ShogunTas recently released an interesting video talking about the “worst match up in fighting game history.” At the very least, it’s a match up that’s been recurringly volatile throughout the Street Fighter franchise.
Street Fighter 2 was the first game to introduce both Dhalsim and Zangief. In terms of the gameplay, these two are polar opposites. While Dhalsim generally wants to keep opponents as far away from him as possible, Zangief wants to get up in the enemy’s face.
Needless to say, with playstyles so radically different, these two are naturally going to clash. This tends to be a particularly unfavorable match up for Zangief as the objective of getting as close to possible to the opponent becomes even more difficult against Dhalsim.
It’s not completely hopeless for Zangief as one big momentum swing is really all he needs for Dhalsim’s defenses to crumble. However, a careful and patient Dhalsim user will often never allow this to come to pass.
Throughout a number of matches reviewed by ShogunTas throughout Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter 5, we typically see the Zangief player winning within a set at first, but then the Dhalsim user makes important adjustments to their gameplan. From there, it becomes exceedingly difficult on Zangief.
Of course, there probably isn’t a real solution to the problem that is the Dhalsim vs. Zangief match up in Street Fighter. These two are meant to be polar opposites, so the awkward match up is to be expected.
Check it all out below: