Introduction
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. Not that useful.
Down + fierce: Same deal, not useful.
(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 sets up for splashes, but it's still very rarely used.
Command Normals
Toward/back + strong/fierce: Gief does a stupid little hop. The hitbox has like no range and beats just about nothing out. 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 it was nerfed in the American version. This move doesn't really have much use in the American version.
Special Moves
Spinning pile driver (360 + punch): A command throw with great range that does great damage; this is Zangief's most important move, and his entire game revolves around trying to land it. Jab has the best range but the worst damage, and fierce has the worst range but the best damage, although the range and damage don't vary all that much.
Atomic suplex (close 360 + kick): This is 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 very useful in some matchups and in surprise situations. That said, if you have the option, spd is better.
Punch lariat (Jab + Strong + Fierce): Gief spins around with hands a-flailing, going through fireballs, high tiger shots, some supers, and most mid-high level normals. The active hitbox extends to all of the area around Gief's head but only to one of Gief's hands, meaning that although the hand with the hitbox beats just about every non-invincible move, the chance of that happening is a little less than 50%, meaning that the lariat beats things like Honda's headbutt 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 also hits "lower"; for example, while punch lariat beats Claw's far standing fierce better, kick lariat beats Claw's crouching strong better. This go through Sagat's low tiger shots and a weird assortment of "low" normals; it doesn't go through normals you need to block low, more like... "lower" level normals you can block high.
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 main use of this move is to move Gief forward quickly immediately after a command grab in order to get in a better range more quickly.
Super Art
720 super (two joystick rotations plus any punch button): The range on this thing is much smaller than a normal spd, it's more like that of the atomic suplex. That said, the damage is much greater; 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.
Move Analysis
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 the links with the move being linked from and linked into and then a couple of the most-used link combos, but you can figure out a whole bunch of others too.
Close standing jab, standing jab
Far standing jab, standing jab
Standing strong, standing strong/standing fierce/standing short/standing forward/crouching fierce/crouching short/crouching forward/crouching roundhouse/green hand
Far standing short, standing short
Far standing short, standing forward
Far standing short, standing jab
Far standing short, standing strong
Far standing short, standing fierce
Far standing short, crouching jab
Far standing short, crouching strong
Far standing short, crouching fierce
Far standing short, crouching forward
Far standing short, crouching roundhouse
Far standing short, green hand
Close standing forward, standing jab
Close standing forward, crouching jab
Crouching jab, standing jab
Crouching jab, standing strong
Crouching jab, standing fierce
Crouching jab, standing short
Crouching jab, standing forward
Crouching jab, crouching jab
Crouching jab, crouching strong
Crouching jab, crouching fierce
Crouching jab, crouching short
Crouching jab, crouching forward
Crouching jab, crouching roundhouse
Crouching jab, green hand
Crouching forward, green hand
(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, green hand
Jumping fierce, standing strong, crouching roundhouse
Frame Data
Normals
Throws
Command Normals
Special Moves
Super Art
Additional 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.
Basics
Zoning
Mixups
Additional Notes
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