Just like vs Chun Li jump attacks, jumping strong punch is your friend…Blanka’s who like to attack are a lot easier to deal with then Blanka’s w/ good defense…
This, and also I like to block and reversal SPD, especially vs early jump attacks like the j Short. I try not to fight Blanka air-to-air, and instead focus on blocking and seeing what he’s up to. If he’s trying to go for the bite, that’s a bad idea vs my Zangief, as I’m SPD trigger happy. :bgrin:
Jumping mp only works when I jump preemptively while he is close. I do try to reversal SPD after blocking, but most of the time I manage to do one they just jump over me and do some xup combo with short. Is reversal SPD guaranteed to work vs his jumping lk/mk if he does it early?
I’ve also noticed that SPD’s reach compared to your normals varies a lot on different opponents. Like E. Honda, Blanka, Guile, and Sagat all can be hit by fierce while standing still before getting into SPD range. For Balrog they have the same reach and for everyone else SPD outreaches fierce. E. Honda in particular is too far away to SPD after only 3 slow cr. jabs from point blank range (no one else gets pushed too far away). On some people like Chun Li and shotos SPD outreaches even cr. roundhouse. Personally, the SPD range vs. Sagat really throws me off.
Yes, reversal SPD is guaranteed vs early jumpins, but only if they’re early. If j Short is timed late, then reversal SPD will miss if Blanka jumps again after landing. I don’t notice any difference in SPD ranges to be honest.
I actually posted these in the Dhalsim thread but I thought I would put them here too.
Who said Dhalsim vs Zangief favors Sim. Not me. Check these vids out.
[media=youtube]xdzj09c7h18[/media]
Match 1: oxSNAKE EYESxo (Zangief) vs Sweet Poison (Dhalsim);
Match 2: oxSNAKE EYESxo (Zangief) vs Cvital (Dhalsim);
Match 3: oxSNAKE EYESxo (Zangief) vs Sweet Poison (Dhalsim);
Match 4: oxSNAKE EYESxo (Zangief) vs Cvital (Dhalsim);
Match 5: oxSNAKE EYESxo (Zangief) vs Sweet Poison (Dhalsim);
Match 6: oxSNAKE EYESxo (Zangief) vs Cvital (Dhalsim);
[media=youtube]Qunx59dPPvQ[/media]
Match 7: Sweet Poison (Dhalsim) vs oxSNAKE EYEZ (Zangief);
Match 8: Cvital (Dhalsim) vs oxSNAKE EYEZxo (Zangief);
Match 9: Sweet Poison (Dhalsim) vs oxSNAKE EYEZ (Zangief);
Match 10: Cvital (Dhalsim) vs oxSNAKE EYEZxo (Zangief);
Match 11: Sweet Poison (Dhalsim) vs oxSNAKE EYEZ (Zangief);
Sweet matches. Never tried that s.Forward answer for a whiffed yoga flame (or super) :O! Other than that, looks like textbook play vs Sim 
In regards to Blanka talk:
You’re right, a j+Strong will only work if done psychic-ly (?) haha. If you see him jump you’ll get nailed by his attack first, most likely not even trading.
What you can do if Blanka is not too far away when jumping towards you, is to walk close enough to use s.Jab to knock him out of the air. After this you can walk forward and do something like a meaty Green Hand into SPD. Their option, if you’re quick enough, is only going to be a backward hop (reversal). There should not be enough time to charge a blanka ball at this point. You also could green hand into nothing (block, and await their next move).
What I do if they are too far for the s.Jab is just block. They won’t be close enough for a tick into bite. Block high then block low, whatever.
^— some of the things I would do in this matchup.
Thanks for the tips guys. I played the same dude who spammed nothing but jump attacks and reversal back hop (prob had turbo since he did it so consistently and always did 2-3 hops) and beat him pretty soundly. What I did was figure out how to outspace each of his aerials. When he went for lp I backed up and swept his landing (if he did lp really early to stop me from backing up enough I used cr. hp to trade very favorably). When he went for lk and was close I beat it with close lp. Every now and then if he did an early kick, I walked up to it and did a sac SPD. It felt good :).
Far mk punishing whiffed yoga flame and super looked very nice in those vids. I gotta practice that.
How do you guys deal with sonic booms midscreen (close enough so that if he walks forward he can cr. mk the recovery)? Jumping preemptively gets me flash kicked most of the time and green hand seems to have enough recovery to get hit by cr. mk before I can SPD. Any tips on how to deal with Chun’s fireball would be appreciated too.
