Master Yoda was supposed to be this badass Jedi yet he loses against Palpatine. Meanwhile Master Mace Windu almost beats Palpatine, and would have, had it not been for Anakin's intervention.
So what gives? Why couldn't Yoda beat Palpatine?
Answer
As Null points out, your question is probably flawed, in that Windu didn't actually beat Palpatine, and it is likely that Palpatine allowed Windu to disarm him. However, I'm willing to answer the question as you asked it, and address the real version of events afterwards.
To answer the question as it was asked:
It isn't specifically stated, but we can speculate that it is the result of several factors.
Lightsaber Abilities and Forms of Yoda and Windu:
Mace Windu as a lightsaber combatant:
Mace uses a lightsaber combat form called Vaapad, which he himself invented. It was frowned upon by the Jedi Council because it skirted the edge of the Dark Side of the Force and required that the practitioner bend, if not actually break, the generally accepted rules of conduct for Jedi. In fact, Windu is the only Jedi practitioner of Vaapad who didn't fall to the Dark Side of the Force.
Windu's Skill:
Mace Windu was a formidable warrior and generally considered one of the greatest swordsmen ever produced by the Jedi Order. He was a master of all seven forms of lightsaber combat. He began his development of the deadly form of combat known as Vaapad, the seventh form of combat which completed (to the Jedi) the Juyo form. Vaapad was named after a predator native to the moons of Sarapin.
Mace Windu was the only Jedi to fully master Vaapad. The other two practitioners of the style, Sora Bulq and Depa Billaba, were unable to master it—instead, it mastered them, driving them insane and leading them to the dark side. It is said that only his onetime friend, Dooku, and the venerable Grand Master Yoda could outspar him. When he went to Haruun Kal in search for his former Padawan, Depa, he used both his and her lightsabers in a masterful two-bladed variant of Vaapad. During his duel with Darth Sidious, he and the Sith Lord used a Form V opening stance in the middle of the battle, but it is unknown whether or not Mace Windu employed Form V. A factor that played into Windu's fighting style was his admission that his greatest character flaw was his enjoyment of fighting, and given the nature of the dark side, this was a very dangerous trait for a Jedi to possess. In fact, Windu intentionally created Vaapad to help channel his inner darkness into something more positive. He also often employed a behind the back parry and then thrust sequence in his dueling style.
Windu was one of the greatest swordsmen of his time. He defeated Sora Bulq during their duel on Ruul and overpowered Asajj Ventress shortly afterwards. Windu also fought on par with Count Dooku during the battle of Boz Pity and even managed to defeat Darth Sidious himself in a duel— a feat that no other Force Adept, including Grand Master Yoda, was ever able to accomplish unaided. Another notable example of Windu's fighting skills was that he was able to overwhelm the powerful cyborg General Grievous, though the latter did put up a considerable fight.
- Wookieepedia
Vaapad:
"I created Vaapad to answer my weakness: it channels my own darkness into a weapon of the light."
- Mace Windu to Obi-Wan Kenobi"[Vaapad] is very aggressive... It can take the user very close to the dark side..."
- Mace Windu"Vaapad is as aggressive and powerful as its namesake, but its power comes at great risk: immersion in Vaapad opens the gates that restrain one's inner darkness. To use Vaapad, a Jedi must allow himself to enjoy the fight; he must give himself over to the thrill of battle. The rush of winning. Vaapad is a path that leads through the penumbra of the dark side…This was Vaapad's ultimate test."
- Mace WinduVaapad was described as more than a fighting style; it was a state of mind that led through the penumbra of the dark side, requiring the user to enjoy the fight, and relish the satisfaction of winning. The practitioner of Vaapad would accept the fury of their opponent, transforming them into one half of a superconducting loop, with the other half being the power of darkness inherent in the opponent. The form was also mentioned with a cautionary warning by the Jedi that use of Vaapad led the user perilously close to the dark side due to its focus on physical combat. Vaapad required a constant and sizable stream of Force use from the user, with a barely contained explosion of Force power essential to all variations of Form VII as another prerequisite for its use. The form's attacks appeared to be unconnected, its motions seemingly unpolished to an untrained observer.
