Zangief

Lore & Background

Zangief was initially planned for Street Fighter II to be a very strong but extremely slow character to play as. He was named "Vodka Gobalsky" as a placeholder; his name was later changed to Zangief after a wrestler from the Soviet Union. Designed by Akira Yasuda, early designs of the character closely resembled the character's finalized appearance, but with the addition of a black tanktop and anchor tattoo on his upper arms. Yasuda developed his finalized appearance with Ikuo "Ikusan.Z" Nakayama, a fan of professional wrestling, and aimed to give his muscles a practical purpose where he could reasonably take hits, instead of a focus on a bodybuilder's physique. Zangief's large size was meant to invoke the mental image of a bear, a symbol commonly associated with Russia; the designers were worried Street Fighter II producer Akira Nishitani would reject it due to game balance concerns. Nishitani however responded "Please make him much bigger." Yasuda wanted to avoid depicting the character as humorous or villainous. Instead, he wanted Zangief depicted as someone driven by intensity and passion. However, with the Street Fighter Alpha series, Zangief's personality was expanded upon; the series portrayed him both in a humorous manner at times, but more as a heroic character. This interpretation was built upon up through Street Fighter V, with producer Takayuki Nakayama wanting the character to be portrayed as a positive and charismatic influence on his younger colleagues.

Reader's Guide

Zangief appears as a tall, muscular man clad in red wrestling tights and boots, a studded gold belt, and red/gold wristbands. His brown hair is cut in a short mohawk style, and he has a beard/mustache and a large amount of hair on his chest. His arms and legs are covered with scars. Various actors have voiced the character in his video game appearances: he is voiced by Wataru Takagi in the Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter EX series, Tesshō Genda in the Capcom vs. SNK series and Capcom Fighting Evolution, and Kenta Miyake in Japanese and Peter Beckman in English for Street Fighter IV. In anime, he is voiced in Japanese by Tetsuo Kanao and in English by William Johnson. In the live-action Street Fighter film, the character was portrayed by Andrew Bryniarski, who was dubbed over by Ryūzaburō Ōtomo in the Japanese television dub and by Katsuhisa Hōki in the video and DVD dub. In the film Wreck-It Ralph, he was voiced by director Rich Moore. Zangief also appears as a playable character in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Zangief appears very briefly during a brutal battle against Blanka to entertain an audience of crime bosses, where he is electrocuted by him, though his fate afterwards is unknown. In Street Fighter II V, he is a henchman for Shadaloo, and sent by M. 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. 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 until Guile manages to knock Zangief out with a severe blow to the head. He is not seen again after for the rest of the anime, leaving his fate unknown when the base is destroyed after Ryu and Ken defeat Bison. In Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, he appears as a competitor in a fighting tournament. He fights Shun, Ryu's alleged little brother, and begins to ruthlessly beat the boy until Ryu intervenes and battles Zangief. Zangief appears to have the upper hand, but Ryu, in his rage, almost gives in to the Dark Hadō and fires a lethal dark Hadōken. The Hadōken narrowly misses Zangief but causes the building to collapse. Zangief, stunned by Ryu's power, subsequently falls through the crumbling floor. In print media, Zangief appeared in Masaomi Kanzaki's Street Fighter manga, which was released in the early 1990s. In his depiction in the comic, he was depicted very much like his video game self. One of Zangief's main motivations was to defeat Guile, who as an American, represented the rival country of Zangief's homeland; however, the Soviet wrestler found himself coming up short in their battles. In more recent adaptations, Zangief is shown to interact more with Ryu, either as an enemy or ally, and his win quotes in Street Fighter IV imply that it was Ryu who knocked him out of the second tournament. 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 and Cammy, whom he easily overpowered. He was later defeated by the duo and his friendly and good natured personality soon surfaced.

Did You Know?

• One unknown player won 85 games in a row with Zangief during a Street Fighter II arcade test, causing other players to avoid the game.
• Street Fighter II creator Yoshiki Okamoto blamed that player for Zangief being made weaker, saying 'It's your fault Zangief [became] weaker.'