The Kanji on Chef Kawasaki's apron means "To Eat".

When Kirby gets the Yo-Yo ability, he wears a cap and bears a resemblance to Ness from EarthBound. The combining of a yoyo and cap has a strong association with Ness, making this a possible reference. It should also be noted that after Kirby beats the boss battle against Computer Virus, the leveling up dialogue closely resembles the leveling up dialogue from EarthBound as well.

Due to Nintendo of America's regulations on Japanese culture, some of the foods were changed and edited to American foods when the game was localized.

The "Moto Shotzo" enemy is likely based on Trax, a character that uses the same design from a Game Boy game of the same name, also created by HAL.

The "Spring Breeze" sub-game is actually a recreation of Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy. Aside from the obvious gameplay changes between the two (most notably the ability to Copy abilities from certain enemies and Two-Player mode), Castle Lololo being removed and Lololo & Lalala being repurposed for Float Island's bosses, and other small changes in level design, the two have the same levels and intro cutscenes (save for Castle Lololo), and the same basic plot-line.

Mario, Luigi, Toad and Birdo can be seen on the left side of the arena during the battle with King Dedede in "Spring Breeze."

Scrolling outside of the viewable area via hacking also reveals cameos from Bowser, Princess Peach, and Poppy Bros. Sr. (Peach is still semi-viewable.) This may explain why Peach is fully viewable in the stands during the Dedede battle in Kirby Super Star Ultra.

On rare occasions, when using the Stone ability, Kirby can transform into a golden statue of either Mario, Samus Aran, or any of the three animal helpers (Kine, Rick, and Coo) from Kirby's Dream Land 2.

There are a number of references to other Nintendo games in the items collected for "The Great Cave Offensive". They are as follows:

• Mr. Saturn: Earthbound series
• Bucket: Mario & Wario
• Koopa Shell: Mario series
• Pegasus' Wing: Kid Icarus series
• Falcon Helmet: F-Zero series
• Screw Attack: Metroid series
• Kong's Barrel: Donkey Kong series
• Triforce: The Legend of Zelda series

The following two are exclusive to Kirby Super Star Ultra:

• Gold Watering Can: Animal Crossing series
• Falchion: Fire Emblem series