What is this cartridge?

[Edmond Dantes]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section but I just couldn't figure where else to post this:

I see these weird green cartridges (http://www.ebay.com/itm/X-Men-VS-Street-Fighters-Arcade-Capcom-CPSII-Japan-/260836641324?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbb134a2c) a lot on eBay, always for Capcom games. Did Capcom come out with their own console, like SNK did with the Neo Geo? How would I play this if I were to acquire one?

Thanks. And again sorry if this is the wrong section.

[starchildskiss78]

Good question. This is what I found by googling "CPSII":

The CP System II (CPシステムII shīpī shisutemu tsū?) or CPS-2 is an arcade system board that Capcom first used in 1993 for Super Street Fighter II. It was successor to their previous CP System and Capcom Power System Changer arcade hardware and was succeeded by the CP System III hardware in 1996. (from Wikipedia)

This is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP_System_II The "weird green cartridges" are for the Japan region. (Blue would be U.S.A., Canada, and Europe.)

Apparently, you would hook the board to a JAMMA harness. I am not fully versed on arcade machines but you would need an arcade setup with JAMMA.

Hope that helps.

[Soviet Conscript]

yhea, its for arcade systems. its kinda like the Neo Geo MVS system if you know anything about that. instead of arcade owners getting a whole new machine they would just get a Capcom CPSII cabnet and they could just swap the carts and marquee on the cabnet.

though i do think Capcom released a sort of home version for those carts like SNK did with the Neo Geo

[Satoshi_Matrix]

That's a JAMMA compatible Capcom Arcade Board from the mid 90's. Think of it like the arcade machine's motherboard. People buy them nowadays to Supergun them (that is, use a special device to play them on a tv with their own controllers)

[Kitsune Sniper]

One thing about those games is that they are very, VERY fragile and will kill themselves (stop working) if the battery on them dies. The games will not work once that happens, and will have to be brought back, or "Phoenixed", and who knows who can do that stuff.

[Dangerboy]

As mentioned above - the green and blue "carts" were the "B" Boards. Easy in and out for game swapping. They were plugged into an "A" Board.

The mentioned Battery was called the "Suicide" battery - there are ways to fix the issue too. They were basically there as encryption and to help prevent piracy.

And believe it or not, Capcom DID release a modified version of the CPS system for the home market, but only in very limited numbers. They used the SNES / GENESIS SF2 arcade sticks, custom boards (think Neo Geo AES), etc. The problem was that like the MVS, the home versions weren't quite the same as the arcade, and Capcom ceased the home side production when they had to start modifying later releases to work on the system (missing frames, etc).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP_System

CPS Power System was the home version. It's lower on that page I linked.

[Edmond Dantes]

So if I got one of these, I could have an arcade-accurate home version of every major Capcom game from SFII: World Warrior to X-Men vs. Street Fighter?

[98PaceCar]

So if I got one of these, I could have an arcade-accurate home version of every major Capcom game from SFII: World Warrior to X-Men vs. Street Fighter?

If you are talking about the CPS Changer, no. There were only 11 games released on it officially, though it *can* be modified to work as a standard JAMMA setup. The audio and coin/test portions of the harness are not standard JAMMA and cause some issues with normal JAMMA boards like the arcade CPS 1 stuff.

A bit more info I've collected along with pics of my setup is here:
http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg90-capcom.htm

I sadly still only have 2 games for it, but at least both of them are good enough to keep me satisfied when I drag it out to play it. The last few games I've seen for sale have topped $600-$700 pretty easily, so it's a rough system to collect for. If you're just looking to play the CPS 1 stuff, buy a normal supergun or JAMMA cab and go that route. CPS 1 arcade stuff is dirt cheap in comparison.

[lookfun78]

Ok A little about the color version of Capcom CPSII type carts which is what x men vs street fighter is. The CPS2 was one of Capcoms earlier arcade systems. CPS-2 Game boards come in six different colors, one for each language region and the rent version.The colors are grey and orange, green and blue, and yellow. Go to the link to find out all about this and others games that have this cart type. http://akihabaraarcade.blogspot.com/2011/02/capcom-cp-system-ii-cps2.html

[Edmond Dantes]

So what setup would I need specifically if I wanted to play Super Street Fighter II Turbo?

[98PaceCar]

So what setup would I need specifically if I wanted to play Super Street Fighter II Turbo?

That's a full on CPS 2 setup, so you would need an 'A' board (think system) and matching color 'B' board (think cartridge) along with some manner to run a JAMMA board. The catch is that CPS 2 is not a pure JAMMA connection. It has an aux harness that handles 6 of the buttons for the SF series games, but that's pretty easy to add to a standard JAMMA cab. I *think* there are also some sound considerations to handle when running a CPS 2 board on a standard JAMMA harness, but they should be easy to manage.

Past that, just make sure the B board has had it's battery either replaced recently or that the board has been phoenixed and you should be good to go.

[xelement5x]

Yeah, CPS boards are a pain in the butt with those suicide batteries. I actually decided to get a bootleg (I know, blasphemy!) instead of the legit board because I didn't want to deal with needing to get it revived at some point. My boot works like a charm though and I've never had issues with it, all the way through :)

[StealthLurker]

To run it you need matching region A & B boards (Green JPN, Blue USA, Orange South America, Grey Southeast Asia?). The B board is the game and the A board is the system board.

Then you need (1) An arcade machine or (2) a super-gun system. A super-gun system is basically the guts of an arcade machine minus the cabinet and monitor. Think of it as a consolized arcade machine.

