History ShoutOut / VideoGames

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* In ''VideoGame/TwentyXX'', one of the special weapons Nina can acquire is the Quint Laser, a PainfullySlowProjectile named and modeled after the Mooninites' Quad Laser from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce''.
* In ''2064: VideoGame/ReadOnlyMemories'', when you examine the coffee pot in your apartment, your character says that they can see the letters "[[VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition F and K]]" in it.
* In ''VideoGame/ThirtyXX'', the sequel to ''20XX'', the Lander's Essence [[HeartContainer fully restores your health and increases your maximum health]], a nod to the Blue Lander item from ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend''.
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[[folder:A]]
* ''VideoGame/ActionDoom2UrbanBrawl'' has plenty of these.
** Each enemy you meet has a specific first name, which sometimes are references to prominent figures within the Doom community. For example, "Rhaluka" is the name of John Romero's wife.
** One boss [[{{Expy}} is]] [[Franchise/StreetFighter Hugo]] [[VideoGame/FinalFight Andore]], who is in turn a CaptainErsatz of Wrestling/AndreTheGiant. His "you're dead" message is simply "'''OBEY.'''" [[note]]The OBEY Giant, meanwhile, was a modified version of a sticker fad starring, you guessed it, André the Giant.[[/note]]
** A cutscene before one of the boss fights: "[[ComicBook/{{Doom}} He's huge. But that means he has huge guts. Rip and tear.]]"
** One boss fight is against human {{exp|y}}ies of [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Bebop and Rocksteady]].
** One of the bonus points pickups in the game is {{The Red|Stapler}} [[Film/OfficeSpace Stapler]], complete with quotation. Not to mention that you can find ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' (the game, not the weapon) as a points item too.
** Some of the ornaments hanging up in Peter Crisp's office includes the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast Master Sword]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife's Buster Sword]].
* ''VideoGame/AdibooMagicalPlayland'': There are at least two ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' references:
** In the original French game, one name Adiboo suggests for Buzzy Galump is "Bachi Boulouk", which is taken from one of Captain Haddock's insults: bachi bouzouk. Adiboo then says that this name isn't really good and that it reminds him of something.
** One element the player can place in the drawing minigame is a rocket ship with a red and white squares color pattern, just like Professor Calculus's rocket ship.
* ''VideoGame/AdventureTheInsideJob'':
** The protagonist Thalia James is inspired by Queen Valanice from ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'', and the scene where she catches a jackalope references a similar puzzle from ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride'' where Valanice has to do the same.
** The game's concept is inspired by Creator/JasperFforde's ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series, and the light blue book in Thalia's room is actually ''The Eyre Affair'', the first book in these series.
* In ''VideoGame/AeroFighters 3'', one alternate FinalBoss is preceded by a black ball that flashes the following:
-->"WELCOME TO MARS. [[VideoGame/{{Darius}} WARNING! A HUGE BATTLESHIP "SOH-TAKEKO" IS APPROACHING FAST.]]"
* ''VideoGame/AllianceOfValiantArms'' has one in the form of the "Winchester [=M1887S=]" shotgun, which is clearly made to look and operate like the SawedOffShotgun used by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. The player-character even does the iconic flip-cock move between shots.
* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesGrimm'' turns many of the {{Grimmifi|cation}}ed fairy tales into pastiches of various movies. For instance:
-->'''The Master Thief:''' ''{{Dracula}}''
-->'''Iron John:''' ''The Franchise/{{Terminator}}'', complete with an [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Ahnuld]]-soundalike and "Prince Connor"
-->'''The Pied Piper:''' Surprisingly obscurely, German expressionist films such as ''Film/{{M}}'' and ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''; the scene at the end is virtually identical to the "Moloch Machine" scene in ''Metropolis'', and the Pied Piper is voiced by a convincing Peter Lorre impersonator.
* ''VideoGame/AngryBirds2'' features one to ''Film/MaryPoppins''--some stages have one pig wearing a black hat with a flower that escapes being popped by floating to the ground using an umbrella.
* ''VideoGame/{{Antichamber}}'': Several puzzles contain pop culture references in their names, such as [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland "Down The Rabbit Hole"]], [[Film/TheGirlCantHelpIt "Cry Me A River"]], "I Like To Move It", [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast "A Link To The Past"]], or [[Music/LedZeppelin "Stairway To Heaven"]].
* ''VideoGame/{{APICO}}'':
** The chapter in Grandpa's Guidebook that teaches you how to make incenses is called [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist "Full-Beetal Alchemist"]].
** The Melodic Bee's description wonders if bees listen to Music/TheBeeGees.
** The Abyssal Bee's description wonders what exactly a [[Music/TheLongestJohns Wellerman]] is.
* ''VideoGame/ArcAngle'' has a few. The Shoop Da Whoop face appears as a miniboss, and another is based on the turret circle from the first level of ''VideoGame/RType''. Your character's weapon is based off the Free Range from ''VideoGame/ThunderForce V''. Also, there's an option to make the second boss (a GiantSpider) skippable, in which case he's encountered lying on the floor and his dialogue is "[[VideoGame/MonsterParty Sorry, I'm dead]]".
* There is one in the trophy list in ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart 3'' to, of all things, ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s ''Celebrity Jeopardy!'' skits. Using four different sword techniques in a single match while playing as Kamui will net you a trophy called "That's 'S' Words, Mr. Connery!"
* Almost every achievement in ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo'' is a reference to some famous movie.
* ''VideoGame/ArthursNightmare'':
** Some of the game's mechanics allude to ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'', chiefly the use of a handheld device with limited power to track the antagonist and the levels being referred to as "nights".
** [[VideoGame/BaldisBasicsInEducationAndLearning Baldi]] can cameo on very rare occasions.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'':
** Ezio's uncle Mario introduces himself with a cheerful "[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros It's-a me! Mario!]]"
** When you're climbing walls and leaping across buildings, you'll occasionally hear a bystander say: [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} "Another capering crusader."]]
* ''VideoGame/AssembleWithCare'' has one in both the first and last levels of the game where you can see Maria's passport from [[VideoGame/PapersPlease the United Federation.]]
* ''VideoGame/AstalonTearsOfTheEarth'':
** The title screen looks a lot like the tower entrance screen in ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}''.
** Arias greatly resembles the hero from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI''. One of his alternate designs in the Dimensional Mirror also resembles the one from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''.
** The deal that reduces the amount of knockback you suffer from taking damage is called [[VideoGame/DarkSouls Poise]].
** SecretCharacter Bram plays just like the protagonist of a classic ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' game. His name, by extension, is presumably a reference to Creator/BramStoker.
*** He also [[Film/{{Willow}} calls Arias a "peck"]] during his introductory scene.
** Zeek's design is based on the dancing merchants from ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', and the items he throws for his attack include a coin from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', what looks like a UsefulNotes/GameBoy, and the elixir from Matt Kap's previous game ''VideoGame/CastleInTheDarkness''.
** The achievement/trophy for getting Ending 1 is titled "[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Fly, you fool!]]"
** The Dimensional Mirror is a set of concept art pieces, some of which are references:
*** "'Your poison comes from another tower.'": A re-enactment of the boss fights from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' with Arias and a cyclops in place of Mario and Bowser.
*** "Burning Emblem": A pastiche of ''Franchise/FireEmblem''.
*** "[[{{VideoGame/Gradius}} Astalius]]: [[VideoGame/RType The Second Lightning]]": Algus as the protagonist of a shoot-em-up game battling Epimetheus in a spaceship.
** The gargoyles in the Ruins of Ash resemble [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Red Arremers]] in their behavior. [[spoiler:Additionally, one of the alternate game modes [[VideoGame/GargoylesQuest lets you play as one.]]]]
** The unused Stranger enemy in the Lost Souls gallery is unmistakably similar to the Licker from ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''.
* The video game adaptation of ''Film/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames'' has a cutscene where Asterix knocks out a Roman with a headbutt. For a brief moment, the background changes to a soccer field and a referee raises a red card. It's an obvious reference to the infamous incident involving Zinedine Zidane at the 2006 World Cup Final, and may be also a nod to the cameo of Zidane himself in the movie.
* ''VideoGame/AstroBoyOmegaFactor'' has several reference to past Creator/{{Treasure}} games:
** ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'' gets the brunt of these references:
*** The first level has signs reading "Gunstar".
*** [[SequentialBoss Pook]]'s various forms are referred to as "forces", like the Seven Force.
*** Astro's six stats (plus the titular Omega Factor) are referred to as "the Seven Forces".
*** The ending theme is taken straight from ''Gunstar Heroes''.
** The Artificial Sun is given a single eye, making it resemble one boss from ''VideoGame/AlienSoldier''.
** [[http://i.imgur.com/qyEh0Mz.png One hidden alcove]] has a UniqueEnemy with a face identical to those of the Clancers from ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AstroBoy: The Video Game'', the first boss's introductory dance consists of [[Music/MichaelJackson a moonwalk followed by a spin and toe stand]].
* The final stage of ''[[VideoGame/{{Astyanax}} The Astyanax]]'' is a Xenomorph hive from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', and the boss, of course, is the Queen.
* In Creator/{{Psygnosis}}'s ''Awesome'' (itself referenced in a ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'' level) for UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, the [[https://youtu.be/aiz94YDMboo Asteroid Field]] music begins with a "blip, blop" riff as a shout-out to ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}''. The instrumentation is also similar to V'Ger's theme from ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''.
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[[folder:B]]
* ''VideoGame/BackpackHero'':
** The Snake's in-game description is "Poisonous, dangerous, [[Film/SnakesOnAPlane keep them away from planes".]]
** The Cobra [[Film/TheKarateKid wears a karate outfit, a reference to Cobra Kai. Its in-game description is "Strike first, strike hard, no mercy".]]
* ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'': Oh, where to start. Reese Worthington makes tons of ''Star Wars'' references, Dmitri Petrovich talks about many computer languages, and Sunny Day has a Putt-Putt watch. There are many more, too many to fit on this page.
* In ''VideoGame/BaconManAnAdventure'', two of the titular character's alternate skins make him look like [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} Papyrus]] and VideoGame/EarthwormJim.
* The realm Star Kriege from ''VideoGame/BallRevamped 3: Andromeda'' looks like something from ''Franchise/StarWars''. There are T.I.E. starfighters in the background and "Kriege" means "wars" in [[GratuitousGerman German]].
* ''Barbarous: Tavern of Emyr'' has several in a bit of SpySpeak between Emyr and O'rho.
-->'''Emyr:''' Psst! [[Music/{{KISS}} Creatures of the night]] on the [[Music/PinkFloyd dark side of the moon]]!\\
'''O'rho:''' Aye! And the [[Music/{{Metallica}} master of puppets]] is [[Music/{{ACDC}} back in black]].
* ''VideoGame/Bark2022'': In your owner's room, on the side of the rocking chair facing the plant, is a picture of [[WebVideo/{{Markiplier}} a pink moustache with "[=WARFCORP=]" written underneath it]].
* Emma, the DJ from ''VideoGame/BarrowHill'', is an obvious, albeit younger, ShoutOut to Stevie, the female DJ from Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheFog1980''.
* Level 8 in ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland Again'' episode 5b has a box styled like the Companion Cube from ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''. Like in Portal, it becomes your companion in level 9 and is left behind in level 10 by falling into a bottomless pit. Still better than being incinerated.
* In Olivia's second Story Mode path in ''VideoGame/BattleFantasia'', she encounters a [[MysteriousProtector mysterious stranger]] who calls himself the "Romance Knight" [[spoiler:(actually a masked Ashley)]] and is basically a walking shout-out to Tuxedo Kamen from ''Anime/SailorMoon''. He tosses a single rose at his opponent, signaling his arrival, and then gives a short speech about love and devotion before disappearing.
* ''VideoGame/BattlePrincessMadelyn'': The opening sequence of Madelyn being told a story by her Grandfather, as well as playing a video game that is [[BlandNameProduct clearly Minecraft by another (unmentioned) name]], is based on the FramingDevice of ''Film/ThePrincessBride''.
* The easy mode for single-player in ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany'' has the line "[[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian hear the lamentations of...]] uhh...the people they know".
* ''VideoGame/{{Beastieball}}'': The team "Rutile All Stars", led by a coach named [[CorruptedCharacterCopy Redd]], has all its Beasties named after various games in the [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pokémon franchise]], while their team numbers reference their respective years of release.
* ''VIDEOGAME/BearWithMe'': A few examples:
** Amber: "A save point! ...Nah just kidding, what is this [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Resident Evil]]? We have auto-save, you dingus."
** Ted puts on sunglasses and the "yeeeeah!" SERIES/{{NCIS}} sound effect plays after a bad pun.
** Ted: "A book. Titled: [[Creator/ValveSoftware "Half-Life 3"]]... Oh, I bet it's [[TakeThat fantasy...]]"
** If you click on the toilet Amber will say [[Film/TheBigLebowski "Where's the money Lebowski?!"]]
* ''Music/TheBeatles: VideoGame/RockBand'':
** Playing "Yellow Submarine" leads to a shout out to the [[WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine movie of the same name]]. The band wears the same outfits as they do in the film, and the submarine itself is very similar to the one in the movie.
** Playing "I Am the Walrus" leads to a shout out to the sequence with the song in the ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour'' film.
* The ''Beauties Battle'' tutorial contains a reference to ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''.
* ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' has a reference to its creator's most well-known work, the ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'' series, in the form of one of its [[FirstPersonSnapshooter photographable animals]]. The animal is a cartoonish mosquito found frequently in the ''Rayman'' universe, and has the species name ''A. raymanis''. The main character of another Michel Ancel production, ''VideoGame/TonicTrouble'', appears as the {{Mascot}} of the game's brand of healing items in a ParodyCommercial.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bioforge}}'': Two dropships named Roenick and Chelios, in reference to two then-players of the Chicago Blackhawks.
* In the ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' remake, you can find a [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 Tricell]] billboard. There's also a billboard with a [[VideoGame/MegaManLegends Servbot]].
* When Helen, Tom, and Luke are on the run from the police and the MegaCorp and escape to Mars in the VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/BionicHeart'', Luke's alias is [[Franchise/StarWars Lucas Walker]].