During the later years of the Republic, Jedi Master Mace Windu developed Vaapad with the aid of fellow master Sora Bulq, by drawing inspiration from the movements of a creature, known as both the Vaapad and the Juyo, native to the planet Sarapin. Vaapad users appeared to wield many lightsabers at once, moving too fast to see, just as the vaapad creature would attack with blindingly fast tentacles that were impossible to count until the vaapad was dead. A Vaapad user's attacks would flow into each other with liquid precision, creating the constant near-invisible weave of energy which was the ready-stance of Vaapad. It was also possible to apply Vaapad in unarmed combat, with the user's arms becoming too fast to see, as well as in the use of dual lightsabers. While observing the duel between Darth Sidious and Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker considered Windu's Vaapad bladework to be "an oblate sphere of purple fire" which contained dozens of blades attacking from every angle.
After his fall to the dark side prior to the Clone Wars, Count Dooku described the power of Vaapad as skirting the dark side of the Force, but stated during a duel with Sora Bulq that the form was bridled and weak without direct use of the dark side. Dooku later subverted Bulq to his cause. After Bulq fell to the dark side, he claimed that he had perfected the form, which Windu disputed while engaging Bulq in a lightsaber duel. While Bulq had previously practiced Vaapad with Windu, he was unable to defeat him in combat and their duel ended in a stalemate. Though Windu and Bulq were credited with the creation of the Vaapad variant, the seventh lightsaber form was known, albeit obscurely, by the name Vaapad as early as the end of the New Sith Wars by the Sith Blademaster Kas'im.
- Wookieepedia
Thus, Windu was fighting fire with fire, so to speak, and battling the Emperor on his own terms. Vaapad allowed him to channel the Emperor's hostility and aggression back at him, using his own energy to defeat him. Windu was also considered to be one of the most talented lightsaber combatants who ever lived, so it isn't particularly surprising that he was better suited to fight Palpatine than Yoda was.
Yoda as a lightsaber combatant:
Yoda's Skill:
Yoda was a master of lightsaber combat, and was widely acknowledged as being perhaps the greatest Jedi duelist of his time despite being trained as a Jedi Consular. It was said that only Mace Windu, Count Dooku and Palpatine were able to fight with him on equal terms. Although a master of all forms, his preferred style was Form IV, as it allowed him to compensate for his limited reach and stature. His technique was said to consist of the pure basics of Ataru taken to their highest possible levels. Despite his age, Yoda was an exceptional swordsman, displaying amazing speed and dexterity, leaping through the air and twirling as he battered at an opponent's defenses. Much of his lightsaber combat style relied on jumps and acrobatics, augmented by his mastery of Force Valor. Despite the fact that Yoda's primary combat specialization was Ataru, he demonstrated an extreme level of skill with regard to deflecting blaster bolts.
- Wookieepedia
Ataru:
"Form IV, also called Ataru, is the most acrobatic Form, filled with numerous elaborate moves, and relies heavily upon a Jedi's ability to run, jump, and spin using the Force."
- Cin DralligAtaru was an aggressive combat form relying on a combination of strength, speed, and agility. Due to this, it was also called the Way of the Hawk-bat or the Aggression Form. Practitioners of Ataru were always on the offensive, attacking with wide, fast, and powerful swings. Form IV practitioners constantly called upon the Force to aid in their movements and attacks. By allowing the Force to flow throughout their body, they could overcome their physical limitations—including old age, as was the case with Master Yoda—and perform amazing feats of acrobatics, such as somersaults and backflips, not only for attack, but also to evade the slashes and strikes of their opponents. Jedi utilizing Ataru needed to incorporate all the Force powers that involved surpassing normal physical ranges of motion, speed, and agility in order to be successful. Running, jumping, and spinning were all emphasized in learning the elaborate kinetics of the form.
Those who used Form IV could move at high speeds and could rain strong blows, jumping and attacking through the air. Powerful and quick spinning attacks could be utilized from all angles, either from ground or air. A master in Ataru combat could appear like a blur to their opponents, attacking from all directions—the front, the sides, overhead, or behind. The Force not only allowed them to perform athletic feats not possible otherwise, but it also helped guide their actions and movements in combat.