CPS2 boards aren't all that fragile. I've only had one suicide on me and I've got quite a few. Plus there's a guy named Razoola that can resurrect games for you by "phoenixing" the chips. Open up the B-board, pop out the chips and mail them to him. Some purists don't like that because you will see a "phoenixed" message on boot-up, but I don't really care. The good thing about a phoenixed board is that you never have to worry about suicide batteries ever again.

Suicide batteries are a pain in general though. I have other JAMMA boards die on me (not Capcom) which is a huge bummer since some rare boards fetch some dough and have no way to be revived. One of the main reasons why I stopped collecting arcade games/boards.

The one that can be a bitch are CPS3 setups (SF3, Warzard, JoJos, etc). Though I hear Raz can revive Asian versions of SF3 Third Strike.

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[Blur2040]

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[Edmond Dantes]

Errrrmmmm...

I'm thinking, for that kinda money, unless I win the lottery or something I'll just stick with the console ports.

[synbiosfan]

Plus there's a guy named Razoola that can resurrect games for you by "phoenixing" the chips. Open up the B-board, pop out the chips and mail them to him.

Razoola is also the genius that came up with the Unibios for Neo Geo systems :pimp:

[StealthLurker]

Razoola is also the genius that came up with the Unibios for Neo Geo systems :pimp:

Yup! Got his amazing work in a couple MVS mobos and 1 AES. He's definitely a big plus to the community.

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[Blur2040]

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[Edmond Dantes]

Oh, cmon. Do you have a PS3 or an Xbox 360? You plunked down a few hundred for that, surely....and 60 bucks a pop for the latest game...

While I actually stick to vintage consoles, your point is well understood and I've recently been reminded that I payed $80 for the Playstation 1 version of X-Multiply, so I suppose I am being hypocritical here.

Actually, it wasn't the price that worried me so much as I'm wondering how complicated this whole thing is gonna be. I looked up information on Superguns weeks ago. The problem when looking up information on that is, everyone assumes you're already an expert, that you'll know what this thing or that thing is and they can just throw terminology at you like that, and its easy to get lost. And nobody answers basic questions like "how do I wire a controller to it" or "do I have to build a new supergun for every PCB I own or can I switch them out" and so on and so forth. If there was just a simple, basic, beginner-level guide that doesn't assume I already have a background in electronics, it would be a lot less frustrating.

Sorry for the rant there, I don't mean to direct it at you specifically, just at the problem of finding usable information in general. It's been bothering me for awhile.

[Blur2040]

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[Edmond Dantes]

Okay, I've given this some thought and I've decided that, over time, I might possibly want to do this.

The first question I have is... I don't understand the whole "A" Board thing. Is there a different A Board for each game or will just any CPS2 A Board do? And where can I find them?

And once I have an A Board and a B Board, how do I wire up a controller for them? (I've actually seen someone on eBay selling the control panel off a Street Fighter II arcade machine, but I'm assuming its not gonna be self-explanatory).

Thirdly, is there a way to wire this to output off a TV screen, or will I basically have to build a miniature arcade cabinet complete with a Jamma screen (which I believe I've seen for sale at Lizardlick)?

I don't understand what a "Kick Harness" is.

I'll probably have even more questions as time goes by.

[StealthLurker]

1. Think of the "A" board as the "video game console" and the "B" board as the game cartridge. You need an A board that matches the region for whatever game(s) B board you have. This is like the region lockout on game consoles, dvd players, etc...


2. For tv/monitor output and controller/joystick inputs, this is where the supergun comes into play. This is the device you hook up your A+B board combo to. Then the supergun provides the necessary interface for cables to feed to your tv/monitor and controllers/joysticks. It should also have some buttons for power, test mode, coin, etc etc.


3. Most arcade game boards adhere to the JAMMA interface standard. However this standard only supports 3 fire buttons per player. Street Fighter uses 6. Therefore there is a special cable that connects to the Street Fighter motherboard that also connects to the joystick. This cable gives you the extra 3 fire buttons. Other games/systems that use more than 3 use a similar setup.


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[Edmond Dantes]

Are the "A" boards color-coded like the cartridges are? So do I need a green A board to play green cartridges?

And any advice on where I can get them?

(and isn't this officially an Arcade Alley topic now?)

[StealthLurker]

Are the "A" boards color-coded like the cartridges are? So do I need a green A board to play green cartridges?

And any advice on where I can get them?

(and isn't this officially an Arcade Alley topic now?)


I believe all A boards are black. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. However, they should have an appropriately colored sticker with region name.

Craigslist, forums, ebay, etc. I've also bought some from local arcade operators.

Guess it could go either way... since we're talking about superguns also, it's a "consolized" experience.


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[Edmond Dantes]

So there are consolized A boards, just like those consolized MVS boards that were pictured in the Neo Geo thread?

(A part of me wonders if I couldn't build an actual arcade cabinet as well. I'd need to clear out a location but...)

[StealthLurker]

So there are consolized A boards, just like those consolized MVS boards that were pictured in the Neo Geo thread?

(A part of me wonders if I couldn't build an actual arcade cabinet as well. I'd need to clear out a location but...)

http://www.neogeoforlife.com/images/supernova.jpg

Consolized A boards are pretty rare. There isn't a lot of spare room for extra electronics I believe. Plus a consolized unit can only play games for that particular platform.

A supergun can play "virtually" any JAMMA arcade game board. Some setups require a few extra wires/components. A more complex setup would be a SEGA NAOMI one.

The pic above shows the basic idea of a supergun. A kit box with a cable and a long edge connector (JAMMA connector). You plug your game board (ex: CPS2 A+B board) to it. Then some inputs for controllers.

As for a cab setup...

It's probably easier to find a cheap old arcade machine and fix it up a little rather than building one from scratch.


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