Zangief
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| Zangief | |
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 Zangief in Super Street Fighter II. Drawn by Bengus |
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| Game series | Street Fighter series |
| First game | Street Fighter II |
| Voiced by (English) | William Johnson (Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) Anthony Landor (Street Fighter IV) |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Wataru Takagi (Street Fighter Alpha series) Tesshō Genda (Capcom vs. SNK series, Capcom Fighting Evolution) Kenta Miyake (Street Fighter IV) Tetsuo Kanao (Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) Hidenari Ugaki (Street Fighter Zero: The Animation) Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Japanese television dub of the Street Fighter film) Katsuhisa Hōki (Japanese video and DVD dub of the Street Fighter film) |
| Live action actor(s) | Andrew Bryniarski (Street Fighter) Mike Fass (Street Fighter: The Later Years) |
| Information | |
| Birthplace |  Soviet Union Russia |
| Fighting style | Freestyle mix of Russian and American pro wrestling (ロシアンレスリングとアメリカンプロレスをミックスした独自のスタイル Roshia resuringu to Amerikan puroresu o mikkusu shita dokuji no sutairu)
eye color = blue hair color = brown height = 6'6 hero =Mikahil Gorbachov |
Zangief (ザンギエフ Zangiefu, based on Russian Зангиев) is a video game character created by Capcom. " He is part of the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Zangief was the first "360°" fighter, whose main special move, a grappling move named the Spinning Piledriver, required spinning the joystick in nearly 360 degrees and pressing a punch button. The timing of this move is tricky, as Zangief will simply jump if the stick is tilted upwards for too long and often it has to be chained with another attack to get it to work properly. Mastering this maneuver would eventually pay off since, in the first few versions of Street Fighter II, the Spinning Piledriver is the most powerful move in the game for any character. Zangief has sometimes been claimed to be the first homosexual character in a fighting game, or possible anti-feminist, due to his win quote, "I hate pretty girls!". Capcom attempted to clarify this by stating in Capcom Fighting Evolution that Zangief had a girlfriend. Zangief's original super move was the Final Atomic Buster, a throw combination that ended with a Spinning Piledriver, which required the player to do a "double 360°" or "720°" on the controller to use.
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[edit] History
Zangief makes his first appearance in the original Street Fighter II as one of the original eight playable characters, appearing in all subsequent revisions of the game as well. In the Street Fighter II games, Zangief was characterized as a former professional wrestler who participated in the tournament to represent his country under the request of the Soviet President, an unnamed character resembling Mikhail Gorbachev (the actual real life Soviet President at the time). The subsequent home versions takes into account Gorbachev's resignation from office by having Zangief address the character as "Mr. Ex-President", although Zangief still represented the defunct Soviet Union in the games. In the SNES game manual for Street Fighter II his Spinning Clothesline move is said to be inspired by Haggar, the mayor of New York City and main character of Capcom's other popular arcade series Final Fight, as Haggar's supermove in that series is identical.
Zangief would return in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and its follow-up Street Fighter Alpha 3. In the Alpha series, Zangief is a national Russian hero nicknamed the "Red Cyclone" who becomes acquainted with Gorbachev at the end of Alpha 2 (the Alpha sub-series being set before Street Fighter II) and ends up fighting Shadaloo in Alpha 3.
His ending in Street Fighter IV is the only one that mentions the tournament as well as its ending. Zangief's photograph holding the beaten Seth (main boss and host of the tournament) in a headlock is then viewed by children who recognized Seth as the "bad guy from the TV". While the tournament is mentioned in the prologues of almost all the characters, only Zangief is shown discussing his win. Zangief is also well known worldwide in Street Fighter IV, as fellow pro wrestler El Fuerte calls Zangief "Tornado Rojo" (The Spanish translation of "Red Cyclone"). In the downloadable costume pack for the wrestler characters, Zangief's alternate costume is again a reference to Final Fight: a pair of olive green pants held up by a belt with a large golden buckle that reads "Mayor" with a leather strap across his chest, Haggar's trademark look in the games.
Zangief has also appeared in many of Capcom's fighting game crossovers with Marvel, including X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. In the two Marvel vs. Capcom games, an alternate version Zangief named "Mech Zangief" appears. Zangief also appears in Capcom vs. SNK and Capcom vs. SNK 2, as well as in the Street Fighter EX games. He is also a playable character in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix.
