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. If done after a tick, the opponent can only escape by doing a reversal-timed instantly-invincible attack, like a dragon punch.

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. If done after a tick, the opponent can only escape by doing a reversal-timed instantly-invincible attack.

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. The startup time means the opponent can jump or even hit Gief out of it with a normal.

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. If done after a tick, the opponent can only escape by doing a reversal-timed instantly-invincible attack.

--UltraDavid

Combos

Zangief only has a few cancelable moves, 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. For moves that link into multiple things, I'll put the standing moves they link into first, the crouching moves second, and the special moves third.

Links

Close standing jab -- standing jab

Far standing jab -- standing jab

Standing strong -- standing strong/standing fierce/standing short/standing forward

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

Standing strong -- green hand

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

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

Far standing short -- green hand

Close standing forward -- standing jab/crouching jab

Crouching jab -- standing jab/standing strong/standing fierce/standing short/standing forward

Crouching jab -- crouching jab/crouching strong/crouching fierce/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 short 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.

Ticking

Ticking is the action of following a blocked move with a throw so that the opponent is forced to take damage even though they successfully blocked your attack. Since Zangief relies heavily on ticks into his SPD, ticking is an important part of learning how to use Zangief. While Zangief can tick from almost all his moves, the following are his most common ticks and a good Zangief player should be able to do them all. The sections and the ticks in each section are roughly in order from easiest to most difficult.

Ticks from the Air

• Jumping Short/Forward/Roundhouse -> SPD
  
• Down+Jumping Short/Forward (Knee Press) -> SPD
  
• Jumping Down+Fierce (Chest Press) -> SPD
  
• Jumping Fierce -> SPD
  

Standing Ticks

• Standing short -> SPD
  
• Standing jab -> SPD
  

Crouching Ticks

• Crouching forward -> SPD
  
• Crouching short -> SPD
  
• Crouching jab -> SPD
  

Effective ticking is all about learning the timing of these common ticks. If you do the tick too quickly, you will get the wiff animation for the SPD and you will be left wide open to attack. If you do the tick too slowly, your opponent will be able to either jump out of the tick or attack you. In contrast, the only way to counter a perfectly timed tick throw is to use a reversal. Learning the timing for these ticks is crucial since they are the core basics to Zangief's tick mix-up. If you have these down, then you should be able to learn his tick mix-up much more quickly.

--Pesch

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