In Twilight Town, to enter the Le Grand Bistrot cooking minigames themed after the Pixar film "Ratatouille", you have to interact with a book outside the restaurant. The menu that appears before entering the restaurant features the film's main protagonist Remy emerging and standing in front of a page that features a message written in French on it. When translated to English, it reads:
"Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can emerge anywhere. Don't let anyone limit you on the pretext of your origins. Your only limit is your soul. Everybody can cook, but only the daring can achieve excellence."
This appears to be a shortened, paraphrased version of a restaurant review written by the critic Anton Ego towards the end of the original film.
In an intro dialogue with Omni-Man and Johnny Cage, the former will say, "Get out of my sight before I demolish you.", referencing a line said by Terence Fletcher, a role Omni-Man's voice actor J.K. Simmons played, in the movie "Whiplash".
Among Japanese RPG fans, there is a group of female characters that are generally disliked by the audience, being referred to as "The Three Great She-Devils of Square". The reasons why these characters are disliked varies, but largely revolve around them betraying the main hero(es) in some way. The two generally agreed-upon members are:
• Princess Yoyo from Bahamut Lagoon, the childhood friend of protagonist Byuu and set up as his love interest, only to instead get together with another character, General Palpeleos. • Alethea from Live a Live, who due to the machinations of the chapter's villain Streibough, came to believe the protagonist Oersted (who she was meant to marry) had abandoned her, and commits suicide after witnessing him murder Streibough. This leads to Oersted becoming the game's overall antagonist, Odio.
There is some debate as to who the third member of the group is, but the list of candidates include:
• Mileille from The Final Fantasy Legend, who was introduced as the leader of a resistance group alongside her twin sister Jeanne, only for it to be revealed that she had been working for Byak-ko the whole time. • Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII, largely due to her personality and lingering feelings for her ex-boyfriend Seifer, though she ends up with protagonist Squall in the end. Note that this pick might be due in part because of how divisive the game is in general. • Catholine from the PS2 Hanjuku Hero games, due to her ugly and obnoxious nature, as well as constantly forcing herself onto the hero.
The group term would later be referenced in SaGa: Scarlet Grace - Ambitions, which featured an enemy team named "Lady Power", that consisted of three female demons with names that reference Yoyo, Alethea, and Milielle (though the former two were known as "Jojo" and "Alicia", respectively).
If the New Donk City Hall stage loops three times, or a music track from the game Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is playing, Captain Toad will cameo on the stage. This references Super Mario Odyssey where Captain Toad will occasionally appear.
On September 21, 2020, as part of his podcast BumbleKast, writer Ian Flynn expressed interest in adapting Cosmo and the Metarex from the animated series "Sonic X" into IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, which would effectively incorporate them into the mainline Sonic canon. A year later, he would reveal that said arc would not happen anytime soon, as fellow writer Evan Stanley had more stories that needed to be finished. In January 2024, however, Flynn revealed that most content that comes from the show is off the table, including characters such as Cosmo, the Metarex, Topaz, Mr. Tanaka, and Ella.
However, there may be an exception to this in the form of the "Next Show", a fictional children's show featuring a purple mascot character named Next that Cream and Cheese are shown to be fans of during Sonic X. The show was first referenced in Cream's Sonic Channel profile, where it was listed as one of her likes. Later, 2023 would feature two seperate instances of the show being referenced: first during the "Otherworld Comedy" series of wallpapers posted on Sonic Channel, where it was mentioned in the story for the May 2023 wallpaper ("Story Act 5: My Vector Man"), then later as part of the official Christmas 2023 picture, where a toy based on Next appears amongst the pile of gifts.
Kyoko's flurry kick features her shouting "ora ora ora," referencing Jotaro Kujo's battle cry in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise. Kyoko's voice actor, Kira Buckland, is a noted fan of JoJo and previously voiced Reimi Sugimoto in the English dub of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Incidentally, Buckland would later go on to voice Jolyne Cujoh, whose battle cry is also "ora ora ora," in the English dub of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean.
