Testing MiniMax M2.1: We Built Minesweeper in C

Close to Christmas and it's raining models from China. minimax has just dropped M2.1, and that is what I am going to cover. I am on their console at agent.minimax.io, and I gave it a world-class prompt to create me a complete playable mind sweeper clone in pure C with a lot of other requirements. Minimax M2.1 is selected, and I went with run with lightning.

MiniMax-M21 Benchmarks and Focus

The model is not yet available on Hugging Face. I think they are still uploading it because it was just released like 1 hour ago, and I am already covering it. The focus of the model seems to be on application development and multilinguality, and I am going to test it out.

The model has achieved state-of-the-art performance across eight programming languages beyond Python including Rust, Java, Go, C++, Scotland, Objective C, TypeScript and JavaScript. You can see benchmark scores where it has really exceeded a lot of models like Gemini 3 Pro and clot sonet 4.5, which is very surprising for me. If you look at su benchmark, multilinguality is also quite good, with a lot of improvement around Android and iOS development while it delivers enhanced web aesthetics and realistic scientific simulations. There are various other benchmarks for wipe coding and some other weird benchmarks which I have never really tested, but you know what, let's not believe these benchmarks - let's see what it has generated.

Building a mind sweeper clone in C with MiniMax-M21

It completed thinking and gave me commands on how to run it and how to play it. I copied the code and pasted it in VS Code. The whole game structure looked well formed, with commands and very fine modular code.

I compiled with GCC, and the compilation worked. Running it, I tried mind sweeper commands like R55, F14, and R3 6, but nothing was being displayed. Compared to the previous model I covered, JLM 4.7, which was able to do it in the first go, I believe this M2.1 has failed in the first test.

Self-correction and fix

I copied the output back and told it the code is not properly working and here is the output. It thought about it, recognized it's not working correctly, and identified several issues. The grid was showing empty cells, and it looked at the print grid function, which was very nice. It found the issue and produced a fix.

Second attempt results

I copied the fixed code, compiled again, and ran it. I tried R 5, 5, and there you go. Then R 1, 6 - good. Then R 9, 9 - game over, you hit a mine at move three.

Pretty good. Second attempt really wonderfully done, and this has come a long way. Building a mind sweeper game in the second attempt is not a small deal. The coding looks really good to me.

Multilinguality test in MiniMax-M21

Prompt and task

For multilinguality, I used a world-class prompt to check out financial wisdom across 70 plus languages. The task was to translate this proverb - spend less than what you earn, save and invest the difference. There were major requirements: expand 3 to 5 cultural nuances, script-accurate translation not just romanization, a meta analysis component, and differentiation for some low resource languages.

Output quality

It identified the parts properly. After thinking for long, the model correctly identified that I am asking for financial wisdom across languages, and first it gave me the introduction of the proverb. I have read it and it's really out of this world. The fluency, the coherency, and the cultural nuances are the right mix.

I checked a few of the translations and they look really, really good. Spanish, Korean, French - the responses are profound. If I start doing it one by one, it is going to take 1 hour or so, so I just slowly moved through.

Languages and scripts covered

There is Orduban, Indonesian, German, Japanese, Swahili. It talks about regional languages, some low resource languages, and some lesser known languages that are spoken by a lot of people. Shamuki script - wow - and Gurmoki script. I didn't even know about Shamuki script, to be honest.

Then it is talking about Ha, Miti, Romanian, Bhjpuri, Czech, Kuresh, Bosnian, and some additional languages. It even touches historical languages, going with elder fat for really spending some time there. Some fictional language Cllingon and Kenya Gibbrish - Gibish is there - and it is justifying its answers around fanatics. Mandarin looks pretty good, Spanish Castellian is amazing, the Japanese one is beautiful, and even the Arabic one. The Hindi one is beautiful.

Cultural and historical framing

A bonus challenge section stood out. Not only did it give me the whole cultural background, but also the historical connections. For example: adapting western financial advice for Arabic speaking audience requires fundamental reframing due to religious, historical and philosophical factors. While Hindi shares Indo-Uropean linguistic family with English, adapting financial wisdom requires significant metaphorical transformation due to unique cultural frameworks. Then there is a conclusion. This is strong multilingual work.

Complex interpersonal advice test in MiniMax-M21

For a final prompt, I asked it to help with a difficult family situation. I am experiencing significant friction with my in-laws during their visits. They stay for 2-3 weeks at a time, four times per year. I provided specific tensions, boundary issues, cultural factors, and asked the model to evaluate my options, tell me how to address this with a detailed action plan while making sure my relationship doesn't get impacted, and include ethical considerations.

It says, "The situation you describe represents one of the most challenging interpersonal dynamics families face. A collision between deeply held cultural values, individual psychological needs and the complex triangle." The model understands the situation and the sensitivity around cultural differences. It recognizes my underlying frustration and hurt and then offers advice without petty revenge.

It evaluates options across the spectrum, including firm boundaries and complete accommodation, and discusses other approaches. It provides an improvement plan and communication strategies, addressing the spouse role and communication patterns. It displays really good emotional intelligence and conflict resolution skills around long-term relationship management.

Ethical reflections are there, and it genuinely acknowledges my position. "You deserve to feel comfortable in your own home and respected as a parent." It emphasizes that your children deserve stability and respect, too. It says it requires patience, persistence, and courage to have difficult conversations.

Final thoughts on MiniMax-M21

minimax M2.1 shows strong application development skills and multilingual capabilities. The first attempt at a mind sweeper game failed, but it diagnosed the issue and fixed it on the second pass, delivering a playable result. The multilingual translation task was fluent, coherent, culturally aware, and impressively broad in script coverage.

On complex interpersonal advice, it demonstrated measured judgment, practical planning, and sensitivity to culture and relationships. Based on these tests, this model has come a long way in coding reliability, cross-language fluency, and nuanced reasoning.