Gen

Gen
Gen, as he appears in Super Street Fighter IV.
Characteristics
Height	5' 5" (166 cm)
Weight	134½ lbs (61 kg)
Eye color	White
Hair color	White
Personal
First Game	Street Fighter
Birthdate	March 12
Birthplace	China
Fighting style	Assassination styles of Sou-Ryu (Mourning Style) and Ki-Ryu (Hateful Style)
Likes	Meat buns, Chinese poetry, his friend Lee, and Chun Li's father
Dislikes	Many different people
Rival(s)	Akuma (SFA3), Ryu (friendly) (SFA3), Guy (SFA3), Chun Li (SSF4)
Skills	Prescribing Chinese herbal medicine
Behind-The-Scene
Japanese voice actor(s)	Youhei Tadano
English voice actor(s)	Michael Sorich
Live action actor(s)	Robin Shou

"You are a big fool."

—Gen

Gen (Japanese: 元) or (ゲン) is a Chinese martial arts master and former assassin (most likely an assassin for the Chinese government) who uses legendary fighting techniques. Stated by the official website to be in his 70s by the time of Super Street Fighter IV, Gen is a legend in the Chinese underworld. However, he has been diagnosed with a fatal illness believed to be leukemia, and is seeking to die as he has lived: fighting. He has taught several characters in the Street Fighter series how to fight, including Chun-Li, Yun^{[citation needed]} and Yang.^{[citation needed]} The fact that all these characters possess vastly different fighting styles speaks to the breadth of his mastery.^{[citation needed]} He is currently the only character in the Street Fighter series who can switch between fighting styles (he has 2 of them) during a match, and one of the few characters in fighting games with multiple movesets.

Pre-Street Fighter

Gen (元) was a friend of Chun-Li's father, and he briefly trained her in her youth. Gen's assassination style incorporates various Kung Fu styles, such as Mantis, Crane, and Tiger albeit having strikes that often targeted the opponent's vital parts hence making Gen's Kung Fu life-threatening. Gen also owned a restaurant called Genhanten in Sendai, Japan - where he met Ryu for the first time.

Street Fighter

Gen entered the first World Warrior tournament to find worthy opponents. When he did not, he went back to the streets of China.

Street Fighter Alpha 2

Later, he found that he was dying from leukemia. Unwilling to go out on his back, he went out and fought members of Shadaloo, hoping to find a worthy foe to fight to the death and kill him, but he could not. When he heard of Akuma, he sought him out. The two fought with ferocity withstanding each others finishing blows. The match ended with Akuma sensing Gen's illness and also sensing him dying slowly, left him to his fate to die by the sickness.

Street Fighter Alpha 3

Eventually, Akuma was once again challenged by Gen, but although the results of the battle are unknown, Gen did survive (it is most likely that Akuma only fought him a fight instead of a battle to the death).

Super Street Fighter IV

Gen, haunted by nightmares where he is surrounded on all sides by the ghosts of those he has killed in the past when he was still an assassin, scorns the ghosts and says that while he is still alive, he will not succumb to the likes of them. Reflecting on how Chun-Li has grown into a strong and admirable woman, he knows he cannot protect her for much longer, as his time is running short. He remembers the day when his illness allowed Shadaloo to capture her father: cursing his body and its "infernal frailties", he vows not to let them get away. He joins the S.I.N. organized tournament and at some point Chun-Li finds him and demands that he tell her all that he knows about what happened to her father. Gen refuses and fades away, leaving her alone. When the S.I.N. base is destroyed, Gen protects Chun-Li from the ensuing collapse, though it's not shown how.  While partially trapped under the rubble, Gen witnesses Akuma and Gouken fight over an unconscious Ryu, internally referring to the two fighters as Life and Death. He muses that Death is indeed strong. Impressed by what he called their "ultimate battle" in which both men were "prepared to give up the ghost", Gen resolves not to die until "the final battle between Life and Death", so he returns to what he calls " my own fight to the death".

At some point, Gen trained Yang and Yun, the younger relatives of his friend Lee when they were younger.^{[citation needed]}

Techniques

In Street Fighter Alpha 2, Gen was given the ability to switch between two fighting styles during gameplay. The Sou-style (暗殺拳・喪流, Ansatsuken Sō Ryū^?, "Murderous Fist Mourning style") and the Ki-style (暗殺拳・忌流, Ansatsuken Gi Ryū^?, "Murderous Fist Hateful style"). These fighting styles are also known as the "Mantis style" and "Crane style" respectively in the English localization of Street Fighter Alpha 2 (later games retained the original Japanese names). When he changes from one style to another, Gen's fighting stance, basic techniques, Special Moves and even Super Combos are changed.

