fortytwo points: The Best Fighting Game That May Never Officially Be: Elecbyte's M.U.G.E.N.

You've probably seen this before and thought it was fake. Or maybe you thought some bored programmer modded Marvel Vs. Capcom for giggles. Homer Simpson fighting Peter Griffin? Mario and Sonic dueling Ryu and Super-Saiyan? Ronald McDonald throwing burgers at Popeye the Sailor Man? Surely with copyright lawsuits running rampant these days the powers that be would not allow this (update: see above as evidence). But this isn't a just hobbyists proudest accomplishment friends, it's a real game engine that allows people to make their own fighting titles.

M.U.G.E.N. is the name of the system that has ushered in this era of preposterous awesomeness, though it goes by other names in other forms, such as WinMUGEN for Windows and ShugenDo as a fans homage. Creators can inject their own characters and gameplay mechanics with relative ease, making it a versatile development facility.

But its history is lamentable and full of mystery, one worth sharing for the lessons it may edify. It speaks of a dedicated community that has seen many tribulations and still codes on, despite the threat that success could be the worst trial yet.

M.U.G.E.N. was first publicly released in July of '99 by a team of developers calling themselves Elecbyte. They themselves claim to have forgotten exactly what M.U.G.E.N. stands for, but some suspect it is a reference to its previous utility as a shooter emulator. Initially developed for DOS and written in the C programming language, it allows users to insert characters, backgrounds, and other art assets into the engine by manipulating text and graphic files. Elecbyte themselves even intended to make their own fighter with it.

Many of the engine's by-products are often quite similar to commercial releases, with features like flashy character select screens, super moves, projectiles, combos, and more. Some even possess avatars almost identical to their commercial counterparts, going so far as to emulate the way the way a character plays and feels. This has been facilitated by utilities that allows assets to be stripped directly from professional games for use in M.U.G.E.N. Elecbyte's own PCXClean makes it a cinch to remove all but choice colors from an image's palette, making this process even easier. This kind of flexibility led to it gaining popularity amongst the home-brew community, and they quickly used it to show what "independent developers" can do with the right tools.

Kung Fu Man, a unique character included with M.U.G.E.N. In 2001 the DOS variant was scrapped and replaced with an exclusively Linux alternative, it's final version number ending at 2001.04.14. Further improvements and bug fixes were made and the project continued to flourish. Around this time Elecbyte also began to request donations so that they could purchase a software compiler that would allow them to develop for Windows, which they eventually acquired. Those who donated were sent a link to a password-protected website that contained a private beta version of WinMUGEN, the first Windows-compatible version of M.U.G.E.N.

WinMUGEN was nearly identical to the Linux version except for a disclaimer disallowing its distribution and a restriction that prevented more than two characters from being selectable at any time. The number of available backgrounds was also reduced and some of the play modes were disabled. Those who were allowed to download this version were required to agree that they would never talk about it.

But that's not how the internet works in the real world, I'm sorry to say.

As stated in the "History of WinMUGEN" text file later appended to specific releases of WinMUGEN, Elecbyte began to notice a suspicious increase in logins and bandwidth usage for this private beta. Some one or some people had given out their account information and now unwanted downloaders were acquiring the software. The links were replaced with a poem which regarded "things that one should not be doing". Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find it. Until I do, I imagine it went something like this:

(artist's rendition of poetry)

The final Linux distribution of M.U.G.E.N. was made available in 2002, and from there its Windows counterpart was to lead the way into the future. But WinMUGEN never officially saw the light of day, as public releases by Elecbyte rested finally with Linux version 2002.04.14., dated exactly a year after the cessation of the DOS version. It would be some time before anyone knew why.

On April 27, 2003, just over a year after their last front-page news update, Elecbyte posted this:

"We want to thank you for all of your concern. The project has hit a snag and is on hold. However, we have not cancelled it and will post an update when it is back on track."

The final update to the site itself was uploaded in October of that same year and shortly after Elecbyte.com disappeared from the internet. It is still not yet known what exactly led to this occurrence.

Many suspect that the release of WinMUGEN into the wild convinced Elecbyte to cease their efforts, perhaps because they felt betrayed by their own. If the minimal documentation available about Elecbyte's history is correct, there is evidence to support this theory. Any discussions of versions not Elecbyte's own were promptly squashed and deleted from the official forums, and many loyal followers swore never to discuss the places or ways that they might be acquired. Those who broke this standard were often shunned. There is also speculation that limited financial support from the fans played a part in this end.

