Alpha-152

Alpha-152 (read as "Alpha One-Five-Two") is a recurring boss in the Dead or Alive series. It first appeared in Dead or Alive 2 as Kasumi α, and returned in Dead or Alive 4 and Dead or Alive 5 as the final boss. It was a clone of Kasumi 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 it 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, La Mariposa, Brad Wong, 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 when the true Kasumi, Ayane and Ryu 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 Ryu 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 Ryu's, and launches a Gessen Goryu Ha Ninpo attack on Ayane and Hayate. But as they dodge the attack, the real Ryu 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. After the fight, the clone is destroyed, bursting in a bright light.

Appearance
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.

Before Dead or Alive 5 Last Round, Alpha-152 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 Last Round, Alpha-152 is given a school uniform, but in transparent colors in order to match its appearance.

In Dimensions, it has is darker green color and appears less transparent than previous appearances. In the fourth game and fifth game, it's also noticeable that the clone's "hair" is longer than Kasumi's, and moves somewhat differently from the other females, but this may be simply because it 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 its body and also wears Kasumi's trademark outfit. 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 its expressions. When attacking or taunting its opponent, it seems to murmur or hum. Occasionally, the clone 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 the clone's 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 it 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, and its "unique" sidestep in the previous versions are changed. 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 it:
 * 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 (non-playable, 2005 - 2006)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (mentioned, 2006)
 * Dead or Alive Dimensions (playable, 2011)
 * Dead or Alive 5 (unlockable, 2012)
 * Dead or Alive 5+ (unlockable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (playable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade (playable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (playable, 2015)

Music themes
The following are the music themes used for Alpha-152 throughout the series.

Trivia

 * Alpha-152 is the only character in the feather weight class.
 * During Alpha-152's tag-team winpose with another character, it will blink its eyes if it's in the second position.
 * Originally, Alpha-152's fight was supposed to have a different layout in Dead or Alive 4. Each character was to fight it, knocking it onto another level with another character, until either one of the ninja knocked the clone off the Tri-Tower to its 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 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.
 * As seen in the cutscenes of previous Dead or Alive games (such as Dimensions), Alpha-152 seems capable of "walking" on air.
 * 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 it and make it playable, though it is rarely found. It 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.
 * In the Japanese version of Dead or Alive 4, Ayane addresses Alpha-152 with a rude form of the word "you" (貴様, kisama), which is usually used between enemies. However, in the English version of the game, it was instead translated as "Bitch!".
 * Also, in the English version of Dead or Alive 5, Kasumi refers to the clone as 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 its body. It 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 it takes damage, the hue of its form will gradually darken to an aqua-ish tone, glowing vibrantly.
 * Due to this, Alpha-152's name doesn't display on the life-bar when fought as the final boss in the Story Mode of Dead or Alive 5.
 * Alpha-152 is the only final boss so far to have not been killed in its 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. Until in the 5th tournament where it was somehow followed by a now revived cyborg version of the 1st tournament final boss, Raidou, Alpha-152 was killed by Kasumi.
 * As noted above however, it was originally intended that it would die during the 4th tournament, though this was cut because the planned method of fighting it was deemed "too cruel".
 * Ironically, Alpha-152 and Raidou shares their encounter with and death at the hands of Kasumi, as well as being a recurring boss character so far to return to the next main game series. However, only difference is their role status being alive and deceased in the main games series are switched.
 * 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."
 * Despite its death, Alpha-152 gained a new costume in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate and received four new costumes in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round. The costumes for the latter was technically the first instance of her appearing to have clothing.
 * In addition, it was also included in the Ninja Clan 3 DLC pack, marking the first time Alpha-152 received costume DLC since Dead or Alive Dimensions was released.
 * It will also be included in the Halloween 2015 Costume Pack, marking the first time Alpha-152 got a Halloween DLC since Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate was released in 2013.
 * Alpha-152 is the only final boss who appears as a final boss twice being the final boss in Dead or Alive 4 and 5.
 * Alpha-152 seems to be capable of manifesting energy into different ways other than teleportation.
 * For example, its B.R.E.A.K. and B.R.E.A.K.R. throws has it manifest a transparent wall (which is whatever color its chosen costume is) that disappears after the duration of the throw animation.
 * Also, its B.U.R.S.T. throw animation ends with it gathering energy in its hand, and unleashing it as a point-blank burst (hence the name) that launches its opponent high in the air.