========================= | Street Fighters Alph 3: | | Zangief FAQ | | By | | Sabre | ========================= Version 1.0 E-mail: goutan@yahoo.com Revision History: Version 1.0 (12/2/98) -- Start writing this gig. There'll be more coming. Copyright 1998 by H. C. Yu Copyright information: Please… (1) DO NOT use this FAQ for your commercial use. (2) DO give credits where they're due. ======================================================================= Table of Contents: Introduction Normal Moves Specials Supers Ways of landing special throws Strategy Credit ======================================================================= Introduction: In the third installment of the Street Fighter Alpha series, this game boasts the most characters of any SF games put forth so far, with a few mysterious secret characters waiting to be unveiled. The game follows the tradition of super meters, alpha counters, and rolling. In addition, Capcom put in juggles, juggle recoveries, guard meter, and many selectable modes of fighting. IMO, I find that the game deviates from the meaning of SFA. First of all, alpha counters are no more! It does barely any damage, and the priorities kind of suck. Also, the fighting style has turned heavily onto poking techniques. With the addition of guard meter, poking has become one's primary weapon. 3~4 heavy punches or kicks will usually crush the meter, making opponents vulnerable to supers or free combos. I've always been a strategic and combo player, and I ain't too fond of this new style. Why Zangief (A-ism)? Well, I don't like poking too much, so I like to use combos to do damages. Zangief can "combo" his special throws easily, thus he solved my problems in two folds: combo for damage and no poking. Zangief is much improved in this game. His special throws have added reach, and he gained many improved combos. However, he also lost the damage in throws and some easy throw combos. For example, jump in knee into throws no longer works if the knee is blocked. In this FAQ, I'll try to put some insights into how to kick ass with this new and improved Zangief. Since I'm still a new-be in this game, any help is deeply appreciated. ======================================================================= Normal Moves: Jab = this has become the most important attack of the game. Without them, you cannot POSSIBLY survive! Zangief's standing jabs are a quick chop that serve as an air defense. However, the priority on it isn't too high. If you manage to major counter the attacks, immediately do a Siberian Super Air Grab for serious damage! The crouching jabs are much better and are keys to Zangief's success. He can connect up to 3 jabs for some guard meter munching, but cannot combo afterwards. BTW, Zangief can chain jab into short in a combo. The jumping jabs are just jumping air stabs. If you major counter attacks in air with jumping jabs, Zangief can throw in a Siberian Super Air Grab when he lands to tag opponents. Short = this is less useful than jabs, but is nevertheless important. Standing short is really useless, it's just an ankle kick. Crouching shorts are much better and can chain into special throws easily. Jumping shorts is another horizontal kick useful for tagging opponents in the air. Again, if you major counter the attacks, Zangief can land into a Siberian Super Air Grab. Another variation of jumping short is the Knee Dive. Knee Dive with short is very quick and can counter many annoying poking tricks (Dhalsim's long reach). The frame on this move is very short so time it well. Strong = this is not so much an button. Standing strongs are horizontal chops that are quite useless. Crouching strongs are fairly useful as air defense. The uppercut hits a few steps in front of Zangief, so you must position Zangief correctly or he'll just miss. In corner, Zangief can juggle with a Green Hand afterwards! Jumping strongs are jumping downward chop that's pretty much useless. A variation of jumping strong is Head Butt. This will stop most air-to-air attacks and dizzy opponents very quickly. However, they're hard to land. Forward = this button is very much overlooked! Standing forwards have great range and can use in poking. Crouching forwards also have long reach to keep opponents at bay. Jumping forward is kind of like jumping short, except with stronger damage. Knee Dive is a jumping forward variation. The priority of the knee is still high, but cannot be used to counter quick pokes. Also, the damage is better and the frame lasts longer. Fierce = this is the most important button for Zangief. This is where Zangief hurts others badly! Standing fierce has great range and hits hard. Crouching fierce is basically a staning fierce in crouching position. Jumping fierce is a "superman" punch that's quite useful in air-to-air combats. Body Splash, a jumping fierce variant, is excellent! It has superb priority and great coverage. It beats off lots of normal attacks and some specials! If you manage to major counter with Body Splash, land and pull off the Siberian Super Air Grab! Roundhouse = this isn't too useful. Standing roundhouse is a short-range double kick that'll never connect! Crouching roundhouse is better in that it trips opponents. Jumping roundhouse has great range and useful in air-to-air face-offs. ======================================================================= Specials: Spinning Pile Driver = this is the mother of all throws! Although the damage is toned down, the range is much improved. As before, fierce SPD