The roster surprises continue for Street Fighter V. After some new or long-absent faces in R. Mika, Rashid, and Karin, the veteran grappler of the Street Fighter series returns with the announcement of Zangief as a playable character. A new PSBlog update from Capcom details Zangief’s introduction into the Street Fighter V system.
His V-Skill is the Iron Muscle. It’s visible towards the middle section of the character trailer below. When activated (using the same inputs as Street Fighter IV’s Focus Attack,) Zangief slowly advances on his opponent. In this state he can absorb one hit, which will show up in the health bar as recoverable health. Players can also choose to deactivate Iron Muscle, which will prompt Zangief to pose and can actually knock opponents back if they are too close to him.
His V-Trigger is the Cyclone Lariat. Zangief spins in place at such a speed that the opponent is sucked in towards him. You can choose to simply activate the V-Trigger momentarily or continually use his V-Trigger to pull opponents in. Doing the latter will inflict multiple hits on the opponent if you connect with them. It could help him with characters who can keep him out with long range attacks. Since he doesn’t seem to have the “green hand” attack anymore, his super armor options could be very helpful in dealing with certain characters.
Check out the character reveal trailer for Zangief below! There are only three more characters left in the base roster for Street Fighter V. There is probably only one veteran left, so the next few choices will be interest to see.
