What If Video Games Came on VHS? One Modder Is Finding Out

A hardware enthusiast called Throaty Mumbo has built GCVHS, an experimental system that encodes executable data and multiple video streams into composite VHS recordings and decodes them with a real VCR, a DE1-SoC FPGA board, and an RP2350-based microcontroller. Rather than running classic engines natively from tape, the setup uses prerecorded footage plus tape-resident data and timing signals to create interactive experiences: a Doom demo plays as an on-rails full-motion-video sequence with eight simultaneous streams whose selection is governed by timed controller inputs, and a Super Mario Bros. experiment uses imagery from tape as a visual backdrop while external hardware generates interactive gameplay. The design also embeds timing information to allow experimental seeking via an infrared blaster.

This is a deliberately impractical revival of a late-1980s concept (think Action Max), not a claim that VHS is a better medium. The point is exploration: using modern electronics to push a physical, awkward format into genuinely responsive territory and to imagine how interactive-video experiments could have evolved. The project is experimental and hosted on GitHub, with a demonstration available on YouTube; it’s notable for creative engineering and nostalgic curiosity rather than commercial promise.