Street Fighter Alpha 3 COMPREHENSIVE Zangief FAQ Version 1.2 1999/04/26 by Jason Lee email: pikachu_jl@hotmail.com Contents: 1. Introduction Copyright Info Disclaimer & Other Legal Stuff Credits Version Update How to Contact Me What's New In SFA3? Notation 2. General Zangief Info Fighting Style Zangief's "isms" & Alpha-counter(s) Normal Moves Special Moves Supers 3. Strategy Combos Air-counters/Juggles Grapples/Ticking Tactics VS. Character Tips 4. Miscellaneous Comments/Observations Win Sequences Other Stuff Not Worthy of Their Own Section -1- INTRODUCTION COPYRIGHT The SFA3 COMPREHENSIVE Zangief FAQ v1.0 is Copyright 1998 by Jason Lee. Copyright information: 1. Please DO NOT use this FAQ for commercial purposes. 2. Please DO give credits where they're due. This FAQ may be redistributed as long is is distributed in its original form. DISCLAIMER This FAQ is for private and personal use only. It can only be reproduced electronically, and if placed on a web page or site, may be altered as long as this disclaimer and the above copyright notice appears in full. This FAQ is not to be used for profitable or promotional purposes; this includes being used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in ANY way. This FAQ was created and is owned by me, Jason Lee. I can be reached at . All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged that are not specifically mentioned in this FAQ. Please give credit where it is due. Kudos to K. Megura for the great disclaimer! CREDITS I would like to acknowledge the following people/groups: Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)and Expert Gamer (formerly EGM2) and for their info on SFA3. Sabre (H. C. Yu) for info from his Zangief FAQ. Kao Megura or members.xoom.com/megura for the BEST Street Fighter Alpha 3 FAQ on the net. Street Fighter ONLINE John Culbert & Fighter's Compendium (Sorry, I forgot the website!) who inspired me with their SFA2 FAQ. Gamefaqs who have the best FAQ collections on the net. My buddy Reagan for kicking my sorry little butt. And all the people who have ever contributed to my understanding of the game. And special Hello to all of you who pick Zangief over Shotokans! :) VERSION UPDATE This is v1.2 of my Zangief FAQ released on (1999/04/26). I have fixed up some problems, such as messed-up lines and tab spaces. I have also updated some sections/moves. In addition, I have added a section regarding Zangief's Win animations. HOW TO CONTACT ME I can be reached by email at . I check my email about every 2-3 days, so feel free to send me any comments, suggestions, ideas, corrections, constructive criticism, or complaints. They would be greatly appreciated. I will normally answer any reasonable email sent to me, unless of course I get swamped / spammed, in which case I might ignore you. I am still lacking some info regarding VS. CHARACTER STRATEGIES. I would appreciate any information that you may have. WHAT'S NEW This is the 3rd (and rumored to be the last) Street Fighter Alpha game. The game includes at least 28 characters in the arcade version, and at least 31 in the home version. The game has the standard Alpha elements: supers, alpha counters, and rolling. Some of the new features are: juggles, air recoveries, guard meter, major counters, as well as selectable fighting modes. In this FAQ, I'll try to give a complete breakdown of Zangief, including moves, strategies, and techniques. I have developped my techniques mainly on the Japanese PSX (Sony Playstation) version of Street Fighter Zero 3, but I'm sure that these strategies can be applied to either the arcade or forthcoming versions on DC (Sega Dreamcast) as well as the American PSX version. However, I will not be going through the newbie basics (Alpha counters in general, how to roll/recover/throw/tech-hit, guard meter details, etc.). This is a dedicated Zangief FAQ. With all due respect, if you want the information outlined above, go and get a newbie or novice FAQ. NOTATION I will use many abbreviations throughout this FAQ. Where these are used for the first time, the will be explained. For moves, I will be using a self-explanatory system. -2- GENERAL INFORMATION FIGHTING STYLE Zangief's fighting style is offensive all-the-way! A defensive Zangief will surely DIE! The best way to play Zangief is probably to keep your opponent under constant pressure. As soon as he makes a mistake, you can punish him. HOWEVER, as I have noticed, you can't get too cocky & make stupid mistakes; otherwise, your opponnent will kick your sorry little ass. ZANGIEF'S ISMS Like all other characters, Zangief has three (and a half - I'll explain) "isms" available to him. Here is they are broken down (courtesy of EGM/XG): Z-ism or A-ism This is the standard mode that you know & love (or hate) of SFA. All supers are available at three different levels of power. Air-blocking is available, along with juggles. Zangief's Alpha counter (performed by