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Zangief Strategy Guide and Moves: Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix

Last updated on April 24, 2009

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Character Overview

Watch some of Zangief's best tricks in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Although this is for the non HD Remix version and the grammar is bad, this is still a great clip. Watch ►

Movie courtesy of GIGAMSX1974

The jury is still out, but early opinion is that HD Remix Zangief is one heck of a fighter. Looking over his improvement list, you wouldn't think anything stands out so much that really makes him all that much better — until you take a closer look at his Hop (Towards + Hard Punch).

One of Zangief's biggest weaknesses has always been getting hit with low attacks, but his Hop now gives him a GREAT counter to this moves, usually resulting in a Screw Piledriver when your opponent messes up.

Gief can still have trouble consistently getting in, and players still need to be patient and thoughtful when making their moves, but a great Zangief player is going to cause you fits now. Yes — he's darn good.

• Strengths •
+ Excellent cross up game, usually results in either a combo or Screw Piledriver.
+ His new Hop attack (Towards + Hard Punch) is great.
+ Can take a lot of abuse because of his high defensive (stamina) rating.
+ When he hits — it hurts, very strong character.
+ Flat out deadly when he gets inside. Lots of options and mix ups in his close up game.
+ Most of his attacks have really high priority.
+ HD Remix's easier to execute moves help him a decent bit.
+ New Lariats are helpful.

• Weaknesses •
- Still can have a difficult time getting in close on some characters.
- Very few ways to deal damage when he's halfway across the screen or more.
- Moves are on the slow side and his footspeed is bad.
- Range on his Super move is crappy.

Special Moves

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• Screw Piledriver (Spinning Piledriver) •
The new way to execute this move is a God-send for players who use a pad, and it's even more forgiving than you may think.

When doing the motions for this move, you do not have to press Left or Right on the joystick when you first begin. Starting from a diagonally down position works just fine for all three ways of executing this grab.

One of your main goals as a Zangief player is to figure out how to land this move consistently, and also to make your opponent fear you getting in close enough to grab them with it.

It does a ton of damage, has pretty good range and Gief has even more tools at his disposal so he can get inside to land it now.

Execute this attack when you're close. Zangief will grab the other fighter, jump and spin in the air and slam them into the ground, doing quite a bit of damage. If you miss with this, Zangief will do a "whiff" animation where he grabs the air, giving your opponent time to react and hit you.

• Green Glove (Banishing Flat) •
A nice move that banishes projectiles when it hits them, which can help you get close in to your opponent, and the simplified motion makes this a bit easier to pull off consistently.

This attack recovers 4 frames faster than it did in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, which means you'll still need to do some anticipating when trying to set up a Screw Piledriver after this attack, just not as much.

It forces your opponent to be more careful when you're at the right range to Green Glove their projectile and grab them.

This attack also works well to finish off some of your combos, but it's main purpose is to banish projectiles.

Also it does NOT knock down when you hit with it.

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• Kick Lariat (Short Spinning Clothesline) •
Your feet are now invincible during the first rotation of this move, after that you can be hit/swept. This change makes this move a decent bit more useful.

Considering Gief's main vulnerability point is usually his feet, this is the place where many players are going to try and hit you.

Now if you predict these incoming attacks and time it correctly, you should be in a decent position to either them knock them down with the rest of your Lariat or be close enough to threaten a Screw Piledriver.

  or     or  
• Punch Lariat (Spinning Clothesline) •
This move can now hit low attacks at the very start when Gief is just beginning to spin. On paper, this lets you counter things like Guile's Crouching Medium Kick and Dhalsim's Crouching Hard Punch, in practice, it's not that easy.

While it's nice to have any improvement, it's not easy to correctly guess and time this move so that it hits low attacks, and if you time it wrong and you're too close, you'll likely be swept out of it. And in reality, you're probably better off going for Zangief's Hop which jumps over low attacks — you can find more information on this further down the guide.

Still, this move is great at going through fireballs that are just outside of sweep range or further, and it's an invaluable tool at getting/keeping you close. Continue to use it to advance Gief across the screen until you can get in range to threaten with one of your other moves.

Once you get just outside of sweep range you can threaten your opponent with Gief's new Running Powerbomb which will make them a little more careful with the moves they throw out.