* ''VideoGame/BioShock'':
** ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' has many of these.
*** Many of them are references to Creator/AynRand and her works (Rapture's society was founded on Randian and Objectivist philosophy).
*** One of the major characters is named Atlas. Another is coyly named [[Creator/AynRand Andrew Ryan]].
*** There are a number of posters plastered around saying "Who is Atlas?".
*** [[spoiler:Fontaine]] in his final mutated form resembles the famous statue of Atlas as seen on the cover of ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''.
*** Each bottle of Arcadia Merlot is embossed with the name "Fountainhead Cabarnet Sauvignon", as in ''Literature/TheFountainhead'', another of Rand's novels.
*** Sander Cohen may be a reference to the pre-WWI playwright, songwriter, dancer, and director George M. Cohen. Sander Cohen and George M. Cohen both have a similar appearance and a similar way of criticizing people who do not perform a piece perfectly. However, George is less likely to kill you for it.
*** Non-Rand: One of the books in the library is titled [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Headology]].
*** "Would you kindly find [[VideoGame/HalfLife a crowbar]] or something?"
** In ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', [[http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sofia_Lamb_poster.jpg a poster]] for [[PsychoPsychologist Sofia Lamb's]] services looks extremely like the "Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg" billboard from ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby''.
* The ''VideoGame/BitTrip'' series has several:
** The second boss of ''Beat'' is pretty much a sideways version of ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}''.
** The second boss battle in ''Core'' is a direct ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/MissileCommand''. You have to use your laser to zap the "missiles" (Bits) before they reach the cities below.
** The bonus stages in ''Runner'' are designed similarly to ''VideoGame/{{Pitfall}}'', where Commander Video has to run through a jungle collecting bars of gold while avoiding unattended campfires.
* ''VideoGame/BlossomTalesTheSleepingKing'' has a few:
** The game's intro references Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda by implying that Grandpa has told stories about Link before.
** The [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario franchise]] is more subtly referenced in a quote from an [=NPC=], who says he doesn't sell mushroom soup to "people who look like mushrooms" because that'd just be weird. He does add that they have a lovely princess, however.
** VideoGame/ShovelKnight is also namedropped in a minor bit of dialogue.
* ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}}'' is stuffed with references to Westerns, most commonly {{Spaghetti Western}}s. The main characters are named Django (after the protagonist of the ''Film/{{Django}}'' movies, played by Franco Nero) and Sabata (after the protagonist of ''Film/TheSabataTrilogy'', played by Creator/LeeVanCleef [[TheOtherDarrin and]] Creator/YulBrynner). Django kills vampires by getting them into the sunlight - to do this, he has to drag their coffins, which they sleep in, outside, referencing how the Django from the movie carries a [[GatlingGood Gatling]] [[{{BFG}} gun]] in a coffin he drags along behind him. In ''Boktai 2'', at a certain point, you encounter a character who is obviously [[TheCameo Solid Snake]], but it's actually a dual ShoutOut - he declines to identify himself, instead calling himself a "man with no name", a ShoutOut to Creator/ClintEastwood's character from the ''Film/DollarsTrilogy'' (which is nonetheless in character for Snake). To further the reference, he's dressed with no bandanna, but with combed-back hair, a dark blue shirt, and tight brown jeans, the same outfit worn by the Man With No Name in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' during the scene where Tuco tries to hang him in the hotel room.
* Level 29 of ''{{VideoGame/Bombuzal}}'' has the player destroy tiles in such a way that the tiles left behind form letters that spell out "[=ZZAP64=]", referencing the computer gaming magazine ''Zzap!64'', which mainly covered UsefulNotes/Commodore64 games and was popular when the game was made.
* ''VideoGame/BraveNineStory'': The substory ''That Time I Got to be a Slime Slayer'' is a clear reference to ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime''.
* The first game in ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble'' series does shout outs in all directions.
* ''Buddy Rush'':
** When you clear a mission, there's a chance your helpers will compliment you by calling you "Magic Hands". In an earlier version of the game, they actually called you "VideoGame/GodHand".
** A ruins-themed chapter has items related to ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' (whip, hat and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Holy Grail]]).
** A mushroom item obviously has a description that alludes to ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''.
* The Worldbuilder game ''Bug Hunt'' is an homage to the original ''Film/{{Alien}}'' movie. Scientist gets FaceFullOfAlienWingWong, ChestBurster hatches, and causes havoc around the space station.
* ''VideoGame/BurgerShop'':
** Burger-making robot [=BurgerTron=] quips during the introduction "[[Film/FieldOfDreams If you fry it, they will come.]]"
** Level 60, which is the end of a stage at a beach hut restaurant on a formerly-deserted island, is called "[[Series/GilligansIsland Hippies, Surfers and the Rest]]".
* ''VideoGame/BushWhacker2'' is ''chock full'' of these. One of the most notable examples is the game's art-style and gameplay premise, which are homages to ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaALinkToThePast The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]'' and the ability to cut down things like grass and bushes in ''Franchise/TheLegendofZelda'' series respectively.
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[[folder:C]]
* In ''VideoGame/CakeMania 4: Main Street'':
** Reopening the flower shop prompts the quip "[[Film/FieldOfDreams If you build it, they will spend money.]]".
** The "Minor Renovations" upgrade screen for the Burger Barn says "A step above fast food, but not quite fine dining. [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Needs more cowbell.]]"
** Sumo Sushi has the following description for the "[[Literature/SongsOfInnocenceAndOfExperience Crouching Tiger]] Prawn Roll".
--->Ebi, ebi, burning bright,\\
On my plate on sushi night,\\
What immortal tongue or eye\\
Could thy tastiness deny?
* The whole ''VideoGame/CalmereNightmare'' map is one to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, but there are many specific examples from all over the maps.
* In the old Mac game ''[[VideoGame/CapnMagneto Capn' Magneto]]'', the wizard in the Shrine is named "? (The Mysterian)", a reference to the band ? and the Mysterians.
* ''VideoGame/Caravaneer2'':
** [[ActionGirl Lois of the Lane's]] AmazonBrigade that can be temporarily recruited to attack Regin's Gang are made up of a [[Series/{{Vikings}} Lagertha]], [[Series/GameOfThrones Brienne]] (both with high sword skill), and [[Film/TheHobbit Tauriel]] (with high crossbow skill), who resemble their namesakes.
** The player can acquire motorcycles named after [[Film/MadMax Toecutter]].
* In the text intro to Chapter 78 of ''VideoGame/CaribbeanHideaway'', Planky the parrot steals back a magical talisman which had been traded to some other pirates for a ship. When he returns with it he says "Hey Mr. Talisman, tally me banana, squawk!"
* ''VideoGame/CartoonNetworkRacing''
** Saturday Fright Fever's title is one to ''Film/SaturdayNightFever''.
** Days Of Blunder is a parody of ''Film/DaysOfThunder''.
* ''VideoGame/CastleChase'': From [[http://www.castlechase.dragonflydev.com/tips.htm Word of God]]:
-->The "Red Herring" is a small and subtle tribute to the amazing VideoGame/MonkeyIsland games.\\\
The series that Milly is constantly parodying is the anime Anime/CodeGeass. Her name being one of the characters, Arthur being the name of the cat in the show, and her love for the Encyclopaedia Britannia because of its extra definition of the word zero are all hints towards this.\\\
The book Hubert is doing his book report on is a parody of the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song by the same name, Magnet.
* ''VideoGame/CastleInTheDarkness'':
** In one area, you encounter an [=NPC=] who reveals a giant treasure chest and says [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!"]].
** In another area, you can encounter an [=NPC=] who says [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIITheCurseOfDracula "What a horrible night to have a curse."]].
* A downright bizarre case of one: The hidden object game ''[[VideoGame/CateWestTheVanishingFiles Cate West: The Vanishing Files]]'' has a good number of the street names named after characters from ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', including a Tenma Street, apparently to drive the point home that it's not just generic European names. Now, how many people who play hidden object games do you think are going to get a reference like that?
* Nicalis's releases of ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' changed a few things in the translation. One can't help but think of the Kool-Aid Man when Balrog shows up for any reason at all. The first time he shows up ([[ThereWasADoor through the Shack door]]), think of Balrog speaking in the Kool-Aid Man's voice for cheap, yet instant lulz:
--> ''"Oh yeahhh!"''
* ''Celeste VideoGame/StrawberryJamCollab'':
** The level Potential for Anything is a reference to ''VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}}'', mimicking it in its design and gameplay.
** The level Rose Garden is a nod to Gusty Garden Galaxy from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. The rose mechanic plays similarly to the flower mechanic in Gusty Garden, and the music features a nearly identical version of the Gusty Garden motif.
* The first boss of ''VideoGame/Centipede1998'' is named Ant May, a pun on [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Aunt May]].
* ''VideoGame/ChexQuest 2'''s "Cinema" level (its upgraded version, at least) has several "movies" playing, including one that is a loop of a baby carriage rolling down stairs, in a reference to ''Film/BattleshipPotemkin''. This is probably the most cerebral shout-out to be seen in a game about heroic anthropomorphic breakfast cereal.
* ''VideoGame/ChineseParents'': ''Lightning Boy and the Magic Stone'' movie is a play on ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''.
* In ''[[VideoGame/ChroniclesOfOsgorthTheShatteredAlliance Chronicles of Osgorth: The Shattered Alliance]]'', Sir Tandy is a reference to Tandy computers.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'':
** The game has a blonde cavewoman named Ayla, a CaptainErsatz of the main character of ''[[Literature/EarthsChildren The Clan of the Cave Bear]]''.
** In the English [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]]/UsefulNotes/PlayStation version, Ayla offers Crono "special [[Franchise/JurassicPark Jurassic pork]] soup" ([[FrothyMugsOfWater in the original version]] it's a sake cocktail called Rock Crash).
** A mini-game requires the player to identify one of three identical men, named [[Franchise/StarWars Vicks (Biggs), Wedge, and Piett]]. Biggs and Wedge are Luke's wingmen when blowing up the first Death Star, and Admiral Piett is an Imperial Officer. Biggs and Wedge also appear in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' (two soldiers who accompany Ceodore in the beginning of the game, and also retconned into the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''), ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' (the two soldiers accompanying Terra in the beginning), ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' (two AVALANCHE members), ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' (the QuirkyMinibossSquad [or maybe TerribleTrio]), and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' (two guards you can recruit for blitzball).
** Magus's three main henchmen are named, in the English translation, [[Music/BlackSabbath "Ozzie"]], [[Music/GunsNRoses "Slash"]], and [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers "Flea"]]!
** One of the cavemen in 65,000,000 B.C. will say "[[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Happy happy, joy joy]]" after [[spoiler:the Reptites go extinct]].
** One of the chapters of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' is "[[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Forward to the Past]]". Another one, in Japanese, translates to "[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos The Call of Lavos]]".
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'':
** The police contacts in almost every city zone are thinly-disguised versions of famous TV cops, including characters from ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'', ''Series/DueSouth'', ''Series/MiamiVice'', and ''Franchise/RoboCop''.
** One mission sends you after the "[[Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension Overation Oscillithruster]]". And one of the types of Enhancements is the actual Oscillation Over-thruster itself. It makes your Phasing powers better.
** Another instructs you to rescue "Stephen Fayte" -- his surname was Strangefate in earlier versions -- who is repeatedly described by ''everyone'' in the mission as "a gifted surgeon, nothing more", although he is said to be often mistaken for Earth's greatest sorcerer.
** One radio mission has the hero sent to rescue [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow "Dr. Frank N. Scott"]] from the clutches of the bad guys. When the hero stumbles across Dr. Scott, he's reciting a ritual to create a "time warp" that involves a "jump to the left" and a "step to the right". When you interrupt the bad guys, a mini-version of the [[SayMyName "Janet! Dr. Scott! Janet! Brad! Rocky!"]] exchange occurs.
** Referencing ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': "You got a rock."
* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'':
** In ''IV'', the loading screen music is the opening music from ''VideoGame/{{Colonization}}'', another game by Sid Meier.
** In ''V'', the achievement for destroying an enemy unit in one turn is called "[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} It's Super Effective]]".
** ''Civ VI'' had a lot of fun with this for its achievements. As well as [[GeniusBonus the references to real life history]], we also have:
*** [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Absolutely Nothing Rotten In The State Of Denmark]]: Win the Vikings, Traders and Raiders scenario as Canute.
*** [[Music/{{Bastille}} And The Walls Kept Tumbling Down]]: Have a Roman city lose at least 6 population from Mt. Vesuvius erupting.
*** [[Literature/ArabianNights Arabian Knights]]: Capture a city with Saladin's Mamluk unit.
*** [[Literature/CthulhuMythos Army Of Cthulhu]]: Levy the military of Nan Madol, the historical city that reportedly inspired R'yleh.
*** [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Circle Of Life]]: Build a Fishery next to the Great Barrier Reef.
*** [[Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon Crouching Tiger Hidden Cannon]]: Station five of China's Crouching Tiger units on the Great Wall.
*** [[Series/{{Firefly}} Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal!]]: Join a Betrayal Emergency.
*** Film/DieAnotherDay: Neutralise a Governor with a Spy.
*** [[Literature/TheHungerGames District Twelve]]: Build every district - and the Colosseum - in one city.
*** Series/EightIsEnough: Win a game on the eight-player map size.
*** [[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove Emperor's New Groove]]: Win a game on Emperor difficulty or harder.
*** [[WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie Everything Is Awesome!!!]]: Have an ecstatically-happy city in your empire.
*** [[Music/JohnLennon Give Peace A Chance]]: Earn 35 Faith in one turn from Gandhi's leader ability - which requires minimal warfare.
*** [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Hello, Cleveland!]]: Perform a rock concert in a city named Cleveland.
*** [[Film/{{Casablanca}} Here's Looking At You, Kid]]: Win a Duel map.
*** [[Series/GameOfThrones I'm Going To Break The Wheel]]: Achieve three Golden Ages in a row.
*** [[Film/AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy I'm Kind Of A Big Deal]]: Win the Pirates scenario with mostly Infamous Pirate points.
*** [[Film/FieldOfDreams If You Build It, They Will Come]]: Have 6 tile improvements at once.
*** Series/LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple: Build a Holy Site with a Temple, then build one of La Venta's Colossal Head tile improvements next to it.
