- Would you believe that Zangief can air combo? Even though he can't exactly rack up the points on the combo meter, his measly three hit air combos do incredible damage. Also, his launcher is incredibly useful because it beats out most air moves.

- The grab range has been increased for all of Zangief's special throws. It's harder for your opponent's to get away from his grabs, making Zangief one of the better characters in the hands of a master.

- Zangief charges the super meter like crazy. Just fight for a while and before you know it, you'll find that the meter has maxed out.

- Mega Zangief is unstoppable in the air. Nothing will stop him if he does his Siberian Splash. Sure, your opponent might get off a punch or two, but he'll land right on top of them. He'll be able to follow up with any special throw.

- Zangief's SPD's and FAB's have been weakened yet again. Gone are the days of killing your opponent with two SPD's and one FAB. The increased range makes up for it though.

- Zangief cannot win against people that can play keep away. If he can't get close to his opponent, he's useless. Also, Zangief does not know the meaning of chipping damage. If you plan to win by cheesing your opponent to death, don't use him. Mega Zangief has his Siberian Blast to help him out but he's not much better at penetrating keep away defense.

- The small characters really give Zangief a hard time. Megaman and Roll are almost impossible to grab with the SPD and they're too short to be hit with either Lariat. Stick to using sweeps and the Running Bear Grab against them.

- Zangief's jump ins are extremely important to his game. Depending on what you want to do, there is a specific attack that works best. For setting up air and ground combos, J.Roundhouse is the best. The Knee Stomp is good for ticking into SPDing and the Siberian Splash has great priority in the air. Watch out for air defenders while Siberian Splashing.

- When air comboing with Zangief, learn how to use the SPD and his Lariat as AC Finishers. This will maximize the damage that you can get out of his AC's. It's harder to SPD the smaller characters though.

- Unless you're really good at the 360 motion and are kicking ass, don't go for the Ultra Final Atomic Buster. You'll probably miss and waste three levels of super meter in the process.

- Be careful of people that like to play keep away. A good trick to use is to jump at them, make them attempt an anti air move, block and then switch. Your incoming partner will hit them and teach them not to try it again.

- His Lariat is very useful as air defense or during air fights. It is a very highly prioritized move and will knock the opponent across the screen, doing good damage.

- If you have the 360 command down to a science, you can use the SPD as an anti air, anti dash move! As soon as you see them jumping, jump up and pull off an SPD. When you see them coming in with a dash, pull off a Fierce ground SPD. In both cases, the opponent will be unable to escape in time as long as you have good timing. Having this ability will truly make you unstoppable.

- As Mega Zangief, beware of beam supers. He takes more damage from beam supers than regular characters. He can avoid them by constantly doing air SPD's. The missed grab animation keeps him in the air and safe from those big bad beams on the ground.

Second Form - Ahh....now Zangief can handle this guy! What I like to do is just jump and block while avoiding the majority of the chipping attacks. Then, when you can see Onslaught's ugly face, jump up and do a J.Roundhouse --> Air Lariat combo whenever you see an opening. This'll kill him in no time because of Zangief's attack power.

- If you get knocked down, try to either roll or jump as soon as you get up. Chances are he's setting you up for a Running Grab or FAB.

- Learn how to tech hit. Zangief will throw you very very often. The good thing is that you can tech hit out of his SPD's and other special throws as well. It's quite hard to do but it is possible.

- Don't fight Mega Zangief in the air. The body splash will always beat you out. Stay on the ground and try to pelt him with fireballs and other keep away moves.

- Don't get overconfident. Zangief has a lot of surprise attacks that most people don't anticipate. The Lariat is a great air defender, his launcher has very good priority and his jump ins will set up his special grabs very easily. Be careful.