Capcom CPS Changer

Lore & Background

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 (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. It 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 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.

Reader's Guide

The CPS Changer represents Capcom's sole attempt at a home console during the 1990s, directly competing with the Neo Geo AES. Its significance lies in bringing arcade-perfect (or near-arcade) versions of Capcom's CPS-1 library into the home, though its high price and limited production kept it a niche product. The final game for the CPS Changer was a backported version of Street Fighter Zero (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, a different soundtrack generated entirely by the system's sound chips, fewer sound effects, and the music and sound effects being 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 (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 (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.

Did You Know?

• Capcom initially manufactured only 1,000 units of the CPS Changer in Japan.
• The CPS Changer's adapter was compatible with most JAMMA standard PCBs, though it would not attach firmly to non-Capcom boards.