Daily Street Fighter: Zangief

I don't know how you fine folks spent your childhood, but I spent mine playing Street Fighter II on Brian Brady's Sega Genesis just about every damn day after school. And although I almost always chose Ryu or Vega as my personal combatant (Brian undoubtedly having selected Guile--he loved Guile), the character that always stuck in my mind was Zangief. Considering the infantile stage in which my brain existed at the time, it would make sense that the largest and most strangely-named Street Fighter would stick out in my memory. But it was the attention to detail that made Zangief the true classic that he is. For one, Zangief did not simply have a massive pelt of chest hair, but also shin hair that erupted from the tops of his boots. Capcom clearly wanted to deliver the message that Zangief is extremely hairy and probably should not be crossed.







Now here is my favorite Street Fighter-related video. For your unnecessary information, the version that Brian owned was Hyper Fighting. It featured Guile and M. Bison on the cover and was rated the unforgettably useless "MA-13" rating. That system obviously did not last long.