Greninja is surprisingly comparable to ye olde Scarf Genesect in many ways. It outspeeds pretty much any non-scarfer, has coverage out the wazoo, and is primarily special based but can use STAB u-turn to pivot out of counters. Granted, there are some notable differences. For starters, Genesect is considerably bulkier and has considerably better defensive typing. On the other hand, Greninja's item of choice doesn't involve locking him into a move, which is a point for him. On the third hand, Genesect had viable setup sets thanks to the miracle of shift gear, while gren has PuP at best (which is a meh setup move). On the final hand, Greninja seems to have a much wider variety of sets then gene, who pretty much covered everything in one set. Not sure who that's a point for though.
I personally was very on the fence during the gene suspect, and I'm on the fence now, but it's hard to deny the similarities. They even have similar methods of counterplay. Each time gene comes out, you either have to predict u-turn or coverage move. Then you have to decide whether the risk of giving the opponent a free swap in is worse then the risk of eating a strong (probably SE) coverage move. Ofc, if the opposing gene locks himself into the wrong coverage move, you are at an advantage, but that goes for any scarfer. I heard of similar methods for playing around gren. Have a couple of decent checks and use smart switches to try and outplay the gren user. The fact that both Gren and Gene have the relatively risk free option of u-turn make them comparable.
