- "I don't want to hurt you, but..."
- —Phase 4 in Dead or Alive 6
Kasumi α Phase 4, simply known as Phase 4 for short is a clone of Kasumi created by MIST for the Kasumi Alpha Phase 4 project. She made her first playable appearance in a 2014 update of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade.
History[]
The Fifth Tournament[]
Phase 4 is a product of Victor Donovan's Project Alpha. She is a prototype of the final model, ordered to fight as a test before mass production.
In the prologue of the story mode at the ruined battlefield, Phase 4 attacked Bayman and his soldiers at blinding speed. However, she hesitated to kill them, then she starts tearing up and disappears, leaving Bayman alive with two vicious scars on his torso and face.
The Sixth Tournament[]
Before the sixth tournament begin, where Honoka and Ayane will be captured by MIST once the tournament start and still ongoing, Lisa visits the Hot Zone section of the DOA Memorial Museum, remembering the Phase 4 clone who attacked Bayman and his men, concerned about what has happened to her since then.
It turns out that Phase 4 has now been mass produced and this version is used by MIST as henchwomen. In the clones' first appearance, they battle and are slain by Kasumi and Ryu Hayabusa. After Raidou’s resurrection, Hayate defeats another batch of clones to save the weakened Honoka.
Character[]
Appearance[]
- See also: Phase 4's costumes
Physically she looks exactly like Kasumi. In some of her DLC outfits her hair color is changed to black, dark red, blonde or grey. Also, she becomes surrounded by black and green energy whenever using her powers. While Kasumi's default hairstyle is a ponytail tied up with a yellow ribbon, Phase 4 wears her hair loose by default, although as of Dead or Alive 6, she can wear all of Kasumi's current hairstyles as well.
Her outfits tend to be more subdued, with her favoring darker, moodier colors than her progenitor, especially black. Aside from her hooded cloaks, she also wears ninja jumpsuits, much like Kasumi Alpha wore before she became Alpha-152. Her clothes are quite simple and modest, and she currently doesn't have many overtly feminine outfits, preferring kunoichi jumpsuits and pants over skirts and dresses. Her downloadable outfits tend to also be the opposite of what Kasumi is given at the time.
In the Dead or Alive 6 story mode, she is differentiated from the mass produced Phase 4 clones who don black ribbons in their hair and also only wear bodysuits without the cloaks. Her default costume in the game is still the same, although it's slightly modified by having a more tattered appearance on the hood and cloak sleeves, as well as wearing her hair tied in a ponytail using a blue ribbon by default.
Personality[]
Phase 4 carries herself with a darker, edgier persona to Kasumi, warning her opponent that she will hurt them even if she doesn't want to, and upon winning, she harshly tells them to stay out of her way. She sometimes will question her reasons for fighting, asking if it's her sole purpose in life, and she will also sometimes solemnly state that she's "taken one more...", implying that either fighting or even more sadly taking her opponent's life is nothing but routine for her.
Despite this darkness and her role as a human weapon, unlike other Kasumi clones Phase 4 has her own free mind and possesses feelings of her own as a human being, an explanation as to why she hesitates to kill people and wants to live as a normal person. If one looks closely, she acts like an earlier Kasumi; she doesn't wish to fight, is soft-spoken, and overall has a more sad personality. She doesn't smile very often, and her intros and win poses are quiet and short, with her coming off as rather somber. Her killing Bayman's soldiers and scarring him while showing remorse afterwards is quite reminiscent of how Kasumi was forced to fight and kill ninjas of her own clan while on the run to survive.
While Phase 4 has her own free mind, she does not, unfortunately, have her own free will, as MIST went through extensive testing procedures to ensure that she does not go beyond her programming. Phase 4 knows this, and it adds to her inner turmoil.
Etymology[]
Her name is a reference to being the final stage of Kasumi α Clone distribution. As a clone of Kasumi she's in an indeterminate state just like the original, not knowing if she'll ever be free, or will exist forever as Donovan's ultimate weapon.
Relationships[]
Bayman[]
She attacked Bayman and his soldiers, but not out of malice, only due to being ordered to do so. Her attack left Bayman physically scarred but she nevertheless spared him and warned him to stay away. However, Bayman would not heed her warning and instead sought to track her down and take revenge for his comrades.
Gameplay[]
- See also: Phase 4's command lists
Phase 4's gameplay is somewhat similar to Kasumi's, with her possessing many of the same moves, but with some alterations and a lot of reductions. However, this unusually serves to make her far less straightforward to use than the original Kasumi. She is heavily teleport dependent, meaning that she will often dart about the stage in a similar fashion to her progenitor, but Phase 4 has more moves to teleport cancel out of and more follow-up attacks from her teleports. Proper use of her unique moves allows her to juggle enemies for longer and construct longer and more damaging combos than the original Kasumi, and her damage output is generally better from juggle set ups as she has an equally strong wall carry and even more formidable refloat juggle ability from her launches and throws near walls. However, her reduced number of strings relative to Kasumi makes for a weaker mix-up game, as well as making her much less of a pressure character, and she is thus reliant on her tricky teleport moves both to inflict damage and keep opponents on the defensive.
