Featuring sprites courtesy of a pre-rendered custom 3D model, Zangoose darts in armed with its sharp claws, ready to deal some serious damage to anyone who opposes it, though being an exclusive melee attacker puts it at the mercy of projectiles; if it does get in close, however, the safeness of its attacks, even on block, will ensure the opponent gets minimal opportunity to actually punish. Beware of falling Wailord.
Zangoose is a six-button character featuring a heavy emphasis on a rushdown style of play with damaging combos and a surprising amount of range; the button layout is the traditional three punches (mapped to Ⓧ, Ⓨ and Ⓩ) and three kicks (mapped to Ⓐ, Ⓑ and Ⓒ) that range in strength from light to heavy, with Zangoose's ability to Chain Combo allowing it to cancel Normals into stronger Normals, as well as punches into kicks of the same strength, but not the reverse. By pressing Ⓩ or Ⓒ in conjunction with , Zangoose can either throw the opponent backwards or forwards, respectively; the backwards throw sends the opponent from one side of the screen to the other, while the forwards throw sends the opponent a small distance in front of Zangoose, bouncing on the ground once.
Zangoose is not a particularly complex character, featuring a very minimalistic moveset that focuses almost entirely on ground combat outside of two attacks, one of which is an anti-air grab Hyper (Crush Claw) while the other (Pursuit) has a grab followup; coupled with its inability to air combo, this effectively restricts Zangoose's combo game to the ground and limits its options severely, though the raw damage output from even a simple Chain Combo balances this out somewhat. When Zangoose has been knocked down and either or is pressed, Zangoose will roll a significant distance in that direction while being completely invulnerable, allowing it to easily escape the corner and gain the upper-hand on the opponent, who now resides in the corner instead; this is not the only defensive technique in Zangoose's arsenal, however, as Zangoose can activate its Guard Counter while blocking an opponent's attacks in order to knock them down and give Zangoose room to manoeuvre should it feel pressured, though this may seem unnecessary given that Zangoose's quick attacks would easily allow it to punish and would act as a more effective option, as distance between it and the opponent is counterproductive to its exclusively melee-oriented moveset.
As a melee-rushdown style of character, Zangoose naturally excels at covering ground and dealing damage, but falls victim to projectiles not only due to its large size, but inability to counter them outside of simply blocking and jumping, the latter of which puts Zangoose in an undesirable situation. For a close-range fighter, Zangoose possesses some particularly long-ranged attacks that allow it to hit the opponent even at a distance, though the drawback is that Zangoose's attacks tend to lack priority, allowing it to also be hit from a distance. Once Zangoose does manage to get in close to an opponent, especially a cornered one, the opponent's options become very limited due to the immense shield pressure Zangoose can apply due to the majority of its moveset being completely safe on block and easily pushing Zangoose away from its opponent in order to quash their attempt to counterattack unless they have a quick attack that can cover that distance before Zangoose can run back in and attack again.
Zangoose uses a custom A.I. based on the one used by The_None's Shaq that is very aggressive and will waste no time in backing the opponent into a corner, making it very difficult to counterattack or gain distance; despite its aggressiveness, it will typically block most oncoming attacks (or in the case of projectiles, jump over them) and then punish accordingly, which is something the opponent will have difficulty in performing themselves as the attacks Zangoose's A.I. generally uses are safe on block and thus practically impossible to punish, with the only real exceptions being Iron Tail and X-Scissor. When knocked down, Zangoose's A.I. will always use its getup rolls in a way that puts it behind the opponent and crosses them up, usually guaranteeing a successful hit and thus a damaging combo. It should be noted that the A.I. is programmed to never use Toxic Boost, with The 100 Mega Shock! stating in Zangoose's commands file that he didn't trust the A.I. to use it properly.
Stats[]
Life
1050
Power
3000
Attack
100
Defence
100
Movelist[]
Hovering the mouse cursor over the Command Input icons will display text that refers to the inputs set in M.U.G.E.N's Key Config.