- Wookieepedia
Other Factors:
Physical Strength:
Yoda is centuries old, walks with a cane, and is near the end of his life. Windu is a young man, relative to Yoda, and in better shape.
In his later years, Yoda lost a great deal of his mobility, demonstrating a pronounced limp and depending on a cane to aid him in his everyday movements. This loss of mobility was due to the fact that, in his old age, Yoda suffered from debilitating arthritis. When possible, Yoda preferred to use a hoverchair rather than walk at all. His mastery of Force Valor allowed him to overcome these physical infirmities, but due to the extremely taxing nature of the ability, he was only able to utilize it for a short time before tiring.
- Wookieepedia
Ideological Differences:
Mace Windu:
"To use Vaapad, a Jedi must allow himself to enjoy the fight; he must give himself over to the thrill of battle. The rush of winning."
- Mace WinduDue to his talent as a duelist and Force-user, Windu was very prideful, quite secure in his own strength, and he was especially well known for a sharp tongue and an occasional sarcastic interface. However, he kept this arrogance in check for the most part, humbling himself towards individuals he felt superior, such as Yoda.
Ultimately, Mace Windu's true motivation for all he did was a divergence from Jedi philosophy, as his personal belief system was an extremist viewpoint of peace at all costs*. In his mind, peace was created by civilization, and he viewed the Republic as the ultimate civilization, thus developing an attachment towards the institution, and leaving him with a willingness to do anything required to preserve the Republic, even if it meant violating Jedi philosophy. This proved to be his ultimate downfall, when he resolved to execute the seemingly helpless Chancellor Palpatine, an unarmed opponent, spurring Anakin Skywalker into action.
- Wookieepedia
Yoda:
Yoda: "Help you I can. Yes, mmm."
Luke: "I don't think so. I'm looking for a great warrior."
Yoda: "Oh! Great warrior. Wars not make one great."
- Yoda and Luke Skywalker, meeting on DagobahTo his students, the elfin luminary Yoda could appear as either very strict or like a grandfatherly figure, testing them to mental and physical extremes one moment and showing warmth the next. Students often strongly disagreed with him at first, but gradually came to understand his attitudes.
Among his colleagues on the Jedi High Council, he was known to have a penchant for mischief and practical jokes. To all of the young Jedi, he was the humble Yoda, who offered enlightened leadership and epitomized the ideals of the Jedi Order; a grandmaster of that august body, he was widely known as a sage instructor.
- Wookieepedia
Yoda wasn't able to defeat Palpatine - or fare as well against him as Windu did - because of a number of factors:
His age and physical infirmity, relative to Palpatine and Windu.
His outlook on the use of the Force, which led him to reject overt aggression and hostility. Windu was willing to kill an unarmed Palpatine, which is something that is difficult to imagine Yoda doing.
His inability to meet Palpatine on equal footing, in terms of the use of Dark Side energies.
Speculatively, when Yoda fought Palpatine, he may have been hindered by the greater damage that had been done to the balance of the Force in general and the Jedi Order in particular, relative to the situation when Windu fought Palpatine.
It is likely that Palpatine wasn't as beaten as he appeared to be. The novelization of Revenge of the Sith suggests that Palpatine deliberately let Windu "defeat" him because he knew that Anakin would intervene on his behalf [the following quote is redacted to focus on the relevant information]:
Now the shadow was only Palpatine: old and shrunken, thinning hair bleached white by time and care, face lined with exhaustion.
"For all your power, you are no Jedi. All you are, my lord," Mace said evenly, staring past his blade, "is under arrest."
"Do you see, Anakin? Do you?" Palpatine's voice once again had the broken cadence of a frightened old man's. "Didn't I warn you of the Jedi and their treason?"
"Save your twisted words, my lord. There are no politicians here. The Sith will never regain control of the Republic. It's over. You've lost." Mace leveled his blade. "You lost for the same reason the Sith always lose: defeated by your own fear."
Palpatine lifted his head.
His eyes smoked with hate.
