Jam Pak

This week, the boys are taking on music from boss battles. Matt plays some hard-hitting bangers, Rick digs up some tracks that make no sense as boss themes, and Evan gets a raise on his quarterly review. I think Mr. McClanahan's gonna really happy with this one!

It's jam city over here! To kick off Season 3, we're focusing on music heard in video game towns. Think of this episode as a home base before we set off on this season's big adventure. A lot of great tracks from a lot of different systems make an appearance, and the boys try to describe what they think these towns would be like based on the music alone. It's good to be back!

What's up, pals! Jam Pak is back for Season 3! New episodes every Friday beginning next week.

It's the second annual Jam Pak Spooky Special! This time, the boys have found yet another abandoned recording studio to sprinkle you with some spooky video game jams. What could possibly go wrong?

In this bonus episode, Matt and Evan (accompanied by Rick) count down their top ten favorite tracks played on Season 2 of Jam Pak. So many jams this season, but these tracks were decidedly the jammiest. Will the noodle-y goodness of Dino Dini's Soccer reign supreme? Listen and find out!

It's the Season 2 finale, and that can only mean one thing. It's free play time! That means no limitations and all jams. Time to empty out those back pocket tracks, folks! Some insanely good music in this one. Thanks for listening!

It's another battle episode, but this time the boys are each focusing on a different game developer. Rick brings some unexpected tracks from a developer that's famous for great SNES RPG games, Evan picks tracks from a developer that's all about "serious fun", and Matt unearths some jams from a lesser known game developer. Who will win the Battle of the Developers? Listen and decide for yourself.

Also known as the PC-Engine in Japan, the TurboGrafx-16 was a hidden gem of the 8-bit and 16-bit era of video game consoles. Musically, the TG-16 has a really unique sound, almost like a cross between the Sega Genesis and the Game Boy. In this episode, the boys dig up some treasures from a console that never got the full attention it deserved. Some serious bangers in this one!

Feeling stressed out there, pals? Well, the Jam Pak boys have just the thing for you. This episode features nothing but calm and soothing (and sometimes sexy ;) ) tracks. Take in a deep breath, hold it, and breathe out. You're listening to Jam Pak.

Oh man, if this isn't the manliest episode of Jam Pak! After clarifying the rules around this episode (Would a track from (Man)iac (Man)sion count?), the boys play tracks only from games with the word "man" in the title. Evan goes a step further by doing a mini focus with his picks, and some surprisingly soft and sweet tracks get played for an episode focused on men doing manly thing...

What even is a sprinkle in video game music? This is the question that Matt and Evan try to answer in this episode of Jam Pak, and Rick tries his best to have a good attitude about it. Get ready to have your eardrums tickled by some excellent video game music with extra sprinkles.

This episode is shmupped up! That's right, it's all tracks from autoscrolling shoot em ups. Rick plays three tracks that all have an interesting thing in common, Matt plays a series of rockin jams from a developer we all know and love, and Evan issues a formal apology to a composer.

Stepping away from the usual Jam Pak subject matter, the boys decide to focus only on covers of tracks from video games. This episode features fun arrangements of some well-known (and not so well-known) jams, as well as a lot of discussion about different music genres like heavy metal, jazz, and... bardcore.

In this episode, the boys focus on games that only released in Japan, and it's mispronunciations and bangers galore! Seriously, though, this one has some insanely good music. Rick plays a track from a game that sounds incredibly silly, Evan discovers a loop that he just can't get enough of, and Matt hits us with one of the most soulful Famicom tracks we've ever heard.

A hyper-specific topic on this one, it's all tracks featuring orchestra hits! An orchestra hit, commonly used in the 16-bit generation of video game music, is a single staccato note that uses the sounds of a large number of different orchestral instruments. Tracks that use orchestra hits tend to either sound more pumped up or sillier than the average track. In addition to orchestra hits, Rick...

It's JP2K! This time around, the boys are limiting their picks to games that were only released in this millennium. This episode features tracks from a really nice mix of consoles and indie games that deserve just as much attention as those 80's and 90's jams we all love.

Jam Pak is back! Rick, Evan, and Matt get Season 2 started by playing the hits. Well-known tunes from classic games take center stage in this episode, and they're just as delightful to listen to now as they were the first time we heard 'em.

The wolf children (Jam Pak boys) are back for the 1st annual Jam Pak Spooky Special! Matt, Evan, and Rick talk about hold music, spooky stories from their own lives, and other scary subjects while listening to some Cold Stone Classic jams from spooky games. Better keep the lights on for this one, pals! We got a copyright claim for this ep in March 2025. So things have slightly changed! Instagram--...

We made it, pals! It’s the Jam Pak Season 1 Finale, and this time around the boys are playing whatever they want! No topics, no limits, just pure VGM bliss. No surprise here, but this episode puts the JAM in Jam Pak! Thanks for listening, and we’ll see y’all soon for Season 2!

It’s a Battle of the Composers in this episode of Jam Pak! Matt, Rick, and Evan each bring tracks from a specific composer that they didn’t choose themselves. Matt pulls some great tracks from one of the all-time most prolific composers, Motoi Sakuraba, Rick plays some cold stone hits from Miki Higashino, and Evan steps way out of his comfort zone to find some George Sanger bangers. It’s up to the...

Two underappreciated systems get some shine in the 10th episode of Jam Pak. The Sega Master System and Game Gear are both known for having a tinny sound, but when the music on these two systems hits, it hits hard! This episode is a pleasant surprise from start to finish, with some of the best music of the whole season that will have the pals making that “stank face”.

Girls to the front! This episode is a focus on games with a lady as the main playable character, and it’s full of discoveries. Matt and Evan both dig pretty deep and find some tracks that they just can’t get enough of, and Rick makes some interesting musical discoveries of his own. Some of the catchiest and most musically sophisticated tracks of the whole season can be found in this episode!

It’s an all sports games focus in this episode, and boy oh boy does this one have some bangers! Sports games aren’t exactly known for being great to play, so you might think music from sports games wouldn’t be that great either. Well, pals, we’re happy to report that the music in this episode had us wishing we could’ve taken it into overtime. Seriously, these tracks rule! A lot of these tracks are...

Someone roll out the red carpet! It’s movie night at Jam Pak Studios, and the boys are playing tunes only from games based on movies. Rick decides to go covers only, Evan tells a story about getting motion sickness while playing VR mini golf, and Matt brings down the house with a track that’s reminiscent of an 80s Paula Abdul banger. For technical reasons, this was the last episode recorded for Ja...

Grab your shovels and headlamps! We’re going underground in this episode of Jam Pak. The boys play tracks from video game caves and underground areas, and they make an effort to assess each track, listening for that “cave sound”. Rick brings a track for the 1990s alternateens, Matt plays an all-time Game Boy Color banger, and Evan lays down a particularly wet one. Dive on in, pals!