Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo/Zangief

Zangief's portrait in Super Turbo

Color Options

New Zangief Colors

New Zangief's color options in Super Turbo
To choose the "Hold" color, press and hold any button except Start for 2 seconds. To choose any other color, simply tap the desired button.

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

Old Zangief Colors

Old Zangief's color options in Super Turbo
Old Zangief's input code is LRRR. Pressing Short simultaneously with Jab or Fierce will give you the alternate color.

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

Moves List

Normal Moves

Throws

As the prototypical grappler, Gief has the most normal throws in the game and even a couple of the best in his strong and roundhouse throws. That said, because of his excellent command grabs, his normal throws go mostly unused.

Toward/back + strong: Zangief sits on the opponent's head, opponent always stays in front of Zangief. Sets up a crossup fierce splash when unteched. Zangief's most commonly-used normal throw.

Toward/back + fierce: Gief does, I don't know, something to the opponent's face for multiple hits. Crappy range.

Toward/back + forward: Zangief throws the opponent over his head, opponent always ends up behind him. Not as useful as strong because the opponent is thrown too far for a splash, but if Gief is in the corner and you want the opponent cornered, here ya go.

Toward/back + roundhouse: Gief bites the opponent for multiple hits. For a normal throw, this has great range and does great damage, and it would be awesome for any other character, but again, if you're going to grab, the command grabs are the ways to go.

Down + strong: Crouching version of the fierce throw. This sometimes comes out when you want a crouching strong poke, and that's fine because the throw does more damage, but it's never used on purpose.

Down + fierce: Same deal, except you very rarely press crouching fierce, so you'll probably never see it in-game.

(Gief and opponent in air) Toward/back + roundhouse/forward: Zangief tosses over his head in the direction pressed. Ok range, but very rarely used.

(Gief and opponent in air) Toward/back + strong/fierce: Gief throws the opponent down in the direction pressed. This is the better airthrow because it leaves the opponent closer, but it's still very rarely used.

--UltraDavid

Command Normals

Toward/back + strong/fierce: Gief does a stupid little hop. The move has like no range, beats just about nothing out, and is almost never used on purpose. It was probably meant as a way for Zangief to be able to hop over opponents' low normals, but it's not very good at doing that. Mostly it's just an annoyance.

Jump straight up strong/fierce: Gief does a sort of headbutt thing. In the Japanese version it's often an instant dizzy, but in the American version it got nerfed, so it's not very useful.

--UltraDavid

Special Moves

Spinning pile driver (360 + punch): A command throw with great range that does great damage; this is Zangief's most important move. The jab version has the best range but does the worst damage and fierce has the worst range but does the best damage, although the range and damage don't vary all that much.

Atomic suplex (close 360 + kick): This command throw is more damaging than spd, but its range is much smaller. If you're right up close, go for this for more guaranteed damage.

Running bear grab (far 360 + kick): Gief runs a little distance, and as soon as he gets close enough he grabs the opponent. This does less damage than spd and spd's range is only a little smaller than this move's max running range, but it's still useful in some matchups and in surprise situations.

Punch lariat (Jab + Strong + Fierce): Gief spins around with hands a-flailing, going through fireballs, high tiger shots, some supers, and most high- and mid- level normals. The active hitbox extends to all of the area around Gief's head but only to one of Gief's hands, so although the hand with the hitbox beats just about every non-invincible move in its range, the chance of that happening is a little less than 50%; as a result, while the lariat can beat things like Honda's headbutt, it does so only occasionally. This has no lower-body invincibility.

Kick lariat (short + forward + roundhouse): Like the punch lariat, but this one has a shorter duration and doesn't move laterally as far. It also hits "lower"; for example, while punch lariat beats Boxer's far standing fierce better, kick lariat beats Claw's crouching strong better. This go through Sagat's low tiger shots, and while it loses to moves you need to block low, it does go through a weird assortment of "lower" level normals.

Green hand aka banishing fist (toward, down-toward, down + punch): The fist beats out fireballs, but only while it's glowing. It's used to move through fireballs, but it's generally not as good at that as the lariat because of its startup and recovery. The hitbox at the fist is really robust, so it beats out just about everything if timed right. The move is mainly used as a quick way to get Gief into better range after a command grab.

--UltraDavid

Super Art

720 (two joystick rotations plus any punch button): The range on this thing is more like that of the atomic suplex than spd, but it can take off up to about 60% of the opponent's life. It's used pretty rarely because you need to be so close to land it, but if you get a chance, go for it.

--UltraDavid

Combos

Zangief only has a couple of cancelable moves (close standing jab, far standing jab, crouching jab, crouching short, and crouching forward), but his normals are remarkably linkable, so he still has some big combos. I'm going to put down all of his links (--) and cancels (xx) that combo and then I'll note a couple of his most-used combos.

Links

Close standing jab -- standing jab

Far standing jab -- standing jab

Standing strong -- standing strong/standing fierce/crouching fierce

Standing strong -- standing short/standing forward/crouching short/crouching forward/crouching roundhouse

Standing strong -- green hand

Far standing short -- standing jab/standing strong/standing fierce/crouching jab/crouching strong/crouching fierce

Far standing short -- standing short/standing forward/crouching forward/crouching roundhouse

Far standing short -- green hand

Close standing forward -- standing jab/crouching jab

Crouching jab -- standing jab/standing strong/standing fierce/crouching jab/crouching strong/crouching fierce

Crouching jab -- standing short/standing forward/crouching short/crouching forward/crouching roundhouse

Cancels

Close standing jab xx green hand/lariat Far standing jab xx green hand

Crouching jab xx green hand/lariat

Crouching forward xx green hand/lariat

Most Used Combos=

(Crossup fierce splash), crouching jab -- crouching jab -- crouching jab -- crouching roundhouse

(Crossup fierce splash), crouching jab -- crouching jab -- far standing short -- crouching roundhouse

(Crossup fierce splash), standing strong -- far standing short -- crouching roundhouse

(Crossup fierce splash), standing strong -- crouching forward xx green hand

(Crossup fierce splash), crouching forward xx lariat

(Jumping fierce), standing strong -- crouching roundhouse

--UltraDavid

Frame Data

Strategies

Overview

Zangief's game revolves around landing his command grabs. He wants to be up close to the opponent ticking into spd or getting a running bear grab. Gief uses his lariats and green hand to get into footsie range, where he uses his excellent crouching roundhouse, standing short, and standing forward pokes as well as lariats to get a knockdown or set up a spinning pile driver.

Match-ups

• • Balrog (Boxer)
  • O. Balrog (Boxer)
  • Blanka
  • O. Blanka
  • Cammy
  • O. Cammy
  • Chun-Li
  • O. Chun-Li
  • Dee Jay
  • O. Dee Jay
  • Dhalsim
  • O. Dhalsim
  • E. Honda
  • O. E. Honda
  • Fei Long
  • O. Fei Long
  • Guile
  • O. Guile
  • Ken
  • O. Ken
  • M. Bison (Dictator)
  • O. M. Bison (Dictator)
  • Ryu
  • O. Ryu
  • Sagat
  • O. Sagat
  • T. Hawk
  • T. Hawk
  • Vega (Claw)
  • O. Vega (Claw)
  • Zangief
  • O. Zangief