Fighter Maker (series)

Fighter Maker (格闘 ツクール Kakutō Tsukūru) is a series of games for PlayStation consoles and Microsoft Windows. It features a robust character creation system, letting players even create animations. There are two versions of the game, Fighter Maker (FM series) and 2D Fighter Maker (2DFM series).

Fighter Maker
Fighter Maker (FM for short), known as 3D Fighter Maker in Japan, was one of the few PlayStation games that ran at 60 fps, mainly due to its simplistic graphics. Part of Agetec Inc.'s Designer Series, it is 3D-based and allows users to create custom moves for their fighters. Despite the unique concept, the game received very bad reviews as there was little to do once a fighter had been created. A custom made character occupies an entire Memory Card. This game is also known for having one licensed character, Street Fighter EXs Skullomania (named Skullo Mania in-game), complete with original move list.

Fighter Maker 2
Fighter Maker 2 (3D Fighter Maker 2 in Japan, FM2 for short) for the PS2 was another entry in the Designer Series from Agetec Inc. It was released in November 2002. It is similar to the original, but with more advancements in character design, movement, and attacks. As with the first, the game was met with lukewarm reviews, mainly due to its cumbersome interface and the lack of bells and whistles that were featured in most fighting games at the time.

The music was composed by the U.K. band INTELLIGENTSIA, who also created the in-game FX.

2D Fighter Maker 95
2D Fighter Maker 95 (FM95) was released for Windows prior to ASCII's departure from gaming. Unlike its PlayStation counterpart, this version focused on 2D-style gameplay, allowing the user to create and import their own characters, sounds and graphics into the engine, allowing for far more flexibility and range than the PS versions. The program was pirated and fan translated to English and released on the Internet, where it found a large following amongst dojin game makers and the M.U.G.E.N. community.

2D Fighter Maker 2nd
2D Fighter Maker 2nd (FM2K) was released by ASCII's successor company, Enterbrain. An update to the original version, FM2K allowed for a greater amount of expansion and extension than FM95, revising much of the original engine to allow more options while adding a menu-based system for clarity. As with the previous version, it became wildly popular amongst the dojin communities in Japan. Again, piracy and a fan translation followed, though the second version has yet to meet with the success of the first, primarily due to the large amount of M.U.G.E.N. communities already in operation as well as the incomplete translation of the FM2K software and documentation.

Several rumors have come forth regarding a third release in the 2DFM series, but Enterbrain to date has neither confirmed nor denied this.

Characters
Pre-made characters ready to battle that can be used as a template.

Fighter Maker 2
The second game comes with six characters.