How to Download Mugen Character Sprites

M.U.G.E.N is a freeware 2D fighting game engine designed by Elecbyte. The program was written in C with the Allegro library. Beta versions  were made for DOS, Linux and Windows, and was distributed through their website.

Creating an actual character yourself is a time-consuming process, as "contributors" or "creators for M.U.G.E.N" actually take the time to rip the sprites, and code it from scratch. Some use the original characters and sprites themselves, others use existing characters/sprites to create other various recognizable characters (AKA palette swap). Then there are the die-hards that actually create their own 2D sprites and animations from scratch.

This article is for the lazy guys that want to download already made Mugen characters and edit them or use them as they are for their video game, since there's no limit to how many characters you can put on the game, it only depends on the size of the selection screen, which users can also create from scratch.

The sprites for the characters are put in "Sprite sheets" like the sheet shown below, and some of the characters are already made and animated.The Sprite sheets are for the guys that want to edit the characters.

As for Background you can use any image, or an already existing fighting game background.

Sites that I would recommend for downloading Mugen sprites are: http://mugencharacters.ucoz.com/ , http://www.mugenation.com/ , http://www.mugencharacters.org/ , http://www.mugendb.com/ , http://gcnmario.free.fr/mugen/characters.html , http://marancv.infinitymugenteam.com/.

On the sites above you can find a large number of sprites for character and some backgrounds that can be used not only for Mugen game but also for some other 2D game creating engine.

One of those engines that I would recommend is the "Adventure Game Studio" that is used to create a 2D point and click adventure games.Here is the link for the free download of this program http://adventure-game-studio-ags.en.softonic.com/.

Other way of getting Sprites is if you have Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator "Mame" for old video games, this program you can download on this site: http://mamedev.org/.You can download roms for older games on this site: http://www.rom-world.com/dl.php?name=MAME, and then by pressing the keyboard button F4 in game and scrolling with the arrows you can extract the color panel sheet, the character sprites and the backgrounds from any game rom that you have downloaded on your emulator.

If there is anyone reading this post that would like to create his own Mugen characters from scratch they need to make their graphic for the 2D characters by a PC art form called "Pixel Art"

Here are some links with useful tutorials to making 2D characters with pixel art: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixels/tutorials.asp,http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/, http://www.derekyu.com/extras/pixel01.html.

Also I would recommend the program "Fighter Factory Ultimate" that is used to create and edit Mugen characters.You can download it on this likns: http://www.freewarefiles.com/Fighter-Factory_program_19675.html, http://www.mugencharacters.org/2010/07/fighter-factory-ultimate.html.

I hope this article helps you find what you looking and have fun creating or playing the game that brought you to this page.I'm leaving you with the video below showing you a little glimpse at what can you do with the sprites.