ALPHA SPHERE

The Title Screen of "ALPHA SPHERE."

ALPHA SPHERE is the 1^st place entry of SMW Central's 2019 "Halloween Level Design Contest" where you play as a female character named Norma on a mission to escape from Dr. Andre, but not before she stumbles upon an ancient relic. The entry has 4 endings, each gotten depending on what you do during the game. This is also the first ROM Hack to feature a full-screen animated jumpscare, unlike other hacks where it's just a singular image.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for this game, as well as "Rotten Brains". The hacks contain both themes of suicide and subtle sexual themes.

Overview

• One of the few SMW Rom Hacks to have a 1-bit style that doesn't reference UNDERTALE (at least, until Director's Cut).
• One of the few SMW Rom Hacks to be styled after the Virtual Boy colour scheme.
• One of the first SMW Rom Hacks to use the "level exit event trigger" feature in LM3.10.
• The first instance of a dynamic camera.
• The first SMW Romhack to feature an "animated" jumpscare with two unique frames.
• Winner of SMW Central's 2019 "Halloween Level Design Contest".

Story

Norma looking at the Alpha Sphere.

Norma is found just outside of an ancient factory, home of "Dr. Andre". Going in has him saying he was the only one who ever loved Norma, and that they will have to commit to a certain action the next day. She leaves walking to where a "cutoff" is located, expressing that maybe it's time she fell. She attempts to throw herself off the cutoff point, only to land on nothing. She keeps going right, confused why she didn't die. She stumbles across a stronghold containing an ancient relic, The Alpha Sphere. She's shocked to find it in this building, so she claims she will find a better home for it. She then returns to Dr. Andre's place, and he suggests she puts it back. This is where the game truly begins... or ends...

ENDING Z is achieved by failing to outrun Dr. Andre during his boss fight. His jumpscare will appear, and Dr. Andre is successful at "saving humanity".

ENDING B is achieved by simply putting the Alpha Sphere back in the stronghold. She will walk away, and the ending reveals two of the same image of a flower being cut by a pair of scissors representing Norma no longer of being afraid to be deflowered by Dr. Andre. In further updates, this ending would be completely revamped (see the Director's Cut notes below).

ENDING A is achieved by outlasting the boss fight. Dr. Andre has revealed before the fight that by destroying the Alpha Sphere he can no longer revive Norma, and so that's why he goes after her forcibly. By getting to the end, Norma falls in a lava pit. Because of the destruction of the Alpha Sphere, Dr. Andre fails his mission to save humanity, and expresses that he regrets what he has done out of rage. This is also the only time in the game where the screen is no longer red and black, and the screen dynamically changes from red to blue to reflect the mood. The final screen reveals what the world looks like with colour, and also reveals what Dr. Andre truly looks like.

ENDING J is achieved by either dropping or throwing rings at Dr. Andre until he is defeated. He expresses that if Norma would rather doom humanity than save it, then so be it. The credits roll in this ending, but it doesn't last as a new character approaches: a robot named Jinker Bolts. The final screen has Jinker Bolts saying "Happy Halloween!".

Soundtrack Releases

Silent Hill 2 - True by Scooter102089 & Daizo Dee Von - Title Screen theme for Director's Cut, now for public use.

Final Fantasy Legends III - Dungeon 1 (Extended Dark Mix) by MidiGuy - Enhanced for ALPHA SPHERE: Director's Cut, now for public use.

UNDERTALE - W.D. Gaster's Theme by Daizo Dee Von - Released on SMWC's 2020 Summer C3 event.

Characters

Norma

A suicidal girl trying to escape from her husband, Dr. Andre. She is a much weaker character compared to most SMW Romhack protagonists, lacking the spinjump and P-speed. She only has 1 HP, and always starts the game at 1 Life. It is later revealed that the reason she keeps appearing after death is no longer just convenience to the player, but it's actually built into the plot itself with the Alpha Sphere. In Ending A, it is revealed that she wears a pink shirt, and has blonde hair.

