Jam Pak

It's the third annual Spooky Special, and for the first time ever, the boys are joined in the studio by one of the pals! There's something unsettling and weirdly familiar about this special guest, but they've got great taste in video game music, so what the heck! Let's get spooky!

After a whole season of ups and downs, Smurf debates, pay raises, excruciatingly long bathroom breaks, and most importantly, jams, the boys are counting down their top ten tracks of the year!

It's the season finale and that can mean only one thing. The Jam Pak boys can play whatever they want! Apparently they can talk about whatever they want, too, because they seem to be having a lot of trouble staying on topic this time around. This one is off the rails and on the jams!

It's another battle episode, and this time the boys were each given a random year to choose tracks from. For some reason, the wheel of random years decided to take everyone out of their comfort zone by only selecting years beyond 2010. Lovely. It's 2011 vs 2016 vs 2024. Let's see how things shake out!

Another year, another console focus. This time around, it's all about music from the Amiga. The Amiga was actually a line of home computers made by Commodore from 1985 to 1994, and it's loaded hidden gem jams from forgotten games. Fun fact: this episode kinda doubles as a western composer focus, so you can expect a lot of tracks with that signature "badass" sound you only get fro...

It's all about ninjas this time around, and the boys are pulling out jams from a wide variety of games. Shinobi, Goemon, The Ninja Kids, Shinobi, The Messenger, and Shinobi all make an appearance! But for real, the music in this episode is top-tier. We'd give it 5 of 5 throwing stars.

Anthropo what?! In this episode, the boys play music from games where you play as a non-human with human-like characteristics. They also get into a very heated debate about Smurfs. The white gloves are off in this one!

It doesn't take a smartypants to know that puzzle games got jams! From falling blocks, to warpin' tanks, to magic shows, this episode covers music from all types of puzzle games. Evan and Matt also play a round of "guess the composer" while Rick gets tears in his malt. Put on your thinking caps in tune in!

Hey, is that a voice in there? This week the boys are focusing on tracks with vocals. Some of these tracks have a sampled voice saying just one word, some having people talking in the background, and some are full blown songs! A surprisingly fun topic brings out some bangers!

It's been a while since we've focused in on one video game developer. Just like Konami, Sunsoft games had a very specific sound in the late-NES era, and they were pumping out hit after hit on all the consoles! Doesn't matter if you're a Naoki Kodaka head or a Masashi Kageyama head. You're gonna love these Sunsoft jams!

Wait what? A new episode of Jam Pak? On a completely random day that holds no significance whatsoever?

DAAAYYYYTONAAAA! After clarifying with Rick that the topic for this episode is indeed Racing Games, the boys get into some revved up bangers. From start to finish, the tracks in this episode are neck-and-neck with the best of the best!

This week's episode is all about already existing music that's been adapted for video games, and it features everyone's favorite video game composers. Alberto José González? Nah, we're talkin' Johann Sebastian Bach! David Wise? More like David Bowie! From Cyndi Lauper to Claude Debussy, this episode's got all the greats covered.

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.