) with L as level number. Clearing the field in level 2 would result in a 9,000pt. bonus. This bonus can only be acquired through your own skill. Of course, if you manage to make a chain big enough to reach x128, x256, or x512, you won't need those given points; I've been able to reach 100,000 before I even reached level 4! ________________ _____/C. TIME BONUSES\_____(vs. CPU)_________________________________________ /=====\________________/=======================================================\ This is the list of bonus values for completing a level against the computer. Listed as xx-yy,yyy, the xx notes the time, in seconds, you required to win a round; Bonus value is the second set of numbers (yy,yyy). (Right-- like it's gonna take you close to seven hours to complete just ONE round. If you don't come up with any major troubles and need to continue a couple hundred times.) The formula for this bizarre scale: ([130 - T]^2) x 3; T = time in seconds. It took me a while to get this, but I figured this thing out sooner or later. OK, so it was later! MUCH later! Happy now? _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ /SEC./ BONUS /| /SEC./ BONUS /| /SEC./ BONUS /| /SEC./ BONUS /| +------------+ | +------------+ | +------------+ | +------------+ | | 24*| 33,708| | | 51 | 18,723| | | 78 | 8,112| | |105 | 1,875| | | 25 | 33,075| | | 52 | 18,252| | | 79 | 7,803| | |106 | 1,728| | | 26 | 32,448| | | 53 | 17,787| | | 80 | 7,500| | |107 | 1,587| | | 27 | 31,827| | | 54 | 17,328| | | 81 | 7,203| | |108 | 1,452| | | 28 | 31,212| | | 55 | 16,875| | | 82 | 6,912| | |109 | 1,323| | | 29 | 30,603| | | 56 | 16,428| | | 83 | 6,627| | |110 | 1,200| | | 30 | 30,000| | | 57 | 15,987| | | 84 | 6,348| | |111 | 1,083| | | 31 | 29,403| | | 58 | 15,552| | | 85 | 6,075| | |112 | 972| | | 32 | 28,812| | | 59 | 15,123| | | 86 | 5,808| | |113 | 867| | | 33 | 28,227| | | 60 | 14,700| | | 87 | 5,547| | |114 | 768| | | 34 | 27,648| | | 61 | 14,283| | | 88 | 5,292| | |115 | 675| | | 35 | 27,075| | | 62 | 13,872| | | 89 | 5,043| | |116 | 588| | | 36 | 26,508| | | 63 | 13,467| | | 90 | 4,800| | |117 | 507| | | 37 | 25,947| | | 64 | 13,068| | | 91 | 4,563| | |118 | 432| | | 38 | 25,392| | | 65 | 12,675| | | 92 | 4,332| | |119 | 363| | | 39 | 24,843| | | 66 | 12,288| | | 93 | 4,107| | |120 | 300| | | 40 | 24,300| | | 67 | 11,907| | | 94 | 3,888| | |121 | 243| | | 41 | 23,763| | | 68 | 11,532| | | 95 | 3,675| | |122 | 192| | | 42 | 23,232| | | 69 | 11,163| | | 96 | 3,468| | |123 | 147| | | 43 | 22,707| | | 70 | 10,800| | | 97 | 3,267| | |124 | 108| | | 44 | 22,188| | | 71 | 10,443| | | 98 | 3,072| | |125 | 75| | | 45 | 21,675| | | 72 | 10,092| | | 99 | 2,883| | |126 | 48| | | 46 | 21,168| | | 73 | 9,747| | |100 | 2,700| | |127 | 27| | | 47 | 20,667| | | 74 | 9,408| | |101 | 2,523| | |128 | 12| | | 48 | 20,172| | | 75 | 9,075| | |102 | 2,352| | |129 | 3| / | 49 | 19,683| / | 76 | 8,748| / |103 | 2,187| / |130+| ZERO|/ | 50 | 19,200|/ | 77 | 8,427|/ |104 | 2,028|/ +------------+ +------------+ +------------+ +------------+ *Personal best. Damn, I've been doing well! Of course, the only REAL way this can actually happen is if the beans dealt to you are enough to cause a quick chain reaction. And, maybe, even having that thirs column of your opponent's being already half-filled when the first red batch gets dumped.... ______________ /8. STRATEGIES\______________________________________________________________ /\______________/==============================================================\ OK, so now you know the idea behind Puyo Puyo, but now is the time to put your skills to use. There are two modes of play you can make strategies-- vs. and solo-- but all strategies listed here can be used as material to kick serious booty. Since I don't do ASCII drawings well, I am going to use the respective letters for beans. B = blue; G = green; P = purple; R = red; Y = yellow. ____________________ _____/A. BASIC TECHNIQUES\___________________________________________________ /=====\____________________/===================================================\ In Puyo Puyo, you have to match colors. (Well, DUH!) With exception to diagonal directions, if a block makes contact to another of the same color, they join together. This offers freedom to those who are beginning to play. A sampling of what counts as successful matches: G B GGGG RR PPP BBB R R Y Y Y BB RRRR R P B R R YYYYY GG BB P R Y YY R B GG P P RRR Y GG B PPP RRR YY YYY R BBB GG PPP R YY GG BB P YYY OK, it may look a bit confusing, but these are among the many, many, MANY possible combinations of scoring formation. You are not restricted to just vertical or horizontal connections, but odd letter formations are allowed... just to reiterate. _________________ _____/B. GARBAGE BEANS\______________________________________________________ /=====\_________________/======================================================\ Now, we touch upon an integral part of the Puyo Puyo series-- garbage beans. __________________________ __________/a. What garbage beans are\________________________________________ /==========\__________________________/========================================\ Watch out for these babies; They can be trouble! They can't be matched up, but can be removed by matching a group of beans. And, in order to know how much trouble these blocks can cause to you or the enemy, the list is as follows: SMALL CLEAR BEAN One dummy bean to be dropped. Six small beans add up to... LARGE CLEAR BEAN Six beans covering one whole line gets piled on. Five of these trouble makers get transformed into (bum-bum-BUM!)