Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition was developed and published by Capcom for the Sega Genesis in 1993. It was released in Japan, North America and Europe. It is known as Street Fighter II’ Plus: Champion Edition in the Japanese market.
CE Zangief playthrough
Zangief is a well-known character in the Street Fighter Series. He represents the wrestler and the large, bulky character that is very strong but slow. Hailing from USSR, he was often seen as a rival to Guile, since he is American, but later game in the series doesn’t take this into account anymore. In games that, story wise, takes place after 1993, USSR is changed to Russia to reflect the current history.
Zangief is a motion character, along with three punches move. His infamous screw pile driver moves debuted in the game and is very devastating because Zangief doesn’t need to be very close to his opponent and is unblockable. His second move, the Lariat, allows him to avoid all projectile, except Sagat low tiger shot. Zangief also have a wide variety of throw and hold, including crouched throws, which is unique to him. In total, he has 6 regular throws and three hold. He also has a unique headbutt he can perform in the air which results, in most cases, as an instant dizzy. Lastly, he has a flying body press that his is only way to do a cross-up and perform combo that might stun his opponent.
In Champion Edition, because of the introduction of reversals (that it, move that can be done just before the player get back on the ground) break the Screw Pile Driver infinite he can do. He also lands much farther from his opponents (but loops are possible in the corner). He also gains the ability to move during his Lariat, and the move also knockdown his opponent. Various small details related to collision boxes changed as well.
Zangief still stay very strong against the CPU, but he can’t spam his Screw Piledriver anymore. His Lariat, however, is actually stronger and immediately start, preventing many cross-up attempts and evading projectile at the same time. His lariat, as well as his regular throw, is very useful to start his flying body press chain.
As a side note, CPU Zangief has 2 abilities the regular player can’t do. He can get out of a stun states immediately (to the point that it is barely possible to see him dizzied). His three holds can also be near impossible to escape until 60% of damage is done. This is commonly seen at the highest difficulty.
TAS tools were used in this playthrough.