Cables are everything

For a little while I had noticed that some of my SNES captures would have clearly visible diagonal lines running through them.  Others didn't.  I thought that perhaps it was an interlacing issue (capture cards pick up 240p signals as 480i, even if you're recording directly from the console), but it turns out I was wrong.

The problem was the cables.  I was using cheap third-party cables that I had picked up off eBay.  So I did a quick search and found the official S-video cable from Nintendo for the SNES/N64/GameCube.  It wasn't cheap.  I had to fork over $50 to a seller in Japan, but I got the box and a pristine set of cables.

Unlike the cheap third-party cables I was using, the official cables don't have a composite plug on them.  It's S-video only, and I hear that's higher quality than having a cable with both composite and S-video connectors.

These cables were apparently only sold in Japan.  However, I recall seeing an order form in the Super Nintendo instruction manual where you could order these cables straight from Nintendo.  So Nintendo must have sold these directly to consumers in the U.S. and not to retailers.

I've already run some tests and the quality is incredible.  No more diagonal lines.  All of my future SNES and N64 uploads will use these cables and I'll be uploading new playthroughs of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid.  I also wouldn't mind redoing the Super Scope 6 footage.

Oh, somehow I forgot to post this.  I got these games some time last year (I think toward the beginning/middle of the year):

I'd love to do some two-player playthroughs, but considering their difficulty, I don't know if that will be possible.  We'll see though.