Build Your
Own Fighter
From Scratch

Sprites are the individual images that make up your character's animations. Before touching any MUGEN tools, you need to draw them.

Sprite rules

• Draw at a consistent resolution (e.g. 100x120 pixels per frame)
• Use a magenta background (#FF00FF) MUGEN makes this colour transparent
• Keep your character centred on a consistent axis point across all frames
• Name files logically: idle_01.png, walk_01.png, punch_01.png

Minimum sprite set to get started

The .SFF (Sprite File Format) bundles all your character's images into one file that MUGEN can read. Each sprite is stored with a Group number and an Image number.

• Open Fighter Factory 3 and click File → New
• Go to the Sprites section and click Add to import your PNG files
• For each sprite, set the Group and Image number (Group 0 = Idle, 20 = Walk, 200 = Punch)
• Set the axis point for each sprite — click the crosshair tool and place it at the character's feet
• Save as yourcharacter.sff

Every MUGEN character is a folder containing six files. Here's your mychar.def template the master config that links everything together:

; mychar.def edit names to match your character
[Info]
name        = "My Character"
displayname = "My Character"
author      = "Your Name"
pal.defaults = 1

[Files]
sprite = mychar.sff
anim   = mychar.air
cmd    = mychar.cmd
cns    = mychar.cns
stcommon = common1.cns
sound  =

Your complete character folder structure:

• MUGEN/chars/mychar/mychar.def
• mychar.sff all your sprites
• mychar.air animation sequences
• mychar.cmd button commands
• mychar.cns stats and move logic

• Place your entire character folder inside MUGEN/chars/
• Open MUGEN/data/select.def in a text editor
• Find the [Characters] section and add your folder name on a new line: mychar
• Save select.def and launch mugen.exe
• Your character should appear on the select screen!

Common issues

Fighter Factory 3 (FF3) is a free, all-in-one editor for MUGEN content. It replaces multiple separate tools with a single visual interface the go-to standard for the MUGEN community.

• Edit and pack sprites into .SFF files
• Create and preview animations (.AIR) in real-time
• Built-in editors for .DEF, .CMD, .CNS with syntax highlighting
• Import and manage sound effects (.SND)
• Set axis points visually
• Preview characters with hitboxes visible

Download: Go to virtualltek.com and download FF3 (3.0.1) or FF Studio for your OS. No installer needed just extract and run FighterFactory.exe.

• Open FF3 and click File → New to start a fresh .SFF project
• Go to the Sprites editor tab
• Click Add (or drag-and-drop) to import your PNG files
• For each sprite, set the Group and Image number in the panel
• Click the crosshair tool and click at the character's feet to set the axis
• Enable View → Show Guidelines to check alignment against the floor line
• Save with File → Save As → name it mychar.sff

The Animations editor is where you build your .AIR file sequences of sprites that play as actions. Each animation is an "Action" with a number.

• Switch to the Animations editor tab
• Right-click the action list → Add → set the action number (e.g. 0 for idle)
• Click Add Frame → pick sprites from your .SFF list
• Set the Ticks field for each frame (6-8 ticks = smooth, 1 tick = 60fps)
• Hit Play or press Space to preview

; .AIR format (you can also edit this as text)
[Begin Action 0]  ; idle animation
0,0,  0,0,  7      ; Group,Image, X,Y, Duration
0,1,  0,0,  7
0,2,  0,0,  7
0,3,  0,0,  7     ; loops back to start

Collision boxes define where your character can be hit (Clsn2) and where their attacks deal damage (Clsn1).

• Use Clsn2 Default to set one hurtbox for an entire animation
• Add Clsn1 boxes only on the frames where the attack is active
• Toggle Show Clsn in the preview to visually verify your boxes

The Sounds editor builds your .SND file. Each sound gets a Group and Sound number, just like sprites.

• Switch to the Sounds editor tab
• Click Add and import WAV files
• Set Group and Sound numbers (see table below)
• Click Play to preview each sound
• File → Save As → name it mychar.snd

FF3's built-in code editors handle .DEF, .CMD, and .CNS files with syntax highlighting, auto-complete, and error checking.

; .CNS snippet light punch state
[Statedef 200]
type    = S
movetype = A
anim    = 200
ctrl    = 0

[State 200, HitDef]
type       = HitDef
trigger1   = AnimElem = 2
damage     = 20, 0
hitsound   = 5, 0

[State 200, End]
type     = ChangeState
trigger1 = AnimTime = 0
value    = 0
ctrl     = 1

To test directly from FF3: set your MUGEN path in Options, then click Run in M.U.G.E.N. no manual file copying needed.