Death Blade

Death Blade is a subboss in MadWorld. He appears only in the courtyard of the Mad Castle.

Background
Death Blade appears to be a supernatural entity that roams the courtyard of the Mad Castle on Jefferson Island. He is able to emerge from the ground to attack and vanish into thin air to escape, all accompanied by a black, circling mist.

He most likely is also able to resurrect himself from the dead, although this could be explained by there actually being more than one Death Blade, similar to how there are multiple Big Bull Crockers. Given the supernatural motif of the Mad Castle and Death Blade's Grim-Reaper-like appearance, the first explanation seems to be more probable, though.

It is not known for sure if he is an actual contestant in DeathWatch or simply a malicious entity that lives at the Mad Castle and waits for victims, as he only appears in that single area. However, some of the announcers' and Agent XIII's quotes imply that they have seen him before, suggesting he actually is a contestant.

Appearance
Death Blade took inspiration from the depictions of the Grim Reaper, with his face being a skull, his head being covered by a robe and, of course, the giant scythe he wields. His design fits well with the classic horror theme of the Mad Castle area.

Death Blade also bears some resemblance to Jude the Dude. Both are about the same height, wear skates and a poncho and move around in a similar fashion.

Personality
Judging by how he doesn't seem to speak at all, and instead cackles maniacally, Death Blade seems to be unhinged and sadistic.

Involvement in the Jefferson Island DeathWatch games
Death Blade will first appear on the scene once Jack Cayman has earned 100,000 points.

If Jack manages to kill Death Blade, it will take about 60 seconds for him to reappear, beginning the cycle anew, making Death Blade appear invincible. That is not true, however, as there is a limited amount of times Death Blade reappears. After dying for the fourth time, he will be gone for good.

Each kill will be worth more points than the kill before and yield a different reward:

Killing Death Blade is actually the fourth DeathWatch Challenge in the Mad Castle's courtyard.
 * 1) A triple Happy Pill
 * 2) A Happy Onion
 * 3) A Torch
 * 4) A Jack Balloon

Strategy
Death Blade is a quick and mobile enemy. He uses his scythe both for parrying incoming attacks as well as an attack weapon. A hit with his scythe causes massive damage to Jack as well as killing any zombie who was in the scythe's path.

If Death Blade took enough damage, he will disappear into thin air, and from here the best way of fighting Death Blade is to never get grabbed by a zombie. However, if a zombie manages to grab Jack, a Power Struggle will automatically be initiated and Death Blade will reappear.

Power Struggle
When Death Blade is currently "alive", any time a zombie grabs Jack, Death Blade will reappear from the ground and prepare a slashing attack with his scythe, either vertically or horizontally. If Jack fails to counter in the correct direction, Death Blade will either slice him in half or decapitate him, resulting in an instant death. Death Blade then will vanish again, awaiting the next time Jack is grabbed.

If Jack wins the Power Struggle, he will backfist both the zombie that grabbed him and Death Blade, resulting in a situation where Death Blade can be attacked.

The necessary countermeasure to Death Blade can actually be seen before the prompt to swing the Wii Remote shows up. Depending on his direction of attack, Death Blade will hold his scythe in a different way.

Speculation about being related to Jude the Dude
Death Blade's similar appearance to Jude the Dude, as well as the fact that Jude the Dude was reduced to a skeleton during his death led to speculation if Death Blade actually is Jude the Dude in some kind of resurrected form. Additionally, both have a very similar falling animation if they are hit by Jack's running attack.

However, there is also a lot that contradicts the idea of Death Blade being Jude the Dude. First, Death Blade is not a skeleton. He wears skin-tight clothing, and it is obvious that his limbs appear to be too thick for them to actually being just bones. Also, when looking closely at his hands it can actually be seen that they are not skeletal but fleshy, as opposed to Jude's hands when he was killed.

Secondly, Jude the Dude died during the opening night of DeathWatch, just one day before Jack reached the Mad Castle. Death Blade was around much longer than that, as implied by the comments of the announcers and Agent XIII.

First appearance

 * Kreese: "Jack better avoid this Grim Reaper wannabe or he'll be shorter by a head."
 * Howard: "He's a pain in the neck all right."
 * Kreese: *groans*
 * Howard: *makes calming sounds*
 * Kreese: "This turd will cut your head off if you're not careful. Believe you me that fuckin' hurts."
 * Howard: "He'll give you head that'll leave you weak in the knees."
 * Kreese: "And not in the good way."

Initiating a Power Struggle

 * Howard: "Yikes! I think that's it for Jack."
 * Kreese: "You think?! Jack's depacitated for fuck's sake."
 * Howard: "Yeah? Well, he's pretty tough..."

Trivia

 * Death Blade needs to be killed four times, before he is gone for good. In Japan, where both SEGA and Platinum Games are situated, the number 4 is homophonic for the Japanese word for death.
 * Death Blade is notorious for being one of the more dangerous enemies in the game due to the little reaction time during his Power Struggle as well as a failed Power Struggle resulting in an instant death. He is, however, also one of the easier enemies to avoid.
 * Death Blade might be inspired by the Hell Vanguard enemy from Devil May Cry 3, given how he is a large, scythe-wielding reaper-like figure who also possesses the ability to teleport.
 * Death Blade is one of only four enemies that instantly kill Jack upon a lost Power Struggle. The others are Yokozuna (third round only), Big Long Driller and Martin.
 * Death Blade can be seen atop of the castle walls during the pan shot of the Courtyard opening scene.
 * When a Power Struggle commences, the announcers' lines refer to Jack having lost the Power Struggle, even if he wins it. This could either be a bug or possibly the remnants of Death Blade being a genuinely invincible enemy in a earlier version of the game.