"Fool," he said.
He lifted his arms, his robes of office spreading wide into raptor's wings, his hands hooking into talons.
"Fool!" His voice was a shout of thunder. "Do you think the fear you feel is mine?"
Lighting blasted the clouds above, and lightning blasted from Palpatine's hands, and Mace didn't have time to comprehend what Palpatine was talking about; he had time only to slip back into Vaapad and angle his blade to catch the forking arcs of pure, dazzling hatred that clawed toward him.
Because Vaapad is more than a fighting style. It is a state of mind: a channel for darkness. Power passed into him and out again without touching him. And the circuit completed itself: the lightning reflected back to its source.
Palpatine staggered, snarling, but the blistering energy that loured from his hands only intensified. He fed the power with his pain.
"Anakin!" Mace called. His voice sounded distant, blurred, ; if it came from the bottom of a well. "Anakin, help me! This is your chance!"
He felt Anakin's leap from the office floor to the ledge, felt his approach behind - And Palpatine was not afraid. Mace could feel it: he wasn't worried at all. "Destroy this traitor," the Chancellor said, his voice raised aver the howl of writhing energy that joined his hands to Mace's blade. "This was never an arrest. It's an assassination!"
That was when Mace finally understood. He had it. The key to final victory. Palpatine's shatterpoint. The absolute shatter-point of the Sith. The shatterpoint of the dark side itself.
Mace thought, blankly astonished, Palpatine trusts Anakin Skywalker...
Now Anakin was at Mace's shoulder. Palpatine still made no move to defend himself from Skywalker; instead he ramped up the lightning bursting from his hands, bending the fountain of Mace's blade back toward the Korun Master's face.
Palpatine's eyes glowed with power, casting a yellow glare that burned back the rain from around them. "He is a traitor, Anakin. Destroy him."
"You're the chosen one, Anakin," Mace said, his voice going thin with strain. This was beyond Vaapad; he had no strength left to fight against his own blade. "Take him. It's your destiny.'"
Skywalker echoed him faintly. "Destiny..."
"Help me! I can't hold on any longer!" The yellow glare from Palpatine's eyes spread outward through his flesh. His skin flowed like oil, as though the muscle beneath was burning away, as though even the bones of his skull were softening, were bending and bulging, deforming from the heat and pressure of his electric hatred. "He is killing me, Anakin—! Please, Anaaahhh—"
Mace's blade bent so close to his face that he was choking on ozone. "Anakin, he's too strong for me—"
"Ahhh—" Palpatine's roar above above the endless blast of lightning became a fading moan of despair.
The lightning swallowed itself, leaving only the night and the rain, and an old man crumpled to his knees on a slippery ledge.
"I... can't. I give up. I... I am too weak, in the end. Too old, and too weak. Don't kill me, Master Jedi. Please. I surrender."
Victory flooded through Mace's aching body. He lifted his blade. "You Sith disease—"
" Wait—" Skywalker seized his lightsaber arm with desperate strength. "Don't kill him— you can't just kill him, Master—"
"Yes, I can," Mace said, grim and certain. "I have to." "You came to arrest him. He has to stand trial—" "A trial would be a joke. He controls the courts. He controls the Senate—" "So are you going to kill all them, too? Like he said you would?"
Mace yanked his arm free. "He's too dangerous to be left alive. If you could have taken Dooku alive, would you have?" Skywalker's face swept itself clean of emotion. "That was different—"
Mace turned toward the cringing, beaten Sith Lord. "You can explain the difference after he's dead." He raised his lightsaber.
"I need him alive!" Skywalker shouted. "I need him to save Padme!" Mace thought blankly, Why? And moved his lightsaber toward the fallen Chancellor.
Before he could follow through on his stroke, a sudden arc of blue plasma sheared through his wrist and his hand tumbled away with his lightsaber still in it and Palpatine roared back to his feet and lightning speared from the Sith Lord's hands and without his blade to catch it, the power of Palpatine's hate struck him full-on.
He had been so intent on Palpatine's shatterpoint that he'd never thought to look for Anakin's.
Dark lightning blasted away his universe. He fell forever.
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