In "Director's Cut", it is further explained that her first life ended during the human genocide caused by Jinker Bolts.

Dr. Faux Andre

A stressed hard working man visualized as an horned skeleton demon that towers Norma in size. His mission is to bring back the human race using Norma as a vessel. He uses the Alpha Sphere to bring back Norma every time she manages to end her life, repeating the cycle until she finds the sphere herself and destroys it. He even tries to tell Norma to put it back when she shows him the relic. Endings B and Z is where he gets his way. Ending A is where he recognizes his mistake, and is revealed to be a bald doctor in a lab coat with pink clothes underneath.

Jinker Bolts

This robot character makes appearances in most of Daizo Dee Von's recent projects, and appears when you achieve Ending J. In this universe, he appears after the credits to introduce himself with an evil grin, revealing that it turns out Norma and Dr. Andre were not alone in this world. The music that plays references the author's 2014 HLDC Entry, "The Mario Game". This is the character's fourth appearance in a ROM Hack (others including The Mario Game, Law & Order: Mushroom Kingdom Unit Demo, and Krack The Hack).

In "Director's Cut", it turned out Jinker Bolts is only partially connected to the death of humanity. In "Rotten Brains" specifically, it is confirmed that a character named "Jinker Nuts" is responsible for the actual slaughtering, with a Jinker with an X-shaped eye being one to kill Norma specifically. It isn't a total retcon that Jinker Bolts is responsible for the endtimes; there is "something" he did that made the other Jinkers initiate mankind's execution.

Notable Fun Facts

During the first "Dr. Andre Defeated" cutscene panel, the player can actually walk off from the ceiling and stand on the text/floors. Because the player can't jump in cutscenes, this ultimately softlocks the game. It also turns out that Norma's palette can change on a "per level" basis. Perhaps a feature that went unused?

• The entry was started 6 days before the contest ended, and thus was completely made in that restriction.
• It is the first SMW Rom Hack to use the "level exit event trigger" feature in LM3.10 to create the 4 endings.
• Daizo Dee Von, while proud of the project, has stated that it shouldn't have gotten 1st place. That being said, he also appreciates it.
• Even tho Daizo claimed to have coded ASM for the project, he forgot to put himself on the ASM Coders list during the Credits.
• Any cutscene with a timer in place will kill Norma when it hits 0, but she'll be white and fall from the left side of the screen.
• The first "Dr. Andre Defeated" cutscene has a soft-lock where you can press either directional button to "walk off" and fall into the screen.
• The game over sample comes from Withered Bonnie in Ultimate Custom Night pitched down with a pitch modulation enabled.
• What the game over voice actually says is "Might as well face the facts, you are always destined to fail."
• Even though the whole game is 90% red and black in a 1-bit style, Dr. Andre used two different shades of red.
• There are only two points in the whole game where the 1-bit rule is broken, and both break the rule to set a mood or to show intensity.
• ...or the stars from hitting ring blocks on solid objects where they appear as yellow.
• The jumpscare SFX comes from Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator. It is also one of the highest quality samples in the game.
• The animated jumpscare was only possible thanks to the game's aesthetics, because it is a clever use of graphics and palette animations.
• Dr. Andre's name comes from Daizo's friend, Mega__Drizzle, who's irl name is Andre.
• The idea to use Andre's name as a villain name came from Rayman 3's Hoodlum leader, Andre.
• "Faux" is not the first time the name was used in a Daizo project. It was also used as a name of a Mysticarian Soldier in Krack The Hack.
• It was intended in Krack The Hack for "Faux" to be pronounced "Fox", but in ALPHA SPHERE "Fough" is how it is pronounced.
• Contrary to popular belief, you can throw the blocks at Dr. Andre during his boss fight to defeat him (it's just the SFX doesn't play).
• Norma's name came from the word "Normal".
• h.carrell on the SNESLab Discord Server shared an image of what happens if you disable the Layer 3 of the overworld screen. It turns out that the game takes place during the end times. This was present even in the original contest entry.

