(What's so good about...) Zangief?

Even though I've been playing the various SF incarnations for years, I've never been much of a Zangief player (it could be the 360 roll moves I can never pull off...)

Anyway, I was bored today, so I tried him out; the only thing he seemed to me to be was:

slow
slow
powerful
slow
slow
slow

Yeah, some of his moves seem to pack a punch, but he seems to take forever to move across the screen (I was playing SFA 3 BTW).

Any regular Zangief players out there? What are his good points?

I am a Zangief worshipper!! I've played Gief since the day I spotted SF2 in the arcade, I've been playin him ever since. I like the slow, powerful characters that have devastating moves like SPD and all that. He has very good DEF and can take life off quickly, his only problem is trying to stay on them all the time, I guess thats why the japanese don't use SPDs as much as I do In A3 I loved him, V-ism Gief is easily top tier in that game. I personally like to use A-Gief, he can be very scary to fight. 1st, he has the clothesline which is his DP move/AA. Its also good for people that like to poke you with standing kicks, the dam thing is his best move, hes practically invincible from the waist up to his neck. Next he has the SPD, don't need to say much here, you can tick into it, jump in land and SPD. They will know when you like to SPD(afer ticks etc) thats when the mind games come. They will jump out of it Now you hit them with his ARS(anti air super) or PPP them. Theres too much to type here, if they jump you have the upperhand unless their using V. Even his standing jab is hell of an AA move. If you want to make your opponent shit their pants and make them never want to jump again try this one. S.Jab when they jump in and combo into his ARS(takes some practice, it has to be done VERY quickly, still can't do it 100% of the time), that is some major freakin damage for deciding to jump in on Gief. I remember doing this at a tourney once, I wish I could seen the looks on everyones faces, I heard them say "Holy shit, you see that?!!" or "OMG" . Not sure what else to say other than the dude just rules!!! I hope that maybe gave you a little better understanding of how powerful he can be, oh yeah and his s. and crouching Fierce kick too much ass buttrock

I'm not a Zangief player, but trust me, I hate playing real good 'gief players.. once you play one, you'll know why.

Alpha 3 zangief is his strongest incarnation to me. His Lariats are ridiculously powerful, and he has long reach also.

His Low strong and Low Fierce are great moves, and have great priority. You dont really have to move much with Zangief...opponents usually fear you and make mistakes. His low rounhouse has a close and VERY long reaching version depending on what direction you hold the joystick in.

His low jabs are a bitch as well...they are very fast and connect to each other easily. Nobody ever sees his flying grab super coming either...so dont forget about it.

some really excellent zangief can do just block then do the SPD (quick farggin hands). Then starts to poke with those chops or do that high priority aerial kick when you are airborne. Zangief can be very vicious if mastered. Zangief you sonuvagun...

Thats a problem alot of people have against Gief, when they jump in they throw the attack too early and all I have to do is block and SPD that shit every time. I guess its because hes such a big target, as soon as you get in range you want to throw the attack out at him. You MUST throw the attack deep enough in him so you can do a combo of your choice whether Gief blocks or not, you'll either give him a beating for taking the hit or he'll block and get pushed back out of range hopefully. You have to watch out for that as well(Gief taking the hit to SPD you) characters like Gen and Adon have moves that you can take the hit on and SPD them right afterwards unless their move is placed perfectly. Like what was already pointed out, in a sense Gief doesn't have to move quite as much as you might think, he has all the defensive tools you'll need, make them come to you, especially if you hit them with the s.jab-air super I mentioned earlier, they will be so low on life they have to attack. It all depends on your play style but I mix def.and offense, I start the round playing def usually, then afer I've countered their shit I go to off. and go crazy sometimes. I'll just keep jumping on them with the splash, crossing them up,etc., it can confuse people easily, considering they don't know when I'll stop doing it and SPD them etc(depends on how good the player is). Oh yeah, I just remembered when you get them in the corner go for a face bite hold and don't hit the buttons, he'll bite a few times(3, 4 can't remember)and them use the lvl3 air super on them, I gotta take a break

Zangief players are good with him...I know because one of my friend beat me when we are playing MvC2. He actually plays all the big guy. Stupid Zangief glee

OK, thanks for the advice guys (esp. STeVeFLY). I think I'll try out some of what you suggested later.

No problem, another move that I didn't mention is the Banishing Flat(Green Glove). That move alone gives him extra speed(not to mention devastating Vcombos). After you SPD someone, just do a couple of them quickly and you'll be ready to give more pressure. A little trick with that move, is to learn the ranges of the 3 variations of it. After you know this you can actually whiff it right infront of the opp., they will think its gonna hit so they will block most of the time, by the time they realize it didn't hit, your performing a SPD on their ass. Also, throw in his RBG(Running Bear Grab) once in a while, if you don't do it too often, it'll catch them off guard alot of times. Later!!

Problem is, I'm playing against the computer all the time, so the mind games and stuff you mention, though they sound deadly, don't work here...

Thanks anyhow...