CP System

CP System

A CP System board
Manufacturer Capcom
Release date July 1988 (1988-07)
CPU Motorola 68000 (@ 10 MHz)
Display Raster, 384 × 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors
Input 8-way joystick, from 3 to 6 buttons

The CP System (CPシステム shīpī shisutemu) or CPS is an arcade system board developed by Capcom that ran game software stored on removable ROM cartridges. More than two dozen arcade titles were released for CPS-1, before Capcom shifted game development over to its successor, the CP System II.

Capcom's Street Fighter II series is perhaps the best known franchise within the CPS game library. The first three titles in the series (The World Warrior, Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting) were all developed on CPS-1 and highly successful.

History

CP System's 10 MHz 68000 CPU and graphics IC

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.

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 CPS Changer, a domestic version of the CP System similar to the Neo-Geo AES.

Technical specifications

List of games

Release date Developer English title Japanese title Genre
1988-07 Capcom Forgotten Worlds Lost Worlds
(ロストワールド)
Shoot 'em up
1988-12 Capcom Ghouls'n Ghosts Daimakaimura
(大魔界村)
Platformer
1989-03 Capcom Strider Strider Hiryū
(ストライダー飛竜)
Platformer
1989-04 Capcom Dynasty Wars Tenchi o Kurau
(天地を喰らう)
Beat 'em up
1989-06 Capcom Willow Willow
(ウィロー)
Platformer
1989-08 Capcom U.N. Squadron Area 88
(エリア88)
Shoot 'em up
1989-12 Capcom Final Fight Final Fight
(ファイナルファイト)
Beat 'em up
1990-02 Capcom 1941: Counter Attack 1941
(1941)
Shoot 'em up
1990-03-02 Capcom Mercs Senjō no Ōkami II
(戦場の狼Ⅱ)
Run and gun
1990-06-19 Capcom Mega Twins Chiki Chiki Boys
(チキチキボーイズ)
Platformer
1990-06-23 Capcom Magic Sword - Heroic Fantasy Magic Sword
(マジックソード)
Platformer
1990-10-09 Capcom Carrier Air Wing U.S. Navy
(U.S.NAVY)
Shoot 'em up
1990-11-20 Capcom Nemo Nemo
(ニモ)
Beat 'em up
1991-02-06 Capcom Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
(ストリートファイターⅡ -The World Warrior-)
Head-to-Head Fighting Game
1991-05-20 Capcom Three Wonders Wonder 3
(ワンダー3)
Multigame
1991-07-11 Capcom The King of Dragons The King of Dragons
(ザ・キングオブドラゴンズ)
Beat 'em up
1991-09-28 Capcom Captain Commando Captain Commando
(キャプテンコマンドー)
Beat 'em up
1991-11-27 Capcom Knights of the Round Knights of the Round
(ナイツオブザラウンド)
Beat 'em up
1992-03-13 Capcom Street Fighter II: Champion Edition Street Fighter II (Dash): Champion Edition
(ストリートファイターⅡダッシュ -Champion Edition-)
Head-to-Head Fighting Game
1992-06-11 Capcom Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2 Adventure Quiz Capcom World 2
(アドベンチャークイズカプコンワールド2)
Quiz game
1992-06-12 Capcom Varth: Operation Thunderstorm Varth: Operation Thunderstorm
(バース -オペレーションサンダーストーム-)
Shoot 'em up
1992-07-01 Capcom Quiz & Dragons: Capcom Quiz Game Quiz & Dragons
(クイズ&ドラゴンズ)
Quiz game
1992-12-09 Capcom Street Fighter II′ Turbo: Hyper Fighting Street Fighter II (Dash) Turbo: Hyper Fighting
(ストリートファイターⅡダッシュターボ -Hyper Fighting-)
Head-to-Head Fighting Game
1994-06-08 Compile Pnickies Pnickies
(ぷにっきいず)
Puzzle game
1995-01-23 Capcom Quiz Tonosama no Yabō 2: Zenkoku-ban Quiz Tonosama no Yabō 2: Zenkoku-ban
(クイズ 殿様の野望2 全国版)
Quiz game

CP System Dash

CP System Dash

A CPS-1.5 board
Manufacturer Capcom
Release date December 1992 (1992-12)
CPU Motorola 68000 (@ 10 MHz)
Display Raster, 384 × 224 pixels (Horizontal), 3072 colors
Input 8-way joystick, from 3 to 6 buttons

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 Q-Sound chips.