pressing towards along with punch & kick (P&K) of the same strength) is a standing forward kick with decent range and priority, similar to his standing forward kick, but I dont thik it hits crouching opponents (which is what you would want to use it for). It requires one level of super. X-ism In this mode, Zangief only has one super, the Final Atomic Buster (FAB) or Super Spinning Piledriver, at level 3. Air-blocking and Alpha counters are NOT available, but your guard meter is slightly longer. The motion for his glowing hand is different. Juggles are available. V-ism This mode allows Zangief to perform custom combos (CC) by pressing P&K of the same strength together. No super combos are available. The longer your super meter when you activate the custom, the longer your CC. You must have at least 50% of your meter to activate CC. Zangief's Alpha counter is available and requires 50% of the super meter. Zangief has a different Alpha-counter than his Z-ism one. Insteasd of being a standing forward, it's a standing fierce. Air- blocking and juggling is enabled in V-ism. Your guard meter is slightly shorter. Oh yeah, all attacks are sped up during a Custom Combo (CC), special or not. "Old-ism" (Not really an "ism") To choose this mode, hold fierce & roundhouse when you press start. Supers and Alpha-counters are removed. Air-blocking is gone, and so are juggles. Juggling disabled means that you cannot juggle your opponent, but he cannot juggle you either. You have no guard meter, and hence, unlimited blocking. This mode is time-unlocked in the PSX version, and is accesed through a code at the arcade (Insert coin(s), hold Fierce & Roundhouse, press Start). Overall, Zangief's Z-ism is the only one worth playing; his super air throw maneuver is only available in Z-ism. Moreover, the FAB on Z-ism level 3 does the same amount of damage as the X-ism one. V-ism Zangief is OK. I have not seen a custom combo that does more than 20-25% (usually by mashing all 3 punches for the Spinning Lariat), but a V-combo usually gives you a free piledriver. NORMAL MOVES Jab: Standing jab is a quick knife-attack that has good speed and recovery. However, its range is pathetic, but its priority as an air counter pretty good. Sometimes it can be used to set up a piledriver, but I don't recommend it (I'll explain in the piledriver section). Jumping jab is a mid-air knife strike with amazing priority. Use it to stuff your opponent's high priority air-to-air attacks. The ducking jabis the complete opposite. Without it, you CANNOT SURVIVE! (acknowledgement to Sabre) You can do up to 3 ducking jabs as a combo/for guard meter draining, but you can't really combo afterwards (N.B. In SF2, you could do a fierce piledriver after them!). Use the low jab to snuff mid-level attacks at close range, as well as body-projectiles (E.Honda, Blanka). Strong: The standing strong is a mid level slash with the back of Zangief's hand. It has decent range but so-so priority, but is good for juggling. The jumping strong is similar to the jab and is not very practical (credit to Fighter's Compendium) but it can be used to counter an opponents fierce/roundhouse when you are both in the air; but personally, I prefer the forward or roundhouse for this. The crouching strong is by far the most important application of the button. An uppercut, it's a great anti-air, but you have to be positioned properly: you want your opponent to be above and slightly in front of you for it to work best. On a major counter with the ducking strong, you can go to almost any juggle (I'll cover these later). Fierce: This is probably the most important button for Zangief. Standing fierce hits long and hard. It's a standing haymaker which has about half a screen's range, which makes it amazing as a surprise poke. Be warne,d though, if you whiff (miss completely) with it, and since it won't hit crouching, you're open for BIG damage. The ducking fierce is just a low version of the standing fierce. The jumping fierce is a LONGGGGGG range "Superman" punch that has pretty good priority in air-to-air fights. If you press fierce after you jump straight up and hold up, (in X-ism, do towards + strong) you will get a headbutt that can dizzy your opponent in just a few (2-3) hits; it's not easy to get, however. The best application of Zangief's fierce is the fierce splash, performed by pulling down and pressing fierce while airborne. He does a belly-flop type attack which has unbelievable priority against most normal moves and some special moves. It's also Zangief's best/only cross-up attack. Don't use it recklessly, Zangief's jump is a LOT slower when you do the splash, leaving you open to a Dragon Punch (DP). Short: The standing short is probably one the most overlooked of Zangief's normal moves. It has a little range and pretty good priority, but does very little damage. This shortcoming is overcome by the fact that you can throw a short