Yeah, I was foolishly hoping that someone had dissected the speed mechanic to the level that Alex Kerr had figured out NES Tetris...

I'm thinking it's a combination of score and how many Yoshi cookies you've gotten at that point.

I've seen it increase too much independent of actually getting Yoshi cookies, so I'm not totally convinced they factor in.

It's entirely possible it's just based on total cookies cleared, re-indexed every few stages.

Damn!  Nicely done, sir.

Just the right combination of wine, tiredness and motivation from chat helped out. That run took 3-3.5 hours which is a long time for one score. I can vouch that the speed temporarily resets when you hit the beginning of a new set of stages 2-1, 3-1, etc, but I don't know if it's based on total score or not. I am inclined to think yes as my 50K run yesterday to world 7-10 wasn't nearly as fast as when I hit 7-10 on this run attempt. Also beware, some levels have crappy beginning layouts the higher up you get and will do you dirty very fast.

One other note, the secret stages do not let you carry your score over from the first 10 stages. Putting in the password before starting the game overall may allow you to continue doing that once you pass 10-10 to keep the score going up, but I'm not sure. Although the secret stages have a few surprises in mind. The speed was slower (maybe because of no score when starting stage 11). I may consider attempting it with inputting the secret code and starting from 1-1 to keep the score going up and to see if that'll make a difference (if it'll let me continue to 11-1 with the same score).  I mean there are 7 point slots and we've barely touched the first 6, there has to be a way to get 9,999,990 right?

Fun game that I really should get the actual cart. This run has little milking. I may try to post another score later on, but we'll see. Great scores everyone! ^>^

EDIT: okay I tried again and got this score: again, very little milking done here. Boy those latter levels get quick! 

30,660 points

So it is definitely possible to get more than 3 Yoshi cookies on screen at a time... not too many situations where the speed allows it, though.

I managed get 5 Yoshi cookies plus 2 regular cookies for a whopping 10240 pts... too bad it wasn't part of a combo!

I'm adding a rule that if you beat the game, your run ends there. That way the game won't become a grind for those who can advance far into the secret levels. It is not believed the score carries over into the secret levels, so there's no reason to go any further than level 10-10.

^Good call bimmy, that was the same thing I told Space Jockey last night when he was playing on cam. What an incredible run, very fun to watch that kind of high-level play.

Seems more and more to me that it's score and cookies cleared based,which ties in to Yoshi cookies too since you get one every time after you clear out one of the "cookie meters".

From the manual:

You'll receive 1 Yoshi Cookie each time you eliminate 15 similar cookies.

EDIT
Updated score on page 4 with milking this time.

mfw I'm sitting here playing this game, thinking how much it sucks... And then I realize I'm playing Yoshi, not Yoshi's Cookie. Whoops, lol.

36,170

You take that back! Yoshi is a good game in its own right

I second this. Yoshi is a game I didn't expect much from but it surprised me at how fun it is. I like Yoshi's Cookie better though.

Well, I will concede that the game may have been better if I knew what the hell was going on... With no manual I was guessing what I was supposed to be doing, but I figured out the gist of it pretty quick. Granted I was playing from a low level, but it seemed to all go so slow... I dunno, thats just my view from playing the game for 20 minutes. Once I figured out that it was the wrong game, I was over joyed lol. Too bad Im missing Yoshi Cookie which I thought I had. Now I have to see if any local shop is carrying it. Hopefully I like that one better

Hold B and pieces fall faster from both sides.

Also, once you rack up some score, they go faster than you would like!

update

79,670

I think i can do better.....

22100

206,900

Much better score this time!  This run was crazy stressful, hahaha!  Can anyone do better?

^ Wow!

JockeyDude just got some serious competition!

Will be doing more attempts Thursday and Friday, so don't think you got this made yet Arnpoly.

I'm glad to hear it!  I'm not sure if I have the fortitude (or actually the time) to try this again.  It was fun but man it was stressful for me!