For Guile - Jumping knee works good, also works great against Dhalsim…
For Chun - Its pretty tricky, my suggestion is keep blocking until you creep enough to that certain spot when she does her fireball you can jump HP her face, the same strategy goes with Guile
What can i do in the Dic. matchup? Once I get him into the corner it’s tick throw/ cross-up heaven for me but getting there is the hard part. All of his jump ins seem to be beating out my lariat & I’m completely clueless on what to do against headstomp. I tried j. hk and airthrowing but I only really seem to get this off if I guess correctly.
If jump-ins are beating your Lariat, you’re doing the Lariat too soon. I think the key to your success will be for you to master crouching and then using the Lariat. Since the Lariat can still be hit in the head when it’s in use, you’ll need to make your initial vulnerable area smaller. So, duck and then use it right before he can hit you and you’ll have better results.
BTW, if I see a Headstomp coming, I usually hit it out of the air, but it is a guessing game between that and the Devil’s Reverse, as you said. Out-think your opponent and get them to play your game.
Thanks for the advice I’ll be sure to keep that in mind for next time.
Another question here does Gief’s ToD still work I just found out about it like yesterday and I’m trying to get the timing down. I just want to know if I should invest my time into learning & incorporating it into my gameplay.
IDK which combo you’re talking about, but all Zangief’s combos in ST still work in HDR. It’s definitely not a bad idea to incorporate them into your gameplay.
Here come the words that everyone else was just waiting for me to type…
READ MY FAQ!!! 
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: HD Remix Cross-up, Link, and Combo FAQ:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/file/939066/56195
The ToDs listed in there…work…and I don’t know of one combo that Zangief lost from Vanilla ST to HDR, so the ToD you’re thinking of probably works.
Read my FAQ. Make sure you have a bedpan for the drool.
IMHO the best Zangief crossup combo is splash, cr.MK xx Lariat (not clothesline though, just lariat [3K])
It’s hit confirmable, since if they block the splash, you can either cr.MK into the Spinning Pile Driver/Siberian Suplex/extra early cancel into the Siberian Bear Grab (it’s hard to get the cancel that early though) or, you can use a tick mixup, personally I like cr. LP, cr. LK into Spinning Pile Driver.
For a cross-up I stick with splash, c. lp x3, c. hk. I stick with it because of it’s ease of use & the fact that I can easily tick into SPD when needed.
Add one more cr.:lp: to the combo you mentioned and you have a dizzy combo. Hit with the splash, the jabs, and tick into a SPD and you have a Touch of Death combo. Those are the first dizzy combos I learned for Zangief and, IMHO, they are more hit-confirmable and easier to tick from than any other combo out there. Just look at how long you’re keeping your opponent in hit or block stun.
Of course, setting up that crossup is the trick.
Like I said…read my FAQ.
Now all that’s needed is the timed jabs to be 100% consistent…the three hit splash, cr.mk xx lariat is a “touch of death” combo.
I noticed a few small problems in your FAQ OJ (which is very informative btw). All lk attacks for Zangief can’t be rapid canceled to. Zangief’s cr. lk is special cancelable (you listed short which isn’t special cancelable). Showing “____xxSC” for Final Atomic Buster tick combos is a little confusing since you don’t cancel anything.
I also think it is good to know that Xup splash, cr. mk xx kick/punch lariat whiffs on standing Chun and crouching DJ. On Bison only punch lariats work in the above combo. It’s the most basic ToD so knowing the exceptions is important.
When it comes to me and stuff that I’m known for, my second most popular quote is that my FAQ is still a work in progress. I appreciate you catching the stuff about Zangief’s :lk:s not being rapid-fire cancellable. (That’s a notable change from the SNES SSF2 Link FAQ (that I originally copied the links from) to ST and I’m certain there are errors like that throughout the FAQ.) However, IIRC, you can chain from a cr.:lp: to a st.:lk:. If you can’t chain, then it’s a link. But, I know that cr.:lp:, st.:lk: is a combo. Either way, yeah, there’s stuff throughout the FAQ that needs to be fixed. However, like you said, there’s still a lot of valuable information in there.
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What if you’re ticking from cr.:mk:? Don’t you have to cancel that in order to get the frame advantage you need to land the Final Atomic Buster?
For the most part, you’re right, but I just thought about that situation.
Another good catch…and I think you’ll note that I have exceptions listed throughout the FAQ, so that is definitely something I want to have listed wherever they apply. I’ll be sure to add that when I can.
But, just to be clear, a Touch of Death combo dizzies, does 50% damage, and will knockout the opponent when that combo is repeated. That combo is a dizzy combo…not a Touch of Death combo. I realize that, in most cases, Zangief has combos that can end the match if you land that dizzy combo on someone, but, again, it doesn’t fit the definition.