and then immediately go into a piledriver (or super), ticking your opponent. Jumping short is a short range drop kick. Use it like a jab. If you pull down and press short in the air, you'll get a jumping knee which is moderately useful as a tick. The knee has bee changed so that a grapple performed upon landing from it will miss if the knee is blocked (tick with the fierce splash instead, more on ticking later). Besides that, the knee has good priority vs. other attacks and is useful for fooling opponents who wait for you to jump in. The frame on this is short to time it carefully (from Sabre). The ducking short is a decent move. You can use it to counter an opponents low, slow attack, such as a roundhouse sweep. I personally like to use it to keep my opponent on his toes by throwing a low short, followed by a close low roundhouse. The two look deceptively similar and you can catch a sleeping adversary off guard. The low short is pretty useful as a tick; it forces the opponent to block low, but the tick is slightly harder to pull off. Forward: Standing forward is probably Zangief's best poke. It hasn't changed much since the old SF2 days. It's a straight kick at about waist level, reaching about one character width away. Decent range and priority, you can use it to poke, or use it to nail someone jumping in deep/directly in front of you. The jumping forward is similar to the short, but with less speed & more power. It has good air-to-air priority. Pulling down and pressing forward gives you a knee similar to the short knee, but with slightly less priority and more power; it's still good to use when jumping in on an opponent. Ducking forward is a long-range, low poke. Use it to keep an opponent under pressure. The only down side is that it has a pretty slow recovery, allowing your opponent to jump in on you should he see it coming. If you pull down-back speed and more power. I find it to be nearly useless. Roundhouse: Zangief's standing roundhouse is probably his worst move. It's a double leg wrestling-type kick that is VERY slow! You can use it on someone jumping in, but only if you see them jump very early. His jumping roundhouse is a two legged mid-air kick. It's not that good for jumping in, but has unbelievable priority if you do it early in your jump (on your way up). It will beat almost any normal air attack. Ducking roundhouse (sweep) is a LONGGGGGG range sweep that reaches almost half a screen. However, it is so slow that an opponent can sometimes see it coming and jump on you before you even connect. Use it sparingly. If you pull down-back and press roundhouse, Zangief does a very slow version of his low short, that sweeps opponents. This is the sweep I usually use. You can use it to hack off the other guy's guard meter, and if you hit with it, you can usually jump in as your opponent gets up, setting them up for a grapple. SPECIAL MOVES Spinning Lariat: 3 punches or 3 kicks simultaneously Zangief spins tornado-style, with his arms outstreched. The kick version spins faster than the punch version but for a shorter time. The punch version goes through normal projectiles, while the kick version goes through low projectiles. However, air projectiles still nail Zangief during a lariat. You can still move forwards/backwards with it, but you most likely won't be able to go through a fireball and hit your opponent since you move very slowly. You are vulnerable to low attacks such as sweeps. The lariat can usually be crouched under, with the exception of a close kick lariat, which can nail ducking opponents. You can get up to 3 hits with this move; use it almost exclusively on jumpers. A word of caution, your joystick must be in NEUTRAL when you press the punches/kicks or you will accidentally go into a throw animation, leaving you open (credit to Sabre). Glowing Backfist: towards, down, down-towards + punch (DP motion) in Z/V-ism towards, down-towards, down + punch in X-ism Zangief spins backwards and swats in front of him with a glowing fist. The strenght of the punch pressed controls the distance Zangief moves. This move can be used to advance safely from far away. The fist can nullify projectiles with ease and at close/medium range, you can actually cancel a projectile and hit your opponent at the same time. You can suck in an opponent with a piledriver or super after you land this move, whether they block it or not. As far as I know, the move is not combo-able in any way. You can use it to nail airborne opponents, but it is tricky at best. Spinning Piledriver (SPD/piledriver): 360 (full-circle) motion + punch This is the infamous piledriver, Zangief's trademark move! You can suck your opponent in from about three steps away (your hand just barely touching them). The move has awsome priority, you can grab anyone out of anything, as long as their feet are still on the floor i.e. you can't grab airborne opponents. In case you didn't notice, the