yea they actually said in the developers’ blog… there would have been a general slight improvement in crane’s normal, but we still haven’t heard anything new from people who tried the game
Only one way to find out. Get a camera that can record in 60fps and start counting 
Even recording might not help if he got the lower body projectile invincibility on some jumping normals like the ones that most of the casts already have, or the slight hurtbox advantage.
I’m really concerned about what kinda changes he might have gotten, because I saw the Rose VS Gen video posted and Rose was able to backdash out of his st.LP xx cr.LP chain.
To be honest, I didn’t notice any change in Crane form at all, really. I didn’t even use Crane very much since Mantis form got some serious better. If anything, I think they might have tweaked the meter gain minutely, because it really does seem better overall.
Messing around with some things in AE yesterday.
TC1 can be done several ways into hands;
FP+MK X’s 5
fp, mp, lp, lp+mk, fp
(double tap) (dt)fp, mk+fp, (dt)fp
fp, mp, lp, fp+mk X’s 2
New combo; not great but cant do it in Super;
Any jump in followed by; c.lk, s.lp, c.lp, c.lp, s.lp, c.mp, hands, super. Not really worth mentioning but there it is! And this is most likely character specific. Works on DeeJay.
i’d like to see some more amiyu. lol
I finally managed yesterday to re-wire my mind to include the HP > MK target combo, and tagging hands at the end of it is not as difficult as the original MK x Hands or HP x Hands.
It was especially gratifying to land ©j.HP > (m) s.MP > MK x Hands > FADC > MP > TC x LK Gekirou. Awesome damage, and it can be increased a little by adding HP in the first part of the combo before MK x Hands, just like in one of the Amiyu vidoes against Chun Li (where he jumped over a fireball at the start of round 2 and did the combo to take almost 50% of her life!).
Would love to find out how much stun that does too. The SSF4 varient of it did less than 400 points damage and I think around 400 stun or so? Now with 2 more HPs in it and a little better damage and meter gain overall I think I’ll just make it the go-to combo when I have 2-3 bars.
I’ll echo everyone’s sentiments here and say that Gen is more fun, rewarding, and satisfying here in AE B-).
So I just realized this today; and I’m sorry in advanced for not reading the pages before because there are so many pages O_O
[Mantis] C.mp is faster!
Things that work:
[Mantis]
S.mp > C.mp
S.mp > S.mp > C.mp
C.lp > C.mp
yea we dont know for sure but it should be like 5 frames instead of 7… so new links from sLP/cLP/sMP are possible… but i dont think we are going to see them a lot thanks to the links into HP-MK target combo (http://images.starcraftmazter.net/4chan/animals/do_want2.jpg)
-damage and hitbox should be better than sMK
-but sMK (together with sHP) pushes him forward in some way, making it easier to connect in combos
-same startup (unless something new comes out), pretty much same range, slightly in sMK’s favor
so, i think
- sMK mainly in combos, and mainly chained after HP which also forces stand
- cMP mainly for poking (better priority and active frames), and this should be very good, even now with 7 frames startup it works surprisingly good, cant wait to try the new 5 frames version
anyway, we are probably going to see sMK mainly chained after sHP so you can get more damage… if somehow you dont need the TC for some particular combo, you’re better off using cMP for the extra damage (unless they nerfed it, but they said gen had no nerfs)
in conclusion…
i’ve been a fan of sMK xx Hands poking since vanilla (especially vanilla! before the outrageous nerf) but i dont see any reason to use it now in AE with same startup, “same” range, sucky hitbox and probably less active frames than cMP xx hands… even in the few videos of Amiyu he was always using cMP OS hands and not sMK for footsies
Oh yeah forsure Trapy, I’m just putting the info out there. I never use C.mp, possibly will start using them for pokeys :]
Not to mention c.MP is a better meaty and is much safer on whiff. With the ability to finally hit (Blanka’s) slides out, it’ll work similar to shotos’ c.MK, except it doesn’t give you a low profile. Too bad the distance it moves upon cancel is terrible, but so are c.MKs.
I’m seeing a LOT of c.LP or s.LP -> s.HP in videos, and I saw only a very few occasions on where it whiffs. Are all the Gen players in the videos just plain precise in links, or could it mean that the jabs have +6 on hit? This is something that’ll be hard to test though.
so it is possible to still do B&B combos like (mantis)cr. lk x2->cr. lp->st.mp->hands/gekiro/super. But you can opt to do (mantis)cr. lk x2->cr. lp->st.mp->st.hp/st.mk target into hands?? If that is possible that is insane. I would assume the pushback would prevent it, that is is a crazy string otherwise. I know I was fond of st.mp-st.hp->gekiro for punishment situations, but if I can just as easily go with st.mp->target->gekiro, or st.mp->target->hands->fadc->st.mp->target->gekiro I would be a happy monkey.