does the best damage while jab SPD is the weakest. Zangief should build his game around this move. Knowing how to land this throw will be VERY important. I'll have a section on this later. Siberian Suplex = this is another powerful throw equivalent to SPD! The damage seems stronger than SPD, and it's nice to see Zangief do other throws besides SPD. Often, Zangief players go for SPD; however, IMO this is much better! Siberian Suplex, like SPD, can be "comboed." Another advantage of this throw is that Zangief will switch sides with opponents. Thus, it can turn the table around, when you are against the corner, by making the opponents be on the corner. Then, Zangief can go on offensive. Running Bear Grab = this is a rather weak throw. Although the range is better than the previous 2 throws, RBG is relatively weak. Also, it's so easy to read that opponents will almost always counter it! There's one awkward "combo" with this move: Standing roundhouse into RBG. This is hard to pull off because hitting opponents with the roundhouse is very rare. Green Hand = can we way this is Zangief's fireball? This move is quick in advancing Zangief safely and can counter fireballs. Also, you can suck in opponents with a SPD/SS afterwards if close enough. Combo opportunity is rare for this move. BTW, you can use this to knock out air-borne opponents. If such is the case, you can by-all-means do the Siberian Super Air Grab for mega damage!! Lariat = this is an excellent air defense move. Zangief will rely heavily on this move to defend himself! In this game, Lariat is much better. Its priority seems to have increased, and it now clip up to 3 times! One caution about this move is the command. You must put joystick on neutral to do this move, or Zangief will accidentally try to throw. BTW, it can't be air-blocked. ======================================================================= Supers: Final Atomic Buster = this is by-far the most feared super of the game! It cannot be blocked and does nearly 50% damage! Also, the suck-in range is much greater! Due to increased range, this can be "comboed" right after jump-in attacks (just like in SFA2). More info on comboing this move later. Siberian Super Air Grab = IMO this is Zangief's easiest super combo (duh!) Capcom has vastly improved this move by giving it lots of combo opportunities. Now, Zangief can easily rely on this super to unleash damage. Level 3 will dish out nearly 50% damage, rivaling the much harder-to-pull-off FAB! ======================================================================= Landing SPD/SS/FAB: Let's first start with SPD and SS. They are just 360 motion on the joystick, but you can manage with just 270. Before we being, get into a habit of spinning the joystick (without breaking them!). To start, learn to jump-in into SPD/SS. Hold up-forward to jump-in, and while in air whip a circle from that position and time it so you land when you just complete the circle. Once you master that, now stick an attack during jump-in. The technique is the same except that you tag in an attack in air. If you can do this effectively (that meanse you whiffed the throw if opponents blocked the attack or do the throw if connects), then you're ready for some expert maneuver! Jump-in attack, then crouching jab/short into SPD/SS. Now, the timing is the tricky part. By now, you should be able to do 360 from anywhere with no difficulty. After the crouching jab/short, wait a split second, then whip up the 360. Boom, they're screwed! Easy, huh? Practice! If any questions, e-mail me at goutan@yahoo.com Now the mother-of-all super "combo." FAB is really hard to do because it's 720, or 2 circles for you math drop-outs ^_^ (J/K) First, practice jumping into the super. The circles must be done quickly and finish upon landing. After that, stick in a jump-in attack before whipping up this super. BTW, the super will grab, even if the attack is blocked, due to its increased range! Now, you're ready for the biggy! Jump-in attack, then crouching jab/short into FAB. There are basically 2 ways to land this combo. If you're a quick spinner, you can spin the FAB right after the jab/short tags. On the other hand, there's this buffering technique that'll do just fine. While jumping, spin a circle quickly. By the time you land, you should have completed and holding it at crouching position. Then hit short (if done correctly, Zangief won't try RBG/SS). Once you see short connect, whip another circle (as if doing the SPD/SS combo) for FAB. This will take some practice, but is much easier. ======================================================================= Strategy: Zangief is often viewed as a punching bag due to his slowness and big size. He can be greatly hampered by keep-aways and quick long-range poking characters. The guard meter further weakens Zangief because he'll need to block A LOT!! My advice is to be patient and trade as much hits as possible, because Zangief will most likely do more damage. The majority of his game should be built around landing FAB/SPD/SS. Against experts, the "ticking" will often be avoided but can be conpensated by the following trick: jump into the throw. Usually, experts will expect to block before jumping up again. You can fake out the attack and land into the throw when they are expecting a jump-in attack. Believe it or not, this is very useful! Against most opponents, the ticking will work just fine. ======================================================================= Credit: (No one so far)