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Capcom CPS Changer

The "home" version of the CPS-1 (Capcom Power System Changer, 1994, Japan). It's not a mod: it's a console sold by Capcom that embeds a CPS-1 (A-board) with AV outputs and controller ports — in short an official supergun for CPS cartridges. Sold mostly mail-order, in limited numbers → a collector's item.

Identification

Field Value
Manufacturer Capcom
Release 1994 (Japan)
Nature Console = home CPS-1 (not an add-on or a mod)
Media CPS Changer cartridges ("home" B-board format)
Video output Composite / S-Video / RGB (dedicated cable)
Controls Capcom controller ports (CPS Fighter pad, sticks)

The principle: a CPS-1 in a console shell

The CPS Changer is a CPS-1: same A-board (68000 @ 10 MHz, Z80, YM2151 + OKI MSM6295, CPS-A/CPS-B-21 customs) — but packaged for home use with AV out and controller inputs instead of JAMMA wiring. It's exactly the supergun idea, but official and integrated. → For the detailed architecture, see the PCB page Capcom CPS-1.

  • No suicide: the CPS Changer is non-QSound CPS-1 → no battery Kabuki chip (unlike the CPS Dash/CPS-1.5 games). Nothing to "de-suicide".
  • Native RGB: the RGB output gives a clean, much-appreciated image.

The cartridges

The game is on a CPS Changer cartridge (the home equivalent of a CPS-1 B-board). About a dozen titles were released, mostly fighting games and CPS-1 classics: Street Fighter II′ Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Muscle Bomber (Saturday Night Slam Masters), Ghouls'n Ghosts, Final Fight, Captain Commando, Mega Man: The Power Battle…

CPS Changer cartridges ↔ arcade B-boards

Since the hardware is a CPS-1, you can bridge the two worlds with the right adapters: run an arcade B-board on the CPS Changer, or a CPS Changer cartridge on an arcade A-board. The pinouts differ (home vs JAMMA) → an adapter is needed. It's the same base described by the CPS-1 converts.

Common faults

Symptom Likely cause Lead
Cartridge not read / corrupted graphics Cartridge contacts / customs Clean contacts, reseat
No sound / partial sound YM2151 / MSM6295 / Z80 Sound-stage diagnosis (like CPS-1)
Wrong colours / priorities CPS-B-21 setting Custom config (see CPS-1)
No image Power (external block), customs Check the dedicated PSU

Procedure — a dead console, step by step ✅

What this adds

Ordered for a console, not for an arcade board: what kills these is almost never the CPU. It is, in real order, the power supply, the capacitors, the drive or the cartridge slot, and only then the logic. → PCB diagnosis

1. The power supply. Two cases, depending on the machine. External brick: ⚠️ read the marking on the machine, next to the socket, and check the adapter against it — voltage and polarity. A centre-negative machine fed centre-positive loses its fuse, sometimes its regulator; do not trust a third-party label or a generic tip. Internal supply (the machine plugs straight into the wall): mains is inside the shell. Unplug, wait, and confirm the large capacitors are discharged before touching the board. Either way, measure under load: a failing supply holds its voltage until it is asked for current.

2. The fuse. Many of these machines have one right behind the socket — it is the part designed to die. Test it in continuity, out of circuit. A fuse that blows again is a short, not a fuse problem.

3. Capacitors. On most machines of this age this is the default suspect rather than a last resort — leaking SMD electrolytics eat the tracks underneath before they give any other sign. ⚠️ Not all of them are like that: some carry very few and are not recapped on principle. Read what this page says about it before reaching for the iron. → Recap

4. The cartridge connector. Cartridge contacts with isopropyl alcohol, never an abrasive eraser: it takes the gold plating off and the problem comes back worse. On the machine side, inspect the slot pins — splayed, bent or oxidised — and check continuity between slot and board.

5. Video output. Isolate the machine from the display: another cable, another TV, another input. A sizeable share of "dead consoles" are a dead cable, or a display that will not lock onto what this machine outputs — see the video section of this page for what that is.

6. Still nothing. Now, and only now, the logic: rails on the board, reset, clock, bus. → PCB diagnosis

Mods & preservation — what to buy, how

CPS-1 suicide: save the battery FIRST

CPS Changer carts are CPS-1 B-boards: some carry the suicide battery (CPS-B / decryption key). A dead battery = game silent forever. Check/replace the battery without cutting power (buffer battery in parallel), exactly as on CPS-1. → CPS-1 de-suicide.

  • Native RGB 🟢: nothing to modify, just the right RGB cable → excellent image.
  • Official supergun: ideal for playing CPS-1 B-boards at home (with an adapter), without building a supergun yourself.
  • Reprog / conversion 🔴: same principles as on CPS-1 (CPS-B-21, donor boards) → see CPS-1 converts.
  • ⚠️ Do not host ROMs — method only.

Photos / assets

(To add: CPS Changer console, cartridge, CPS Fighter pad, AV outputs.)

Advanced repair

A CPS-1 base (no suicide): cartridge contacts + recap. Methods: Recap · PCB fault-finding · EPROM.

Sources & attribution

ConsoleMods does NOT cover the CPS Changer

Checked on 31/07/2026 via the ConsoleMods wiki search API: no page exists for the CPS Changer. That is consistent with what it is — a CPS-1 board in a consumer case, closer to arcade than to console hardware. For anything touching the hardware (battery suicide, cartridges, conversions), the reference therefore remains our CPS-1 and CPS-1 conversions pages — nothing has been extrapolated here.

Review & corrections

How this space is used

Spotted a wrong value, an outdated procedure, a chip reference that does not match your board? Say so here, with what you observed (model, board revision, serial number, measurement). Every report is cross-checked against a source before anything changes — an unverifiable correction is published as “reported by …, not cross-checked” rather than silently applied.

Reading is open to everyone; posting requires signing in with Discord. Reports from the wiki's declared reviewers are handled first; anyone else's are read too, but go through a human before anything is changed.