Fast game talk with real group chemistry.
The MinnMax Show runs on lively group chemistry, specific game opinions, and a taste for strange corners of video game history. Recent episodes move from weird Nintendo experiments and Zelda talk to studio meetups, charity updates, rhythm games, and small design discoveries.
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The MinnMax Show is a games podcast built around a quick-moving panel rather than a single fixed monologue. Its center is conversation: people tease, correct, remember, compare, and keep throwing specific examples onto the table until a game starts to make sense. Recent episodes show a wide range without losing that house rhythm. A discussion of Nintendo's weirdest games moves from the Switch 2 launch feeling unusually straight-ahead into PC-8801 and FM7 curiosities, Hudson oddities, Super Mario RPG, and the strange feel of Super Mario Land. The point is not trivia for its own sake. The show is interested in why a thing feels off-brand, why that can be exciting, and what a design choice reveals about the people and hardware around it. Newer release talk has the same looseness. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Cronos, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Pirate Yakuza, Epic Mickey Rebrushed, Arco, rhythm games, VR piano experiments, and tiny independent ideas all sit comfortably in the same stream. The panel can talk mechanics in concrete terms, especially when a game is snappy, tactical, minimalist, or unexpectedly layered. It also leaves space for personal taste. Someone can admire a game without pretending it changed their life, and that honesty gives the recommendations more shape. The community side is unusually present. Meetups, travel plans, Patreon listeners, charity streams, anniversary episodes, and behind-the-scenes video plans are treated as part of the show’s living ecosystem. When Hurricane Helene forced the Asheville meetup cancellation, the feed became a direct community update about refunds, safety, and fundraising through AmeriCares. That seriousness sits beside the usual jokes without feeling like a format break. The MinnMax Show works best for listeners who enjoy game coverage that feels social, informed, and slightly messy in a human way. It is not dry criticism and it is not empty hype. It is a room full of game-literate people chasing the fun, the oddness, and the practical details together.
Made for: For players who like current games, Nintendo history, community-driven outlets, and panel banter that still cares about design details. It especially suits listeners who enjoy criticism that sounds like smart friends comparing notes after playing.
What sets it apart: The show blends informed games criticism with visible community life, so release talk, retro oddities, meetups, charity efforts, and personal gaming memories all feel connected. Its looseness is part of the value: the panel often finds sharper points by talking through them in real time.
Released every Thursday, The MinnMax Show features former Game Informer employees and beyond talking about the week's most exciting games or game industry news before reading feedback from the Patreon community found at patreon.com/minnmax.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
The MinnMax Show makes game design legible through specific mechanical criticism, informed historical context, and a panel willing to compare notes in public.
Ben Hanson leads The MinnMax Show as a lively group conversation where close readings of game mechanics meet industry memory and easy studio banter.
One minute it's obscure Nintendo archaeology; the next, your backlog has acquired a Mesoamerican tactics game.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp, lively look at Nintendo at its strangest, with enough banter and game knowledge to keep it moving.
The episode is happiest when it talks about Nintendo being strange on purpose. It treats those odd turns as part of the company's history, not a cute detour, and that gives the discussion some shape.
A loose, warm 250th-episode hangout with strong host chemistry and lively game talk.
MinMax's 250th episode feels like a loose, welcoming hangout. The special intro gives it a bit of occasion, but the real draw is how easily the hosts move together.
A brisk, easy panel check-in that never loses its footing.
The MinMac Show keeps the talk loose but focused, with Kyle Hilliard, Janet Garcia, Jacob Geller, and Sergio Vazquez moving through the game chat without much dead air. Sergio ends up as the clearest anchor.
A brisk tour of Nintendo's strangest swings, from portable Mario to Hudson's wild detours.
The MinnMax Show stays tightly centered on Nintendo's strangest swings, with Ben Hanson, Kelsey Lewin, Cal Hilliard, and Jeremy Parrish moving from the idea of a less weird Switch and Switch 2 launch into older oddities like Super Mario RPG, Super Mario Land, and Hudson's…
A first studio hangout that gives a tiny lifespan mechanic room to breathe.
This first in-person studio gathering plays like a loose, friendly games hangout, with Ben Hanson welcoming Jana Garcia, Jacob Geller, and Kelsey Lewin into the room while the group also circles the community meetup at Oota Pills Brewing in Minneapolis.
Rusty's Real Deal Baseball turns microtransactions into a dog haggling game with a depressed divorcee.
The MinMax Show brings back the same crew of Ben Hanson, Jacob Geller, Haley McClain, and Leo Vader for a 250-episode celebration, then pivots into games they personally wanted to revisit.
The MinnMax Show gathers Ben Hanson, Jana Garcia, Jacob Geller, and Kelsey Lewin in the Minneapolis studio for the first time together, while the trip is complicated by Haley being denied U.S.
The MinnMax Show uses Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and community updates from Caroline’s Asheville note to frame a wide-ranging episode.
The MinMac Show panel discusses the history and future of Nintendo's weirdest games, lamenting the perceived decline in quirky releases while debating the potential of a Virtual Boy re-release.
The MinnMax show hosts introduce a special in-person recording session and discuss an upcoming community meetup in Minneapolis, along with a story about a friend denied entry to the US.