On this page, we are going to take a look at the cheap tier list this community currently uses, as other pages may be providing outdated information about these tiers, leading to misinformation. This standard is now extended, combining the Western and Eastern rankings and now it can be used for both communities. Also, if you want more information about a determined tier, click [i] on them!
Assigning Tiers[]
To assign a tier to your character, just enter it like this: (Tier):(Subtier, if it has one) For example, if I have a character that tampers with MUGEN's select memory, like dsrugal, then his tier is SuperNull:Replacer.
On the other hand, if your character is a Supernull, but doesn't do any of the things in the subtiers, then it is just a SuperNull.
WinMUGEN Ranking[]
- Weak (弱): This rank includes characters who are willing to fight, but have difficulty in offense and defense and are unable to win even against normal characters. If you lose >60% with Kung Fu Man, you can call yourself of this rank without exception. Characters who cannot attack but also have some defense can also fall into this rank.
- Average (並): Characters with "average" strength and the most character depth. The standard ranks are characters with moderate/high stats (life, power and more.) but simple AI. The characters in this rank are still "weak", the character is intentionally designed to have gaps for player-controlled matches. The AI on these characters is designed to limit the performance of the main body.
- Strong (強): They often possess techniques with higher performance than those of ordinary ranks. Characters who have very difficult AI, have devastating attacks and can chain attacks consistently. Most of these can have their AI tuned down, though that has started to become a lot less common. They have the potential to be evil or even mad.
- Evil (凶): They border between cheap and balanced, some have a insta-kill hyper or two. Additionally, their AI is absolutely absurd and not humanly possible to defeat. In a nutshell, characters that have a very good defense and a tough AI are included here.
- Mad/Crazy (狂): The character is "crazy" in many ways. The moves are too fast or the firepower is too high, the wide range of moves is too wide, and it's invincible for long periods of time, Hyper Armor, super-fast automatic recovery, and so on. It's often impossible to compete with a character below the Evil rank controlled by the AI.
- God (神): A generic term for characters who specialize in defeating their opponents, and are characterized by their overall high and special performance compared to those below the level of Mad/Crazy. We reach the boundary of characters that do not directly interfere with the enemy's data. Here, characters are extremely powerful and can wipe the floor of most Mads in an instant. They use techniques like forcibly reducing the enemy's life to zero, increasing defenses, and performing life super-recovery, countermeasures and sometimes even using MUGEN's bugs (often %n), Variable Expansion or even basic Null Overflows for information acquisition purposes. There are, of course, simpler characters like A-Bomb who may fall into this category since it uses OHKO techniques to defeat enemies.
- Null: We will now talk about characters that use exploits. These characters rely on bugs found in the engine to defeat their enemies by directly interfering with either said opponents or the engine itself. Simpler Null characters do this by writing data using the Null Overflow exploit or use Parent Fabrication for Direct Death purposes in a advanced way or the %n bug instead to be shorter, while others use arbitrary code execution through methods such as the "Void" method and the %f exploit. Interference is typically limited to the context of a single match. [i]
- ➤ Null: Writes/Reads data in memory using Null Overflow/%n bug or Variable Expansion.
- ➤ Void: Calls the author's subroutine via address using the %f exploit, some authors use it to create threads or call Windows' API, using textbug. (Notice: Characters which use the %f exploit only to modify data in memory and not to execute shellcodes are excluded, falling in the Null tier.)
- Secretary: Special executable files capable of remotely controlling the M.U.G.E.N's internal state to allow the author's character to defeat their enemies effortlessly. Generally bundled with the character's files.[i]
- ➤ Low Tier: Uses MUGEN's parameters to control MUGEN's internal state, even slightly.
- ➤ Top Tier: Uses external files, such as bats, exes etc to create external processes in order to change the internal state of Mugen, executing the engine normally.
- Postman: Script files are used to load the engine program with a determined configuration from the author, which are typically programmed to either defeat the enemy or swap the latter for a dummy. Batch files or HTML applications are used.
- ➤ Low Tier: Uses a script file to execute the engine with a command line using directly a dummy file as P2's def parameter.
- ➤ Mid Tier: Same tier concept like the previous one, but overwriting the enemy's files.
- ➤ Top Tier: Script files that use an exploit in the command line region to take the engine's internal control for a further customized initialization or that use other methods in order to inject their shellcode during the match.
Warning: Tier order below will entirely depend on their timing regarding code execution.
- SuperNull: A batch of vulnerabilities in the StateDef, State Expression, and State Controller parsers is used to overflow their memory data in order to execute arbitrary code. Authors use these vulnerabilities to create their exploits, some of which replace the selection roster with characters that do nothing while defeating them, and others protect their character from data tampering, creating threads, or directly executing the shellcode. (Examples: Characters creating threads via ASM) [i]
- ➤ Invoker: External exploit type that allows to load executables or library files to support the author's character.
- ➤ Reloader: Uses libraries or external shellcode to restart the engine in order to win.
- ➤ Replacer: Modifies the character selection data memory to cause MUGEN only load the character's dummy definition file.
- HyperNull: An incorrect ZLib library build and ZIP File Handler's programming flaws are used to execute arbitrary code, which can be used to either load an external library from the character path or directly modify the engine's code memory. [i]
Warning: Tier order below will entirely depend on their code. It is possible, for example, that UltraNull characters can beat HyperNull/Ethos targets or viceversa.
- Ethos: Formerly called Omed. Modified versions of said engine are used in this case. These have a set of additional routines that are used to load the author's character before the rest of them and some of those routines can interfere with the engine's control flow. [i]
- ➤ Isolato: Formerly called Frost. Deeply modified "engine" versions that use additional executable/library files to implement new features besides defeating the enemy, and some specialized routines could alter the computer behavior in the process.