Director's Cut

The "Three Headed Horse" when leaving the cave section.

During Winter C3 2020, Daizo Dee Von released a "Director's Cut" version of ALPHA SPHERE which includes:

• A revamped Ending B where instead of just walking away, the relic itself talks to Norma in third person, and proceeds to destroy itself, causing the entire thing to fall in the process. Also, the screen where it activates "Falling.asm" contains a functioning code where you can get the same result if you manually type it and insert it into UberASMTool. This whole part was added because of the judges during HLDC.
• The soundtrack has changed a fair bit. The only songs that remain in tact is the songs either revolving around Dr. Andre, the ending themes, and when Norma throws away the relic.
• The overworld has been improved where the lone piece of land looks far better. There is even an added "heart beat" in the music.
• The cutscenes no longer skip to the next scene immediately after spawning in the next one if you hold the button. Now it takes a second to go to the next scene when you hold the button.
• New cutscenes have been added to flesh out the story, along with the fact interacting with Dr. Andre more than once in his home actually spawns more dialogue.
• The Ending Z screen has changed from having just Dr. Andre to a square room where Dr. Andre is about to get Norma. This is to debunk the theory that Dr. Andre saved the world by killing Norma, despite the fact she is needed.
• The location of the midpoint now changes to 3 different locations instead of 2 thanks to Ending B.
• If you've been to the cave area, the boss room, and the escape room to Ending B, you will unlock the ability to choose which midpoint to go to in the beginning of the game.
• Entering the door you spawn in front of in the beginning of the cave area results in a weird creature appearing on the side of the screen. From the looks of things, it seems like a triple headed horse head, but the side parts of the horse have broken jaws that are permanently open. This was the last thing seen in the Director's Cut trailer, but in the trailer the eyes are showing. The way to spawn it was first discovered by LordKronos100 on YouTube.
• On random chance, the midpoint block at the beginning will send you to a few secret areas, seen on LordKronos100's channel and EvilGuy0613's Twitch Channel.

1. The first room is a reversed coloured area where everything that was black is red, and vice versa. This was seen in the trailer! The text above, using Dr. Andre's font, reads "HUMANITY IS DOOMED", "THIS IS SALVATION! NOT LUST...", "NORMA, BRING BACK HUMANITY!", and "HE WILL⠀⠀END⠀⠀US". The last part is interesting, as it appears when all the Jinker Bolts sprites come into play. It's not until Rotten Brains that we got a confirmation that the Jinkers, not just Jinker Bolts, are responsible for the death of humanity. There is a new "music" track that sounds like low sirens of sorts. This sample has an unknown origin. Daizo confirmed on EvilGuy0613's stream that the room has a 3/101 chance of appearing.
2. The second room is an area where souls rise up from pits. In October 20th 2022, this area is given the official name "The Catacombs" in Rotten Brains. You can find Doctor Andre and the sphere saying "I AM SO SORRY NORMA..." The room ends just after Jinker Bolts (or Jinker Nuts?) appears. Norma is not acknowledged to be in this room, having inverted colours as if she's dead. With the new context found in Rotten Brains, it's confirmed that this is where the Sphere was originally kept, and the Jinkers killed almost everybody. The same "music" plays here too. Daizo confirmed on EvilGuy0613's stream that the room has a 1/101 chance of appearing.
3. On March 22nd 2020, EvilGuy0613 found what was confirmed to be all the other secret rooms live on stream. The first new room he found is a hallway with 3 entities in the middle. These mysterious beings appear to be W. D. Gaster (the top), Ubowa (the right), and another unknown entity (the left). After a moment, Wingdings text appear where in Juzcook's video many people deciphered the message to say "YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME" in all capital letters. Perhaps, Norma's appearance here is an accident in the game's lore.
4. The final room accessed from the midpoint warp is a message room, confirming exactly why Jinker Bolts appears at the end of Ending J. Apparently "Bolts", "Nuts", and the one who wrote the letter dropped the Alpha Sphere 300 years prior, and they had a bet on what would happen to humanity. The message also warns that if the Alpha Sphere is ever destroyed, "He" (Jinker Bolts) would go after you (whoever wields it last). In Rotten Brains, it is safe to bet that the person who's talking to us is a Jinker with an X-shaped eye referred to in that game's DATA LOG as "X". In the very end of Rotten Brains, "Nuts" is vocally referred to as "Jinker Nuts".
5. The author also helped EvilGuy0613 with finding out the mystery of the 3 Headed Horse. There is a 32/101 chance that the eyes will spawn, and that is when you need to interact with it. After interacting with it, you encounter the final room discovered: The Horse's Eye. Going inside the eye reveals a horse named Fae, and that he was abandoned. Norma reassures the horse that the horse should rest as she rests.