move cannot be blocked. The damage is also excellent taking off about 1/7 to 1/5 of the opponent's energy. It has more power when done with a stronger punch, but less range. If you are out of range when you pull this move, you will get a "missed grab" animation, leaving you open for about two seconds. The piledriver is most successful in a tick (more later). Note that technically, you only have to touch six consecutive directions to pull this move off, but usually a full circle is necessary. Siberian Suplex (SS): 360 motion + kick when up close Zangief grabs his opponent and suplexes them, then powerbombs them for two hits. This move seems to do slightly more damage than a SPD but has almost no range, requiring you to be right next to your opponent to pull it off. Like the SPD, it cannot be blocked. Unlike the SPD, Zangief will switch sides after landing the move. Useful for turning the tables on an opponent when you are cornered. Siberian Bear Crusher (SBC/Powerbomb): 360 motion + kick when far away Zangief runs towards his opponent, grabs him, picks him up, and slams him on his head. The kick used determines the distance traveled, with roundhouse being the furthest. The move has very good range but questionable priority. It is easy to see the move coming, and a good player can usually counter or escape it. The damage done is roughly that of a throw. If you miss, you will get a "missed grab" which leaves you open for heavy damage. SUPER MOVES Final Atomic Buster (FAB/Super Piledriver): 720 (2 full circles) + punch Like most other supers, jab is level 1, strong is level 2, and fierce is level 3. This move is the most devastating move in Zangief's arsenal. It can hack off up to 45-50%, if not more, on level 3. It's basically a REALLY hyped-up version of the normal SPD. It has a couple of frames at the beginning where Zangief is invincible. I've personally grabbed someone out of a Shinryuken as it started. It has limited (but surprising) range, and phenomenal damage. I personnally use only nthe level 3 version, as the others do much less damage (about 25% and 35% at levels 1 and 2 respectively). I would only use the lower levels when I don't have a full super bar. A badly losing Zangief can come back to win the match should he land this ultra-devastating super. If you set up this move properly (see Ticks section) and consistently Zangief will become almost unstoppable. Pretty Cool! Super Russian Slam (SRS/Super Air Throw): down, down-towards, towards, down, down-towards, towards + kick (double fireball motion) This is Zangief's only other super. It is only available in Z- ism. Zangief leaps into the air and grabs an opponent, after which, the opponent gets air thrown. It can be done at levels 1, 2 or 3. Level 3 will do about as much damage as a FAB, and is much easier to pull off! (credits to Sabre and Fighter's Compendium) Although this move is useful, it's not very practical. You can only get your opponent at the top of your jump, so it only works if you can read your opponent well enough to know when he will jump. Furthermore, it's very easy to get nailed out of this move, so don't expect to land it too often. It's generally better to stick with the FAB. -3- STRATEGY COMBOS Zangief has VERY limited combo potential, ticks notwithstanding. Here is what I have been able to come up with (somebody help me out!): 1) Fierce Splash > Standing Short > Spinning Lariat 2) Short/Forward Knee > Standing Short > Spinning Lariat 3) Fierce Splash > 3 Ducking Jabs 4) Short/Forward Knee > 3 Ducking Jabs I will cover ticks/grab combos in one of the next sections. AIR COUNTERS/JUGGLES Zangief has a couple of good air counters, namely the lariat, the low strong, and the fierce headbutt. The lariat can land 3 heavy hits on an opponent jumping in. This will take off about 20%, but be careful when using the lariat this way. If your opponent manages to hit Zangief on his head, you will probably end up on the painful end of a combo. The headbutt is OK as an air-counter, but is difficult to get all the time. The best part is that you can dizzy the opponent quite easily. The low strong is probably Zangief's best air-counter, but you have to be positioned properly: you want your opponent to be above and slightly in front of you for it to work best. If you get a major counter with this move, you can go into several juggles. After getting a major counter, you can juggle your opponent in several ways. To start off, you could tack on a standing/jumping fierce, which looks nice but doesn't really do much damage. The glowing backfist is a decent follow up to a juggle, but is tricky to pull off. I recommend pulling off an SRS (hopefully level 3) after getting a major counter. Even if your opponent is able to flip out, there's not much they can do to avoid it. GRAPPLES/TICKING Zangief's grapples (SPD/SS/SBC/FAB) are probably the hardest moves to do consistently in the entire