Actually not (referred to the bold front part)… people at the arcades already tried it, you get too much pushback to go into HP-MK after you hitconfirm sMP from a couple light hits… just like now
Even sMPx2 > HP-MK is not possible, generally, still too much pushback
You can hitconfirm doing cLK, cLP, HP-MK xx Gekiro/Hands, withouth a sMP combo filler
And as you wrote, you can punish with sMP, HP-MK xx Gekiro/Hands if you dont want to use meter
Preferibly gekiros, better combo finisher
I’m not sure if even doing cLKx2**, cLP, HP-MK xx Gek/Hands** will be possible consistently, especially after a crossup which leaves you even further… i personally tend to hitconfirm with cLK, cLP all the time anyway, fairly easy 
The combo you wrote: “st.mp->target->hands->fadc->st.mp->target->gekiro”… works good, does more damage/stun and builds more meter back compared to fadc combos you can do now
I think they’re just good, but we still have to figure out if they changed some frame advantage properties.
Anyway, call me stupid and everything you guys want, but i wish it’ll remain a 1 frame link… 1 framer combos are the ones (almost) only people “specialized” in maining a specific characters are able to consistently pull off, some sort of “trademak” for who spent a lot of time on that character opposed to who didnt.
This goes for many characters in the game… you still can go through 2 or 3 frames links, but you gotta learn the 1 framer to maximize damage for all the possible situations and step up your game.
Trapy: Not completely sure I agree with you there. I do feel cool and accomplished when I hit 1frame links, but I try to remember that this is somewhat trivial in the grand scheme of things. I think that a good overall understanding of your main character is pretty evident to other players much more by your knowledge of match-ups/character specific strategies rather than your ability to hit your hard combos.
For example, I was able to hit most of Gen’s more difficult links/combos relatively early on in my time with him, but was more stumped by my bad match-ups. I noticed that I tend to gauge the effectiveness of a Gen player more by his match knowledge and ability to impose his will by having a good understanding of Gen’s strengths and weaknesses rather than their ability to hit silly combos.
Good solid play against Guile/Akuma/Zangief/Balrog Etc. is always impressive to me.
On another note, I tend to find myself conflicted when it comes to improvements to my main character. On one hand I really look forward to using an improved Gen, then again, I kinda like playing a character such few people play, as it puts the burden of match knowledge on the opponent more often than myself. That, and being a sneaky Gen playing bastard is fun. I guess that I worry that an influx of Gen players puts all our super-secret kung fu techniques out for everyone to see which creates too much Gen knowledge for our opponents. Hahahah. Must… Keep… Mystical arts… Secret…
Also, meeting other gens online/in person makes for sweet kung fu master street fights, that only kung fu masters (other gen players) can appreciate. It is fun.
Don’t worry, Gen will always be Gen. And you will never see him mainstream!
Gen will never be mainstream for the same reason Viper Seth and El Fuerte won’t be: he requires a lot more skill and dedication to become efficient than most other characters do. Even the addition of TC’s won’t change this at all. At the most a few seasoned (or ex-Gen) players will flock towards Gen because of his positive changes.
@ hammer frenzy:
well i agree 100%
knowing your character’s moves and attributes and matchups so that you can adapt to “all” situations is much more important than being able to do 1 frame links per se… i really didnt mean to say that
i just find it good that characters maintain strict links, so that if you want maximize damage whenever possible, you really have to learn to do it consistently in a real match…
i’m not specifically talking about gen here, i think many characters can choose between easier an harder links, usually the most experienced player will make good use of those more damaging 1 fr links over easier but less damaging stuff … and i think thats fair
but in no way i think execution skill is above deep knowledge about moves and attributes… and this is something you can easily see everyday
Now, specifically about gen…
the only useful, meterless damage wise and ignoring switching stance (im)possibilities, 1 frame link gen has is connecting sHP (now with target combo) after jabs… i think its fair that its more difficult than cLP/sLP > sMP for hitconfirms, you can choose which one you wanna use but of course their effectiveness in terms of damage is different… imo it should remain a 1 framer
well of course i’m not quitting the character if they made cLP +6 on hit, but thats not what i’m personallly hoping for, not easier links
I agree somewhat, but I think that if he gets a “celebrity” or is used by a lot of top players, there will be a lot of imitators and people who might jump on the bandwagon. Just like how people picked up Adon because of Gamerbee. I’m thinking Amiyu’s success overseas will start influencing people to try him out.
I believe it should be a 2-framer, unless you want to make mantis st.MK a 4f start-up normal .
Unlike most characters, he doesn’t have a normal that can link into specials mainly because of how his specials work. In order to compensate for that, I believe he should have something, and it would be a new, higher damaging 2-framer bnb. It’s not something that is uncommon (some casts’ bnbs include 3-frame links), and he also deserves it with his low health + stun. Besides, it would be much easier to do stance change combos after jabs (which you ignored).
Bottom line: We don’t know what’s the hit advantage.
I heard some time ago that the rate of usage of Gen in Japanese arcades was 0.7%, at the 37th place. No way there would be a bandwagon of Gens if this was accurate.