Ikemen-GO: open-source reimplementation of MUGEN | Hacker News Reader

Ikemen-GO: open-source reimplementation of MUGEN

github.com

108 pointsklaussilveira16 comments

If you remember those times, KOF91 by Moah was one of the few open-source alternatives to MUGEN, albeit not compatible with its data.

During those times I helped porting it to Linux together with Ric Leite. I remember being easy as it was Allegro.

I archived the sources here (from Sourceforge):

https://github.com/dmacvicar/free-fighting-engine

You should be able to build it and run it on Linux (speed may be wrong).

I have tried a few times to revive the code, but it is a "everything is global" code-base.

I am currently testing an approach with Claude Code and Amazon Q, not very successful.

> "Ikemen" is an acronym of:

> いつまでも完成しない永遠に未完成エンジン

> Itsu made mo Kansei shinai Eien ni Mikansei ENgine

Translated, this apparently means: Forever incomplete, an engine eternally unfinished.

(Ikemen as a word by itself would mean a handsome or attractive man.)

Strongly recommend going through the process of creating a character in MUGEN/Ikemen. It's easy enough (with some legacy rough edges), and with Ikemen you can use it in multiplayer. There is a lot of depth in implementing specific fighting game mechanics and a wealth of resources out there from people who have gone before. The community is eccentric but like fighting games has a lot of depth in ultra niche areas.

Eccentric, I don't know what you're talking about. Who hasn't dreamed of seeing characters from Jojo Bizarre Adventure and Ronald McDonald face off?

Trust me, it gets weirder

I've always wanted to do this - do you have any articles / videos that helped you get started? Is Fighter Factory Studio still the way to go?

As an aside, this feels like a fun application of Gen AI (generating sprites + movesets based on photos of friends or hand drawn characters, etc).

Fighter Factory Studio and just make a few characters to figure out the quirks. The elecbyte documentation is ok for the basics, and then there are a few tutorials on MUGENGuild and MFFA as well. I agree, and I have the dataset to make a GenAI project out of this. Maybe I will do it someday!

> Fighter Factory Studio

You have unlocked a few memories for me. Thanks!

The Ikemen Go wiki is a pretty good resource especially surrounding new features such as 3D stages and other new state controllers.

I personally use Fighter Factory 3 still. From my experience, it is the most stable version.

https://github.com/ikemen-engine/Ikemen-GO/wiki

I remember making a character in MUGEN in Highschool when I first discovered it. It was some very overpowered OC pixelart thing I made, which in retrospect makes me cringe a little remember how shoddily made it was.

It's nice to see the community is still around and kicking, I should try it out again sometime. Just watching the AI controlled characters battle it out was always fun.

Huh, today I learned that MUGEN wasn't already open source.

I've always associated it with the Linux and FOSS and just assumed it was open, but apparently it's just freeware. I'm glad that a FOSS version is being built then.

SaltyBet on twitch hosts automated MUGEN matches that channel users can bet on. Sometimes enjoyable, if not a bit random.

https://www.twitch.tv/saltybet

Look into the nightly releases instead of the release candidates. The release candidates are quite old and do not have 3D stage support.

https://github.com/ikemen-engine/Ikemen-GO/releases/tag/nigh...

At least they got rid of that weird custom SSZ scripting language.

This is neat. Any examples of games running on Ikemen-GO now? Either way, will definitely try my hand at getting a mini-game up this weekend

Searching Ikemen Go on youtube should give you good results.

I have been porting modern fighting game characters, ex: Street Fighter 6, over to the engine without too many issues. There are lots of possibilities.

The recent support for 3D objects as stages and screenpacks can make for impressive visuals on this engine.

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