• A few small details are added where the status bar contains a black boarder that hides anything behind it. If Norma collects the relic, the relic appears in the bottom right side corner of the screen.
• When Norma falls in the pit at the end of the boss fight, Dr. Andre actually screams out "NOOO!" This sample was taken from the infamous "NO GOD!" scene from the TV series "The Office", only it's pitched down much like the other taken samples used in the game.
• Three more secrets were hidden in the latest update of ALPHA SPHERE (specifically v1.0.2).

1. When you hold down at the pit that you normally walk across like SMB3, Norma will fall to her death. However, the screen that's shown reveals that Norma has attempted this multiple times. The text found is "Suicide is pointless if my soul always comes back..." further confirming the power of the ALPHA SPHERE. This cutscene returns in Rotten Brains, revealing that a monster is seen here apologizing to Norma and acknowledging that she's in a fate worse than death.
2. If you hold down at the bush with missing berries, you'll witness a cutscene where Norma seems to be walking from right to left, seeing a bunch of dead bodies. This area serves as a teaser for "Rotten Brains." Holding down near a berry bush without berries returns in Rotten Brains.
3. If you throw a ring at the ALPHA SPHERE during the Ending B route, you'll get jumpscared by the sphere itself.

• In the latest update, if you achieved ENDING A, the next time you encounter Doctor Andre his health bar will appear, confirming that you can beat him.

Judges Comments

How funny that this game takes place in a "halloween" setting.

Ryaa

Judging details

Level Name: Alpha Sphere
Entry Number: 23

*Favorite Level

Design: 46/50
Creativity: 20/20
Aesthetics: 18/20
Theme: 10/10

Total: 94/100

Review: 

This is easily my favorite level. I am absolutely in love with it. The start of the level felt unnatural, but that's what really put the player in a place where what they were doing felt new. The atmosphere all over the level felt eerie, dreadful and conflicting which is what the main character feels. It's brilliantly thought out and really makes you feel like everything you do matters. The lore that the creator set up with the two characters being a dysfunctional married couple really personifies the effort that went into this. All four endings were rewarded by doing completely different things:

The first ending that I got was the shorter ending where you grab the sphere and put it back. I felt as though this one was a little bit more on the low effort side when it comes down to what you had to do to get it. Perhaps if there was a short platforming section before the sphere similarly to the last three endings, this ending would have felt much more special.