game. Here's the secret to getting the moves quickly and accurately. First of all, try to pull off a grapple while jumping. To do this, jump up, do a full circle motion while airborne and press an attack button as you land. You should finish the 360 motion just as you land. Once you are able to get a grapple consistently, try doing it STANDING. I know that this sounds impossible, but TRUST ME. Pulling a full circle motion cleanly and accurately while standing is VERY DIFFICULT but by no means impossible. All you have to do is do the 360, and press punch/kick a split second before you jump. If you do it properly, you should get a piledriver from a standing start. You won't get it the first time you try it, but be patient and practice. It took me almost 2 weeks of practice (at about 4-6 hours a day) to get it right. Just stick with it and you'll succeed. Once you're able to do this, Zangief becomes much more dangerous. For instance, when someone whiffs a Dragon Punch, you can stand there, wait for them to land, and punish them with a grapple. When playing as Zangief, ticking is probably the most important and most difficult aspect of the game. For those of you who are less SF-savvy than others, ticking is basically putting a grapple (SPD/SS/SBC/FAB) into a "combo" that does massive damage, blocked or not. A tick can be accomplished in several ways. The first, and easiest way to do it is to jump in with and attack such as a fierce splash, and land into an SPD. Whether or not the splash is blocked, you will grab your opponent and piledrive them for heavy damage. Once you've gotten that one down, you can try to do a standing tick. Throw a standing/low short or low jab and pull a standing piledriver. If your opponent gets hit by the tick move, the SPD will be a combo (but it will not show up on the combo meter). If your opponent blocks the tick, he will ge sucked in by the SPD. You can do this as part of a jump in combo (Cross-up Splash > Short > SPD), or ou can do it to an opponent who is getting up. Beware, though, a character with a Dragon-Punch type super (any Shotokan, Sagat, Charlie, etc.) can really hurt you should they pull a super as you try to tick. Other than this, you're usually only open to an Alpha- counter when you tick. Note: If you keep getting the "missed grab" animation, it means that either your opponent is out of range (try using a jab SPD instead) or you're doing the SPD too early. The ultimate tick is with the FAB. Practice doing the FAB while jumping, and once you've got it (technique similar to jumping piledriver), you can try to tick off of a standing/crouching short. Tere are 2 ways to do it. You can do ONE full circle, press short, and do another full circle to finish the motion; or you can throw a short and then do 2 full circles. Either method works fine, but I personnally prefer the second method. In any case, a Splash > Low Jab > Low Short > FAB level 3 looks awesome, all but kills outright, and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. One last note on ticks: you cannot 2-in-1 a tick. If you try to "hide" a standing/ducking short within the 360 motion (kind of like trying to pull off a tick … la Ryu/Ken/Akuma style combo), you will always get the "missed grab". I think Capcom put this in to discourage "cheapers". You MUST do the short first, before you start the 360 motion, or else it will not work. TACTICS Zangief is not a combo-driven character. If you like combo play, pick someone else. To win, you have to get close to your opponent. So, obviously, most decent players will try to play a "keep away" game against Zangief (fireball trap comes to mine here). You should always keep the pressure on your opponent and never let him take the initiative." If you play defensively, again, pick someone else." (quote from Fighter's Compendium) Your major arsenal should be the Lariat, the Fierce Splash, and the SPD. You could also use the close sweep from time to time. For example, if someone whiffs a Dragon Punch, you might not want to SPD them right away. You could do a close sweep to knock them down. As the rise, do a long sweep from far away, which will actually get most people. When they get to their feet again, jump in and go for a piledriver or even a super. Zangief's strategy is to get in close and set up your ultra-devastating grapples. This is the principle upon which you should build your fighting style. If your opponent is always knocking you away, poke at them with your low jab/fierce/forward/roundhouse. When they begin attacking on the ground, jump in and go for a tick. Here's an interesting thing that NT taught me: walk up to someone & piledrive them from their limbs! Just go up to them, and SPD in one smooth motion on the joystick. If you see Zangief duck, you messed it up. The SPD should be coming out of nowhere. Sometimes, when up against an expert/pro, you might have trouble landing a grapple, since