Dr. Robitnik's Mean Bean Machine

Today I want to talk briefly about a topic that is long overdue: Sega Genesis's Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.


We've mentioned it a couple times, but I think this video game deserves its own post.


Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.  However, Sonic never appears in the game, but we do see Dr. Robotnik, Sonic's arch-enemy.

The setting for this game is on a planet called Mobius, where evil Robotnik is removing all of the happiness and music from the planet.  He is turning all of the bean citizens of the planet into robots, and your mission as the gameplayer is to save these bean citizens from the dungeon by playing DRMBM.  From the DRMBM wikipedia page:

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. The instruction manual states that the disappearing Beans are sent to the Mean Bean Machine, regardless of which character does this. The game ends after a face-off with Robotnik.

At first blush the game looks like Tetris or Dr. Mario.  Which is far from the truth.  As Hibernaut Bill Vehige put it, comparing a Robotnik player's game to a Tetris match is one of the most scathing insults in the game.  In Tetris, the goal is to clear lines of blocks. In DRMBM, clearing blocks is a method used to reach your goal to create chain reactions of  bean clusters; each group's elimination contributing to a cascade of clusters of beans that disappear in tandem.  Here's a video of gameplay (the concept is well-demonstrated around 1:22):

The game is based off of a puzzle game called Puyo Puyo.  We began playing it when we set up the studio and have taken it very seriously, even keeping stats on wins and losses and records against each other.  Anyone is welcome to challenge us in head-to-head competition, as we are the best band in the world at this game.

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Hibernauts Recording and Radio Show

Well, things have been going pretty smoothly for us Hibernauts lately.  Like I mentioned in an earlier post, drum tracks have been completed, and now Chad's bass tracks are now done.  Being in an unusual position where we have two bass players, now we're about half done with bass.  This weekend we should have all of the bass complete and the bulk of the next instrument (probably keyboard/synth).

In the meantime, I have become even better at Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (if that's possible).

Don't forget to tune in to our radio show, Sleeping In Space, every Monday at 2 p.m. on KWUR 90.3 fm.  You may be dissapointed/delighted to know that I am no longer in the studio for the show, due to a new job. 

So don't forget to tune in on Monday.  Set an alarm, write it on your calendar, have your mom call you (you probably haven't talked to her in a while anyway), but don't miss it.  For the large majority of you that don't reside or work right next to Washington University's campus, you'll have to tune in online at www.kwur.com.  But you can call in from anywhere: 314-935-5987

Happy Easter to all of the Christians out there.  Enjoy your Cadburies.

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Sleeping in Space, on 90.3FM KWUR.COM Mondays from 2pm-3pm

Greetings Hibernauters!

Newest addition Chad Rogers here, tumbling through the blogosphere. So far the experience playing with the band has been really warm and fun. Jack, Tom, Brett, and Bill all give excellent hand massages, and the fans at the shows have been really fun to jam with.

So before I go ending any more sentences with prepositions, I wanted to let you know about a new project the Hibes are involved in. We are launching a radio show on KWUR 90.3FM, which is Washington University's college radio station. We are very excited to be breaking the ranks of the college charts, not by CMJ or any of that tom-foolery, but by actually hooliganizing the process by creating our own radio show!

The show runs from 2pm-3pm on Mondays on 90.3FM in Clayton. If you don't live/work/exist in the area around Forest Park Parkway from 2-3 on Mondays, I recommend you tune in by downloading the stream at kwur.com.

The show, entitled "Sleeping in Space," is a chronicling of the writing and recording process we're are currently undertaking. Tentatively, the title of the record is "The effects of priming and training on illusory audition in the elderly," which is striking because the PhD dissertation I'm working on has the same title. There will be jokes, new tunes, interviews with the band, general mischief, tales of Dr. Robotnix's Mean Bean machine, nerf guns, and ham sandwich Sunday. There will also be a podcast available for download, but I'll leave Mr. Brett Ramsey to divulge the details on that one.

So tune in, Mondays from 2-3pm on kwur.com, today we'll be spinning some old Periodic Fable classics, and some of the rough cuts we've been working on for "The effects of priming..."

Signing off,
C.Rogers

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