The second ending I got was the ending where you play through the dungeon/cave section and run away from Dr. Andre. I will be completely honest and say that while the area was never unfun, it did feel a bit cramped aesthetics-wise due to the graphics sharing the same color. There is also a part where the laser claims you need to hit 8 of the eye blocks, yet you can pass through it just fine if you only hit 4, unfortunately granting the player the ability to just fly through that part with no difficulty. Getting to the part where you have to escape Dr. Andre was my favorite part in terms of atmosphere. All of the buildup leading to ultimately betraying him made it so you absolutely had to get away or your efforts were useless. My only gripe about the section is that it was very repetitive. Since the gameplay here is a bit on the slower side, it felt a bit too time consuming near the end part since all you were doing was grabbing throw blocks. However, the section thankfully wasn't that long and ended on a really high note with the doctor witnessing a traumatizing event and realizing the mess he has caused. It had me entirely wrapped up in the lore and amazed me that this much could be put into an entry in just one month. I also got the third ending on my next playthrough after to see what happens when you die and I will say that even though the jumpscare didn't scare me, it was cute and had a lot of work put into it to match the atmosphere.

The fourth ending was the one that seemed a bit finnicky to get. Basically you're tasked with killing Dr. Andre as you are running away from him. This isn't technically hard but you can't slide-kick throw blocks into him. You can only place them on the ground which will automatically hit him as he runs into them. After a certain amount of hits, a cutscene triggers where he actually dies and some character shows up. This felt like a bit of a cliffhanger but you know what, I really want to see more of this.

Considering a bit over a month was the time given for this, I greatly respect how much love and care went into making sure this level was in top form. And as a result, it will be marked down as my favorite. 

Syndrilevosse

Judging details

Level Name: Alpha Sphere
Entry #23

Design: 44/50
Creativity: 20/20
Aesthetics: 20/20
Theme: 4/10

Total: 88/100

This is my favorite level without a doubt, I absolutely love the general aesthetic, the music, the setting, the story. If this was made within the confines of the contest’s deadline, then it is definitely some fantastic work to be done alone. In terms of how the level is designed, it relies on throw block puzzles which are designed relatively well, and then it ends in a “boss” chase. I like that there are four different endings to the level, which are all achieved in different ways, so it adds some unexpected replayability. Another thing this level accomplished was being able to hook me onto these characters and the general theme, which makes me want to play even more, like a full game. It definitely has an eerie uncertainty to it that adds on to the theme, though I won’t lie that it lacks a true Halloween vibe. Still, definitely my favorite level out of them all.

Interesting note is Daizo Dee Von added pumpkins in the entry just to avoid the "lack of a Halloween theme". This is the only judge that either didn't catch it, or didn't feel it was enough to warrant full points.

FPzero

Judging details

#23, "ALPHA SPHERE"

Design: 		40/50
Creativity:		17/20
Aesthetics:		16/20
Theme:			8/10

Total:			81/100

Comments:
First off, I'm not sure how to get to Ending J. I tried basically everything I could think of but the solution evaded me. (I was later told you have to drop the throw blocks instead of throw them at the doctor. This feels a bit unintuitive compared to everything else in the level.)

This level goes for a totally different feeling by creating its own plotline and small universe to play with. The two-color aesthetic helps sell it too. Red on black can be rough on some eyes, but I was generally okay with it. I think it helped how it was almost always easy to tell what was what. The only time it got a bit too busy, was the final block throwing puzzle before the chase.

The fact the level goes all in on story and atmosphere does make me feel a bit more lenient on the lower amount of pure platforming in the level. Most of the gameplay focused on some block-throwing puzzles. I think these were generally pretty interesting and worked well. The final chase was neat in how it incorporated a little bit of the block puzzle aspects into it, making everything feel tied together nicely.

I'm surprised I don't have more to say about the level other than I liked it quite a bit and wish I could've figured out how to get the last ending just to say I fully completed it.

ALPHA SPHERE Zero: Rotten Brains

The title screen of "ALPHA SPHERE Zero: Rotten Brains", seen when you boot up the game.

The surprise 2022 prequel to the original ALPHA SPHERE, this entry is made to tie a lot of the loose ends of the original. A number of characters show up to flesh out the world, as well as give answers to the secret screens. This hack released in both SMW Central, as well as ROMHacking.net (where the full title was revealed).