*** [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Let Our Powers Combine - Wait Heart Is Missing!]]: Build a Wind Farm, Solar Farm, Geothermal Plant and Hydroelectric Dam in one city.
*** [[Music/{{Nena}} Luftballons]]: Use a bomber aircraft to detonate a nuclear device, with the bomber's base - and 9 Observation Balloons - being on the continent of Nena.
*** [[Music/{{REM}} Man On The Moon]]: Win a Science Victory in which you activated the Great Scientists Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, and also captured an Egyptian city.
*** Film/MasterAndCommander: Win an Archipelago map.
*** [[Music/TheWho Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss]]: As Eleanor, use loyalty pressure to gain control of a city owned by [[MirrorMatch the other Eleanor]].
*** Film/MissionToMars: Win a Science Victory.
*** [[Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance Modern Major General]]: Win a game that started in the Modern Era.
*** [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 More Wind For The Wind God]]: Win the Gifts of the Nile scenario.
*** [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Nobody Expects The Spanish Inquisition]]: Launch an inquisition as Spain.
*** [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants Nobody's Business But The Turks]]: As the Ottomans, capture someone else's capital and rename it.[[labelnote:*]]Original song by The Four Lads, but They Might Be Giants' version is [[CoveredUp the one most people have heard of]].[[/labelnote]]
*** [[Franchise/TheLordOfTheRings One Does Not Simply Walk Into Ngauruhoe]]: Discover Mt. Ngauruhoe with a Maori Tao unit.
*** [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Pizza Party!]]: Activate Leonardo da Vinci in a city that contains Great Works from Michelangelo and Donatello - and a sewer.
*** [[Franchise/TheLordOfTheRings Po-tay-toes!]]: Build a Terrace Farm next to four mountains and two Aqueducts.
*** [[Music/{{Prince}} Purple Reign]]: Move Phoenicia's capital four times in one game.
*** [[Music/CrowdedHouse Quite A Crowded House]]: Play an online multiplayer match of the Outback Tycoon scenario.
*** [[Literature/{{Dune}} The Spice Must Flow]]: Win a game as Portugal.
*** [[Series/KungFu1972 Try To Snatch The Pebble From My Hand]]: Fully promote a Warrior Monk.
*** [[Music/TheBangles Walk Like An Egyptian]]: Build a Sphinx next to the Pyramids (must be both on Floodplains).
*** [[Music/{{Queen}} We Are The Champions]]: Win a Religious Victory with your religion being Zoroastrianism, while also being Suzerain of Zanzibar.
*** [[Film/JurassicPark What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]]: Build an Archaeological Museum and a Zoo in a city with an improved Amber resource.
*** [[TabletopGame/SettlersOfCatan Wood For Sheep]]: Build a Pasture over sheep as Australia so that the resulting Culture Bomb steals someone's Lumber Mill.
** ''Civilization VI'' also added the Monopolies and Corporations mode as part of its New Fronteir expansion, which allows you to create companies based on the Luxury Resources you have available in your territory. Each corporation can produce products based on their Luxury, including: [[Literature/{{Heidi}} Heidi's Alpine Hot Chocolate Mix]] (cocoa), [[Film/JurassicPark Jurassic Gems Amber]] (amber), [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster's Billiard Balls]] (ivory), [[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon Dark of the Moon Silver Jewelry]] (silver) and [[Literature/MobyDick Ishmael's Lamp Oil]] (whales).
* ''VideoGame/ClarencesBigChance'':
** The plumber enemies look very similar to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]]. The narrator even tells you, "Just don't let them near any mushrooms and you should be fine." The credits show you that the enemy is named "Bluigi", making the reference even more obvious.
** If you get the best ending, you get reference to the other brother. Clarence himself is the "Mario" based upon how his sprite moves. The girlfriend also looks a little like Pauline.
** Clarence himself, as well as certain [=NPCs=], have noses resembling [[VideoGame/WarioLand Wario's]].
** If you look close enough at the internet {{troll}}s you're supposed to kill, they have horns that look very similar to a [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} certain other kind of troll]].
* In ''VideoGame/ClashOfClans'', the description of the Laboratory includes a blatant call-out to Music/DaftPunk.
-->...All we know is that their [Alchemists'] research makes our spells and troops '''harder, better, faster and stronger'''!
* In ''VideoGame/{{Clash of Cuties}}'', near the beginning of the game, the PlayerCharacter says "[[Memes/TheLegendOfZelda It's dangerous for a girl to wander alone at this time.]]".
* ''VideoGame/ClawsOfFurry'':
** In the sewer levels, you can find graffiti in the walls saying "[[Film/GodsNotDead Croc's Not Dead]]".
** Mama Croc, making her soup before her boss fight, wonders where [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles the other turtle got to. You can even see a blue, a red, and a purple ninja mask hung on the counter behind her]].
** One of the rankings you can get at the end of levels is called "[[Literature/HarryPotter Hairy Pawtter]]".
** The third boss of the game is called [[Franchise/RoboCop Robodog]].
* In the second ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' game, Scissorman is revealed to be Edward, the sole survivor of the first game. ''Film/EdwardScissorhands'' reference?
* ''VideoGame/CoffeeTalk'':
** The "GRA Media" publisher Freya talks about is one of the Indonesian Major Book Publishers: "Gramedia".
** The description for espresso is [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations "Blacker than a moonless night, hotter and more bitter than hell itself"]].
** The description for Gingerbread Coffee is "Sweetened with brown sugar to satisfy the [[Series/SesameStreet cookie monster]]."
** The [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/chubby-bubbles-girl Chubby Bubbles Girl]] can be seen running away from a werewolf in the headline image of October 1's news.
** Some of the special drinks you can make are called [[Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream Midsummer Night's Dream]], [[Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas The Grinch]], [[Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents Lemony Snippet]], Music/{{Bedchamber}}[[note]]an Indonesian indie band[[/note]], [[Music/ZeeAvi Bitter Heart]][[note]]a song by Malaysian singer-songwriter Zee Avi[[/note]], [[Music/SpiceGirls Spiced Lady]], and [[Music/{{Foals}} Spanish Sahara]][[note]]the song used in the ending of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange''[[/note]].
** Episode 2:
*** The headline image of September 20's news is a parody of the [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/distracted-boyfriend Distracted Boyfriend]] meme.
*** Silver's outfit is inspired by a [[Franchise/StarTrek "fictional universe where all the stories take place in the stars"]], with its insignia loosely based on the Starfleet's.
*** When Detective [=McQueen=] drops by the café to help Jorji with his case involving the culprit behind the slashed tires, the former asks him, [[spoiler:"You need to [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} bust a ghost?]]"]]
*** Detective [=McQueen=] talks about a case where his team investigated an apartment haunted by a widow's deceased husband. They had to exorcise the ghost, but he fled to the basement and played romantic music and shone a spotlight on them to cast an illusion on them. As [=McQueen=] further explains the case, the Barista points out that it's the plot of ''Film/Ghost1990''.
*** The achievement for getting Silver and Amanda's good ending is called [[Series/HowIMetYourMother "How I Met Your Ancestor"]].
*** One of Aqua's status updates shows her playing ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Brawl Pals 2]]'' on the Switch.
*** [[spoiler:In Silver and Amanda's bad ending, Silver mentions that Amanda, an alien in a spacesuit, [[VideoGame/AmongUs hid away from the F.I.R.E agent in a vent]].]]
*** October 3's headline image in a "bad" run shows a person vaguely resembling WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer telling a fox wearing a bandana, "Hacker no hacking".
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'':
** The series' resident TankGoodness incarnate, the Mammoth Tank, is a nod to the Nazi German super-heavy tank [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_VIII_Maus Panzer VIII Maus]], the largest [=WW2=] tank to reach the prototype stage; it was captured by the Soviets before it ever managed to hit the production lines. How is that relevant? It was going to be named ''Mammut''[[note]]That's German for "mammoth".[[/note]], at one point.
** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'':
*** The boat level has shout-outs to ''Series/GilligansIsland'' and ''Series/TheLoveBoat''.
*** In the final Soviet mission, completing one of the objectives causes President Ackerson to rage "[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Why, you little...!]]"
** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' has a reference to ''VideoGame/ZeroWing'': In the Extras menu under soundtrack, Track 34 is titled "All Your Base Are Belong to Us".
* ''VideoGame/CondemnedCriminalOrigins'' features an investigation into the murders of several [[SerialKiller serial killers]] who are being offed by their own methods. Late in the game you fight an overweight lunch lady in a rundown school who used to [[{{Squick}} cook her victims and serve them to the students]] as a means of hiding evidence. Replace Ethan Thomas with [[PerkyGoth Cassandra Hack]] and the game could be renamed ''ComicBook/HackSlash''.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Contra}} Rebirth'', one of the unlockable characters you can obtain is [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork a reptile named Plissken]].
* In the opening cinematic of ''VideoGame/CortexCommand'', in one panel that shows the various alien creatures that humans have met, one on the edge is very obviously a [[VideoGame/StarControl Spathi]].
* ''VideoGame/CosmoCalamityVsYukichi'': A wanted poster of Cesar Fever can be seen in the background of Yukichi's planet, in reference to the events of Week 5 of ''VideoGame/FridayNightFever''.
* In ''VideoGame/CreepyCastle'', one of Slugger's attacks is a barrage of baseballs that he calls "[[Webcomic/OnePunchMan Consecutive Normal Home-Runs]]".
* In the iOS game ''VideoGame/CrimeSceneMystery'' (produced by [=TeamLava=]), each case has a ShoutOut to something else. To name two, David the forensic specialist bears a very strong physical resemblance to [[Series/{{CSINY}} a forensic specialist on a well-known crime show]], and the second case, "Trial By Fury", centres around [[Franchise/AceAttorney a defence attorney named Nick Rong, a medium who moonlights as his co-counsel, and a potentially corrupt prosecutor]].
* ''VideoGame/CrueltySquad'' has a few sprinkled in:
** The means of accessing the above-mentioned secret levels is based on ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'''s painting courses.
** The Cerebral Bore acts identically to the weapon of the same name in VideoGame/{{Turok}}.
** The "Psyker" enemy's behavior is almost identical to the Controller in VideoGame/{{STALKER}}: them spotting you causes [[InterfaceScrew your vision to zoom in on them]]. The only difference is that they've got guns, and also force you to empty your weapon if you don't kill them quickly.
** The Skullgun implant is a reference to ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', where in an e-mail Gunther Hermann filed a request for a "skul-gun" so he can "kil just by thought". In addition, the "Zippy 3000" pistol is a nigh useless pistol with only one round, similar in function to the memetically bad [=PS20=] from the first game.
* The four main heroes of the Website/{{Newgrounds}} game ''VideoGame/CrystalStory'' are named [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest Tristam, Kaeli, Phoebe, and Reuben]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* The title of the ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'' crossover campaign ''Dungeon & Goblins'' from ''[[Literature/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon DanMachi]]: VideoGame/MemoriaFreese'' clearly comes from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.
* ''G-Darius'', of the ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}'' side-scrolling sci-fi spaceship-shooter series, is intentionally an anagram of ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' according to some sources.
* The final stage of the NES and Game Boy ''VideoGame/DarkwingDuckCapcom'' has some [[Film/TheTerminator ducks with guns, jackets, and sunglasses that get stripped down to cybernetics as they take damage.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DashQuest'', the merchant says "[[Memes/TheLegendOfZelda It's dangerous to go alone...]]"
* ''VideoGame/DeadIsland'':
** As well as numerous references in its achievements, the original game has Jason from ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'', the sword used to slice up Zed in ''Film/PulpFiction'', and a zombified Jenna Jameson.
** When ''VideoGame/DeadIslandRiptide'' introduces Australian soldier John Morgan, he's posing with WolverineClaws and is modeled after Creator/HughJackman. [[ComicBook/XMen Snickt!]]
* ''VideoGame/{{DEFCON}}'' is largely inspired by the [[TheBigBoard NORAD screens]] in ''Film/WarGames'', so scrolling text in the lobby screen includes the list of games from the movie ("FALKEN'S MAZE, BLACK JACK, GIN RUMMY...THEATERWIDE BIOTOXIC AND CHEMICAL WARFARE, GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR") and "How about a nice game of chess?"
* In the Super Nintendo video game adaptation of ''Film/DennisTheMenace'', in the sewer level, Dennis fights [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles ninja turtles]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} II'' has green homing missile-launching robots called Lou Guards (which are also expies of the Super Hulks from the first game), a possible reference to Creator/LouFerrigno of ''Series/{{The Incredible Hulk|1977}}'' fame. Also, one of the later levels is named "Drec'nilbie K'luh".
* ''VideoGame/DensetsuNoStafy3'':
** The introductory animation for the Jungle stage shows Starfy, Starly, and Moe exploring the forest, in which Moe is equipped with a Franchise/IndianaJones-style hat and whip.
** The Makaika Group, introduced here as a rival group to the Squirts, is based on the Makai Club, a former Japanese professional wrestling group with five main members designated by number.
* ''Almost everyone'' in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' has a name that references Dante's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''. Those that do not usually reference something else in myth or legend - like ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''.
* ''VideoGame/DiceyDungeons'':
** The Robot's exclusive dice-gimmick-dependent items, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Buster Sword, Ultima Weapon, and Ruby Weapon.]]
** The [[Literature/HarryPotter Polyjuice Potion]] in the Halloween Special transforms the enemy into another random enemy of the same level, or if combined with a target-reversing item such as Polarity Flip or the "No, You" gadget, it can permanently transform the user into a random contestant.
** In ''Reunion'', the Warrior has a unique gimmick revolving around workouts. He has a variety of one-use workout plans that cause powerful effects. Among these are the [[Franchise/StreetFighter Shoryuken]], which deals damage and burns the enemy. As the Warrior levels up, he gradually learns four workouts that each grant one of four "Victory Points" when used. They are, in order, [[Webcomic/OnePunchMan 100 Push-Ups, 100 Sit-Ups, 100 Squats, and 10Km Run]]. If the Warrior performs all four, the Victory Points will unlock the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Omnislash]] work-out LimitBreak, which deals 9999 damage; [[OneHitKill enough to kill the boss in one hit.]]
* The ''VideoGame/DinkSmallwood'' mod ''Grasp of Darkness'' has an encounter where an indestructible slime offers you cake if you can last a certain number of minutes against it and its babies. A different portion of the tunnels contains a note which reads "The babies are not worth thy fists. [[{{Videogame/Portal}} The cake is a lie.]]"