Her teleport moves take some getting used to; while she has several moves that can lead into a teleport attack, most of them require you teleport as soon as the first strike hits, and the opponent can't be blocking. The time-frame that the teleport can be done in is also extremely strict, although it varies by move. One mistake can ruin the entire combo, leaving her vulnerable to throw punishes, and while double-tapping the teleport button can help, it takes up time for the other attack commands. One suggestion is to use the audio cue of the first strike landing, but this can still take a lot of practice. As a result, she's one of the most difficult characters in the game to learn, definitely not suited for beginners, and while intermediates can pull off shorter combos and still get by, experts will most likely get the most out of her.
She can also use an air-throw, and can backflip, but her backflips can't lead into any wall-attacks like the real Kasumi. She's also varied with her holds as her mid punch hold gains her room to rush in on her opponent, and she also has a unique high expert punch hold that gives her a guaranteed back-turned combo, as well as also having access to Kasumi's mid kick launch expert hold. If a player has practiced with her, and overcome her disadvantages, she can prove to be quite difficult to defeat. Overall, she is a much riskier character than Kasumi, but potentially more powerful.
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round granted her the ability to teleport on block, but only with her Shunpu-Rensen kick. She also received a brand new "reset" throw from Kasumi (Senpu), which is a somewhat weak throw attack that leaves the opponent standing up but places her at an advantage. In Dead or Alive 6, she has gained a couple of new techniques, being able to teleport cancel into her neutral stance now, which makes her combo and mix-up potential a lot more varied. She appears to have gained Alpha-152's jumping knee kick move as well that she can teleport from, as well as a very quick slicing teleport attack from her jumping stance and even new follow-ups. Her reset throw has also been adjusted, granting her guaranteed damage if she uses the appropriate strikes. Finally, as a way to strengthen her, her teleport stances have gained more options, particularly her Chifu forward dash that adds a quick high kick that can be used to further juggle her opponent without wall splatting them, and she also has a low throw from the stance that can quickly punish ducking foes. Like before, she's still a risky character to use but her improvements have made her much safer and more unpredictable, although her learning curve is further increased as the player must know which teleport cancel to use from specific launchers and situations.
Stats[]
The following are Phase 4's official stats as listed in the games.
| Game | Strike | Throw | Hold | Power | Speed | Moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Dead or Alive 5 Last Round |
5/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
Appearances[]
Dead or Alive series[]
- Dead or Alive 5 (5+) (non-playable, 2012-13)
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade (playable, 2014)
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (playable DLC, 2014)
- Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (playable, 2015)
- Dead or Alive 6 (playable DLC, 2019)
Fighting quotes[]
Music themes[]
The following are the music themes used for Phase 4 throughout the series.
| Theme | Game appearances |
|---|---|
| "Collapse" | Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (default theme) Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (default theme) |
Gallery[]
- See: Phase 4 gallery
Trivia[]
- Phase 4 is the third playable Kasumi clone, following Kasumi α (later Alpha-152) and False Kasumi.
- Her voice actresses are the same as Kasumi's, but the voice-overs are modified into a slightly lower pitch. She also uses old voice clips from Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate, as well as Kasumi's KO scream from Dimensions for the Japanese voice-over.
- Despite promotional images and even the game cover of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round depicting Phase 4 alongside Kasumi and the two sharing a tag union, the two have yet to formally meet one another, as even the Phase 4 clones in Dead or Alive 6 don't appear to be the Phase 4 that has Kasumi's memories.
- In Dead or Alive 6, Phase 4 is the only playable character who does not have any special reaction quotes from being forced into the new "danger zone" which involves being knocked into a wall of people and shoved forward towards the opponent.
- Phase 4 has no unique quotes against any fighter in Dead or Alive 6, including guest characters.
- Phase 4 is also the only playable character in Dead or Alive 6's story mode who doesn't have any actual lines, which is strange especially with her initial meeting with Kasumi.
- In Dead or Alive 6, the clones seen in story mode all don black ribbons in their ponytails which is not available to Kasumi or Phase 4 in normal gameplay.
- In Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, Phase 4 has slightly longer eyelashes than Kasumi has, possibly as a way to further differentiate them besides Phase 4 primarily wearing her hair down in most costumes.
- Largely because of her appearance in the game's prologue, Phase 4 is the only one of the Dead or Alive 5 DLC characters to have an actual role in the game's story.