Yoshi - 2-Player Mode (Actual NES Capture)

[Note: This video and description were originally posted on Youtube in September of 2021.]

This is a capture of me and a friend playing the 2-Player mode of Yoshi for the NES. This is not an emulator and was not played on the Wii or Wii U Virtual Console, or Switch Online. This footage was recorded directly from Keet’s front-loading NES using a real Yoshi cartridge. I’m player one (Mario) and Keet is player two (Luigi).

While I was visiting Keet in Florida, we also managed to record the competitive multiplayer modes from a couple NES puzzle games that I brought with me: Yoshi and Yoshi’s Cookie. To my knowledge, Keet had not played Yoshi before, so it was nice to show him this puzzle game while I was there.

Keet’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiMG...

I actually grew up with this game in the early ’90s because my mother was a puzzle game fanatic at the time. She bought Dr. Mario, Tetris 2, Yoshi and Yoshi's Cookie for our NES, and we had tons of two-player battles along with my brother. My brother and I also had the original Tetris on our Game Boys, and our neighbor (my mom’s friend) owned Tetris on the NES, as I recall.

I always found Yoshi to be incredibly simple and not nearly as interesting as Yoshi’s Cookie. In the two-player mode, you compete to see who can earn points the fastest. You can also get knocked out by stacking enemies above the top bar, similar to Dr. Mario. I actually could not figure out how the points system works in this game because even though I won the first round by earning more than 975 points, I won the second round with far fewer points. Perhaps it’s related to how many Yoshis you make with your eggs.

Keet did his best here but for whatever reason, unlike with Yoshi’s Cookie, he just wasn’t able to keep up with me. Also, since Keet’s HDTV couldn’t display the NES at all, we played on an old rear-projection big screen that he still had in his house. However, the green and blue cathode ray tubes must have burnt out on the TV because it only displayed everything in red, making us feel like we were playing on a giant Virtual Boy. But since Yoshi is a simple game, it didn’t really affect us. Dr. Mario, however, probably would have been impossible without any color separation.

Also, this was my first time using the HD PVR 2 with the NES, and I have to say, my prior HD PVR + DVD recorder method makes for a cleaner recording (compare this video with my single-player Yoshi footage). Even though the HD PVR 2 can record 240p signals directly, it causes the pixels to wiggle way more, and the top part of the screen angles to the left for some odd reason. But it was certainly easier to use the HD PVR 2 instead of bringing a massive DVD recorder all the way to Florida, and it still recorded the NES in 60 fps. Anyway, enjoy.

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR 2 and a composite connection at 60 frames per second. We’re using standard NES controllers.