* Rick from ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'', upon the revelation that the island is crawling with dinosaurs, laments that "it is just like [[Film/JurassicPark that movie]]". Shinji Mikami, the game's director, confirmed this in an interview in ''Edge Magazine'' and went on to cite both ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' as heavy influences on the game's tone and environments.
* ''VideoGame/DiscoZoo'':
** One of the random events has you seek out [[VideoGame/UntitledGooseGame a goose that escaped from Untitled Zoo and is now annoying all your guests]].
** The fox pen is one big [[Music/{{Ylvis}} "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)"]] joke: visitors will occasionally ask what their sound is, other visitors might suggest "wa-pa-pa-pa-pow", while the foxes themselves say "ring-ding-ding", "ahee ahee", and strings of Morse code.
** The time machine that lets you go to the Jurassic appears to be [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture a Delorean]].
** The Mythical animal in the city is a [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles "sewer turtle" dressed in ninja gear]].
* ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' is mostly a big {{homage}} to FilmNoir, but includes a few {{Shout Out}}s to other things, including ''Series/DoctorWho'' ([[spoiler: Satrap]]'s big villain speech is a fairly direct lift of Davros's in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]") and other video games ("They'd hidden in a wine barrel. Now why did that make me think of the phrases 'You wait. Time passes.' and 'Thorin sits down and begins singing about gold'?" - the two phrases coming from the "hiding in wine barrels" scene in ''VideoGame/TheHobbit1982''.)
* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', one of the guests at Lady Boyle's party [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH is named Brisby and wears a rat mask]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{DJMAX}} Portable [[LicensedGame Clazziquai Edition]]'', one of the clubs in Club Tour mode has courses titled [[Music/DaftPunk "Harder", "Better", "Faster", and "Stronger"]].
* The "Party RPG" ''VideoGame/DokaponKingdom'' features a character name Robo-Agent. While he's normally a friendly, affable robot, when someone puts money into his mouth, he turns into a KillerRobot named Robo-Sassin. When he transforms into Robo-Sassin, he shouts: [[Series/DoctorWho "EX-TER-MI-NATE!"]]
* The main menu music from ''VideoGame/DonutCounty'' uses a sample of the Equip sound effect from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''.
* ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'':
** In the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' GameMod series ''Back to Saturn X'', the title itself, the names of all the levels, and every other phrase in the intermission texts are titles of songs and albums by Music/GuidedByVoices.
** ''VideoGame/DoomII'' has a secret level which is basically lifted right out of id software's previous [=FPS=], ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D''. If you dig deeper, you can find a secret room where you must gib four strung-up [[VideoGame/CommanderKeen Commander Keens]] to progress.
** ''VideoGame/Doom3'': One of the distress calls after the TeleporterAccident is "They're breaking through the walls!", a possible reference to the ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' line "They're coming out of the goddamn walls!".
* ''VideoGame/Dota2'': Axe's denied phrase ("YOU GET NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!") is based on Wonka's infamous meltdown scene from the 1971 movie version of ''[[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]''.
* ''VideoGame/DotsHome'':
** The movie theater is showing ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' for "Throwback Thursdays" at the beginning of the game. When Dot time travels back to 1959 and 2010, the theater is showing ''Film/ImitationOfLife1959'' and ''Film/TheKarateKit2010'', respectively.
** One of Carlos's favorite video games his ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Supreme Bash Bros.]]'', which features characters such as [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} "Curbo" and "Iron Knight".]]
** If Dot hangs a picture of her lacrosse team on her bedroom wall, she remembers when [[Series/{{Friends}} Phoebe, Rachel, and Monica]] mad fun of her hair.
* ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'':
** By the protagonist in the registrar’s office, talking to Tamara:
--->'''Protagonist:''' Are you not entertained?!
** Often subverted by Dr. Mosely, who regularly tries to reference popular culture, but gets the references wrong.
* ''VisualNovel/DraKoi'' has a ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' shoutout when the dragon estimates the protagonist's power level as being five. The story also does a shoutout to ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'', a work from the same company.
* ''VideoGame/DragonCreek'':
** The description for eels says that dragons are scared of them, just like in ''Franchise/HowToTrainYourDragon''.
** If you input the names of certain fictional dragons as codes in the shrine, you'll get dragons that resemble them. The [[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2476679802 known ones]] include Franchise/{{Spyro|TheDragon}}, [[Franchise/HowToTrainYourDragon Toothless]], [[Anime/SpiritedAway Haku]], [[Literature/TheHobbit Smaug]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Mushu]], [[Franchise/DragonBall Shenron]], [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent's dragon form]], [[Series/GameOfThrones Drogon]], [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} King Ghidora]], [[Literature/TheInheritanceCycle Saphira]], [[VideoGame/MonsterHunter Barioth]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Salamence]].
* ''VideoGame/DragonSlayerIIXanadu'' has the Black Onyx and Fire Crystal items, whose names are likely inspired by ''The Black Onyx'', the first successful Japanese RPG, and its sequel ''The Fire Crystal''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}''s EasterEgg is a ShoutOut to cavia inc., who develops the ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' series of games and also developed the [[SimulationGame Flight Sim]] portions of ''Drakengard''.
* ''VisualNovel/DreamDaddy'':
** Among the options available to drink with Mat are "Iced Music/TeganAndSara", "[[Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor Godspeed You! Black Coffee]]" and "[[Music/DieAntwoord Chai Antwoord]]". You can name the banana bread he offers you "[[Music/DeadKennedys Banana Bread Kennedys]]", "[[Music/TheGratefulDead Grateful (Banana) Bread]]", or "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Said_Fred Right Said Banana Bread.]]"
** The store Dead, Goth and Beyond is a clear nod to Bed, Bath and Beyond and Hot Topic.
** Dadbook is a play on Website/{{Facebook}}.
** The achievements for going on all dates with Robert and Brian are called [[WebVideo/MonsterFactory "Knife Dad" and "Soft Boy"]] respectively. Mat's is [[Music/NeutralMilkHotel "King of Carrot Flowers"]] and Damien's is [[Literature/TheVampireChronicles "Interview with the Vampire"]].
** The achievement for [[spoiler: dying on Joseph's second date]] is called Music/PanicAtTheDisco.
** While on the first date with Joseph, you can prompt Christian and Christie to repeat classic CreepyTwins lines from movies like ''Film/TheShining'' and ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn''.
** The reality TV shows that Amanda and the player watch are all parodies of real shows, most notably Series/IceRoadTruckers.
** To Creator/ErnestHemingway:
*** Hugo's son's name is Ernest Hemingway Vega. Hugo himself is an English teacher, and takes his class on a field trip to the aquarium because they're having a discussion on ''Literature/TheOldManAndTheSea''.
*** Brian makes a reference to Ernest Hemingway when discussing a large fish he caught once.
** There are a number of Music/MyChemicalRomance references. The player character asks if Damien's father took him to the city to see a marching band. Damien doesn't get the joke. Lucien also listens to the band, and his first appearance has the player character describe him as a "low rent Gerard Way". On Damien's first date, one of the options for a flower's meaning is "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge!"
** During Character Creation, there are options that make your character look like [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]].
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Batali Mario Batali]] is mentioned as the player character's celebrity crush, and at one point he calls on his spirit to help him bake brownies. Mary's map of the neighborhood also calls Brian "Mario Batali."
** The vinyl store Mat frequents is called [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Vinyl Fantasy VII]].
** The Death Endings have a reference to [[VideoGame/DarkSouls a notoriously difficult video game series.]]
---> ''YOU DIED...''
** The message, "Welcome. You've got Dads!" is a pun on the America Online quip, "Welcome. You've got mail!"
** On Robert’s third date, you and Robert join a ghost tour. You can make up a name based on which reference you make. For example, the 80’s reference gives you [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Loomis]].
** The song that the Dadsona plays during Open Mic Night is called [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries "Beam Me Up, Ska-tty"[[note]]although the original quote was never said in the series[[/note]].
* ''VideoGame/DriftGirls'': in Episode 3: "He just doesn't understand. You have to believe in the [[Franchise/YuGiOh heart of cars]]."
* A "Create Gold" spell in ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper 2'' is cast with the incantation "Expressus Americanus".
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'':
** You start with [[Literature/SnowWhite seven dwarves]].
** There are also [[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Bat_man these]] [[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Giant_rat pages]] at the DF Wiki. And it's incredibly easy to [[GameMod add more as you see fit]]. For instance, there's a player-created mod that adds new reasons for dwarfs to like existing critters; among those added are "...likes bat men for their awesome theme songs. DANANANANANANA BATMAN!"
** Sperm whales are rarely generated with [[Literature/MobyDick white skin, and dwarves can admire them for their "vengeful natures"]].
* While Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}} have been known to deliberately make internal references and homages in the course of ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriorsGundam'', it's much more noticeable, and a bit startling, when shout outs like this turn up in a quote from ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 7'' of all things.
-->'''Cao Cao:''' This sword is capable of [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann piercing the very heavens themselves]]! [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars There is nothing it cannot cut!]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
* ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'':
** The game makes tons of references to Music/TheBeatles (of which Creator/ShigesatoItoi is a big fan), the most notable one being the yellow submarine.
** The series also has a lot of old pop culture, such as The Runaway Five being a reference to ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', which was so obvious they were changed for the American translation. There's also a reference to the Barrett Strong song "Money That's What I Want".
** The Apple Kid's mouse's self-introduction is a near-exact quote of the opening sentences of ''Literature/IAmACat''; only the species has been changed.
* ''VideoGame/{{EastWard}}'':
** When Mung hands you the subway pass he proclaims that ''"[[{{Music/Shakira}} Whenever. Wherever. You and the subway are meant to be together]]."''
** The GameWithinAGame "Earth Born" plays a lot like the old-school ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' games, even down to the generic "Knight must save Princess from Demon Lord" plot. For extra points, the knight on the cartridge cover is a CaptainErsatz of Loto/Roto from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''.
** At one point in the game you can visit Lowtown and find Margolari Pittore painting the people there. One of the inhabitants will claim to be reminded of [[Film/Titanic1997 that grand ocean liner years ago]].
--->'''Lulu''': I'll never let go, Jack...
** In the Monkollywood train you can find cardboard cutouts of multiple franchises such as Franchise/{{Godzilla}} fighting a CaptainErsatz version of Series/{{Ultraman}}, as well as a Franchise/{{Gundam}} suit.
** Over the course of Solomon's three boss fights, he give you keys representing [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda wisdom, courage and... strength.]]
** The bullies Grandis, Sansey, and Hansey are named after the TerribleTrio of ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** The series in general has plenty of shout outs. Almost all of the gods in the series are named after people who have worked on the series, and many [=NPCs=] have names that reference other fictional characters (such as [[Series/ForeverKnight Lucien Lachance]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Vincente Valteri]]), sports teams (Tarhiel), and characters from folklore ("Springheel" Jakben of Imbel).
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** At least one of the developers seems to have '''really''' liked ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. Weepingbell Hall, Marowak's Spine, Peke Utchoo, etc.
*** One of the developers went to Duke, so, being a big fan of Duke basketball, there is an easter egg sword called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_Brand Eltonbrand]] that you get by retrieving [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Krzyzewski Shashev's Key]] (among other requirements). Elsewhere in the game, you come across a (likely dead) enchanter who [[Film/SpaceJam believed he could fly]] named "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Tar_Heels Tarhiel]]".
*** The very name "Morrowind" could be a reference to ''[[Literature/TheHeritageOfShannara The Elf Queen of Shannara]]'', which features the island of Morrowindl, which also has an active volcano being held in check by magic.
*** In Omalen Ancestral tomb, the corpse of an adventurer can be found crushed under a rock due to a cave in. There's a scroll that records his last thoughts, [[Franchise/IndianaJones signed "Indie"]]. It also mentions that his father made jokes about his childhood pet.
*** The Bjorn ice cave on Solstheim has a skeletal corpse with his feet stuck to the ceiling and a sword just out of his reach down below. He apparently didn't [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack use the force]].
*** Two sections of the Temple canton in Vivec City are called the [[WesternAnimation/SuperFriends Hall of Justice]] and the [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse Hall of Wisdom]].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
*** One of the ruined Ayleid cities is named [[Creator/VinDiesel Vindeisel]].
*** One quest involves a floating inn being hijacked by a group of bandits, and when asked who the main character is, there's an option to reply [[Film/UnderSiege "I'm just the ship's cook"]].
*** In the ''Shivering Isles'' expansion, there's a unique chest called the [[Music/{{Nightwish|Band}} Dark Chest of Wonders]]. Any doubt that it's a Nightwish reference is erased when you crack it and find the Ring of the Oceanborn.
*** The Blue Suede Shoes item is a reference to the song by Carl Perkins.
*** In another ''Indiana Jones'' shout for the series, a quest wherein a rival treasure hunter tries to take your spoils right as you emerge from a trap-filled ruin is named "[[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk Nothing You Can Possess]]".
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has so many [[ShoutOut/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim it needed its own page]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'' calls its two lowest combat ratings [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy "Harmless" and "Mostly Harmless"]].
* ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' features the Python multipurpose ship, which was designed by the Whatt and Pritney Ship Constructions, a reference to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_%26_Whitney Pratt & Whitney]].
* The graphical roguelike ''VideoGame/{{Elona}}'' features as a potential player class, the Manga/{{Claymore}}: a [[ActionGirl mostly-female]] HalfHumanHybrid with silver eyes and inhuman dodging capabilities, with the ability to [[HealingFactor heal quickly]] ([[PowerAtAPrice but at a price]]).
* ''VideoGame/EmeraldCityConfidential'' is a FilmNoir "retelling" of the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books. At one point, busts of Creator/LFrankBaum and the game creator, Dave Gilbert, show up.
* ''VideoGame/{{Enchanter}}'': The road leading west from the starting point has signs along it writing out a message one word at a time in the style of Advertising/BurmaShave billboards.
-->Why\\
are\\
you\\
going\\
west\\
when\\
the\\
castle\\
is\\
east?\\
Burma\\
Shave
* In ''VideoGame/EndlessOcean: Blue World'', after befriending the Pacific White-Sided Dolphin, the narration says "[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} You caught the wild Pacific white-sided dolphin! Give it a nickname..?]] [[BreakingTheFourthWall What? Wrong game? Oh.]]"