Fortunately, M.U.G.E.N.'s fate was not yet sealed. In 2004, a Japanese coder by the handle of Rouhei released the "No Limit" patch, a hack which removed the character limit restriction in WinMUGEN and also re-enabled the locked game modes. Eventually, as the hack was updated, most restrictions were removed from the beta. This reinvigorated its appeal to the community and attracted many who had not yet tried it due to its limitations.

Allegedly these efforts led to Rouhei being contacted by members of the Elecbyte team, who provided an unaltered copy of the WinMUGEN beta to use as a reference as well as a document to explain Elecbyte's story thus far. A simple text file titled "History of WinMUGEN", it is still a part of RAR files containing the No Limit Patch and its entirety can be read below, at the end of this post.

There are now many unofficial versions of WinMUGEN, most with their own features and play modes. ShugenDo supports low- and hi-res graphics and stage-zooming, so it is not uncommon to see Capcom's pixelated icons duking it out with the more visually appealing Guilty Gear cast. Character packs can be installed to expand your roster of choices and potentially include personalities from Street Fighter, Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Dragonball Z, Samurai Showdown, Splatterhouse, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and more. You can also download new game types that allow you to recreate the car-destruction mini-game from Street Fighter and even Duck Hunt.

Of course, there is the question of legality. Many of the characters in fan-made packs are subject to trademark and copyright laws both here (in the US) and abroad but surprisingly, little has come of it. Not many interested parties have come forward to make statements, but Capcom has made it clear that as long as there is no financial gain or impact on their own, they consider WinMUGEN homages to be "fan-art". French-Bread, makers of the Queen of Heart games, however, have asked in the past that their characters not be ported to M.U.G.E.N., eventually loosening their terms and narrowing this limitation to sounds and effects from the official series. Unfortunately this leniency does not shake the concern that if WinMUGEN becomes significantly popular, it may the draw the ire of more aggressively litigious institutions like Fox Networks/News Corp, who own the rights to The Simpson and Family Guy. And Lord knows you don't want to piss off the girls from The Ring and The Grudge:

Considering its complicated history and potential legal issues, it's difficult to speculate about M.U.G.E.N.'s future. But there is some hope to be had yet.

On July 1st 2007, Elecbyte.com returned, but with a much different look and not much else. A simple logo image with Google ads to the right and a FAQ button later added to the left, it claims to "really be Elecbyte" and that there will be a new unlocked version of WinMUGEN released "when 2D is back in fashion" (apparently, "soon"). But is it the real Elecbyte? Many do not believe so. However, after some research I can say that there is a good chance it is.

I whois'ed elecbyte.com and found that it listed administrative contacts at monkey.org. Using the Internet Wayback Machine we can see archived pages of elecbyte.com. Numerous times before it's sudden disappearance in 2003 elecbyte.com was routed to monkey.org. You can see for yourself on March 22nd, November 23rd, and June 5th of 2002, and then January 30th and April 8th of '03. The monkey.org FAQ also shares a writing style similar to original readme documentation provided with M.U.G.E.N.

Does this mean it's the same people? No. But, at least it appears to be owned by a related organization. It's not much, but it was enough restore my faith in M.U.G.E.N.'s resurrection.

You can Google yourself up a version of WinMUGEN with ease, or you can go straight to sakirsoft.com and get one of my personal favorites, ShugenDo. The No Limit patch can be found here, and one of the best ways to find character packs is to read the descriptions of YouTube videos with the "MUGEN" tag. It's insane how large the roster can get if you take the time to make one like this:

Keep in mind that the stats for characters in various packs are not all created equal. Get your ass handed to you by "Master" or "God" Ken a couple times and you'll see what I mean. There are also some great level packs that include special features like destructible objects, stage-zooming, and multiple tiers a la the Vs. series.

I am confident we will be seeing more of WinMUGEN in the future. This time though, those involved must do their best not to reiterate this drama, lest this great system be finally lost for good.

