M.U.G.E.N - Ultimate 2D Fighting Game Engine

Image by M.U.G.E.N 1.0 default motif

M.U.G.E.N is a 2D fighting game engine, originally released in 1999. M.U.G.E.N was originally designed for users to create games that matched the technology level of 2D fighters from the mid ’90s. However, it quickly evolved to become highly customizable, allowing very fine control over each character’s behavior. In fact, there are custom games for M.U.G.E.N that don’t behave like your typical 2D fighter.

Image by M.U.G.E.N 1.1 custom motif

The majority of content created for M.U.G.E.N tend to be distributed as individual characters, stages or motifs (motifs are like themes, that control the look and feel of the game). Assembling a game is as simple as downloading the content of your choice, and configuring M.U.G.E.N to know about it.

Image by VirtualTek Fighter Factory for M.U.G.E.N

M.U.G.E.N is designed to be used by people with little or no programming experience, but with some artistic talent and patience to learn. Of course, having some programming background does give you a bit of a headstart. However, if you are just looking to play with downloaded content, all you need to know is how to unzip files and edit a text file.

Here’s a look at key features in M.U.G.E.N:

Customizable title screen, character select screen, life and power bars, game sound effects, fonts and more.
Characters can have any number of sounds and sprites of any size limited by your computer’s memory.
Choose from multiple resolutions, ranging from 320×240 up to full HD at 1920×1080.
Cutscenes.

Image by: M.U.G.E.N character select screen showing Street Fighter Ryu versus Dragon Ball Z Son Goku

Game Engine

Use up to 7 buttons for a character.
Regular moves, special moves, super moves, etc.
Projectiles and special effects.
Move cancels and combos, multi-part moves and throws.
What your character can do is defined by a scripting language (and your imagination).

Image by M.U.G.E.N in-game moment showing Nintendo Super Mario versus Sega Soni the Hedgehog

Image by M.U.G.E.N is a Microsoft Windows based PC application

System Requirements

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or newer required.
CPU: Intel Core Duo or equivalent recommended for HD resolutions.
Memory: 512 MB or more (actual requirements may vary based on character and stage complexities).