Bean Dash is a self-described 2D platformer autorunner, developed by Psyop for Bush's Baked Beans. The game's official page can be found here, although there is not much to be found there today. The game's archived iOS App Store page details the following: "As Jay Bush, the protector of Bush's Secret Family Recipe, this running game will have you dashing through the Bush’s family farm collecting beans and ingredients to make all of your favorite Bush's Baked Bean flavors." I would strongly disagree with this notion. In reality, Bush's Bean Dash is a brutal roguelike platformer, where your fate is determined by an unfeeling god. Walk with me.
This page will detail the mechanics of Bush's Bean Dash with the intention of speedrunning the game. Of course, being an autorunner, Bush's Bean Dash theoretically has a low skill cap based on the static speed of the main character. To state this would be a gross deception of reality, as this game only seeks to destroy what you once held close.
First, let's talk objectives. There are nine total levels that you must complete to finish the game. Each level the speed of the player character increases, as does their decreasing health meter, or as I refer to it, the "bean bar". By collecting beans, you can increase your bean bar. Colliding with hostile objects reduces your bean bar by about 10-25%, depending on how early you are in the game. After completing these nine levels the game repeats, continuing to increase the speed and health loss until you game over. For the purposes of our speedrun, we will be attempting to obtain all nine flavors as fast as possible. Alternatively, you can obtain eighteen flavors, or complete all achievements. Or play forever, I don't care. His deafening ignorance will remain regardless.
Next, level progression. Each level has you completing the ingredients list for a flavor of Bush's Baked Beans. There will be between four and five ingredients per level, depending on the flavor. The placement of the ingredients on the randomized level structure is static, but the type of ingredient each time the structure is loaded changes. After you collect an ingredient, it will appear at the bottom of your screen. Collect them all, and you will progress to the next level after a short bonus collection screen. The "Truck Bonus" level occurs between each level, and lasts about 10-25 seconds depending on the speed of the player character. There is no objective with the bonus, but for bean count achievements, this is where you will get the majority of your sum. This will repeat endlessly until either you end, or the game ends. Whichever comes first.
Now, player mechanics. The speed that the player character runs is set, and increases incrementally as the game progresses. You only have one move you can control- jumping. Simply tap the screen to jump. The player character also has a double jump, which can be used once while airborne before touching the ground or interacting with an object. This being a hastily put together mobile game for a marketing stunt by a first time game development studio, there are some bugs, to say the least. The most damaging of these bugs is what I have called "jump eating". In some cases, you may find that the game will not respond to a jump input, leaving your character to fall to the ground or collide with an object. When trying to collect an ingredient with a tight jump, this can kill your run. I recommend praying to Jay Bush before beginning each run. Sacrificing a proportionate amount of baked beans to a fire appears to remedy some of these issues, as does constructing a nine-pointed star with each of the nine ingredients and placing your Bean Dash device at the centre.
Additionally, there are five powerups that you can collect to enhance the player character's movement. Each has an advantage and a hindrance, most of which where the hindrance far outweighs any advantage. They are as follows:
- Flying Pig: Fly through the air and increase your elevation by tapping the screen. This is effectively an infinite double jump. However, you are hindered by low gravity where your player sinks very slowly, leading to missed ingredients.
- Bean Armor: You are impervious to any negative objects or collisions. This, to my knowledge, has no hindrance. However, it is very rare in later levels.
- Bean Boots: Your jump is increased in both speed in height by about 300%. This may allow you to reach a high elevation ingredient quickly, but you will scream to the top of the stage every time you hit the jump button. In most scenarios, this leads to far more missed ingredients than saved.
- Bean Cape: The number of beans collected is doubled. Brown beans are +2, and Gold beans are now +10. This is useful when you are in the late game and need beans to maintain your bean bar.
- Bean Magnet: All beans on screen are attracted to your player character. Similar to the bean cape in that it is useful in the late game.
Next, the most important part of this speedrun, level structure. The order of the level structures are randomized each time you begin a game. It is truly random, the same segments can appear back to back endlessly if you get lucky (or unlucky, depending on the segment). Each segment is static, and there are a limited amount per level that can appear. For instance, for the Original flavor, there are only six level segments that can appear. Here is the kicker for level structure: there are many segments which do not contain any ingredients. On some runs you may be dealt an unlucky hand and not receive any ingredients for a period long enough to kill your run. That's the Bean Dash cycle of torture. This is where the roguelike mechanic comes in that I spoke about earlier. Each run is completely unique, some give you a better hand than others. You may beg and plead, but Jay Bush will not transpose his judgment.
So, to summarize, for an all achievements run you must:
Achievements
- Bronze Bean Master: Collect 5,000 beans in one run.
- Silver Bean Master: Collect 10,000 beans in one run.
- Gold Bean Master: Collect 20,000 beans in one run.
- Bronze Flavor Master: Create 3 flavors in one run.
- Silver Flavor Master: Create 6 flavors in one run.
- Gold Flavor Master: Create 9 flavors in one run.
- Bronze Flavor King: Create 12 flavors in one run.
- Silver Flavor King: Create 15 flavors in one run.
- Gold Flavor King: Create 18 flavors in one run.
- Flight Master: Earn your wings! (Obtain Flying Pig powerup.)
- Bean Armor Master: Discover the Bean Armor.
- Bean Boots Master: Discover the Bean Boots.
- Bean Cape Master: Discover the Bean Cape.
- Bean Magnet Master: Discover the Bean Magnet.
Original
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Bean Pot
Home Style
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Tomato
- Bean Pot
Honey
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Honey
- Bean Pot
Country Style
- Brown Sugar (1)
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Brown Sugar (2)
- Bean Pot
Boston
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Molasses
- Bean Pot
Maple Cured Bacon
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Maple Syrup
- Bean Pot
Vegetarian
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Tomato
- Bean Pot
Onion
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Onion
- Bean Pot
Bold and Spicy
- Brown Sugar
- Special Spices
- Bacon
- Pepper
- Bean Pot