* In the German UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} game ''Enemy: Tempest of Violence'', the antagonists are a ruthless alien race known as the Tschahis. "Tschahi" is a German phonetic rendering of the surname of Eric Chahi, creator of ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'', a game which ''Enemy'' not coincidentally resembles.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'':
** The game includes numerous {{shout out}}s to ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' and its [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000 featured films]]: the adjacent systems of [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E24ManosTheHandsOfFate Manos and Torgo]], another cluster of systems named Film/{{Gamera}}, Guiron and Zigra, and a system named Film/{{Gymkata}} containing a planet named Hikeeba. The {{Easter Egg}}s in the game include a [[Film/FugitiveAlien killer forklift]], the Satellite of Love, and an alternate OpeningScroll parodying the [=MST3K=] ThemeTune.
** There are also a fair number of ''[[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Hitchhiker's Guide]]'' references, with planets named Beeblebrox (in the Zaphod system) and Ursa Minor Beta, and "Mostly Harmless" as the combat rating just above "Harmless" (and yes, the game was influenced by ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'').
** The uninhabited planet Creator/{{George|Lucas}}'s World lies in the [[Film/THX1138 THX-1138]] system, and elsewhere there is a [[Franchise/StarWars forest moon named Endor]].
** ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Nova'' has a randomly-occurring Leviathan-class ship called [[VideoGame/ZeroWing CATS]]. Its picture in the communication dialog is the portrait of CATS from the ''VideoGame/ZeroWing'' opening, and its lines of dialog are also from the ''VideoGame/ZeroWing'' opening.
** Also [[Franchise/StarshipTroopers Raczak's Roughnecks]] (the animated one).
** The total conversion plug-in ''VideoGame/{{Colosseum}}'' has not only shout-outs to the trilogy (Wild Geese, the Virtual Battle Network being themed off of Classic EV), there is also [[WebAnimation/RedVsBlue Sarge, Grif and Tucker]] found in one TAS system, mentions of the [[Franchise/StarWars CIS]], as well as ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron''. Heck, just listen to the [[VideoGame/StarFox2 menu theme]] when the game starts up.
* The doujin game ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'' has many references to Creator/KeyVisualArts works, as well as for other {{fighting game}}s.
** Mio Kouzuki changes costumes with each special attack, referencing ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', ''[[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Shingetsutan Tsukihime]]'', ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', and more.
** Kano Kirishima's entire set of spells is directly lifted from the Mage and Wizard classes in the MMORPG ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline''. Her staff is an actual item from the game (Mighty Staff).
* One system in ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' contains a [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey massive black monolith]].
* The MMORPG ''VideoGame/EverQuest'' is full of these. Ironically, it is against the rules for players to name themselves in such a fashion, but it is fine for the designers to name {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs to make a shout out.
* ''VideoGame/ExitTheGungeon'':
** His Majesty's Chancellor is named [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Toadstool.]]
** Meduselier is a combination of Medusa and Carmilla from the ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' series.
** Meowitzer is based on [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Eggman]].
** Gungamesh, with his red cloak, multi-armed appearance and dimension-hopping, resembles not the Mesopotamian king of myth, but [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV the haughty sword-stealer that shares his name.]]
** The subtitle for the Sepulchergeist is "[[Film/TheShining The Shrining]]".
** Achievements called [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Smash Brother]] and VideoGame/SunsetOverdrive.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F]]
* In ''VisualNovel/FamicomDetectiveClub: The Girl Who Stands Behind'', when you're in the downtown part of the city while searching for [[spoiler:Ayumi]], a night club promoter mentions that while [[spoiler:Ayumi]] isn't at the bar, they do have a [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Rei and an Asuka]].
* In ''Fap Titans'', the Poke-monster is a shout out to ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''.
* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' (a VisualNovel already full of shoutouts to old legends and myths), there are skits that you earn depending on how many "Bad Ends" you receive. The second of these skits features Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou, two of the game's heroines, in a rather blatant ShoutOut to the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' series, complete with danmaku patterns and parodies of the Spell Card activations.
* ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'':
** In ''F.E.A.R'', the office building has a couple of shout-outs to ''Film/OfficeSpace'' - namely Milton's trademarked Red Stapler (no Swingline label, though), and TPS Reports scattered on the floor.
** ''F.E.A.R. 2'' has a few shout-outs to various Internet phenomena and other forms of media, such as:
*** A reference to the infamous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtvIYRrgZ04 Onyxia Wipe]] animation on a computer console.
*** "Two Beans One Cup Latte" on a menu at a cafe -- a reference, of course, to the coprophiliac, uh, "classic" [[ShockSite Two Girls One Cup]].
* ''VideoGame/FisherDiver'' has a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheMostDangerousGame'' in the form of a character named Captain Connell.
* ''VideoGame/TheFormula'': A goal called "Cue That WesternAnimation/BeeMovie Reference" is completed for getting 15 B-Power.
* ''VideoGame/ForzaMotorsport 4'''s "Drift" events have a [[Manga/InitialD white Toyota AE86]] drifting through a corner. Players can get an achievement for doing [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture 88 miles per hour in the Delorean]], and different badges and titles (avatars and such shown in-game) usually have a shoutout - buying a Ford Falcon XB will give you the "[[Film/MadMax Last of the V8s]]" badge.
* Someone on the localization team for ''VideoGame/FossilFighters'' liked silly Internet memes. In addition to one NPC wondering what the worth of a man's life is ("...guarding a [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight miserable pile of secrets]]?"), another gets in a "DO NOT WANT."
* ''VideoGame/FreddyPharkasFrontierPharmacist'', a fairly obscure Creator/{{Sierra}} game:
** One of the medications in the pharmacy is a hemorrhoid cream called "Preparation G", presumably a forerunner to modern hemorrhoid cream Preparation H.
** The game makes a few shout-outs to other Sierra games.
*** One of the people in the bar is Zircon Jim Laffer, ancestor to VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry ([[IdenticalGrandson whom he resembles closely]]).
*** There's a bridge that informs you every time you cross it that you have only three crossings left (the number never goes down), referencing a bridge that actually ''does'' have limited crossings in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone''.
*** [[VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder Cedric the Owl]] has a cameo. [[DeathByCameo A very short cameo.]]
*** Dying in certain circumstances causes the narrator, wrapping up Freddy's story, to launch into new ones, containing references to another ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' game, ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfWillyBeamish'', and (in a non-Sierra reference) ''Theatre/TheMusicMan''.
* An in-game newspaper in ''Fret Nice'' talks about the new hit band [[VideoGame/YouHaveToBurnTheRope "Grinning Colossus"]].
* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin VideoGame/VsCassandra'': A school bell can be heard ringing in the background of ''Berzerker'', in a reference to ''[[VideoGame/{{Pico}} Pico's School]]'', the game Cassandra originates from.
* ''VideoGame/FrozenSynapse'''s RED expansion has, at the bottom-right of the first challenge map (outside the actual map boundaries), a [[VideoGame/DwarfFortress dwarf]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Gift|2001}}'':
** The first level is a nod to ''[[Film/{{Titanic 1997}} Titanic]]''.
** There are [[Franchise/IndianaJones Indiana Jones']] hat and whip in a temple in Paztec.
** The sleeping princess and the dwarves are nods to [[Literature/SnowWhite Snow White and the Seven Dwarves]].
* ''VideoGame/GingerBeyondTheCrystal''
** The level "The Miracle Manor" is one big nod to ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'', being set in a spooky mansion full of monsters, viewed through fixed camera angles, it even comes with the door opening animation.
** One of the accessories you can by is [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie a backpack with a red bird in it]].
* The ''VideoGame/{{Glider}}'' series has a few references to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. ''Glider PRO'', with its Art Nouveau aesthetic, also alludes to ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo'' in the name "Slumberland" for the principal game scenario and the name "NEMO" on the mailboxes.
* ''VideoGame/GodHand'' has tons of these. Elvis wears [[Franchise/StreetFighter Akuma's]] prayer beads, Gene has the Shoryuken as a juggle move, and one of the God Reels is 100 Fists, a SpamAttack that references ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. There are also many, ''many'' tips of the hat to Creator/CloverStudio's games, such as ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' (one of the chihuahuas you can race is called Amaterasu) and ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'' (the Mad Midget Five). Elvis himself is a giant ShoutOut to, well, ''Music/{{Elvis|Presley}}''.
* Mind-reading a certain lumberjack {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PC in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' has him say "[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay]]... with that" (it even pauses for a second after the "okay" appears before that "with that" does).
* An early quest chain in ''VideoGame/GrandFantasia'' takes place on "Music/TheLonelyIsland", and the victory message you get after you complete it reads "I'm on a Boat!"
* Several in the ''VideoGame/{{Grow}}'' games:
** There is a Onky wearing [[Literature/WheresWaldo Waldo's]] clothes in both endings of ''Grow Valley''.
** Some of the park guests from ''Grow Park'' include: [[Anime/DragonBallZ Krillin, Piccolo, Goku, and Vegeta]]; [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Miku]]; the [[VideoGame/{{Pokemon}} Bug Catchers]]; and [[VideoGame/{{Pacman}} Pacman and a ghost]].
** In ''Grow Comeback'', there is a way to give your hero a [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros familiar red cap and mustache]].
* ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'' is a game that's set in TheNineties, and it's chock full of references to various works from that decade (and also from TheEighties):
** Some of the movie posters you see are reminiscent of ''Film/Titanic1997'' (''The Ship''), ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' (''The Lion Monarch''), and ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' (''The Young Siren''). The parody for ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' (''Dino World'') gets mentioned often in some routes: the protagonist sometimes watches it with their parents while Richard is a big fan of it.
** Wendy often gets called [[Literature/PeterPan "Captain Hook"]] by her bullies for her prosthetic arm, and the achievement you get for getting her good ending is called [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet "Wendy Krueger"]].
** One of the arcade machines in Starcade 80 is called ''[[VideoGame/{{Frogger}} Croakker]]''.
** The achievement for getting Vivica's good ending is called [[Music/{{Nirvana}} "Teen Spirit"]].
** The protagonist's description for the activity "Reading Comics" is, "I wonder how [[ComicBook/SpiderMan arachnid-person]] will get out of this one!"
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'':
** The game has a whole list of Shout-Outs in the skills players can equip.
*** Interestingly, most of them are "shout" skills, like "ForGreatJustice!" and "Make Your Time!" (''VideoGame/ZeroWing''), "I Meant to Do That!" (''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure''), "None Shall Pass!" (the Black Knight in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''), and "Can't Touch This!" (Music/MCHammer).
*** A few fire elemental spells are named after Rodgort, which in turn comes from Trogdor, the dragon created by Strong Bad in ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''.
*** A less commonly known one is the skill Headbutt, which for a short time, was named Enadiz Headbutt (Enadiz is Zidane spelled backwards). This is an obvious reference to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFVhzmnYWg&feature=related this meme]]. Alas, the skill was renamed to just plain Headbutt in time for Nightfalls release.
** And then there's the berserking dwarf Kilroy Stonekin, obviously inspired by the famed LeeroyJenkins, right down to the battlecry.
** There is also The Black Beast of Arrgh, another shout out to ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', but this monster is actually black rather than being green like in the movie.
* ''VideoGame/GwentTheWitcherCardGame'': To ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'':
-->'''Lady of the Lake:''' Watery tart? I'll show you.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:H]]
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'':
** ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'' has a lot of fun with these. The DrillSergeantNasty in the training mission barks lines from ''Film/FullMetalJacket''. The wisecracking soldiers riding in the chopper with you at the start of the game quote a line or two from ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. And later in the game, there's a puzzle where you have to activate a gearbox and open a valve, referencing Valve Corporation (developers of ''Half-Life'') and Gearbox Software (creators of ''Opposing Force'').
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'':
*** One of the rebels is named Winston, possibly in reference to Winston Smith, protagonist of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', from which the game gets a lot of its influence.
*** Dr. Kleiner's pet headcrab is called "Lamarr" and sometimes "Hedy". This is a ShoutOut to Hedy Lamarr who, aside from being a rather attractive actress, co-invented the early form of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_spectrum frequency-hopping]] technology vital to modern wireless communication.
*** "[[Film/BlazingSaddles That's Hedley!!!]]"
*** [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture "Great Scott!"]]
* [[SealedEvilInACan Overlord Hol]]'s description in ''VideoGame/HalfMinuteHero'' reads: "The last evil lord [[BigBad Noire]] went to. He can emit a giant laser. [[Film/AustinPowers If only he had sharks]]." It also has a fully monochrome level with a boss named [[VideoGame/ZeroWing CATS]], complete with references to the "All your base are belong to us" meme.
* ''VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack'':
** A guy and his cat in Twoson reenact a ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} strip.
** The FinalBoss shows up looking like [[spoiler:a modified [[VideoGame/YumeNikki Uboa]].]]
** The Id boss was based on one of the {{Final Boss}}es from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendIII''. Specifically, it was meant to be an inversion.
* ''VideoGame/{{Hamsterdam}}'': One of the items that you can make [[PlayerCharacter Pimm]] wear is a yellow jacket known as "Creator/BruceLee".
* ''VideoGame/HamtaroHamHamHeartbreak'' has the character search the world for three coloured marbles and insert them into a pedestal in a [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime triangular fashion so you can pull a legendary "weapon" from a stone, whilst a familiar chest-opening score plays]]...
* ''VideoGame/TheHappyhillsHomicide'': The game references several well-known horror/slasher franchises through EasterEggs in practically every tape.
** In Tape 1 there's a [[Film/TheShining Redrum]] graffiti on the building's wall.
** The victim's house in Tape 2 is on [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Lampkin Lane]].
** The Haunted House in Tape 9 has the masks of [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]], [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] and [[Film/{{Scream}} Ghostface]] hanging on a wall backstage.
** The motel in Tape 12 is the [[Film/{{Psycho}} Bates' Motel]].
** Madison Carpenter is obviously named after famous horror and science fiction director Creator/JohnCarpenter.
** Tape 16 takes place in and around a house on [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Elm Street]].
** The hospital in Tape 17 lists a certain [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Dr. Voorhees]] as its cardiologist and one [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Dr. Loomis]] as its psychologist.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'':
** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility'' features a pair of carpenter's apprentices named Bo and Luke, who even share hair colors with their counterparts from ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' (Bo's got blond hair and Luke's a brunette). Their personalities are inverted, though: Luke's the impulsive apprentice, and Bo's the rational one.
** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade'' has a few more:
*** In one of ''Animal Parade'''s events, Calvin can find Owen and Luke attempting to demolish a very historic wall in the mines and, scolding them, cry that "It belongs in a museum!"
*** The Pantsuit item has, as its description, "A suit for [[http://www.lyricsondemand.com/b/bachmanturneroverdrivelyrics/takincareofbusinesslyrics.html taking care of business and working overtime]]."
* The acronym for the titular unit of ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}'' may be a reference to HAWC from the novels by Creator/DaleBrown.
* ''VideoGame/HellLetLoose'''s Update 7 trailer blatantly references 3 other famous WorksSetInWorldWarII, not helped that the game is also set in similar locations as them. They are: ''Film/Fury2014'' (the scene where Sherman tanks are shown engaging a Tiger head-on), ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' (the UrbanWarfare in Carentan, complete with execution of a German paratrooper by a US paratrooper), and ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' (the assault on the radar station).
* ''VideoGame/HellPie'':
** The fly-cherub mutants are clearly based on the titular monster from ''Film/TheFly1958'', with various teleporters that created them based on their design from the [[Film/TheFly1986 1986 film]].
** The last scene at Lil' Smoke's crib is an homage to the SignatureScene from ''Film/{{Scarface}}''.
** Jaques Huseau's fate -- eating so much that he explodes, still alive but with his rib-cage exposed -- is similar to Mr. Creosote from ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife''.
** One of the costumes you can unlock in the third room in Greed is based on the title character from ''VideoGame/PumpkinJack''.
* ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'', features a Wart, a young boy with a prosthetic leg, who will give you his spare pegleg to use as a weapon. This is a reference to a similar, but more obnoxious, character from ''VideoGame/DiabloII'', Wirt, whose pegleg can be used as a weapon. This is made more explicit by the Peg Leg having the flavor text "This won't cost me 50 Palladium, will it?", a reference to Wirt's tendency to charge the player character for anything he can get away with -- most noticeably, access to his shop of rare items. ''Hellgate: London'' was developed by many of the same people as the two ''Diablo'' games. Also, there's a usable cricket bat called [[Film/ShaunOfTheDead Shaun's Trusty Sidekick]].
* ''VideoGame/HerMajestysSpiffing'':
** [[PlayerCharacter Captain Frank Lee English]] can call Aled Jones, when commenting on him, the [[Series/{{Lewis}}]] to his [[Series/InspectorMorse Morse]], the [[WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit Gromit to his Wallace]], and the [[Music/{{Wham}} Andrew Ridgeley to his George Michael]].
** In the ship's laboratory, the Captain can find a [[Franchise/ResidentEvil typewriter]] that serves as the game's SavePoint. He can examine it, which makes him comment that someone was typing about [=STARS=].
** When English and Jones reach the planet and climb down into the trench, [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968 the Statue Of Liberty]] can be seen to the left.
** When the French astronauts hold English and Jones at gunpoint, one thing English can say to try to convince them to leave is "[[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse By the power of Grayskull!]]".
* One of the characters in ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'', Group Captain Elson, is named after Peter Elson, an artist who inspired the artistic design of the game.
* The Creator/AdultSwim.com original game ''House of Dead Ninjas'' is a {{Retraux}} affair designed to resemble an early NES game - and even comes with a manual. The first enemy profiled, Niji, is described as "a Pretty Cool Guy" who runs straight ahead "and doesn't afraid of anything", which may be more memetic than referential. But then it says he likes to pretend he's a girl and calls himself "Ninjetta" - a reference to Birdo's profile in the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' manual. Most of the enemies are based on classic Mario or Zelda enemies; the stone-faced crusher Gror is basically a Thwomp, while Magicloke is a Wizzrobe (note the name).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:I]]
* ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'':
** The old Earth teen magazine that Marz reads during her five-heart event contains a passage that references ''Literature/TheWizardOfOz'':
---> ''Don't be afraid to use green concealer! You may ''look'' like the Wicked Witch at first, but don't click your heels and go home! Stick with it and you'll be on that yellow brick road to clear, beautiful skin.''
** Two of the suggested names for the hopeye you can hatch from its egg are [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Hoptimus Prime]] and [[Franchise/StarWars Hop Solo]].
** Similarly, options for the unisaur you can tame include [[Franchise/JurassicPark Clever Girl]] and [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]].
** The caption for the unlockable image of a manticore attacking Tonin is "[[Manga/AttackOnTitan Attack on Tonin]]."
** One of Nomi-Nomi's events involves talking to them some time after they have discovered a series exclusive to the ''Stratospheric's'' archive that they really like only got its finale ''after'' the ship left Earth. One of Sol's possible answers to this is "Sounds rough, buddy", which reads suspiciously close Zuko's famous "That's rough, buddy" line from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''.
** If Sol tries to hide and observe after Rhett tells them to return to the creche during the second Glow attack, they bump into Kom, who reiterates Rhett's advice all while sarcastically calling them "Manga/{{Naruto}}."
** Anemone has two reasons to not like "Annie" as a nickname for herself. One is that her mother, Antecedent, already goes by "Anne." The other is the potential association with [[Theatre/{{Annie}} a well-known fictional Annie who shares her hair color]].
** A card that can be obtained via making the choice to add spice to something is called "[[Film/Dune1984 The spice must flow]]."
** When Flulu asks the protagonist what they want to be when they grow up, they can say that they want to be a VideoGame/{{monster hunter}}. Flulu's response?
---> "You've been playing too many hologames, [[HelloInsertNameHere <name>]]. Hunting monsters? I hope it doesn't come to that here."
** If Sol falls for Marz's trick into getting them to yell at customers to earn more tips for her, Marz laughs and gives them the tips anyway, saying that she didn't mean to "turn [them] into the ''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]'' or anything."
* In ''VideoGame/IcewindDale 2'', there's a bunch of mercenaries in the starting town (Targos) you can strike a conversation with. They go on to gripe about all sorts of menial tasks they had to do to "prove their prowess", the tasks in question being the very same you face at Candlekeep, the starting town (and [[JustifiedTutorial tutorial level]]) of ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', an earlier Infinity Engine RPG, involving, at least, clearing rats out of a warehouse and fighting illusionary monsters. The "other" adventuring band seems to have taken a rather more...[[CuttingTheKnot straightforward]] approach to the errands than the player at ''Baldur's Gate'', though (e.g. ending the illusionary battle by whacking the illusionist over the head with a shield).
* ''VideoGame/{{Implosion}}'': ApocalypticLog messages you collect that aren't part of the storyline tend to be shoutouts, many written by people like "Stephen Jobbes" (Head of I.T.), "Albert Weinstein" (Head of R&D), and some lowly researcher named "Nikola Telsar". Other shoutouts: Advertising messages from "Macrosoft Engineering", a memo titled "Film/FullMetalJacket", a plea from someone who lost his "[=IDBook=]" contacts to ''everyone'' asking them to resend their contact info, and a message from the ticked-off victim of a practical joke: [[Film/{{Taken}} "I will find you and I will kill you."]]
* ''VideoGame/InTheHunt'' is basically a giant shout-out to the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem II game ''VideoGame/SubmarineAttack''. Both feature UsefulNotes/SuperiorFirePowerMissileSubmarines that also have UsefulNotes/SuperiorFirepowerSurfaceToAirMissiles and produce [[MacrossMissileMassacre major missile]] BeamSpam. They have a similar number of levels and similar enemies. The boss that drops parts of an ancient ruin on top of you exists in both games, too.
* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndHisDesktopAdventures'': A bandito who says [[Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre "Hey, I don't got to show you no stinking badges!"]] and barricades himself in his home when you try to talk to him.
* In ''Insanity Clicker'', there are the companions [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Flounder]] and [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Rafael]], and the enemies [[Film/DjangoUnchained Jango chained]] and [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlthotep]].
* ''Insanity's Blade'' is basically a mashup of every old-school sidescrolling action game featuring a barbarian or fantasy hero against hordes of monsters. So there are a lot of graphic and gameplay elements inspired by (or lifted from) ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'', ''Rastan'', ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe'', ''VideoGame/BlackTiger'', ''VideoGame/MagicSword'', ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Rygar}}'', and so on. There's also a couple of references to ''VideoGame/ForgottenWorlds'', namely the item shops suddenly appearing from the ground and the final boss being similar to that game's War God boss.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Intrusion 2}}'', the Steam achievement for killing enemies with a GoombaStomp is called "Plumbing" and the icon is a [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros mushroom]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J]]
* ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' has a shout out to ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', another of Bioware's games. In ''Jade Empire'', the recruiter at the arena remarks something along the lines of "you are indeed mysterious, stranger." In ''KOTOR'', Mysterious Stranger is the codename given to the player character when (s)he participates in the Duel Ring.
* The ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' series has a few Shout Outs to ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' and ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank''. ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterTheLostFrontier'' alone has shout outs to ''VideoGame/StarFox'', ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'', ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo]]'', and ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''. Also ''Film/DrStrangelove'', with Daxter referring to "missile hat an' spurs".
** In particular, ''VideoGame/{{Daxter}}'' features DreamSequence mini games serving as homages to a handful of iconic films, namely Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing, Film/{{Braveheart}}, Film/TheMatrix, Film/TheMatrixReloaded and Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk.
* ''VideoGame/{{Jardinains}}'':
** Level 33 of the first game looks like a blue ghost from ''VideoGame/PacMan''.
** The second game has a level that resembles ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Jetpack}}'', many levels reference classic UsefulNotes/{{Arcade Game}}s in their names and designs, including:
** [[VideoGame/WizardOfWor "Wizard of Wor"]] (''VideoGame/{{Warlords}}'', despite the misleading name)
** "Jet-Pac" (''VideoGame/PacMan'')
** "Donkey Pack" (''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'')
** "Jetpack Invaders" (''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'')
** "Breakout" (''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'')
** "Centipack" (''VideoGame/{{Centipede}}'')
* The King Carl mission of ''VideoGame/JimmyNeutronVsJimmyNegatron'' is a parody InNameOnly of ''Film/KingKong''. The loading screen for the mission extends the reference a bit further.
* Here lies a lonely ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}'' in the third level of ''VideoGame/Journey2012''. A ''[=flOw=]''-like creature is also found. Since all three were developed by thatgamecompany, this is almost immediately noticeable if you played the pre-''Journey'' titles.
* One of the bosses of ''VideoGame/JourneyToSilius'' resembles the Space Jockey pilot from ''Film/{{Alien}}''. And since the game was a [[DolledUpInstallment dolled-up version]] of a cancelled ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' game, the FinalBoss is a Terminator endoskeleton.
* In ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'':
** The death message for being run over by the Mars maintenance tram is "Well, at least you weren't [[VideoGame/{{Zork}} eaten by a grue]]!"
** Mercury, the robot assassin at the World Science Center in 2310, has the ability to shapeshift into a human disguise, in the style of [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay the T-1000]].
** The AI Arthur in the second and third games may be named after sci-fi writer Creator/ArthurCClarke.
* ''VideoGame/JustCause'':
** One of the cities in ''VideoGame/JustCause1'' is named "Nuevo Estocolmo", being an obvious reference to Stockholm, capital of the developers' native Sweden.
** Some of the soldiers in ''VideoGame/JustCause2'' will occasionally yell "[[Film/{{Predator}} If he bleeds we can sure kill him!]]" in combat.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:K]]
* From the ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' "sequel" ''Kagetsu Tohya'':
** There is a shoutout to the boxing manga/anime ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo''. For comedy purposes Ciel uses a fighting style she calls "The Hitman Style" and assumes a stance similar to that of Mashiba Ryo, the character who uses that style in ''Hajime no Ippo''. This is a reference to this manga because Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, the real-life boxer who this style was based on, did not call his style "the Hitman Style".
** Arc, in her cat form, counters this by avoiding the punches in an "oddly familiar circular motion", a reference to Ippo's "Dempsey Roll" and peek-a-boo style.
* The arcade beat'em-up ''Karate Blazers'' by Visco, which can be found all over the place in Flash game form, references ''Film/BlackRain'' in its third boss, identical triplets who all look like Sato, the bad guy of the film. The weirdest shout out is the fourth boss: a morbidly obese man dressed exactly like Nadia from ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater''.
* One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/KiKiKaiKai'' for the SNES (Pocky and Rocky in the west) is a {{Dracula}}-themed scientist. His name? Dr. [[Creator/ChristopherLee Lee]].
* The hotel manager in ''VideoGame/Killer7'' bares an uncanny resemblance to Edo Macalister, the hotel manager from ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain''. Furthermore, when you talk to him, Gymnopedie plays in the background, the main theme of hotel Flower Sun & Rain.
* ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'':
** A few of the fighters are reminiscent of characters from other works, like skeleton warrior Spinal coming right out of ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'', werewolf Sabrewulf being loosely based on a character of the same name also from a Rare game, or the resident alien Glacius sporting the ShapeShifting abilities of the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay T-1000]].
** For the 2013 reboot, Tusk mostly borrows from Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian, with the physical appearance of Marvel's Thor, the backstory of ComicBook/VandalSavage and a little bit of [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the Last Dragonborn]] sprinkled on for flavour. More amusingly, many fans have pointed out that he looks a bit like a jacked-up, tattooed, and shirtless barbarian version of the famous fighting game [=YouTube=] personality [[LetsPlay/YoVideoGames Maximilian Dood]], which may have even been intentional on the part of the developers - Sabrewulf has a skin that looks like Max's dog, Benny.
** There also is [[BigBad Eyedol's]] parodic ending, in which [[spoiler:a woman in purple approaches him claiming that he's her long lost son Billy, lost in a car incident, and that she gave him his bracelets for his birthday]]-mirroring exactly the epilogue of Blanka in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''. [[spoiler:[[SelfMadeOrphan Minus the last scene...]]]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten|2017}}'':
** The first game:
*** The player character has a very pixelated poster for ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' in his room.
