CP System

The CP System, also known as Capcom Play System or CPS for short, is an 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.

History

After a number of arcade game boards designed to run only one game, Capcom embarked upon a project to produce a system board that could be used to run multiple games, in order to reduce hardware costs and make the system more appealing to arcade operators.
Capcom began developing the CPS hardware around 1986, when Capcom president Kenzo Tsujimoto came up with the concept inspired by the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System. He saw the rise of home video games as competition for the arcades, so said the "only way we can make money is to give people twice what they can get at home".
Capcom developed the CPS hardware for about two-and-a-half years, during which time they developed two custom microchips that they called the CPS Super Chips, equivalent to the power of ten normal arcade printed circuit boards at the time. The two chips cost £5,500,000 or to develop.
The system was plagued by many 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.
The CP System hardware was also utilized in Capcom's unsuccessful attempt at home console market penetration, the Capcom Power System Changer, a domestic version of the CP System similar to the 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.

Technical specifications

CPU:
*Primary: Motorola 68000 @ 10 MHz
*Secondary: Zilog Z80 @ 3.579 MHz
Co-processors: 2x CPS Super Chip
Sound chips:
*Yamaha YM2151 @ 3.579 MHz
*Oki OKI6295 @ 1 MHz
Display
*Resolution: Raster, 384×224 @ 59.6294 Hz
*Color depth: 16-bit
*Colors available: 65,536
*Onscreen colors: 4096
Sprites:
*Simultaneously displayable: 256
*Sizes: 16×16, max. 16 colors
*Vertical and horizontal flipping capability
Tiles: Sizes 8×8, 16×16, 32×32 with 16 colors
Tile maps: 3 maps, 512×512, 1024×1024, 2048×2048 pixel
68000 RAM: 64 KB WORK RAM + 192 KB VRAM
PPU: 192 KB VRAM + 16 KB CACHE RAM
Z80 RAM: 2 KB WORK RAM
List of games (33 games)

English title	Release date	Developer	Japanese title	Genre
Forgotten Worlds	May 13, 1988	Capcom	Lost Worlds	Shoot 'em up
Ghouls'n Ghosts	December 1988	Capcom	Daimakaimura	Platform
Strider	March 1989	Capcom	Strider Hiryū	Platformer
Dynasty Wars	April 1989	Capcom	Tenchi o Kurau	Beat 'em up
Willow	June 1989	Capcom	Willow	Platform
U.N. Squadron	August 1989	Capcom	Area 88	Shoot 'em up
Final Fight	December 1, 1989	Capcom	Final Fight	Beat 'em up
1941: Counter Attack	February 1990	Capcom	1941	Shoot 'em up
Mercs	March 2, 1990	Capcom	Senjō no Ōkami II	Run and gun
Mega Twins	June 19, 1990	Capcom	Chiki Chiki Boys	Platform
Magic Sword - Heroic Fantasy	June 23, 1990	Capcom	Magic Sword	Platform
Carrier Air Wing	October 9, 1990	Capcom	U.S. Navy	Shoot 'em up
Nemo	November 20, 1990	Capcom	Nemo	Platformer
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior	February 6, 1991	Capcom	Street Fighter II: The World Warrior	Head-to-head fighting
Three Wonders	May 20, 1991	Capcom	Wonder 3	Multi-game
The King of Dragons	July 11, 1991	Capcom	The King of Dragons	Beat 'em up
Captain Commando	September 28, 1991	Capcom	Captain Commando	Beat 'em up
Knights of the Round	November 27, 1991	Capcom	Knights of the Round	Beat 'em up
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition	March 13, 1992	Capcom	Street Fighter II : Champion Edition	Head-to-head fighting
Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2	June 11, 1992	Capcom	Adventure Quiz Capcom World 2	Quiz game
Varth: Operation Thunderstorm	June 12, 1992	Capcom	Varth: Operation Thunderstorm	Shoot 'em up
Quiz & Dragons: Capcom Quiz Game	July 1, 1992	Capcom	Quiz & Dragons	Quiz game
Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting	December 9, 1992	Capcom	Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting	Head-to-head fighting
Pokonyan! Balloon	March 22, 1994	Capcom	Pokonyan! Balloon	Kiddie ride
Ken Sei Mogura: Street Fighter II	April 18, 1994	Capcom/Togo/Sigma	Ken Sei Mogura	Whack a mole
Pnickies	June 8, 1994	Capcom/Compile	Pnickies	Puzzle
Quiz Tonosama no Yabō 2: Zenkoku-ban	January 23, 1995	Capcom	Quiz Tonosama no Yabō 2: Zenkoku-ban	Quiz game
Pang! 3	May 11, 1995	Capcom/Mitchell Corporation		Platformer
Mega Man: The Power Battle	October 6, 1995	Capcom	Rockman: The Power Battle	Action
Magical Pumpkin	October 31, 1995	Capcom	Magical Pumpkin	Kiddie ride
Ganbare! Marine Kun	April 11, 2000	Capcom	Ganbare! Marine Kun	Redemption
Gulun.Pa!	Unreleased	Capcom	Gulun.Pa!	Puzzle

CP System Dash

A year before releasing the CP System II, Capcom released an enhanced version of the original CP System dubbed the CP System Dash, which had some features that would later be used in the CP System II, such as the QSound chips. The CP System Dash boards have four interlocking PCBs contained in gray plastic boxes; this concept of enclosing arcade PCBs in a special plastic enclosure would later be reused for the CP System II hardware.
To combat piracy, "suicide batteries" were implemented, which power the volatile RAM which contained the manual configuration of the display hardware registers, as well as the priorities registers. If the batteries' voltage drops below +2V, the registers manually defined in factory by Capcom in RAM would be lost, and the PPU would no longer have access to the hardware specific register set on the game used. This renders the game inoperable, necessitating the operator sending the board to Capcom to be fixed at their own expense. Unlike the CP System II, the CP System Dash sound ROMs were encrypted using "Kabuki" Z80s. The CP System Dash 68000 code is not encrypted at all.

List of games (5 games)

All five games are developed and published by Capcom.

English title	Release date	Japanese title	Genre
Warriors of Fate Sangokushi II	October 2, 1992	Tenchi o Kurau II: Sekiheki no Tatakai	Beat 'em up
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs	February 1, 1993	Cadillacs Kyōryū Shinseiki	Beat 'em up
The Punisher	April 22, 1993	The Punisher	Beat 'em up
Saturday Night Slam Masters	July 13, 1993	Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion	Sports game
Muscle Bomber Duo: Ultimate Team Battle	December 6, 1993	Muscle Bomber Duo: Heat Up Warriors	Sports game

Capcom Power System Changer

A home video game console version of the CP System, the Capcom Power System 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 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, 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 of CP System Dash games. Some CPS-1 games were changed slightly for home release, sometimes including debugging features or other easter eggs.
The final game for the CPS Changer was a back-ported version of Street Fighter Zero 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 slower frame rate, had fewer onscreen colors, a different soundtrack generated by the system's sound chips, fewer sound effects, and the music and sound effects being sampled at a lower rate. This release was also available in limited quantities overseas in the arcades for publicity testing purposes, including those that couldn't afford the upgrade to the CP System II hardware.
That same year, a back-ported version of Rockman: The Power Battle/Mega Man: The Power Battle also appeared. This was not made for the CPS Changer, however, but rather was made as a standard CP System release. This version was also downgraded slightly to accommodate the system's less capable hardware, including the aforementioned changes and differences made to the CPS Changer version of Street Fighter Zero. It was also released in limited quantities overseas for publicity testing purposes, especially for those who couldn't afford to upgrade to the CP System II hardware.