The CP System Dash boards have four interlocking PCBs and are contained in gray plastic boxes. 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. The CPS-1 Dash 68000 code is not encrypted at all. If the batteries' voltage should drop 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, rendering the game inoperable, and necessitating the operator sending the board to Capcom to be fixed, at his own expense. Unlike the CP System II, CP System Dash sound ROMs were encrypted using "Kabuki" Z80s.

List of games

Release date Developer English title Japanese title Genre
1992-10-02 Capcom Warriors of Fate
Sangokushi II (Asia)
Tenchi o Kurau II: Sekiheki no Tatakai
(天地を喰らう2・赤壁の戦い)
Beat 'em up
1993-02-01 Capcom Cadillacs and Dinosaurs Cadillacs Kyōryū Shinseiki
(キャディラックス 恐竜新世紀)
Beat 'em up
1993-04-22 Capcom The Punisher The Punisher
(パニッシャー)
Beat 'em up
1993-07-13 Capcom Saturday Night Slam Masters Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion
(マッスルボマー -The Body Explosion-)
Sports game
1993-12-06 Capcom Muscle Bomber Duo: Ultimate Team Battle Muscle Bomber Duo: Heat Up Warriors
(マッスルボマーDUO -Heat Up Warriors-)
Sports game
1994 Capcom/Togo/Sigma Ken Sei Mogura Ken Sei Mogura
(拳聖土竜)
Whack a mole

Capcom Power System Changer

A home version of the CP System, the Capcom Power System Changer was released in late 1994 in Japan to compete against SNK Neo Geo.[2] Capcom released the CPS Changer as an attempt to sell their arcade games in a home-friendly format. The CPS Changer adapter was basically an encased SuperGun (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 tended to 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 featured Super Famicom controller ports, allowing the use of all Super NES controllers, including their six-button joystick, the "CPS Fighter".

All of the CPS Changer games used the CPS arcade hardware. The CPS Changer games were simply arcade PCBs in a special plastic shell suitable for home use. This concept was later re-used in the CP System II hardware. Some CPS1 games were changed slightly for home release, sometimes including debugging features or other easter eggs .

The CPS Changer was sold as a package deal of the console itself, one CPS Fighter joystick controller, and the Street Fighter II (Dash) Turbo game for 39,800 yen. Additional games were sold for about 20,000 yen.

The final game for the CPS Changer was a back-ported version of Street Fighter Zero. Originally released on the CP System II hardware, this special CPS Changer version, released at a premium 35,000 yen, was degraded slightly for the older hardware: it had fewer frames of animation for the game characters, fewer onscreen colors, and the sound and music effects were sampled at a lower rate.

List of games

Release date Developer English title Japanese title Genre
1994 Capcom Warriors of Fate
Sangokushi II (Asia)
Tenchi o Kurau II: Sekiheki no Tatakai
(天地を喰らう2・赤壁の戦い)
Beat 'em up
1994 Capcom Capcom World 2: Adventure Quiz Adventure Quiz Capcom World 2
(アドベンチャークイズカプコンワールド2)
Quiz game
1995 Capcom Captain Commando Captain Commando
(キャプテンコマンドー)
Beat 'em up
1994 Capcom Final Fight Final Fight
(ファイナルファイト)
Beat 'em up
1995 Capcom Knights of the Round Knights of the Round
(ナイツオブザラウンド)
Beat 'em up
1995 Capcom Muscle Bomber Duo: Ultimate Team Battle Muscle Bomber Duo: Heat Up Warriors
(マッスルボマーDUO -Heat Up Warriors-)
Sports game
1994 Capcom Saturday Night Slam Masters Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion
(マッスルボマー -The Body Explosion-)
Sports game
1994 Capcom Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition Street Fighter II Dash: Champion Edition
(ストリートファイターⅡダッシュ -Champion Edition-)
Versus Fighting
1994, pack-in Capcom Street Fighter II′ Turbo: Hyper Fighting Street Fighter II Dash Turbo: Hyper Fighting
(ストリートファイターⅡダッシュターボ -Hyper Fighting-)
Versus Fighting
1995 Capcom Street Fighter Alpha Street Fighter Zero
(ストリートファイターZERO)
Versus Fighting
1995 Capcom The King of Dragons The King of Dragons
(ザ・キングオブドラゴンズ)
Beat 'em up

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "CP System arcade system by Capcom Co., Ltd. (1988)".
  2. "Capcom's Home Arcade System". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (67): 50. February 1995.

External links

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