The CP System III (CPシステムIII shīpī shisutemu surī) or CPS-3 is an arcade system board that was first used by Capcom in 1996 with the arcade game Red Earth. It was the second successor to the CP System arcade hardware, following the CP System II. It would be the last proprietary system board Capcom would produce before moving to the more common Taito Type X system boards used in Japan.
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The CP System III is the latest arcade system board designed by Capcom. It features a security mechanism; games are supplied on a CD, which contains the encrypted game contents, and a security cartridge containing the game BIOS and the SH-2 CPU[1] with integrated decryption logic, with the per-game key stored in battery-backed SRAM. When the CP System III board is first powered on, the contents of the CD are flashed onto a bank of SIMMs on the motherboard, where it is executed. The program code is then decrypted at run time via the security cartridge. The security cartridge is sensitive to any sort of tampering, which will result in the decryption key being erased and the cartridge being rendered useless. Games become unplayable when the battery inside the security cartridge dies.
The CP System III was only capable of 2D graphics at a time when most games were being developed with 3D hardware in mind.
In June 2007, the encryption method was reverse-engineered by Andreas Naive, making emulation possible.[1]
| Release date | Developer | English title | Japanese title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-11-21 | Capcom | Red Earth | Warzard (ウォーザード) |
Head-to-Head Fighting Game |
| 1997-02-04 | Capcom | Street Fighter III: New Generation | Street Fighter III (ストリートファイターIII) |
Head-to-Head Fighting Game |
| 1997-09-30 | Capcom | Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack | Street Fighter III 2nd Impact (ストリートファイターIII 2nd Impact) |
Head-to-Head Fighting Game |
| 1998-12-02 | Capcom | JoJo's Venture | JoJo no Kimyōna Bōken (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険) |
Head-to-Head Fighting Game |
| 1999-05-12 | Capcom | Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future | Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (ストリートファイターIII 3rd Strike) |
Head-to-Head Fighting Game |
| 1999-09-13 | Capcom | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure | JoJo no Kimyōna Bōken Miraie no Isan (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 未来への遺産) |
Head-to-Head Fighting Game |