CP System

arcade system board developed by Capcom that ran game software stored on removable daughterboards. More than two dozen arcade titles were released for CPS-1, before Capcom shifted game development over to its successor, the CP System II. Technical support for the CPS-1 ended on March 31, 2015.

The CP System is best known for its many beat 'em up titles such as Dynasty Wars, Final Fight, The King of Dragons, Captain Commando, Knights of the Round, Warriors of Fate, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and The Punisher, as well as fighting games such as Street Fighter II and Muscle Bomber.

Capcom developed the hardware for about two-and-a-half years, during which time they developed two custom microchips known as the "CPS Super Chips", which were equivalent to the power of ten normal arcade boards at the time. The two chips cost around £5,500,000 or bootleg versions of its games. In particular, there were so many bootleg versions of Street Fighter II that they were more common in some countries than the official version. This problem was virtually eliminated by Capcom in the later CP System II.Neo Geo AES.

Capcom ceased production of the CP System hardware on May 11, 1995; however, new software continued to be released for the hardware as late as 2000. Capcom ended technical support for the CP System hardware and its games on March 31, 2015.

• CPU:
  • Primary: Motorola 68000 @ 10MHz (some later boards 12MHz)
  • Secondary: Zilog Z80 @ 3.579MHz
• Co-processors: 2x CPS Super Chip
• Sound chips:
  • YamahaYM2151 @ 3.579MHz
  • Oki OKI6295 @ 1MHz (7.576kHz samples)
• Display
  • Resolution: Raster, 384×224 @ 59.6294Hz
  • Color depth: 16-bit (12-bit RGB with 4-bit brightness value)
  • Colors available: 65,536
  • Onscreen colors: 4096 (192 global palettes with 16 colors each)
• Sprites:
  • Simultaneously displayable: 256 (per scanlines)
  • Sizes: 16×16, max. 16 colors (15 unique + 1 transparent)
  • Vertical and horizontal flipping capability
• Tiles: Sizes 8×8, 16×16, 32×32 with 16 colors (15 unique + 1 transparent)
• Tile maps: 3 maps, 512×512, 1024×1024, 2048×2048 pixel
• RAM:
  • 68000: 64 KB WORK RAM + 192 KB VRAM (Shadow)
  • Z80: 2 KB WORK RAM
  • PPU: 192 KB VRAM + 16 KB CACHE RAM

A home video game console version of the CP System, the Capcom Power System Changer (or CPS Changer), was released in late 1994 in Japan to compete with SNK's Neo Geo AES. It was Capcom's attempt at selling their arcade games in a home-friendly format.

The CPS Changer was sold as a package deal containing the console itself, one CPS Fighter joystick controller, and Street Fighter II (Dash) Turbo for 39,800 yen. Additional games were sold for about 20,000 yen. Upon its release in November 1994, Capcom initially manufactured only 1,000 units in Japan.

The CPS Changer's adapter was basically an encased SuperGun (i.e. Television JAMMA adapter), and was compatible with most JAMMA standard PCBs. Capcom's "protection" against people using the CPS Changer on other arcade boards was the physical shape of the device. On a normal JAMMA PCB, it would not attach firmly and would lean at odd angles, but it would work. The CPS Changer has outputs for composite video, S-video and line-level mono audio. The CPS Changer also featured Super Famicom/Super NES controller ports, allowing the use of all Super Famicom/Super NES controllers, including their own six-button joystick, the "CPS Fighter".

All of the CPS Changer games used the CP System arcade hardware. The CPS Changer games were simply arcade PCBs in a special plastic shell suitable for home use; this concept had already been done with the CP System II hardware a year prior. The plastic shells are identical to that used in CP System Dash games. Some CPS-1 games were changed slightly for home release, sometimes including debugging features or other easter eggs.backported version of Street Fighter Zero (also known as Street Fighter Alpha) in 1995, originally released for the CP System II hardware. This port, released at a premium 35,000 yen in 1996, was downgraded slightly for the system's less capable hardware: it ran at a slightly slower frame rate, had a lower color depth and palette,sampled at a lower rate.

The CPS Changer version of Street Fighter Zero also had a limited release overseas in the arcades for publicity testing purposes (being released as Street Fighter Alpha for those regions) where it was distributed as a standard CP System release, especially to those who couldn't afford the upgrade to the CP System II hardware. Another CP System II game that was backported around the same timeframe, Rockman: The Power Battle (also known as Mega Man: The Power Battle), also received similar changes when it was ported to the CP System hardware (but not the CPS Changer, as no new releases for it were made after Street Fighter Zero), and it too had limited releases in the arcades much like the publicity test versions of Street Fighter Zero for the CPS Changer.