they can escape all but the most perfectly executed ticks, usually by jumping out of them before you can pull them off. Here's and easy solution. If they escape your standing ticks, you can try a simple jumping tick. Your opponnent might simply block and wait for a standing short that never comes; you can then just pick them up and do whatever you want with them. If that doesn't work, you can try jumping in without throwing an attack and SPD or FAB them. This usually works, even against seasoned players (acknowledgement to Fighter's Compendium and Sabre). One of my own inventions is a fake tick. Pull a tick move on your opponent, and if they decide to try and escape, do a standing fierce. This will nail them as they jump up and you may even get a major counter. Sometimes the mere threat of a piledriver is more dangerous than the move itself! You should always look for openings to land the level 3 FAB, which will cripple your opponent at the very least. I find that the psychological effect of landing a FAB to be of significant value. Most players that I have interviewed trash certain characters like Zangief, Birdie, Sodom, Rolento, etc. Characters like Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Sagat, Charlie, Chun-Li are rated rather highly. Quoting the Fighter's Compendium SFA2 FAQ: "He [Zangief] is not a useless character. He just requires a little more patience and understanding to win with." Also, if your opponent is on the recieving end of a FAB,he will realize that he's not up against an amateur, and that can work to your advantage. Your chances of winning go up considerably if your opponent fears you. VS. STRATEGIES. Many character strategies are missing here. I hope to have a complete breakdown in the next version of the FAQ, pending feedback from all my readers. Thanks for helping me out! :) RYU - Challenging match, especially against truly seasoned players. Don't fall into a fireball/dragon punch trap, and watch out for "THE TRAP" (a mix-up of Ryu's Low Short, Low Forward, Step Kick, and overhead hit). This trap can drain away your guard meter unbelievably quickly. Your only option is to either wait for the step kick and counter with a low jab, or wait for the overhead and sweep your opponent. AKUMA - Similar to Ryu, with the addition of a nasty air fireball. Your're pretty much defenceless when up against this move. Try to knock your opponent down by doing an early air-to-air nd set up a tick. His DP super is an excellent counter to any tick. KEN - Brutal fight. A combo character with a nasty poke (towards + roundhouse) makes for a real bitch. You can't jump in as much because of Ken's fast DPs and Shinryuken super. As with Akuma, the Shoryureppa is a great stopper for any tick. Wait for him to whiff a DP, then punish him. CHARLIE - The infamous turtler. He can usually wait for you to move in, then counter you with relative safety. If you are able to air-block his flashkick, you can knock him down and set up a tick. But what I like to do is to jump in with a short knee, which will stuff his flashkick. CHUN-LI - This is a classing SF2 matchup which is pretty nasty. Speed or Power? Speed is usually a HUGE advantage since Chun-Li can run away from you when she needs to, and move in to do huge damage when you're open. Don't take too many hits from her supers 'cause they can do heavy damage even at level 1. If you let her dictate the match to you, you can say goodbye. DHALSIM - Another rough matchup. Do we see a pattern going on here? :( Dhalsim is probably the best character to use against Zangief for one reason and one reason only: RANGE. You might try a jumping short knee to move in with, as it can beat many of Daddy-Long-Legs moves, such as his standing forward and roundhouse. E. HONDA - This one should be easy. You can counter his Sumo Headbutt with ducking jabs, and his Sumo Squash is useless against your lariat, provided you are MOVING when he lands on you. You WILL get nailed if he lands on your head. Use cross-ups instead of just jumping in, in order to get around his standing "Chop-Suey" fierce. BLANKA - Another relatively easy match. You can nullify his horizontall roll attack with a low jab (standing strong also works, but requires inhuman timing). Watch out for his electrical attack, as Zangief is much to slow to be able to sweep it cleanly at close range. M.BISON (US BALROG) - I have yet to fight a human Balrog with Zangief. I would appreciate any and all feedback concerning this matchup. BALROG (US VEGA) - This one's another toughie. Vega's sheer speed and the priority of his regular attacks, combined with a higher than normal jump make him a well-suited Zangief killer. An early jumping fierce might be able to take Vega out of the air, but don't count on landing many grapples. When he goes off the wall, jump away with a jab. It'll stop his claw dive or Izuna Drop. Just make sure he's not doing the claw spear (he