*** Lily getting blood dumped on her at the end of Cindy's route is an obvious one of ''Literature/{{Carrie}}''.
** ''VideoGame/Kindergarten2'':
*** With a bit of a playful TakeThat: The developers apparently saw [[WebVideo/GameTheory Matpat's]] video on the subject of how many nuggets would be needed to survive the fall into the Nugget Cave, because now there are even fewer nuggets to cushion the fall than the first game, and there is a message that, while some theorize it should be bigger, apparently it's enough.
*** In the Monstermon card ending, [[spoiler:half of the characters [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar turn into dust and fade away after Nugget snaps his fingers]], and Nugget, not being satisfied with half, snaps again and the other half is struck by the same lightning as in the first game's secret ending. It serves as a ContinuityNod to Cindy's line when she dies in this ending in the first game, which is coincidentally extremely similar to Spider-Man's infamous line from the movie:]]
---->'''Cindy:''' [[spoiler:Ms. Applegate, I don't feel so good...]]
*** The main character has changed the poster in his bedroom to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''.
*** A mission that involves a dodgeball game is titled "[[Film/DodgeballATrueUnderdogStory If You Can Dodge a Nugget]]".
*** The mission where you help Monty create drugs in chemistry class is called "[[Series/BreakingBad Breaking Sad]]".
*** The name for the mission "The Hitman's Potty Guard" is a reference to the movie ''Film/TheHitmansBodyguard''.
*** A girl named Penny [[spoiler:turns out to have been [[RoboticReveal a robot]] (or rather, a {{Cyborg}}) all along, only to get torn to pieces in the end]]. [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Where have we seen that before?]]
** The in-game card game Monstermon is a mix between ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}}'', and the cards contain several Shout-Outs in themselves.
*** Blue Eyes Gold Dragon is based on [[TabletopGame/YuGiOh Blue Eyes White Dragon]]. Lampshaded by the card's description, which says "Please don't sue us".
*** Faptain Calcon is [[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon]], but with his initials swapped.
*** Cactus Outlaw is the Cactuar from the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series.
*** Man-With-Long-Arms is likely Slenderman from Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos.
*** Giraffe Serpent is likely a Girafarig from ''Pokémon'', while Lonely Dragon looks strikingly like a Charizard.
*** Dune Worm is a shoutout to the Sandworms from ''Franchise/{{Dune}}''.
*** Dank Magician, Mystical Tomato, and Pot of Grease are ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' card Shout-Outs.
*** Legendary Sword is clearly the Master Sword from the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series. The way you get it is a reference to the Lost Woods puzzle that has appeared in multiple games from the franchise.
*** Monstrous Flytrap is based on Audrey II from ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors''.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' gives shout-outs to absolutely anything and everything. It would be easier to list things which it ''doesn't'' reference.
* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone'', the Batmobile will come out of Hagatha's Cave while the ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'' theme plays.
* The [[DownloadableContent Deluxe Pack]] for ''VideoGame/KittyPowersMatchmaker'' has a new Dating Dilemma where you have to identify the candidate's favorite actor from various movie posters that are parodies of real-world movies such as ''[[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon How to Train Your Drag Queen]]''.
* ''[[https://youtu.be/ReUH5rbrJ60 Kung Fu Chivalry]]'', a Macintosh beat-em-up released just a year after ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'', has several shout-outs to it:
** The first player character's special moves are ostensibly based on Guile's Sonic Boom and Somersault/Flash Kick.
** Characters display CirclingBirdies when stunned.
** The third boss wears a mask similar to Vega, which breaks when he is defeated.
** The fourth boss is a thunder-thighed amazon reminiscent of Chun Li, with Ryu/Ken's HurricaneKick, Blanka's Electric Thunder, and M. Bison's Psycho Crusher.
** The ending screen depicts the cast of bosses bruised and bandaged similar to ''SF II'''s defeat portraits.
** Shout-outs to other franchises:
*** The second boss [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins begins the battle wearing armor, which comes off after a few hits, and he continues to fight in his boxers]].
*** The fifth boss's appearance and fighting style appear to be inspired by {{Shonen}} anime characters such as [[Manga/DragonBall Goku]].
*** The penultimate boss, an Indian magician, is likely a reference to Great Tiger from ''VideoGame/PunchOut''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:L]]
* ''VideoGame/LaTale'' has a minigame named Dot Nuri, which is a clear shout out to ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', right down to the low-res mushroom enemies.
* ''VideoGame/LandsOfLore'':
** When you examine a random bush, you get a response: "Is that a Pseudobushia Hugiflora?" Pseudobushia Hugiflora is a talking plant you have to grow in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfKyrandia'' (both games were made by Creator/WestwoodStudios).
** Likewise, both in ''Lands of Lore'' and ''Legend of Kyrandia'' you can find a "[[RedHerring Piscata Rosea]]" item.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'' has a few Shout-Outs, but at least three to ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''.
** The two yama {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs in Athlum and Ghor are named Vergil and Dante, respectively.
** Rush (voiced by Creator/JohnnyYongBosch) at one point shouts "Jackpot!"
** A tournament's slogan is "[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Welcome back to the stage of history!]]"
** Almost all of the Remnants and formations are shout outs to previous entries in the ''VideoGame/{{SaGa|RPG}}'' series. Then there's the Bilqis, a weapon that looks like a cross between an axe and a [[VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend chainsaw]]...
* A Critical Choice in ''VideoGame/LetsBuildAZoo: Dinosaur Island'', called The Builder, is from [[WesternAnimation/BobTheBuilder a client named Bob, who wears a yellow hard hat, blue overalls, and an orange chequered shirt]]. He talks about using dinosaurs in construction, based on a cartoon he saw, which might be a reference to ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Levelhead}}'': The cutscene "RUN GR-18!" which describes Lizumis say they have an airless tire which "[[Music/RickAstley never gives you up, never lets you down]]".
* In ''VideoGame/LifeTheGame'', the "date" level has Zoidberg from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' as one of the potential dates.
* ''VideoGame/LonesomeVillage'' has a few, most of them to Creator/{{Nintendo}} games:
** One of the plants in the swamp looks like a giant [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Piranha Plant]].
** There appears to be a [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi egg]] floating in a container in Cooper's lab.
** One of the villagers is [[Music/TheBeatles a raccoon named Rocky]].
* One line in ''VideoGame/TheLostCrown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure'' is a TitleDrop for the Creator/MRJames work, ''A Warning To The Curious'', that provided much of the inspiration for the game's storyline.
* A subtle one: At one point in ''VideoGame/LostPlanet 2'', you have to fend off a giant (nearly) invincible SandWorm type creature in a desert. It has scurrying legs at its front that are suspiciously identical to those possessed by the Ohmu from ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' -- similarly invincible insect creatures inhabiting an Earth that's largely desert.
* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': In the Rival Season Pass, Edwina [[Music/MileyCyrus comes in like a wrecking ball by riding on it with her legs raised]] to destroy Appleton's historic gatehouse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M]]
* ''VideoGame/Macbat64JourneyOfANiceChap'' has a clip that looks like it could have been taken from ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' playing in the BigBoosHaunt.
* ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'':
** The corn speaks in a very British accent, and when you try to take over the vegetable world, the corn leader of the rebellion tells you he "[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail thought we were an autonomous collective]]." After you succeed, he'll tell you that "[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail now we see the violence inherent in the system]]."
** The One's curse will kill you [[Literature/TheRing three days after you receive his call]].
** One of the higher-leveled magic books is the [[Manga/DeathNote Note of Death]]. (Don't write your own name in it.)
* ''VideoGame/ManosTheHandsOfFate'' contains plenty of Shout-Outs both to ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' and to other cheesy movies that got skewered on the show, with enemies that include [[Film/TheScreamingSkull Screaming Skulls]], [[Film/TheCrawlingEye Crawling Eyes]], Film/{{Hobgoblins}} and even the Film/RobotMonster.
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesWarOfTheGems'', Spider-Man's Web Throw (his [[LimitBreak Gem Power move]]) has the same exact animation as Birdie's Murderer Chain move as seen in the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' games.
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'', the Murderworld mini-games are classic videogames. ''VideoGame/{{Pitfall}}'' is even named.
* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'':
** In Chapter 0, Shinigami ponders if there's a Master Detective [[Manga/CaseClosed with a body of a child and a mind of an adult]].
** This game's Hang-Man's Gambit equivalent is basically a fanservicey version of Pop Up Pirate.
** In Chapter 0 Yuma has to return to an earlier section of the Labyrinth and Shinigami gives [[Franchise/DragonQuest Z*om and Ev*c]] options for teleportation.
** Early in the game, Shinigami trolls Yuma by warning him about "[[Literature/{{It}} a clown in the sewer, staring at him]]".
** Yomi Hellsmile first appears via a [[Manga/{{Akira}} Sliding Bike Stop]].
** At one point, Shinigami suggests to Yuma that he touches a TV located in an alley to see if he gets [[VideoGame/Persona4 sucked inside]].
** One of the loading screen blurbs in Chapter 2 mentions a play called "The Culprit is Not VideoGame/AmongUs", which involves 15 people and the culprit being in the audience.
** The appearance of Amaterasu Corporation's main building bares a ''striking'' resemblance to [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Shinra Corp's own main building]].
** In Chapter 2, as the students of Aetheria Academy are too young to legally drink, the wine used for the play is merely grape juice poured into a wine bottle. A possible nod to the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series and its ubiquitous use of "[[FrothyMugsOfWater grape juice]]" in what are clearly wine bottles and glasses.
** At one moment in Chapter 2, Shinigami uses [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure her fists to commit a rapid-beatdown]].
** GOD Shinigami minigame involves turning giant and smashing castle walls. In Japanese the minigame is called [[Manga/AttackOnTitan Shingeki No]] Shinigami.
** While Yuma is DisguisedInDrag, Shinigami at one point quips "Getting addicted to drag are you? I don't think you're about to win any [[Series/RuPaulsDragRace races]]."
** In Chapter 2, Desuhiko complains that the Mystery Labyrinth is very dangerous as if they're searching for the [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk lost ark]].
** Shinigami calls Makoto [[ComicBook/IronMan Stark-level rich]].
** In Chapter 3, Fubuki's exploration of the Mystery Labyrinth has her wanting [[Franchise/IndianaJones a hat and a whip]].
** Later after he first defeats the Mystery Phantom of the labyrinth, Fubuki decides to call Yuma the [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Warrior of Light]].
** Chapter 3 features [[spoiler: a culprit who stages a terrorist attack as a smokescreen for their true goal: a bank robbery]], similar to ''Film/DieHard''.
** In Chapter 5, [[spoiler:in a facility full of zombies]], Shinigami asks Yuma to keep an eye out for any [[Franchise/ResidentEvil green and red herbs]]. In addition, the scientist responsible is named [[Characters/ResidentEvilAlbertWesker Dr. Huesca.]]
** The titles of chapter 0, 4, and 5 are "[[Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress Massacre on the Amaterasu Express]]", "[[Literature/ThePerfectInsider The Imperfect Insider]]", and "[[Literature/AndThenThereWereNone And Then I Was Gone]]".
** Examining the ladder outside the train station will lead to Yuma wondering [[Franchise/AceAttorney whether it's a ladder or a stepladder]].
** Kurumi's casual wear includes a rain jacket with a pixel art strawberry with the caption "[[Website/NewGrounds B B B]]"
** When disguised as a girl in chapter 2, Shinigami will berate Yuma for being a pervert and then shout "[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} A Wild Pervert Detective appears!]]" Later on, Desuhiko will say Fubuki's girlish mannerisms are "Super effective!"
* ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion 2'' has almost too many to count, most of it in its tech tree. You can research, among other things, [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Phasors (ship and handheld), Disruptor Cannons, transporters]], [[Franchise/StarWars Doom Stars]] (with optional planet-destroying superweapon), and an ''[[MadeOfIndestructium adamantium]]'' armor. Planet names can be taken from ''Series/BabylonFive''[[note]]the punctuation of Za'Ha'Dun is missing, though, due to limitations of the game code for handling planet names[[/note]], ''Franchise/StarTrek'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', and numerous other sources.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'':
** The first game:
*** The game, being heavily inspired by Hollywood action movies with [[GunKata intricate gunplay]] and [[BulletTime lots of slow motion]], has a few references to its influences: The password to a criminal-operated laundromat is "John Woo", and a certain lobby shootout scene near the endgame seems very similar to the one in ''Film/TheMatrix''. One of the bad guys in the game is "[[Film/TheUsualSuspects A real Keyser Soze]] type."
*** Max can find a mook who had been killed with a stake in the back. Said mook had written out part of the killer's identity: [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buff]].
** The second game:
*** There is a billboard advertising a kung fu movie starring Kenneth Yeung. In real life, Kenneth Yeung is the creator of the Kung Fu mod for the first Max Payne game.
*** One of the three mooks who help out Max in the slum level (thinking he's one of them) says "it's raining cats and dogs out there!", to which another replies "for I am a rain dog, too" in a shout out to Music/TomWaits.
* ''VideoGame/{{McPixel}}'' has bonus worlds unlocked by finding all the solutions in the stages immediately before them, which are each a set of six levels based around shout outs to films (such as ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' a ''Franchise/StarWars''), video games (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''), and cartoons and anime (''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' and ''Manga/DragonBall'').
* ''VideoGame/MeanSanta'': One of the toys [[PlayerCharacter Santa]] can steal are toy-sized [[Franchise/StarWars AT-AT Walker]]s. You can also collect [[UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy Virtual Boy]]s.
* ''VideoGame/{{Messiah}}'' has a nod to the composer Music/JesperKyd in the form of a location called "Club Kyd".
* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'':
** ''The Mandate of Heaven'' has the priestess in the Castle Ironfist temple bless you with "[[Franchise/StarTrek Live Long and Prosper]]!"
** The second game:
*** There's a Lord [[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Peabody]] who offers your party use of a Time Machine if you go out and retrieve his "boy", a Paladin named Sherman.
*** Most of the hireling names are jokes of some kind.
*** One of the "portal" services is operated by a fellow named [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Jean-Luc]], who offers to "[[TeleportersAndTransporters beam you]]" to another town.
* ''VideoGame/MidnightFightExpress'':
** The end of the 2021 trailer cuts to black with someone saying [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2 "Remember, no Russia."]] Cue the player [[CoolMask in a horse mask]] [[ElevatorActionSequence walking into an elevator with armed men and absolutely bodying them]] .
