Street Fighter II/Zangief

Click here for more information about Zangief's other fighting game appearances.

Zangief is a close range character as he is a wrestling type. Many of his moves are more complicated to pull off due to the 360 motions input required to perform the moves, making him a character for advanced players. Zangief is one of the slowest of all characters in Street Fighter yet is still one of the most effective. His "spinning piledriver" is the single most damaging regular move in the series. Zangief's Flying Stomach block attack is the only standard move capable of dizzying a character in one hit.

Zangief's name is possibly based on real-life pro wrestler Victor Zangiev, a former Soviet amateur who trained as a professional in NJPW, and who also competed in WCW and UWF International. Zangief is still listed as being from the Soviet Union in all Street Fighter games, even those produced after the fall of the Soviet Union. This may be due to the fact that the majority of games he appears in take place at a time before the Soviet Union's fall. Zangief's prototypical name was Vodka Gobalsky.

Background
Zangief is said to have trained by wrestling polar bears in Siberia, on which he practiced his trademark Spinning Piledriver after being picked up by a cyclone while performing a piledriver on a bear. The scars covering his body are said to have been the results of wrestling with bears.

As the greatest professional wrestler in the Soviet Union, Zangief was contacted by a man named Erai Hito (Great Man) to represent his country in the second World Warrior tournament. Zangief agreed and began training in the extreme climates of Siberia, determined to demonstrate Russia's magnificent power to all of the world. With the assistance of his government, Zangief emerged from his training as "The Red Cyclone."

In his ending in the Street Fighter II series, Zangief is congratulated by someone who greatly resembles former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev and dances with him. He is referred to as erai hito (or "great man") in the Japanese version. In later versions of the Street Fighter II series, Zangief calls him "Mr. Ex-President".

HD Remix Alterations
Control Motion Changes Buffs Nerfs
 * Banishing Flat command changed to (used to be )
 * Kick Lariat can now be done with as well as original  command.
 * Punch Lariat can now be done with or  as well as original  command.
 * Screw Piledriver command easier: OR . (Original  command still works)
 * Flying Powerbomb (and Atomic Suplex) command is now OR.
 * Super command easier,  OR.
 * Banishing Flat has 4 frames better recovery.
 * Running Grab runs faster.
 * Kick Lariat has invulnerable feet during Zangief's first rotation, but vulnerable feet after that.
 * Punch Lariat's initial hitframe now extends down to the floor so it can hit Dhalsim's or sometimes Guile's low . As before, this hitbox is only active for 6 frames out of the entire lariat.
 * Hop move can only be done with . No longer possible with, , or.
 * Hop travels farther forward, higher, and has much better recovery.
 * Jumping (forward/away) has hitbox that reaches slightly farther forward. (This was mainly to hit air Vega air-to-air, but hardly helps).
 * Low has slightly higher hit box, mainly to hit Vega's off-the-wall attacks.
 * Kick Lariat has a different sound effect on startup than punch Lariat to help opponents distinguish the two.