Bread Bin & Cartridge

Sunday 7 October 1990: Ocean's Shadow Warriors, the conversion of Tecmo's ninja coin-op, was number one in Gallup's full-price software chart across every format, and the magazines could not agree on it.

Lee and Mark grab a lamp post and swing in: Maria McKee at number one with Show Me Heaven, the Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga packs in the shops with every price in today's money, and reviews ranging from C+VG's 93% for the Amiga to Amiga Format's 42%, with Your Sinclair, Crash, Sinclair User, Zzap!64 and Amstrad Action in between. There's Howards' Way on BBC One, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles for the kids and as Toy of the Year, and Amstrad's GX4000 console just launched. Then the sound desk plays Matt Furniss's title music on the C64, the Spectrum and the Amiga, before the graphics and the hosts' own scores.

Short music and TV extracts are used for commentary and review.

Wednesday 6 October 1993: three weeks after Mortal Monday, Mortal Kombat had five versions in the Gallup cartridge top ten, with the Mega Drive cartridge at number one.

Lee and Mark step into the tournament: Take That and Lulu at number one with Relight My Fire, Dixons selling the cartridges from £29.99 to £59.99, every price with its value in today's money, and the reviews from Mean Machines Sega (79%), Mega (82%), Nintendo Magazine System (92%), Super Play (81%) and GamesMaster's 55% for the Game Boy. There's Coronation Street and the brand new Live and Kicking on the telly, Thunderbirds as Toy of the Year, and the Amiga CD32 just launched. Then the sound desk plays The Pit on the Mega Drive, the Super Nintendo and the Game Gear, before the blood code, the graphics and the hosts' own scores.

Short music and TV extracts are used for commentary and review.

Saturday 5 October 1991: US Gold's home computer conversions of Capcom's Final Fight hit the shops, and the magazines could not agree on a thing.

Lee and Mark take a stroll round Metro City: Bryan Adams' Everything I Do at number one on its record run, the Amiga 500 Cartoon Classics pack at £399.99, every price with its value in today's money, and one of the great review splits (Amiga Action 92% against 60% from CU Amiga and Amiga Format, YC 89% on the Commodore 64 against Zzap!64's 22% and Commodore Format's 19%, and a Crash Smash on the Spectrum). There's Birds of a Feather and Knightmare on the telly, the Game Boy topping the toy charts, and Linus Torvalds posting Linux 0.02 on this very day. Then the sound desk plays Jolyon Myers' Amiga title tune, Dave Lowe's C64 theme and the Spectrum 128K's AY music, before the graphics and the hosts' own scores.

Short music and TV extracts are used for commentary and review.

Thursday 14 October 1999: Sega's Dreamcast goes on sale in Britain at £199.99, with Sonic Adventure leading the launch. Lee and Mark take in Christina Aguilera's Genie in a Bottle at number one, Dreamcast, PlayStation and N64 prices in today's money, the DC-UK, Official Dreamcast Magazine, CVG and Edge verdicts, The Royle Family, SMTV Live, Furby Babies and the Pokémon launch, and a sound desk tracing Sonic Adventure's tunes back to the Mega Drive, plus how the GameCube port compared.

Thursday 19 November 1998: Valve's Half-Life goes on sale in America, with UK shops getting it on the 27th. Lee and Mark take in Cher's Believe at number one, Half-Life and new sound cards priced in today's money, PC Zone's 95% and C&VG's perfect 100%, Victoria Wood's dinnerladies on BBC One, SMTV Live on Saturday mornings, Furby as Toy of the Year and the Game Boy Color, and a sound desk comparing Half-Life on plain software sound, a Sound Blaster Live! with EAX and an Aureal A3D card, plus software vs OpenGL graphics.

Friday 29 September 1995: Sony's PlayStation goes on sale across Europe at £299, and Psygnosis launch WipEout alongside it. Lee and Mark take in Simply Red's Fairground at number one, PlayStation and Saturn prices in today's money, the magazine verdicts, The Bill, Frank Bruno in the Live & Kicking Hot Seat, POGs as Toy of the Year, and a sound desk comparing WipEout's CoLD SToRAGE score, the PlayStation's Orbital track and the Saturn-only replacements.

Wednesday 10 June 1992. Capcom ships Street Fighter II on the Super Famicom in Japan while Britain is already SNES-hungry after the April launch. Erasure's Abba-esque EP owns the Official Chart, Neighbours is on BBC One teatime, and Lee and Mark compare Guile's theme on arcade, Super Nintendo and Mega Drive Special Champion Edition. Mean Machines 98%, Super Play 94%, toys from WWF wrestlers to Tracy Island shortages. Bread Bin & Cartridge.

Fair-use extracts: Erasure — Take A Chance On Me; Neighbours theme; Street Fighter II Guile (Arcade / SNES / Mega Drive SCE).

Sunday 23 June 1991. Sonic the Hedgehog hits UK Mega Drive shops, Jason Donovan holds Official Chart number one with Any Dream Will Do, and Hyacinth Bucket is keeping up appearances on the BBC. Lee and Mark walk the high-street console prices in today's money, dig through Mean Machines, C&VG, ACE and Sega Pro, pivot from Keeping Up Appearances to Going Live, and put Green Hill Zone on the Mega Drive, Master System and Game Gear sound desk. Game Gear lands in Britain the same week. Bread Bin & Cartridge — retro daily.

Fair-use short extracts: Jason Donovan — Any Dream Will Do; Keeping Up Appearances theme; Sonic Green Hill Zone (Mega Drive / Master System / Game Gear).

Saturday 4 October 1986: Elite's conversion of Atari's Paperboy sits at the top of the Gallup all-formats chart.

Lee and Mark take a bike round the day: Madonna's True Blue at number one, the brand new Spectrum +2 at £149 and other high-street prices, a big review split (Crash 88%, Your Sinclair 9/10 and Sinclair User 5/5, but Zzap!64 just 44%), Colin Baker's Doctor Who and Saturday Superstore on BBC One, plus the year's big toys (Transformers, Lazer Tag, Blockbusters) and Amstrad buying the Spectrum. Every price comes with its value in today's money. Then the sound desk compares Mark Cooksey's Commodore 64 tune, the Spectrum 48K's beeper tunettes and effects, and an early Amstrad CPC mix, before the graphics and the hosts' own scores.

Short music and TV extracts are used for commentary and review.

Friday 10 December 1993 — id Software release the shareware episode of Doom, and crash a university network doing it.

Lee and Mark dig into the day: Mr Blobby knocks Meat Loaf off number one, what a 486 PC and a Sound Blaster 16 cost that winter in today's money, Have I Got News For You on BBC One and Live and Kicking on Saturday mornings, Tracy Island and the Amiga CD32 as the period flavour, and the story of Doom — the engine, the deathmatch and the WAD files. The magazines couldn't agree: Edge gave it seven, PC Zone called it the best ever. Then a PC-only sound desk: FM synth vs Gravis UltraSound vs Roland SC-55.

Short music and TV extracts are used for commentary and review.