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Death Course: Difference between revisions
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* A very short over-land one shows up in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog The Movie]]'', consisting mainly of about a half-dozen spike traps and an ambush by a swarm of Buzzbombers.
* One features in the second episode of ''[[Angel Beats]]'' in the form of anti-Angel traps on the path to Guild which the heroes must themselves traverse. They don't see it is a big deal because in their world, [[Death Is Cheap]].
* [[Gintama]] had one in an episode involving an art museum. It included a [[Corridor Cubbyhole Run]], [[Spikes of Doom]], a treadmill floor and {{spoiler|[[It Makes Sense in Context|a 100% normal old man, his wife, their son and their grandson riding on said treadmill]]}}
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* The [[X-Men]]'s Danger Room, in its first incarnation, is one of these, although controlled by the participants.
* In an issue of ''[[Catwoman (comics)|Catwoman]]'', Catwoman had to navigate one of these in order to get into an ancient temple buried beneath the Sahara. She wondered why all of the traps were in such good working order after centuries of disuse, only to realise that her rival Hellhound had got there ahead of her and had repaired and reset all of the traps on his way in to slow her down.
* A hero-villain inversion occurs in ''[[Sin City]]''. [[Heroic Sociopath|Marv]] sets fire to [[Serial Killer|Kevin's]] house, lures him out with gunshots, tries to trip him up with razor wire, sets up his coat as a decoy, tries to lob his head off with a hatchet, and then just resorts to handcuffing him and punching him in the face.
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* In the [[Alex Rider]] book ''Eagle Strike'', Alex is thrown into an exact replica of a Aztec level of a video game by the game's creator. This features darts, slippery surfaces, a robot snake which is a real snake in body armor and two Aztec gods (guards in costume).
* Near the end of ''Inheritance,'' (the last book of the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]') Eragon, Saphira, Elva, Arya, and eleven other elves make their way through a hallway filled with traps to get to [[The Big Bad]].
* In [[Matthew Reilly]]'s books ''Seven Deadly Wonders'' and ''The Six Sacred Stones'' almost all the action sequences take place in [[Death Course|Death Courses]].
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' books, it is heavily implied that Lord Vetinari has one of these set up in the passage that leads to Leonard of Quirm's cell. Or maybe that's just what he wants you to think.
** Leonard apologizes earnestly for designing it, so it is far more likely to be true.
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*** Maybe not. Given their reaction when Death arrives, it seems Mrs. Cake might already have been...
** ''Small Gods'' features this as a security precaution against visiting dignitaries from hostile lands. They didn't count on the main character's photographic memory.
* In the [[Young Bond]] novel ''Hurricane Gold'', El Hurican has ''La Avenida de la Murete'': a death course where all the challenges are based on legends of the Mayan gods.
* The titular castle ''[[Malevil]]'' is well, ''[[Shaped Like Itself|a castle]]''. See the [[Real Life]] section below.
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* ''[[Prince of Persia]]'', since day one, has had these in every castle of the ancient world. There are some paranoid sultans out there, apparently. (In ''Prince of Persia: Sands of Time'', it's slightly more reasonable -- the Death Courses aren't activated until partway through, whereupon the Prince helps a guard set them off to deal with the invading menace. Only after the fact does he realize he's just trapped himself behind the security... and it does nothing to the enemies. He actually notes this aloud.)
* Arguably, most parts of the ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'' series not concerning killing undead skeletons are Death Courses.
** However, the game has two areas that are intentional Death Courses, rather than being naturally inhospitable or dangerous due to damage: The Temple of Pandora (including the Cliffs of Madness), and Hades. The Temple of Pandora is [[Justified Trope|justified]], as it's explicitly designed for the sole purpose of killing anyone unworthy of obtaining Pandora's Box.
* ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' has had its share, as well.
* The ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' games are mostly a combination of the various types of Death Courses, with most of the pitfalls included.
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== Webcomics ==
* Kind of subverted by good old ''[[8-Bit Theater
* In ''Reality Experiment'', one of the main characters has to run a death course to return to life after being killed. The price of failure is eternal torment. However, after being asked by the Grim Reaper('s assistant) to try to avoid the grinding gears at the beginning, since it jams the whole course and takes forever to clear up, the character throws the Grim Reaper into the gears to jam the whole course and run back to life.
* Most of Castle Heterodyne in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has turned into one of these by the time Agatha enters it.
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