In the Sou-style, Gen's Special Moves includes the Hyaku-Ren-Kou (百連勾, Hyakurenkō^?, "Hundred Rapid Captures"), in which he strikes the opponent rapidly with hand stabs, and the Geki-Rou (逆瀧, Gekirō^?, "Reverse Cascade"), a vertical jump kick which can be followed with another. His Super Combos while using the Sou-style includes the Zan-ei (惨影, Zan-ei^? the "Cruel Phantom") and the Shitenshu (死点咒, Shitenshū^?, "Death Point Curse"). When using the Sou-style, Gen can chain his basic attacks from lower to higher strength level, being the only character with this ability besides Guy.

In the Ki-style, Gen's Special Moves includes the Jyasen (蛇穿, Jasen^?, "Serpent Drill"), and the Ouga (徨牙, Ōga^?, "Wandering Fang"). His Super Combos includes the Jya-Kou-Ha (蛇咬叭, Jakōha^?, "Snake Bite Opening") and the Kouga (狂牙, Kōga^?, "Lunatic Fang").

When Gen is played on X-ism mode in Street Fighter Alpha 3, he loses the ability to switch between fighting styles. Instead, he has a blended style which uses techniques from both styles (except for the Ouga technique) and uses the Zan-ei as his sole Super Combo.

Other appearances

Gen appears as a main character the live-action movie, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, portrayed by Robin Shou. Depicted as a younger martial arts master, he serves as the leader of a secret anti-crime organization known as the Order of the Web. It is Gen who teaches Chun-Li her more advanced moves, including the Kikoken and accompanies her in the fight against Bison and Shadowloo.

His back-story also reveals he was a partner-in-arms with Bison in their earlier days as criminals, but Gen eventually left him, no longer tolerant of stealing from others.

Stage Theme

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Gallery

Gen in Street Fighter

Gen in Street Fighter Alpha 2

Gen in Street Fighter Alpha 3

Gen in Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max

Gen's portrait in Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max.

Robin Shou as Gen in the 2009 Film "Legend of Chun-Li"

Zan'ei

Gen in SFIV

possibly Gen in Street Fighter II V.

Sprites

Trivia

• In Gen's stage in the original Street Fighter, there are a lot of signs in the background. Some of the signs include Southeast Asia Money Exchanger, Siu Wah Bargagain ("Bargain" misspelled) Palace, Gou Norman French Cuisine, etc., which hints that his stage is in Hong Kong.
• Gen is the only Street Fighter character that can change fighting styles in mid fight. This makes him one of the most difficult characters to master as well as one of the most rewarding.
• He is known for his quote in English, spoken to a defeated opponent: "You are a big fool!" Incidentally, Gen says this before his final battle against M. Bison in Alpha 3.
• His restaurant is one of the backgrounds in Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix (Pocket Fighter in Japan), where Fei Long, Dhalsim, Birdie, M. Bison, Victor von Gerdenheim, Rolento, Charlie, Sodom and Bishamon can be seen having lunch. Gen himself is seen on the leftmost side of the stage, slicing a duck.
• When Gen and Akuma fight in Street Fighter Alpha 3, they perform their signature moves on each other before the fight begins, re-enacting the fight described above.
• In the original Street Fighter, Gen uses an attack in which he kicks with both feet while balancing on one hand. Chun Li can be seen using this same attack in Street Fighter III.
• The Senkyutai special move used by Yun and Yang in Street Fighter III: New Generation is similar to two of Gen's special moves from Street Fighter Alpha 2 (i.e., his juggling kick special used in Sou style, and his rolling special used in Ki style)
• Gen is one of the 19 characters from Street Fighter 4 to not have second rivals, despite having his ultra combo video to include his second rival (Guy).
• A small AI bug caused CPU Gen players in Street Fighter Alpha 2 to occasionally "spazz-out", and perform various springs of attacks, even when the player is far out of reach of the attacks.
• Due to the fact that he has two fighting styles, Gen is the only character in Super Street Fighter IV to have two Supers and four Ultra combos.
• In Street Fighter IV, Gen's hair grows longer and has a strong resemblence to the martial arts master Pai Mei from Kill Bill Volume 2.

See Also

Gen's moves in Street Fighter Alpha 3

Gen's moves in Street Fighter IV

Gen's moves in Super Street Fighter IV