On March 17, 2019, in response to a post on the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account celebrating St. Patrick's Day, YouTuber Jacksepticeye jokingly asked if he could voice "Irish the Hedgehog", to which the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account responded:
"Absolutely.
(We just need to create him first.)"
A year later, they made good on this promise, releasing a video titled "Irish the Hedgehog" on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel. According to Sega, the character was designed by artist Mark Hughes, and the video included a "folksy" remix of the song "Escape from the City" from Sonic Adventure 2 made by Hyper Potions and Jun Senoue.
A few years afterwards, Jacksepticeye would return to the Sonic franchise to voice another character: the appropriately-named Jack from the "Sonic Prime" episode "It Takes One to No Place".
After the release of The Delicious Last Course DLC, an Easter egg was added where after spinning in place three times, Djimmi the Great will appear and say "You've freed Game Djimmi! I grant thee infinite wishes on Simple and Regular Modes!" This quote references the Game Genie peripheral, and his wishes grant the player double the HP for the next boss fight.
One of Master Hand's attacks has him firing what appear to be golden versions of the Banzai Bill enemies from Super Mario World. These predate the first appearance of a Gold Bullet Bill in the Mario series 3 years later in Super Mario Sunshine. This would also mark one of the few times that one of Master Hand's attacks references another series outside of the Kirby franchise.
The default emote "Dance Moves" is a reference to a scene from the episode "My Half-Acre" of the TV series "Scrubs" from 2006, where Turk auditions for the hospital air-band by dancing to the song "Poison" by Bell Biv Devoe, during which he does the dance featured in the game. Following the default dance's popularization as a meme, it would be discovered that the dance had also been referenced in the episode "Darby the Plant Sitter" of the animated series "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" from 2009, in which Tigger does the same dance as a "grow dance" to try and make crops grow. This discovery briefly caused some confusion from unaware players as to where the dance originated from.
The appearance of Longclaw in Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog films is reminiscent of the tiles that resemble an owl's head in the Labyrinth Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. In fact, the first film's opening scene features the tile design engraved on a rock as an Easter egg, further hinting at the connection.
An NPC appearing in Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II is potentially a reference to American domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. It should be noted that while his character portrait and overworld sprite look similar to Kaczynski, it is used for several different NPC characters in the game, so it's unknown if he was originally intended to physically resemble the real-life Unabomber. However, like the Unabomber this character is also named Ted, he moved to a cabin in the woods, and believes society is too reliant on industrial technology, even complimenting Vegeta on "blowing up" a neighbor's generator after he failed to destroy it himself. His dialogue is the following:
Ted: "I moved out here because society is too reliant on Capsule technology. Civilization is falling apart, and we've all filled our pockets with capsules, SUV's and capsule cappuccino machines. It is unnatural. It was very peaceful here - until that Vinnie guy moved in. He makes me sick! Listen to that music he is always playing:
"Feel the danger around you! The black darkness surrounds you!" "What are you going to do? The eyes of the lion!"
I can't stand that corporate pop music Vinnie is always playing: [same lyrics as above]
[After destroying Vinnie's generator]: You blew up his generator? I like your style! I would have done it myself, but I couldn't figure out his security code."
The title card for the "Gnome Forest" level has become the subject of the "Lario" meme, which features an edited version of the card with the word "Lario" above the characters' heads as a mashup of "Sneaky Snitch" by Kevin MacLeod and "Superstar" by Young Thug. This meme would go onto be referenced within Pizza Tower itself, with Gnome Forest's secret music being renamed "Everybody Wants To Be A Secret" after the meme became popular.
The "Shodown" in the series Western title is a combination of the word "Showdown" and "Shogun." The latter being a reference to the 1980 TV mini-series, Shogun.
