Alpha-152

Alpha-152 (Katakana: アルファ・イチゴーニ, Rōmaji: Arufa Ichi-gō-ni) is a recurring boss in the series she first appears in Dead or Alive 2 as Kasumi α she returned in Dead or Alive 4 as the final boss and in Dead or Alive 5 as the sub boss, and the penultimate product of Project Alpha.

Based on the DNA of Kasumi, it was originally a normal clone dubbed Kasumi α that was created by Victor Donovan and the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee. During the second phase of the project, Project Alpha-2, Alpha's genes were modified, resulting in her being transformed into a powerful inhuman creature. Alpha-152 was supposed to go on to be the ultimate fighter and to be a great weapon for DOATEC but the plan failed after the Mugen Tenshin clan invaded DOATEC's headquarters.

Creation
After the first Dead or Alive Tournament ended, Kasumi was captured by DOATEC and was used as a subject for an experiment known as "Project Alpha" - a project that created the ultimate fighter using the DNA of the best martial artist in the world, who, at the time, was Kasumi; as she won the tournament and had killed Raidou, the then most powerful fighter of DOATEC.

With samples of her DNA, DOATEC started to make multiple clones of Kasumi, including Kasumi α, who later become an important part of Donovan's plan. Although Kasumi was saved by Ryu Hayabusa and DOATEC Germany, the company's science headquarters, was burned down, DOATEC continued the project by using Alpha as the main subject.

Using data collected from the third tournament and Project Omega, DOATEC experimented on Alpha's genetic make-up and turned her into the superhuman weapon known as Alpha-152.



The Fourth Tournament
During the Mugen Tenshin clan's attack on DOATEC, Helena Douglas tells Kasumi that Alpha-152 is entering the final start-up stage, ready to destroy everything in its path. After defeating Helena, Kasumi goes to engage in one-on-one combat with the clone. When Alpha-152 has a chance to leave the battle, it is fought by other fighters like Hayabusa, Ayane, Hayate, Zack, Lisa, Brad, and Jann Lee. However, it ends up fighting back with Kasumi. It fights Kasumi throughout DOATEC's destruction and, in the end, the clone teleports away to escape.

The Fifth Tournament
Alpha-152 is still under the ownership of Donovan who has it hidden in the secret MIST laboratory located on the oil rig. It is found and defeated by another Alpha clone, who believes herself to be the real Kasumi. However, Alpha-152 presumably survives and reawakens as Phase 4 when the true Kasumi, Ayane and Hayabusa infiltrate the lab to save Hayate from Project Epsilon. They discover that it is not the only Alpha clone, as Donovan has created other clones, each with their own number, and Phase 4 is about to begin. Although Hayabusa defeats it, it rises once again, prompting Ayane and Hayate to defeat it. But then Alpha-152 shifts its form, from Kasumi's physical look to Hayabusa's, and launches a Gessen Goryu Ha Ninpo attack on Ayane and Hayate. But as they dodge the attack, the real Hayabusa counters with a ninpo attack of his own, resulting with the destruction of the lab. As the lab crumbles, Alpha-152 has one final battle with Kasumi and is defeated by her for good. Donovan asks Rig if everything went smoothly and whether Phase 4 is ready to begin and Rig answers that everything is going as planned.

Appearance

 * See also: Alpha-152's Costumes

Alpha-152 is very different in appearance compared to the other clones in the past; while the rest of the clones are perfect copies of Kasumi, Alpha-152 only bears Kasumi's body shape. It is totally transparent, a green-blue color, and appears shiny and shimmery, like it is made from liquid or gel. Its eyes seem to glow white, with no pupils or irises. The clone doesn't wear clothes, and appears to be completely nude. However, it lacks nipples, anus, and female genitals, with these areas being flat, like a child's doll would be.

In Dimensions, she is a darker green color and appears less transparent than previous appearances. In the fourth game and fifth game, it's also noticeable that her "hair" is longer than Kasumi's, and moves somewhat differently from the other females, but this may be simply because she is composed of gel.

In Dead or Alive 5, during its second awakening, Alpha-152 takes on Kasumi's exact form with a green and black aura surrounding her body. After it is defeated by Hayabusa, Ayane and Hayate, it copies their form and fighting style.

Personality
This clone was created to hate the world and with a focus to destroy everything in its path. It has been shown to willingly fight anyone, whether they attack it or not. It's unknown if DOATEC has any control over its actions, or if it is allowed to run riot and could turn on the DOATEC at any moment.

Compared to Kasumi α, Alpha-152 seems to be inhuman. While Kasumi α seems to have the ability to feel at least a few emotions - in Dead or Alive 2, she laughs as if amused, and is seen smiling smugly at the real Kasumi - Alpha-152 only knows hatred. Also, while Kasumi α stands normally and seems to be able to talk like Kasumi, Alpha-152 also makes animalistic noises, such as hisses, and stands ready for battle in a crouch, fingers curled, as if ready to pounce.

In the fifth tournament Alpha-152 has developed and seems to be more vocal in her expressions. When attacking or taunting her opponent she seems to murmur or hum. Occasionally she will let out a yell of anger.

Etymology
Like other DOATEC projects, Alpha-152 is named after a letter in the Greek alphabet. "Alpha" (Greek: άλφα) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, represented by Α (uppercase), and α (lowercase). In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 1. It was derived from the Phoenician letter "Aleph", meaning "ox." Alpha, both as a symbol and term, is used to refer to or describe a variety of things, mostly for the first or most significant occurrence of something.