- UltraNull: A Windows vulnerability that can be used to load a custom library from the author to modify the engine's behavior in order to perform determined actions besides defeating their enemies. It can also be used to add new features to the engine, add external effects and more. (Examples: Oblivion, Mebius) [i]
- Anti-Malware: Characters that can merge from low tiers to a higher one to inject their code into a target engine build. Capable of executing their payload at the moment the operative system is started while obfuscating anti-virus detection. [i]
- ➤ Registry: Creates one or more registry keys to execute their payload.
- ➤ Driver: It automatically installs a driver so that it can execute its payload. Very difficult to create since you need to have a certificate to have the driver installed.
1.x Ranking[]
As shellcodes cannot be directly executed, as the NX Bit flag is active, in these versions. ROP Chains are required in order to perform arbitrary functions, which can allow the author to execute code or modify the program memory.
- Weak (弱): This rank includes characters who are willing to fight, but have difficulty in offense and defense and are unable to win even against normal characters. If you lose >60% with Kung Fu Man, you can call yourself of this rank without exception. Characters who cannot attack but also have some defense can also fall into this rank.
- Average (並): Characters with "average" strength and the most character depth. The standard ranks are characters with moderate/high stats (life, power and more.) but simple AI. The characters in this rank are still "weak", the character is intentionally designed to have gaps for player-controlled matches. The AI on these characters is designed to limit the performance of the main body.
- Strong (強): They often possess techniques with higher performance than those of ordinary ranks. Characters who have very difficult AI, have devastating attacks and can chain attacks consistently. Most of these can have their AI tuned down, though that has started to become a lot less common. They have the potential to be evil or even mad.
- Evil (凶): They border between cheap and balanced, some have a instakill hyper or two. Additionally, their AI is absolutely absurd and not humanly possible to defeat. In a nutshell, characters that have a very good defense and a tough AI are included here.
- Mad/Crazy (狂): The character is "crazy" in many ways. The moves are too fast or the firepower is too high, the wide range of moves is too wide, and it's invincible for long periods of time, Hyper Armor, super-fast automatic recovery, and so on. It's often impossible to compete with a character below the Evil rank controlled by the AI.
- God (神): A generic term for characters who specialize in defeating their opponents, and are characterized by their overall high and special performance compared to those below the level of Mad/Crazy. We reach the boundary of characters that do not directly interfere with the enemy's data. Here, characters are extremely powerful and can wipe the floor of most Mads in an instant. They use techniques like forcibly reducing the enemy's life to zero, increasing defenses, and performing life super-recovery, countermeasures. There are few god characters on 1.x, despite the fact that the condbug has been discovered.
- Null: Characters that rely on bugs found in the engine to defeat their enemies by directly interfering with either said opponents or the engine itself using Null Overflow. Null Overflow still works on 1.x, but it has different offsets than WinMUGEN. [i]
- Secretary: As an external method, it is not really different from the ones used for WinMUGEN, except the engine's memory offsets change for every build. [i]
- ➤ Low Tier: Uses MUGEN's parameters to control MUGEN's internal state, even slightly.
- ➤ Top Tier: Uses external files, such as bats, exes etc to create external processes in order to change the internal state of Mugen, executing the engine normally.
- Postman: As base method is script files, no difference between WinMUGEN and these engine builds. [i]
- ➤ Low Tier: Uses a script file to execute the engine with a command line using directly a dummy file as P2's def parameter.
- ➤ Mid Tier: Same tier concept like the previous one, but overwriting the enemy's files.
- SuperNull: The way shellcodes are executed is slightly different in these engine versions, as ROP chains are required to execute them indirectly. Characters who use Variable Expansion are still included here, precisely because they use Ziddia's SN Exploit to make it possible. [i]
- ➤ Invoker: External exploit type that allows to load executables or library files to support the author's character.
- ➤ Reloader: Uses libraries or shellcodes to restart the engine in order to win.
- ➤ Replacer: Modifies the character selection data memory to cause MUGEN only load the character's dummy definition file.
- HyperNull: ZLib exploit and ZIP File Parser flaws are fixed in these engine builds, but a vulnerability in the Definition File's Sprite Filepath line can be used instead. Or simply make use of the engine's init.lua to load your own shellcode (1.1 only). [i]
- UltraNull: The previously mentioned Windows vulnerability is also used here, but exploit is even easier to create, as the engine directly loads the affected libraries, without requiring any function. [i]
- Anti-Malware: Not very different from the description given in the WinMUGEN ranking, except one of the vulnerabilities from previous tiers is required to execute your shellcode in the process. Drivers, on the other hand, are a different story. [i]
- ➤ Registry: Creates one or more registry keys to execute their payload.
- ➤ Driver: It automatically installs a driver so that it can execute its payload. Very difficult to create since you need to have a certificate to have the driver installed.
Extra[]
The tiers below are extras, some are still used as 冗談 and 撃破挑戦 and others, however, are deprecated but still used by some cheap authors.
- Joke/Satire (冗談): Characters that are made as a joke or for satire. These cannot be ranked since these can have varying degrees of killing power.
- Defeat Challenge (撃破挑戦): It refers to a character that is designed to play against god characters. They cannot be defeated by madness or lower, but can be defeated with special countermeasures.
- Dragon: Characters whose task is to damage the computer. There are simple characters, which simply erase the System32 folder, and slightly more advanced ones that overwrite/delete the MBR sections.
- Whale: Coding term referred to characters who use the web browser to display a video of them defeating the enemy or to download the character's special M.U.G.E.N engine program before executing it on the user's computer.
WinMUGEN Ranking.
1.x Ranking.