According to the Archie comics, Sonic the Hedgehog's real name was originally "Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog", and was meant to act as a part of a never-used plot. However, due to one of the comic writers leaving the staff, this concept was never touched upon, and was eventually retconned as Sonic legally changing his name at an early age, leaving his actual first name a mystery.
This would later be referenced years later, where the Netflix description for the animated series "Sonic Prime" claimed that Sonic's middle name was Maurice.
If Big Band wins a fight, he has a chance of saying "I have to go now. My planet needs me." This is a reference to The Simpsons episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show".
One of the picture frames seen in Chapter 3's Home Sweet Home area contains the phrase "A clap and a half to you. We'll miss you." This is a reference to a catchphrase used by YouTuber Matthew "MatPat" Patrick, the host of the webseries "Game Theory", who had announced that he would be retiring from making YouTube content a few days before the chapter was released.
One of Ditto's Sleep Styles, called Rock-Formed Sleep, has it turning into a stone. This is a reference to its Pokémon Gold Pokédex entry: "It can transform into anything. When it sleeps, it changes into a stone to avoid being attacked."
In Twilight Town, to enter the Le Grand Bistrot cooking minigames themed after the Pixar film "Ratatouille", you have to interact with a book outside the restaurant. The menu that appears before entering the restaurant features the film's main protagonist Remy emerging and standing in front of a page that features a message written in French on it. When translated to English, it reads:
If the New Donk City Hall stage loops three times, or a music track from the game Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is playing, Captain Toad will cameo on the stage. This references Super Mario Odyssey where Captain Toad will occasionally appear.
On March 17, 2019, in response to a post on the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account celebrating St. Patrick's Day, YouTuber Jacksepticeye jokingly asked if he could voice "Irish the Hedgehog", to which the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account responded:
After the release of The Delicious Last Course DLC, an Easter egg was added where after spinning in place three times, Djimmi the Great will appear and say "You've freed Game Djimmi! I grant thee infinite wishes on Simple and Regular Modes!" This quote references the Game Genie peripheral, and his wishes grant the player double the HP for the next boss fight.
One of Master Hand's attacks has him firing what appear to be golden versions of the Banzai Bill enemies from Super Mario World. These predate the first appearance of a Gold Bullet Bill in the Mario series 3 years later in Super Mario Sunshine. This would also mark one of the few times that one of Master Hand's attacks references another series outside of the Kirby franchise.
The appearance of Longclaw in Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog films is reminiscent of the tiles that resemble an owl's head in the Labyrinth Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. In fact, the first film's opening scene features the tile design engraved on a rock as an Easter egg, further hinting at the connection.
Wrinkly Kong's official art depicts her reading a book. The first page is an advertisement for the game reading:
An NPC appearing in Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II is potentially a reference to American domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. It should be noted that while his character portrait and overworld sprite look similar to Kaczynski, it is used for several different NPC characters in the game, so it's unknown if he was originally intended to physically resemble the real-life Unabomber. However, like the Unabomber this character is also named Ted, he moved to a cabin in the woods, and believes society is too reliant on industrial technology, even complimenting Vegeta on "blowing up" a neighbor's generator after he failed to destroy it himself. His dialogue is the following:
The title card for the "Gnome Forest" level has become the subject of the "Lario" meme, which features an edited version of the card with the word "Lario" above the characters' heads as a mashup of "Sneaky Snitch" by Kevin MacLeod and "Superstar" by Young Thug. This meme would go onto be referenced within Pizza Tower itself, with Gnome Forest's secret music being renamed "Everybody Wants To Be A Secret" after the meme became popular.
The word "RED RUM" can be found written in blood on a garage door on Bloch St. This is a reference to the Steven King novel The Shining.
One of Ditto's Sleep Styles, called Rock-Formed Sleep, has it turning into a stone. This is a reference to its Pokémon Gold Pokédex entry: "It can transform into anything. When it sleeps, it changes into a stone to avoid being attacked."