• Most of the secrets found in the original ALPHA SPHERE title are directly referenced as real places; the Bush secret from v1.0.2. is the entirety of this game, and the Catacombs is the rising soul secret room.
• This title confirms the existence of three Jinkers, and which one is responsible for Norma's initial death. It's NOT Jinker Bolts, rather a Jinker with an X-shaped Eye.
• The very final secret seen after the ALPHA SPHERE 2 room is a voice commanding "Jinker Nuts" to execute all of the humans. Nuts is one of the Jinkers mentioned in the secret message screen. This probably confirms that Jinker Nuts is the one who killed most of the humans.
• The game over screen from the first game is re-used as the voice heard after Norma's death. This is now confirmed to be the Jinker with the X-shaped Eye.
• Norma had a brother named "Mal", which sticks to the theme of their names coming from the word "Normal". However if you reach the grave stone, Mal's full name is revealed on the message "NO REST ONLY MAL-FUN". Mal's full name, "Mal-fun", comes from the word Malfunction. It's probably not a coincidence that his name fits both words.
• There are a total of 11 new characters: "Mal" (the protagonist), "Hase", "Olysh", "Marice", "Tume", "Ovan", "Christy", "Rufus", and "Ellie" (Mal's girlfriend). There's also Tume's girlfriend "Enilum", who we never see in the game; and a mysterious character who is Hase's father. The interesting thing is "Tume", "Ovan", and "Enilum's" names are a reference to EvilGuy0613's "SMW: The After Years" series since those names are anagrams for "Mute", "Nova" and "Lumine" (Tume and Ovan even look the part).
• Both Norma and Doctor Andre return, though the Doctor does not look like a demon this time (reflecting the design seen in the Rotten Brains secret room in ALPHA SPHERE). Norma also has a slight redesign (her face is more rounder)
• There are a number of voiced lines, something not common in SMW Rom Hacks or SNES games in general. The two voice actors are the author, Daizo Dee Von (voicing MAL-FUN), and another VA known as "Ghoul" (voicing a character referred to as "X").

1. "I will purge those rotten brains!" - "MAL-FUN" (Said by an awakening corpse at the end)
2. "Jinker Nuts. Execute all of them. Things have gone too far. I'll deal with Bolts later." - "X" (Said after the ALPHA SPHERE 2 teaser.)
3. "I'm so sorry, Norma. You're suffering a fate worse than death! (Crying)" - "MAL-FUN" (Said by the monster character, said in the same voice as the corpse)
4. "Might as well face the facts; you were always destined to fail." - Sample taken from Withered Bonnie in Ultimate Custom Night. (This is the game over theme from ALPHA SPHERE, but now we know it's the last words Norma ever heard.)

• Brand new sequences have been made completely hidden thanks to a returning easter egg in ALPHA SPHERE. In the DATA LOG there used to be an encrypted message translated in the Dinosaur Language "Saurian" which reveals how to access these secret rooms. Now it's replaced with a tinyurl link leading to this image. There are a total of four events that can happen depending on the order of events.

1. The first event is to simply return to the Doctor's House before trying again.
2. The second event leads to a chase sequence with a tall lanky monster. If you get caught, you get jumpscared. If you survive, you get to the surface where you find everybody dead and find out how Norma herself dies.
3. The third event is accessed after the second one. Do not access any houses, and you'll get to a repeat of one of the secrets in ALPHA SPHERE's latest update. This time the monster walks in, and then a black screen happens with the monster apologizing to Norma vocally.
4. The fourth event is accessed by first visiting Mal's house then going back down. You'll get a tribute to the creator's cat, "Meliodas", who recently died.

A solid timeline is now possible to piece together thanks to this game, and one attempt has been made by the user "h.carrell" which is a timeline sent to Daizo questioning if it is correct. His response is "That is pretty close to correct", but doesn't confirm where it's wrong.

Sequel Teases

A teaser from the hack "Do NOT Press The Yellow Switch" by the same author.