... LARGE RED BEAN You are in some deep, unflavored yogurt if you receive one of these. Giving one red bean to drop means the unfortunate recipient gets thirty beans over five rows of six to rain on their parade. If you receive only a singular red bean, the situationisn't QUITE that bad... of course, if that third column is kept clear. Receive two reds, though, you should consider planning your funeral. Your bin is only twelve rows high, thus, receiving ten rows of crap is a lose-lose situation. What? You made a high enough combo to give them THREE red beans? Even FOUR of them? FIVE of 'em? SIX OR MORE? AHEM: Garbage beans are given to opponent after clearing at least five "points"-- or clearing five normal beans. The number of beans that get sent over increase by the number of beans you remove. The second "hit" of a combo delivers 8x the points, pending you only remove four beans, as the multiplier increases one for each extra bean in a color; It goes up further for extra sets of different colors. Of course, the more hits you garner, the more garbage gets sent over. _______________________________ __________/b. How to manage garbage beans\___________________________________ /==========\_______________________________/===================================\ (Lowercase O [o] denotes a garbage bean; Asterisk shows a leaving bean.) | | | G | | G | | | | P G |GR | PRG | | P*G | | | |GBoRoG|-->|GBoRoG|-->|GB***G|-->|GBP | |BYPRRo| |BYPRRo| |BYP***| |BYPGGG| In the above example, there is a set of three connected red beans (step 1). Say your next piece is a GR set (step 2). By rotating these beans to where the R is able to fall onto the pile of already connected R's, you not only dispose of the red beans, but the adjoined refugees (step 3). As such, sole purple bean and the three greens drop to fill in the gaps (step 4). | | | | | | | | | Y | | Y | | | | | | P | | PP | | PP G| | PPRG| | PP*G| | | |ooo |PR |oooR |PR |oooRR |GR |oooRRR|RY |oooRRR| |oo****| |ooP | |GBPooo|-->|GBPooo|-->|GBPooo|-->|GBPooo|-->|GBPooo|-->|GBP***|-->|GBPPYG|--> |BYPGGG| |BYPGGG| |BYPGGG| |BYPGGG| |BYPGGG| |BYPGGG| |BYPGGG| |o** | |o | |GB**Y*|-->|GB | |BY****| |BY__Y_| Looks like you have just been issued an extra row of junk. But, given the situation (step 1), keeping an eye on your upcoming beans is a plus. During the course of steps 2 through 5, you've been given four reds, two purples, a green, and a yellow. Following steps 2 through 5, the red beans, as well as all neighboring garbage, will go bye-bye. YET... the resulting match has triggered a combo. Realizing this, placing the purple the green beans where you did was smart playing. You have just gotten rid of twelve beans! ________________ __________/c. Basic combos\__________________________________________________ /==========\________________/==================================================\ Here are a few of the simple, effective combos. Some are even taken from the demonstration screen. 1234 3 55 1234 5555 1234 55544 1234 1234 55554 44433 123455 1234 12244 333221 123455 _1234_ 11233_ 222111 __________________________________ __________/b. Combos involving garbage beans\________________________________ /==========\__________________________________/================================\ Uh-oh. When you have a pile of garbage beans on your side, you can't just pile one bean on top of the next, hoping that the falling beans trigger a combo. You have to employ what Mel Blanc calls "stragedy". | V | YY | | YYG| | YYG| | G YG | | G YGP| | G YG*| | G YY | | G YY | | G | | G | |GGoRGP| |GGoRGP| |GGoRG*| |GGoRY | |GGoRY | |GGo | |GGo | |oooRoP|GP |oooRoP| |oooR**| |oooRG | |oooR* | |oooY | |oooY | |oooooP|-->|oooooP|-->|oooo**|-->|ooooGG|-->|ooo***|-->|oooRY |-->|o***Y |--> |GRRGGY| |GRRGGY| |GRRGGY| |GRRGGY| |GRR**Y| |GRRRYY| |G***YY| |G | |G | |G | |oG | |oG | |oG | |oGo Y |-->|oGo * |-->|oG | |GooYYY| |Go****| |Goo___| The above example shows a not-too-deadly situation. In step one, you have not too many different beans. Yet, you have almost a dozen garbage beans preventing a good combo. After step 1, your next set of beans is a GP. Rotating the set to green on top, blue on bottom, and dropping the set on the far right. Everything looks good. Come step 7, you will have cleared a good number of blocks. There are beans left, but you have three columns empty. This was only a simple simulation of how to deal with garbage blocks. Playing against either the computer or another player, you'll be under constant attack, so you will need to search for possible ways to clear these clear beans. But you can only remove garbage blocks when they connect to another chain, and only adjacent garbage beans to matching beans get removed. __________________________ /9. SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS\__________________________________________________ /\__________________________/==================================================\ If you have any submissions, strategies, comments, insults, or other stuff you have to offer, you can currently E-mail me at . Be aware that a response is never guaranteed. Also, if you submit, I-- and I alone-- have the choice of what gets added or not, AND you are also agreeing to give me the right to edit the submission. _____________________________________ /10. CREDITS, RECOGNITIONS, & TEN Q's\_______________________________________ /\_____________________________________/=======================================\ Where I thank the people who have helped and offered info. Information gathered from outside sources will be listed in braces {xx}. * Compile: For creating Puyo Puyo. * Sega of America: Introducing me to this puzzler that rivals Tetris as the best ever. That's it. Show's over.