-Unfather

==========================================
History of WinMUGEN (unaltered from original document)
==========================================
Before using, please take time to read how and why this WinMUGEN hack was made. Even though it was ethically wrong, Elecbyte themselves has dissapeared from the scene and the computer systems that has support for DOS MUGEN is fast dwindling. This gave no other alternative than to forcibly allow all functions of the original WinMUGEN, which runs faster and optimally on new-generation computers. We hope that you will understand.

===================
HISTORY OF WINMUGEN
===================

As you probably know, Elecbyte asked for donations for their WinMUGEN project, to buy a software compiler. Then, on April 14 2004, they released MUGEN for Linux, abandoning DOS MUGEN.

Those who donated were e-mailed a secret link to a password-protected website that contained a downloadable private beta version of WinMUGEN.

WinMUGEN is the same as Linux MUGEN, except for the following.

1. A transparent box with the following message:
"M.U.G.E.N 2002.04.14 PRIVATE MU TEST.
DISTRIBUTION STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS TEST."

2. Limited Features.
It accepted only 2 characters to be on the select screen at the same time. It also had limitations for the number of stages, and most play modes were disabled. There was no full motif support either.

The people who received the WinMUGEN beta had to agree never to talk about it.

But, as time passed, an unknown number of people had been giving out their user names, passwords and links for WinMUGEN.

Elecbyte noticed the increased number of logins or the increased bandwidth and removed the links. The links were replaced with a poem. This poem was about people doing something they should not be doing.

Some time later, the first public hack of the WinMUGEN version appeared on the Internet.

http://www.geocities.com/elecbyte1 and http://www.geocities.com/elecbyte1/winmugen.html

The version of WinMUGEN was 2002.04.14, but it was modified and hacked. It had the blue box removed, and the version number changed to "M.U.G.E.N 2003 Beta V3.08.2 w2003.06.14b". "Elecbyte" in the main menu had been changed to "Elecbyte1".

What really made Elecbyte close their page in November 2003 after they announced they had encountered a "snag" in development is still unknown. The reason might be leaks and the WinMUGEN hack, but it is only speculation. Also, out of the thousands of people in MUGEN, only a handful really showed enough support to donate.

Despite indications, Elecbyte cannot be accused of "abandoning" the community. If anything, it was the other way round. Leaks and hacks disrespected and abandoned Elecbyte. More and more people were complaining about how they "needed" WinMUGEN, and that WinMUGEN would never be done, when in fact WinMUGEN already existed in secret. It existed at least since early 2002.

In those years since 2002, the circle of people who had the original, unaltered WinMUGEN were silent, except for the individuals who leaked and hacked. When the hack was discovered, the common policy was to keep silent. Out of respect for Elecbyte's wishes, the hack was not promoted, and people doing so were "persecuted."

Most of the people who received the WinMUGEN beta from Elecbyte kept it a secret. It has been only recently that more and more information on WinMUGEN has been made available.

The reason why people are now talking openly about it is simple: The obvious reason not to talk about WinMUGEN was because Elecbyte prohibited it. Elecbyte would certainly NOT release WinMUGEN to the public if their beta-testers would betray them. So they kept quiet.

But by now, Elecbyte has been gone for a long time. Should they ever choose to return, the community will gladly welcome them back. But for now, just about everyone is convinced that "the community" is left to themselves. People who have been formerly against leaking of WinMUGEN and modifying WinMUGEN now support it, due to the disapearance of Elecbyte, and no official release of WinMUGEN. It was decided so by many of us, for the sake of the whole MUGEN community as a whole, transcending places, races and abilities.

Less and less computers are supporting DOS. Many MUGEN creators are now part of elitist circles who barely progress anymore and keep mostly to themselves, also because of the lack of the ability to run MUGEN in modern computers. Elecbyte's unannounced disappearance and the profound reality of DOS MUGEN malfunctioning in modern systems and operating systems such as Windows 2000, Windows XP and above is the prime reason why the WinMUGEN hack has been made and produced. It was a hard desicion, but there was simply no other choice. With this, the legacy of MUGEN and the MUGEN community will be assured that it can continue to thrive in the future.

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

I look forward to the advice in this blog. With three kids including two pre-teens, I am often at my wits end dealing with the arguments and defiance. now link my name to see something about jordan shoes,they are also good and you will like them,come on!

Posted by: jordan retro 5 | October 08, 2010 at 01:29 AM