On July 22nd 2021, the final update of ALPHA SPHERE drops containing a few noteworthy fixes and also a brand new ending (simply called "Ending 2"). This ending is achieved by simply running out of time. Once you do that, you're teleported back to Doctor Andre's House, this time with the door open. Once entered, Norma is found in an eerily similar room as the screen from Ending Z. If you try to escape, Doctor Andre blocks the way and sends Norma backwards. The screen blackens out. Music comes in, and not moments later a digitized image of a kid greets us. "Dad? Why does mom hate me?" they ask. If you press B, the kid will come closer and yell "I LOVE YOU MOMMY." Press B again, and the kid will come even closer, this time the text scrolling upwards and shaking left and right rapidly saying "WHY DID YOU DIE MOMMY?" Press B one last time, and the image gets layered just before you get the event that reveals a number 2 on the overworld. Judging by the context this ending shows, it seems like if Norma waits until morning, she will be deflowered by Doctor Andre and have a child together, as he wanted. However, Norma dies, leaving their child to ask their dad why she's dead. Some have theorized that this kid isn't actually born and is just a representation of the child Norma doesn't want to have (her death being the thing preventing the kid from being born).

This ending, unsurprisingly, gave a lot of people pause. Not just because of the fact a "2" is teased, but also because of the context displayed to the player. It is, without a doubt, the darkest of the, now 5, endings.

On February 14th 2022 (Valentine's Day), two videos popped up on Daizo Dee Von's youtube channel from a mysterious title simply called "2". The video each have a song and a smoothly animated red 1-bit "2" moving forward and backward. The titles of the videos are called "Home" and "Andre's Wish".

On April 2nd 2022, a completely unrelated hack called "Do NOT Press The Yellow Switch" was submitted to 72hoQLDC containing a teaser of this sequel if you wait 5 hours before pressing it. This hack is actually the first to feature the "Home" song, and the 5 hour ending uses it too. A lot of the text is hard to make out, but the top part might say "MAKE YOUR GIRL USING THE ALPHA SPHERE" and the bottom part says "FATHER, I DO NOT KNOW LOVE, YOU FAILED". The middle is censored, but says "ENDING ■ AND ENDING ■ ARE ■■■ ■■■■■". The top and bottoms seem like a conversation between Doctor Andre (the father) and his son; and the alpha sphere is still around. We know the kid is a boy because Doctor Andre is confident that the alpha sphere will bring a girl so the cycle repeats until humanity is populated once again. That would mean that it doesn't take place after Ending Z because Norma destroyed the sphere at that point. Ending A and J can't happen either for that same reason. So that means Endings 2 and B are still on the table, both times Norma gets deflowered and the Alpha Sphere is still around. Which one it is remains to be seen.

From all the teases gathered, this is, in fact, a sequel. Norma is no longer around, and their child is the protagonist. The Alpha Sphere is planned to be used to create a brand new girl, but Doctor Andre's flaw is that his son resents him to some extent. Because no women are around, his son knows no love, therefore the Alpha Sphere might not work as intended. The "Andre's Wish" song could very well be for a cutscene, maybe with a nightmare hospital scene judging from it's name and how it sounds. "Home" could be the theme used for the title screen, overworld, or Doctor Andre's home.

On October 20th 2022, a prequel title called "Rotten Brains" was released. This isn't the ALPHA SPHERE 2 that was teased, but if you play until the end it confirms that it is in development. This title, in terms of the overall narrative, answers many of the questions left unexplained in the original title...but not everything. There is also a monster shown off; a multi-limb creature with 4 legs, a long body, and multiple heads. Maybe this is one of the monsters that will be in the sequel? It seems to know who Norma is...

Judging from all the tech found in the latest update of ALPHA SPHERE, as well as the tech found in some of Daizo's latest hacks (R-ACK, Neural World, Fury of the Storm, and now "Rotten Brains"), ALPHA SPHERE 2 promises to be much scarier than the first game.