Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, also known as Dr. Robotnik and His Mean Bean Machine in parts of Europe, is a Puyo Puyo game released for the Sega Mega Drive, Game Gear, and the Sega Master System. Set in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog universe, it is the first Western Puyo Puyo release, and features Dr. Robotnik wanting to turn the beans of Beanville into robot slaves. This is also one of the very few Sonic the Hedgehog series games in which Sonic does not appear at all. The Mega Drive version was re-released in Sonic Compilation for Mega Drive, Sonic Mega Collection for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, Sonic Mega Collection Plus for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004; which also contains the Game Gear version, and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (also known as SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection in Europe) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2009.

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.