[edit] Film Portrayal
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Zangief appears in almost every Street Fighter movie adaptation to date, although he is not featured in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Zangief appears very briefly during a brutal battle against Blanka to entertain an audience of crime bosses. is last seen being electrocuted by him in a somewhat comical fashion due to his reaction of the process.
In Street Fighter II V, he is a henchman for Shadaloo, and sent by Bison to capture Ryu, whom he had seen displaying talents of Hadou on a beach earlier. Ryu resists, and they fight for a while until Zangief manages to knock him out (although he had kindly asked Ryu to come quietly). As they are leaving, Zangief spots Guile watching them from afar, and later on, while Guile and Nash are infiltrating Bison's base, Zangief corners Guile with the intention of killing him (under Bison's orders). Guile and Zangief fight a long, violent battle which takes its toll on both fighters, until Guile manages to knock Zangief out with a severe blow to the head. He is not seen again after this, and it is implied that he most likely escaped the explosion of Bison's base.
He makes another small appearance in Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie as a competitor in a fighting tournament. He does battle with Shun and begins to ruthlessly beat the boy to within an inch of his life until Ryu intervenes and battles Zangief. Zangief appears to have the upper hand, and Ryu, enraged, almost gives in to the Dark Hadō and fires a lethal dark Hadōken which narrowly misses Zangief but causes the building to collapse. Zangief, stunned by Ryu's power, subsequently falls through the crumbling floor.
He is portrayed by Andrew Bryniarski in the live-action Street Fighter movie, and is once again a lackey of Bison's, only this time, he truly has a good heart and believes that the A.N., and not Bison, are the enemies of world peace and freedom. During the climactic battle, Zangief battles E. Honda, who appears to have the upper hand. After the battle ends, he is told by Dee Jay that Bison, was in fact, the evil one, and had been fooling Zangief the whole time. It's also revealed that he was not paid as he was stunned when Dee Jay revealed "He was paid a freaking fortune." To redeem himself, he helps Ryu and Ken hold the emergency exit door open for the hostages to escape. He is last seen complementing Guile's bravery, and gives him the Shadowloo salute which Guile turns into the thumbs-up when he survives the explosion.
[edit] Appearances in other media
Zangief appeared in Masaomi Kanzaki's Street Fighter manga, released in the early 1990's, and was depicted very much like his videogame self. One of his main motivations was to defeat Guile, since, as an American, he represented to Zangief the rival country of his own.
Zangief appears in Masahiko Nakahira's Sakura Ganbaru! manga, in which he is introduced fighting in his exact same stage from Street Fighter Alpha 2. He first defeats Blanka, and then is engaged by Sakura Kasugano and Cammy, whom he easily overpowered. He was later defeated by the duo, afterward his friendly and good natured personality surfaced.
[edit] Promotion and reception
A Zangief-inspired costume for players to use in Sony's LittleBigPlanet was released on December 12, 2008 as downloadable content for the title.[1]
IGN ranked Zangief at number thirteen in their "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters" article, stating "he's a bit of a stereotype, a hulking lug from Mother Russia, but he plays the type so well, though. Between the Mohawk, the muttonchops, and the all-over bear-wrestling scars, it is hard to imagine a more perfect embodiment of the muscle-bound grappling goon."[2] GameDaily listed Zangief at number three in their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article, describing his appearance as "menacing" as well as praising the strength of his fighting style.[3] In the January 30, 1997 issue of Gamest magazine in Japan, Zangief ranked at No. 18 from the poll Top 50 Characters of 1996.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Acevedo, Jay (2008-12-12). Weekly Playstation Store Update - December 12. Game Focus. Retrieved on 2008-12-18
- ^ Top 25 Street Fighter Characters - Day III. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-08-15
- ^ Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time. GameDaily. Retrieved on 2008-11-13
- ^ Ishii, Zenji (December 1996). "第10回ゲーメスト大賞". Gamest Magazine 188: pg. 46. http://www.netlaputa.ne.jp/~dummy/gamest/magazine/gamest/v188.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-28.
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