won't scream when he does). SAGAT - Average difficulty. The tick tactics outlined in this FAQ work very well against Sagat, but be careful about taking too many hits from his Tiger Uppercut, especially the deep fierce one (7 hits, ouch!) But otherwise, his Tiger Uppercut has lousy priority. CAMMY - This fight is moderately difficult, bordering on hard. She's small, she's fast, and she has a great arsenal of moves. Most of her normal moves will beat those of Zangief, so you should try to corner her and keep her from moving around a lot. I have a lot of trouble landing a cross-up fierce splash on her as she's getting up (it'll almost always miss). I don't know why. SODOM - It all boils down to one issue: who will land the dreaded piledriver first? Sodom is by no means a pushover since he has speed on his side. His grapples have comparable damage to yours and he has a high priority jumping fierce. BIRDIE - Almost the same as Sodom, with the exception of Birdie's super chain grab. He's almost as slow as Zangief, but his super chain grab is lethal. He can land it from a full screen away with relative ease. You should try to tick Birdie, since his regular chain grabs' range and priority pale in comparison to your SPD/SS. ROLENTO - Rolento is somewhat similar to Vega, as he moves around a lot. But it's not too difficult to beat him if you know how. Rolento is a hit-and-run character, which makes it suicidal to try and follow him around. Use your low strong to discourage him from jumping, but DON'T GO AFTER HIM! Let him come to you, and when he makes a mistake (such as when he misses a wall leap & lands right in front of you) give him a FAB and watch him pay! GEN - Gen is an old fart who's also a pain in the ass. He's fast, and a tiny jab can turn into a 70 or 80 percent combo. Don't jump in on him, let him come to you. SAKURA - Easy. You can attack her in relative safety, and when she tries to DP you, just fall back and let her do it. Sakura is WIDE OPEN after her DP, giving you a perfect opportunity to piledrive. Two things to note, however, Sakura's jumping ANHYTHING will hit you right out of your lariat whether you are moving with it or not. The low strong doesn't work well either. Just block and be ready to counter her with a grapple. Oh yeah, don't go into the air with her with anything but an early short knee. GUY - Guy is of medium difficulty. He's faster than Vega, but he doesn't have that much priority. Like Rolento, don't try to follow him around. Let him make the mistakes. ROSE - Again, I haven't faced a Rose player, please send info! DAN - "Doushita Doushita?" - "Is this a joke?" Honest to goodness, this fight is EASY! Dan's air-counters (DP or low fierce) are next to useless against Zangief's fierce splash. If you like, you can even wait for Dan to do his funky hurricane kick and piledrive him as he lands from it. ADON - Another rough match. Adon is fast and moves around. You can try to piledrive him, but you probably won't meet with much successs. The Jaguar Kick is a really annoying, but you can block it and pull off a jab SPD. KARIN - My buddy Reagan kicks major ass with her. NEVER jump in, DON'T let her wait for you to come to her, and THINK before you pull anything fancy. She's a very well-rounded character who doesn't need a fireball. Your best bet is to wait for her to try and poke you, and grab her from her limbs. R. MIKA, CODY - Please send me info regarding Zangief vs. these guys! -4- MISCELLANEOUS WIN SEQUENCES (courtesy of Kao Megura) (Just hold a button after you win a round.) Jab Zangief throws up his arms and grunts. Strong Same as Jab, but with quote. Fierce Zangief flexes his chest muscle, then poses and grins while saying "Bolishoi Pavieda" (Big Victory?) :) Short Same as Fierce, but laughs instead. Forward Zangief takes a flask of vodka from his belt, drinks it, and breathes out a blast of fire. While he's breathing, Blanka drops down and holds out a fish so that Zangief ends up cooking it. Blanka goes off-screen with a grin, and Zngief looks back at the screen, grinning, his face covered in ash. Roundhouse Same as Forward, but Blaka stays hanging from the ceiling along with the fish, both of them charred. OTHER STUFF NOT WORTHY OF THEIR OWN SECTION I find that against most players, esp. Shotokans, they take it easy on me when I play Zangief at the arcade. I guess they think I don't know how to play -- almost any Shotokan player will admit that they think Zangief sucks. Now, don't go thinking that I hate all Shotokans. I just get annoyed with the "amateurs" who think they know what they're doing but play with ABSOLLUTELY NO FINESSE! (Jumping Roundhouse/Fierce, Sweep, Fireball, and Dragon Punch) I'll show no mercy against these guys, especially "Cheap Akumas". In any case, I won't have much time to play now, since the end of the semester is rolling around. C-y'all. ^_^ ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com