How to Use a CPS3 Emulator

"CPS3" is the third iteration of the "Capcom Play System" arcade board. It was first used for the 1996 arcade game, "Red Earth," and boasted increased security features over the "CPS" and "CPSII" hardware. The games are stored on a CD and were only playable when used in conjunction with the security cartridge. The CPS3 hardware was limited to 2-D games only, however. Modern computers are able to play CPS3 games through the use of emulators that simulate the hardware on which the games used to run. Only six games were ever released on the CPS3 hardware.

Download the CPS3 emulator and install it on your computer.

Download the CPS3 game you want to use with the emulator. You are legally only allowed to download these games if you own the actual hardware.

Copy the CPS3 game you downloaded to the "ROM" folder inside your CPS3 emulator. If the ROM folder does not exist, create it by right-clicking anywhere inside your CPS3 folder and selecting "New" then "Folder" from the menu.

Right-click on the CPS3 game you downloaded and select "Extract Here" from the menu. This will extract the contents of the archived file to your ROM folder where the emulator will be able to read it.

Start the emulator and click "Video" and "Fullscreen resolution." Select a resolution from the menu your monitor can comfortably handle.

Click "Emulator," then "Load ROM." A list of all games available for the CPS3 emulator will be shown. Double-click on the name of the game you have downloaded and extracted to the ROM folder. If you double-click on any games you have not yet downloaded, you will receive an error about missing files.

Click "Game" and "Configure Controls" from the file menu. If you have a gamepad, select the buttons you want to use to control the game. You can use your keyboard to play as well, but since the games were meant to be used with an arcade stick, the experience won't be the same. With two gamepads plugged into your computer you can play multiplayer games.

Press the button you have mapped to the "Insert Coin" function to get credits in the game, then press the button mapped to "Start" to begin playing.