Also, because of the Punch Lariant's giant hit box, this is a nifty move to use as you're getting up off the ground if your opponent is jumping in or trying to cross you up. You'll knock the crap out of them if they're timing is off, and they'll soon stop trying to pressure you after they score a knock down.

• Running Powerbomb (Double Suplex) •
This attack has a new easier motion which can also be reversed to execute it.

The Hard Kick version is much faster now and has even better range. It's almost impossible, in some situations, to counter this move after a blocked Crouching Medium Kick up close. The problem? It still doesn't take off much damage and it puts you a good distance away from your opponent.

But against turtling (defensive) players, the speed of this attack can catch them off guard. If you're outside of sweep range against someone, use this move to run in and grab them.

Super Move

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• Final Atomic Buster (Super Screw Piledriver) •
The range on Zangief's Super is, oddly enough, really bad. You've got to be almost point blank to land this.

But the good part is you can now you can do it without jumping. Note that unlike his normal Screw Piledriver, you cannot start the motion for this attack from the diagonally down positions, it must be from the Left or Right position.

Combos

• Cross up with Down + Hard Punch while Jumping, Crouching Light Punch 3x, Link into Crouching Hard Kick •
A combo that will strike fear into the heart of your opponent. If you hit, you'll score a knock down and likely dizzy. If they block, go for a Screw Piledriver or fake after a few Light Punches. Learn the timing on this and abuse it all day.

• Cross up with Down + Hard Punch while Jumping, Crouching Light Punch 2x, Standing Light Punch, Cancel into Green Glove •
A variation on the above combo that sometimes puts you in a good position to Screw Piledrive or pull off Gief's Super.

• Cross up with Down + Hard Punch while Jumping, Standing Medium Punch, Link into Crouching Medium Kick, Cancel into Green Glove •

• Cross up with Down + Hard Punch while Jumping, Crouching Medium Kick, Cancel into Lariat •
Takes off a disgusting amount of life and knocks down, AND it may dizzy.

• Jumping Hard Punch, Standing Medium Punch, Link into Crouching Hard Kick •
Another easy combo that knocks down.

Normal Moves

This is not a complete list of Zangief's normal moves, just the ones we think are noteworthy.

• Hop •
This move has been given a significant speed boost, and it now goes up higher meaning you can hop over low attacks! It also recovers almost instantly when you miss with it, which should be your goal most of the time.

This attack makes Zangief significantly better, use it when you're close in to hop over low attacks and Screw Piledrive.

(In the air)
• Body Splash •
Probably the best cross up attack in the game. If your opponent blocks this, throw out a few Light Punches and set up a Screw Piledriver, if they don't, do a combo of choice.

Changes from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo

* Green Glove command changed to quarter-circle forward plus Punch.

* Green Glove has slightly faster recovery.

* Screw Piledriver command easier: Half-circle back, then forward plus Punch, or half-circle forward, back plus Punch.

* Super command easier, Half-circle back, half-circle back, then forward plus Punch or half-circle forward, half-circle forward, then back plus Punch.

* Running Powerbomb command is now half-circle back or half-circle forward plus Kick.

* Running Powerbomb runs faster.

* Kick Lariat can now be done with Light Punch and Kick as well as original all three Kicks command.

* Punch Lariat can now be done with Medium Punch and Kick or Hard Punch and Kick as well as original all three Punches command.

* Kick Lariat has invulnerable feet during Zangief's first rotation, but vulnerable feet after that.

* Kick Lariat has a different sound effect on startup than Punch Lariat.

* Punch Lariat's initial hit-frame now extends down to the floor so it can hit Dhalsim's low Hard Punch or sometimes Guile's low Medium Kick. As before, this hitbox is only active for 6 frames out of the entire Lariat.

* Hop move can only be done with towards plus Hard Punch. No longer possible with back plus Hard or Medium Punch, or towards plus Medium Punch.

* Hop travels farther forward, slightly higher, and has slightly better recovery.

* Jumping (forward/away) Medium Punch has hitbox that reaches slightly farther forward.

* Crouching Hard Punch has slightly higher hit box, mainly to hit Vega's off-the-wall attacks.

Contributions to this guide by David Sirlin, UltraDavid.