152 refers to her clone number, as seen in Dead or Alive 5, since there are other clones created by Donovan, each with their own unique number.

Gameplay

 * See also: Alpha-152's Command Lists

Alpha-152's moves are almost identical to those of Kasumi, although it has its own grabs, and it also has the ability to teleport anywhere on the stage. It is also the most difficult boss in the series and is a very noticeable example of the "SNK Boss Syndrome" - a term used to describe an A.I. boss which can be extremely difficult to defeat.

Like most other bosses like this, it can inflict damage close to, and over, 70% of the player's HP in one attack, has easily-executed combos that go far beyond the ability of any regular character, can dodge attacks even at short range, and can teleport to anywhere in the stage instantly.

Whilst Alpha-152 is very powerful, it is also very predictable, having only a handful of combos which are easily recognizable once initiated, and therefore countered relatively easily. Alpha-152 also follows a sequence of movements once it has been knocked back; it will always teleport to a safe distance from you before moving twice, and then attacking.

A player with good timing can unleash a combo of their own the moment after the teleport and movement to counter just about any attack Alpha-152 uses. Using this technique with a fast character means the player can defeat Alpha-152 by only pressing the punch button.

In Dead or Alive: Dimensions and Dead or Alive 5, Alpha-152 is a secret character the same way Tengu was in Dead or Alive 4. While in the game's story mode it remains the same as its original boss self, the playable version has a host of new moves at its disposal (taken from Kasumi), and cannot teleport unless it successfully counters an attack. It can best be described is a stronger, more grapple-oriented Kasumi.

The playable Alpha-152 in Dead or Alive 5 has one glaring weakness that could potentially make her a low-tier character in the long run: it lacks the boss version's teleports. Many of its attacks, especially its powerful attacks, leave it wide open for an attack, and it recovers differently from normal characters, also leaving it wide open. The boss version, on the other hand, can teleport immediately after its attacks to avoid recovery frames. Without the ability to teleport after a strong attack, Alpha is forced to either hold Back for a somewhat quicker recovery, or wait until it completely reaches the ground. If the opponent is too close after a combo ender, they have more than enough time to unleash their high-damaging punishers. In addition, Alpha's attacks are still extremely linear, making it extremely vulnerable to counters. This forces Alpha players to utilize a bob-and-weave strategy, and this kind of strategy has been drastically nerfed in Dead or Alive 5.

Unlocking Alpha-152
Alpha-152 is an unlockable character in Dead or Alive: Dimensions and Dead or Alive 5. To unlock her:
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions: Complete Tag Challenge Mission 19.
 * Dead or Alive 5: Obtain 300 titles in the game.

Dead or Alive Series

 * Dead or Alive 4 (Unplayable, 2005 - 2006)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Mentioned, 2006)
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions (2011)
 * Dead or Alive 5 (Unlockable character, 2012 - 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (2015)

Also Known As

 * The Devil of Misguided Science - Dead or Alive 4
 * The Ultimate Hyper Clone - Dead or Alive 5

Musical Themes

 * Alpha-152 - Dead or Alive 4, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, and Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade
 * Liberation - Dead or Alive 5 (Story Mode)
 * Collapse - Dead or Alive 5 (Story Mode)

Trivia

 * Originally, Alpha-152's fight was supposed to have a different layout in Dead or Alive 4. Each character was to fight her, knocking her onto another level with another character, until either one of the ninja knocked her off the Tri-Tower to her death. This was scrapped due to it being "too cruel".
 * Alpha-152 is similar to Dural, the final boss of Virtua Fighter series, they both are females humanoids with nude, but featureless shimmering bodies, they were ninjas and normal humans before suffering experiments and they are recurring bosses in their series.
 * Additionally, Alpha-152 gains the ability to turn into other characters, similar to Dural whose moveset is an amalgam of the current roster's movesets.
 * The Alpha-152 in the Dead or Alive 4 trailer is a Beta version that was changed in the final designs of the game. Both versions, however, have similar figure and color.
 * Though Alpha-152 appears to be unplayable in Dead or Alive 4, a hack can create her and make her playable, though it is rarely found. She later becomes a playable character in Dead or Alive: Dimensions.
 * Alpha-152 is the only "female" final boss character so far, although it is never referred to as a "she," only as "it" which implies it is genderless though in Dead or Alive 5, Kasumi refers to Alpha as a female.
 * In Dead or Alive 5, Alpha-152 apparently has the ability to take on any person's exact form with a green and black aura surrounding her body. She has taken on the forms of Kasumi, Hayabusa, Ayane and Hayate and mimics their fighting style and can switch between them at will during battle. Interestingly, as she takes damage, the hue of her form will gradually darken to an aqua-ish tone, glowing vibrantly.
 * Due to this, Alpha's name doesn't display on the life-bar when fought as the final boss in Dead or Alive 5's Story Mode.
 * Alpha-152 is the only final boss so far to have not been killed in her debut, as Raidou was killed by Kasumi, Bankotsubo was killed by Hayabusa, and Genra was killed by Ayane; while Alpha-152 survived the events of the 4th tournament. In the 5th tournament Alpha-152 was killed by Kasumi.
 * Alpha-152, out of all the bosses, has the most appearances in the series, first appearing in Dead or Alive 2 as Kasumi α, returning in Dead or Alive 4 and Dead or Alive 5 as the final boss.
 * On X-Play's review of Dead or Alive 4, Alpha-152 is was referred to by Morgan Webb as "The worst perpetrator of SNK Boss Syndrome in recent history."