Icons encased in square brackets [ ] require the respective button(s) to be held down. Hovering the mouse cursor over the icon displays the hold duration if applicable.
Specials[]
Guard Counter
Command Input
Properties
+ during blockstun or during blockstun
Attack does not K.O. Uses 667 Power
Fury Swipes
Command Input
Properties
or
during attack for first additional attack during first additional attack for second additional attack Third attack: Horizontal distance varies with button pressed version: first additional attack is automatic, uses 667 Power
Ⓧ
One attack
Two attacks
Three attacks
Ⓨ
One attack
Two attacks
Three attacks
Ⓩ
One attack
Two attacks
Three attacks
One attack
Two attacks
Slash
Command Input
Properties
during Pursuit
during version of Pursuit
Grab
Command Input
Properties
during Pursuit
during version of Pursuit
Tackle
Command Input
Properties
or
Horizontal velocity and distance before attacking vary with button pressed version: , , uses 667 Power
Ⓧ
Ⓨ
Ⓩ
Iron Tail
Command Input
Properties
or
Horizontal distance varies with button pressed version: , sets Attack multiplier to 1.33 for 2 seconds, uses 667 Power
Ⓐ
Ⓑ
Ⓒ
Hypers[]
X-Scissor
Command Input
Properties
* Uses 1000 Power
Crush Claw
Command Input
Properties
Uses 1000 Power
Others[]
Pursuit
Command Input
Properties
or
Can be followed up with Slash or Grab Horizontal and vertical distances vary with button pressed version: uses 667 Power
Ⓐ
Ⓑ
Ⓒ
Toxic Boost
Command Input
Properties
Ⓒ+Ⓩ
Life must be less than half Slowly drains Life* Sets Attack multiplier to 1.33 Sets walking and running speed multipliers to 1.2 Uses 2000 Power
This character uses a Palette Selector that allows for more than 12 palettes to be chosen, and as such, only the first 12 are shown here. For a full list of palettes, see Alternative palettes.
For each palette in group 1 listed here, this character also has a corresponding palette in group 2. Palettes in group 2 are simply mirrors of their group 1 counterparts, used to simulate the asymmetrical color scheme in the character's sprites when the character is facing left.
Though the first use of Iron Tail will cause the Attack multiplier timer to count down as soon as the hitpause ends, further uses will prevent the timer from counting down until Zangoose makes contact with the opponent again, guaranteeing that Zangoose's next attack will deal increased damage.
Zangoose's victory quote against "Iwark" was likely intended to show up against Iwa-ku, though because Iwa-ku's internal name is not Iwark, it does not.
, 
and 
) and three kicks (mapped to 
, 
and 
) that range in strength from light to heavy, with Zangoose's ability to Chain Combo allowing it to cancel Normals into stronger Normals, as well as punches into kicks of the same strength, but not the reverse. By pressing 
, Zangoose can either throw the opponent backwards or forwards, respectively; the backwards throw sends the opponent from one side of the screen to the other, while the forwards throw sends the opponent a small distance in front of Zangoose, bouncing on the ground once.
is pressed, Zangoose will roll a significant distance in that direction while being completely invulnerable, allowing it to easily escape the corner and gain the upper-hand on the opponent, who now resides in the corner instead; this is not the only defensive technique in Zangoose's arsenal, however, as Zangoose can activate its Guard Counter while blocking an opponent's attacks in order to knock them down and give Zangoose room to manoeuvre should it feel pressured, though this may seem unnecessary given that Zangoose's quick attacks would easily allow it to punish and would act as a more effective option, as distance between it and the opponent is counterproductive to its exclusively melee-oriented moveset.
] require the respective button(s) to be held down. Hovering the mouse cursor over the icon displays the hold duration if applicable.
+
Iron Tail will cause the Attack multiplier timer to count down as soon as the hitpause ends, further uses will prevent the timer from counting down until Zangoose makes contact with the opponent again, guaranteeing that Zangoose's next attack will deal increased damage.