** A clip in the 2020 trailer shows off [[BloodstainedGlassWindows a gigantic free-for-all brawl]] [[Film/KingsmanTheSecretService inside of a church]].
** The costume unlocked by achieving 80% completion of level 1 is of a character called [[Series/Daredevil2015 "Dareman."]]
** Level 5, "Restroom," [[BathroomBrawl takes place in a]] [[Film/MissionImpossibleFallout public bathroom]].
** Level 20 is named "Film/FightClub", and before you can pass, you have to fight through Kyler Turden. You encounter a group of armed people in [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami animal masks]]. The leader of them is a guy in a horse mask named [[WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman BoJacket]].
** One of the enemy types you fight in the docks are giant sailor men with massive biceps who attribute their strength to [[Franchise/{{Popeye}} injecting spinach into their arms]].
** One of the finishers Babyface can pull on enemies is the [[Film/TheKarateKid Crane Kick]]. However, instead of kicking the enemy in the face like Daniel, Babyface uses it as a feint and knocks them out with a karate chop to the head instead.
** Droney ends his exposition at the start of the Bar level with "Strike first. No mercy. [[Series/CobraKai Babyface never dies.]]"
** The Warriors are named after ''Film/TheWarriors''. They and the Earth Smashers are purple and green respectively, with their bitter rivalry echoing that of [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas the Ballas and the Grove Street Families]]. The Motel stage even features a scene where a member of the Earth Smashers (who resembles Big Smoke and is named "Large Soda") defects to the Warriors.
** The description for the zombies, called Deadheads in-game, at the Graveyard level ends with "[[VideoGame/AlteredBeast1988 RISE FROM YOUR GRAVES]]."
** In Level 29, "Suburbs", Babyface gets access to a rope dart gun. Droney will make a reference to ''Franchise/{{Mortal Kombat}}'' by suggesting for Babyface to scream [[CatchPhrase Get Over Here]] when using the rope dart.
** In Level 39, "Office," two of Kingsley's enforcers, Ben and The Butcher were previously trained by Babyface, and also have personal drones. The copycat tactics prompts Droney to say [[Franchise/{{Highlander}} There can be only one.]]
** In Level 39, "Office," Kingsley has the Delicious Cake from ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' on his table.
* ''VideoGame/TheMightyQuestForEpicLoot'':
** One of Painhammer's emotes is [[Music/{{PSY}} the Gangnam Style dance]].
** The Earl of Evilosity sometimes asks "[[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson Do you smell what the Earl is cookin'?]]"
** After finishing a raid, the Earl may state "[[Film/{{Spaceballs}} Evil always triumphs because good is dumb!]]"
* ''VideoGame/MinecraftDungeons'': [[spoiler: The SecretLevel is a direct reference to the Secret Cow Level from Videogame/{{Diablo II}}, both in needing to go to extreme lengths to find and also in being a level populated entirely by cows, or mooshrooms in this case.]]
* ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'':
** [[Film/{{Babe}} "That'll do, Reuben. That'll do."]]
** When asked where the stairs in the Temple of the Order go, one of your choices are: [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} "They go up."]]
** In episode 5, [[spoiler:when choosing the Speed potion Ivor offers]], Jesse will say "[[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Gotta go fast!]]"
* Some of the achievements in ''VideoGame/MiniMotorways'' are pop-culture references:
** The achievement for placing [[NumberOfTheBeast 666 road tiles]] across multiple runs is called [[Music/{{ACDC}} "Highway to Hell"]].
** Placing 25 traffic lights across multiple runs gets you the [[Film/BoogieNights "Boogie Lights"]] achievement.
** Using all nine motorways in one run rewards you with the [[Music/{{Eminem}} "Mom's Spaghetti"]] achievement.
* The ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series, being created by Lucasfilm's game division Creator/LucasArts (formerly Lucasfilm Games), includes dozens of shout outs to Lucas's movies:
** ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'':
*** There's the number 1138 popping up a lot, a bridge troll being actually Creator/GeorgeLucas in disguise, and wall graffiti suggesting its readers to call 1-800-STAR-WARS (which, at the time, was [=LucasArts'=] hint line number) "for a good time".
*** The Seagull eating a red herring resembles some of the seagulls from ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}''.
*** In the Fettucini circus, Guybrush saying "I'm Bobbin, are you my mother?" is a reference to ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}''.
*** At the Scumm Bar, Cobb advertises the game ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}''.
*** The Scumm Bar is a reference to the SCUMM engine, previously used for ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion''.
*** The Grog Machine resembles a Coca-Cola logo so much that the swoosh graphic had to be changed.
*** When conversing with Herman Toothrot about colors, one of the options is [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Macintosh gray]].
** In ''[[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge Monkey Island 2]]'', Guybrush can talk to [=LeChuck=] about [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Nintendo™]] games.
* In ''VideoGame/MonsterLovesYou'', several scenarios in the game contain direct references to fairy tales or classic books, despite not being mentioned by name: Little Red Riding Hood, Frankenstein, Puss N Boots, and The Three Little Goats (nee Pigs) make appearances.
* In the yellow variation of ''VideoGame/{{Moonmist}}'', three of the four clues you are sent to find are references to the works of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, namely, "The Bells", "Annabel Lee", and "Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado".
* One of the cargo containers on the main character's ship in ''[[VideoGame/{{Morningstar}} Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock]]'' is full of [[VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade fine leather jackets]].
* An early mission in ''VideoGame/MySimsKingdom'' requires you to build "[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid solid gears of metal]]" in order to open a gate to another part of the first island.
* In ''VideoGame/MystikBelle'', when using the Hammer to unjam the drawbridge mechanism, Belle says [[Music/MCHammer "Stop, hammer time!"]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N]]
* The [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968 half-sunken Statue of Liberty]] at the end of the Coastal course in the original ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed''.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'':
** The first game has a reference to an Archdruid named [[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Getafix]].
** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'':
*** In the core campaign, the greeter in the Moonstone Mask festhall is named "Evlyn". In the back, you'll find a dancer named "Teelah". It's a nice shout-out to ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse''.
*** In ''Mask of the Betrayer'', you can find an item named the Astral Rodent Charm with the inscription "To M..." on the back. This is a shout out to Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster.
*** ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'', a fan module series, includes the premade character Lyanna Stormborn, as a ShoutOut to ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' (which actually did inspire a lot of the story). The player's adventures seem somewhat similar to those of Arya Stark, after all.
* ''VideoGame/{{Nibblers}}'':
** Up to a certain point, each update starts with "[[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo FISH ARE FRIENDS NOT FOOD]]".
** The boss of Acid Bog is [[Music/BarryManilow Cobracabana]], which runs with this down to the achievement for defeating her ("Her Name Was Lola") and her Lizzypedia entry ("With her, music and passion are always in fashion").
** Defeating Thornzilla yields the achievement "[[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Thornzilaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!]]".
** Defeating Lizard Wizard yields the achievement "[[Franchise/DragonBall OVER 1000!!!]]"
* In ''VideoGame/NieR'', the hero is asked to save a prince from a forbidden shrine who is searching for his mask. When the prince is found and he finds his mask, the screen goes letter box as the camera gives a slight bird's eye-view of the prince, his mask spinning in midair a little bit over his outstretched hand. This perfectly mirrors "Item Found" cutscenes of the 3D ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games. It also comes complete with a SuspiciouslySimilarSong version of the ''Zelda'' fanfare.
* Horror game ''VideoGame/NightBlights'' has, around the house, countless toys and a few other props. One such prop is a crystal statuette of a dragon which is quite clearly [[VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998 frozen in crystal]]. You can also find, on an upstairs wall, what looks to be a featherless [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Aku Aku]].
* In ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'':
** Mae's house has a [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants blue canary night light]].
** Mae can lie to Gregg about having porn pop-ups cleaned from her computer, to which he'll respond: "[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Why must you turn the Internet into a den of lies?]]"
* ''VideoGame/NightOfTheLivingRobot'': The iteration of Billy the clown that appears in this game is dubbed [[Literature/{{It}} Wise-Billy]] and closely resembles the version of Pennywise in the [[Film/It2017 2017 film adaptation]].
* In ''VideoGame/NightmaresFromTheDeep 3: Davy Jones'', the screen after you come out of the maze in the mines features a [[Franchise/IndianaJones fedora-wearing skeleton with a whip]], which when spoken to says "[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom Fortune and glory, lady... fortune and glory]]."
* The Zeppelin in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' UsefulNotes/XBox heavily resembles the Hindenburg, and goes down in flames in a similar manner. "Oh, the humanity!"
* ''VideoGame/NinjishGuyInLowResWorld'': One enemy in the game is [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong a big brown guy who throws brown blocks at you]].
* One of the Reputation Quests in ''VideoGame/NiNoKuniCrossWorlds'' for the Goldbeard segment involves finding someone named Jerry on a deserted island. When you get there, you find a castaway, who tells you that he doesn't want to go back to Evermore but he does want you rescue Jerry, his only friend for him. Jerry turns out to be [[Film/CastAway a soccer ball]].
* In ''VideoGame/NonstopKnight'', an ad for gems says, "[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI It's dangerous to go alone! Take these gems.]]"
* In one early season of ''VideoGame/NexusClash'', hiding anywhere had a chance to send you to the [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Wood Between the Worlds]].
* ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'':
** Some of the items you can buy for Darcy's secondhand store are pop-culture references:
*** The Trophy for Best Father is modeled after the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar Statuette]].
*** The [[Film/{{Inception}} "Totem From a Film" is a spinning top.]]
*** One of the gaming consoles you can sell is a Toys/{{Tamago|tchi}}.
*** One of Nari's paintings, "A Hilarious Mermaid", is a muscular version of [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel singing the reprise of "Part of Your World" as the waves crash behind her on a rock.]]
** Some of the achievement titles are parodies of movie titles:
*** The achievement for buying a fake ID is called [[Film/CallMeByYourName "Call Me By His Name"]].
*** The achievement for not reporting anyone for a week is called [[Film/SilenceOfTheLambs "The Silence of the Finger".]]
*** The achievement for listening to Prof. Choi's news broadcast is called [[WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs "Cloudy With a Chance of Umbrellas".]]
** One of the jewelry brands is called [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Emeralds of Oz]], referencing Emerald City.
---> ''A sorcerer's desire, Emeralds of Oz.''
** Bokho can be seen painting an [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Octorok]] by the gate of Junuk Side.
* ''VideoGame/NotDyingToday'' contains references to basically ''every'' zombie-related game ever made.
** The [[RaisingTheSteaks zombie Doberman]] enemies looks ''exactly'' the same as those from the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series, having their skulls and ribcages exposed thanks to exposure to the zombie virus, but capable of moving faster than human zombies.
** There's also an insect-human hybrid zombie mook which resembles Plagas-infected victims from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''.
** Meanwhile, the FinalBoss, Z-Lord, wearing a thick green trench coat with a balding deformed head, seems to take design inspirations from the T-00 of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' fame.
** Zombie nurses being a recurring enemy bring ''Franchise/SilentHill'' to mind.
** And then there's the towering zombie quarterbacks, ala ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies''.
** The Super-Zombie Nurse boss, "B.G. Nurse", have an attack where she pukes [[BloodyMurder a pillar of toxic blood]] that covers a big portion of the screen, much like the zombified heroes from ''VideoGame/MetalSlug''.
** In-between gameplay, the cutscenes (and opening cinematics) are portrayed as comic-book pages using artwork similar to the ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' graphic novels.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:O]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' has several shout-outs to ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', the main source of inspiration for the designers. There are also references to other Capcom games, such as ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'', and ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe''.
* ''VideoGame/OrganTrail: Director's Cut'' gives a quick nod to the creators of the original game with a Steam achievement called "Don, Paul and Bill's Curse"[[labelnote:who?]]Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger[[/labelnote]], which you earn by having one of your party members die of dysentery.
* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'':
** There are several [[EasterEgg hidden references]] to classic games, including a ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' pipe in the Sunken Glades, a [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Triforce]] engraved on a tree in Thornfelt Swamp, and a dead [[VideoGame/SuperMeatBoy Meat Boy]] in the Forlorn Ruins.
** A [[StockScream Wilhelm Scream]] is heard if you Bash an enemy off the highest cliff in the Valley of the Wind, whose name itself is a reference to ''Anime/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind''.
** The final credits picture is of Ori napping on Naru's belly, in the style of [[Anime/MyNeighborTotoro Mei and Totoro]].
* ''The Other Side: Tower of Souls'' has a "Back to the Future" achievement, complete with a picture of sidekick Boris, a talking cat, sporting an [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Emmett Brown]] hairdo. He even lampshades it when you first travel to the past by saying "Now I look like Doc Brown."
* In ''VideoGame/{{Outcast}}'', the player can stumble upon one of the natives playing the ''Franchise/StarWars'' tune on a flute.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/OverlordRaisingHell'', in the Infernal Abyss, you come to a labyrinth, prompting Gnarl to say [[Film/{{Labyrinth}} "Oh, great, a labyrinth. If you see any rosy-cheeked maidens whinging about Goblin Kings, or if anything starts singing...Kill them!"]]
** In ''VideoGame/OverlordII'', following the player's attack on a city's gate involving explosives, the game confirms the event by saying, "You've [[Film/TheItalianJob1969 blown the bloody doors off]]!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:P]]
* ''VideoGame/PaleoPines'': A few dinosaurs can have a blue and orange colour scheme called "portals"; this is a reference to the ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' series of video games, which makes use of BlueAndOrangeContrast.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pankapu}}''
** The ship that Chii forms is known as the "[[VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}} Chiikaruga]]".
** Zoldabilly's profile page states that he believed the time had come for happy days. "[[Series/HappyDays Monday, Tuesday, happy days, Thursday, Friday, happy days.]]".
* ''VideoGame/PaqueretteDownTheBunburrows'':
** After reading Ophéline's note to not clog the elevator with fur, Pâquerette comments that the sign [[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} can't stop her even if she can read]].
** Some achievements are called "[[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} Bunstack]]", "[[VideoGame/AmongUs I saw the bunny vent, sus]]", "[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Bunny Instrumentality Project]]", "[[WebAnimation/HazbinHotel Hazbun Hotel]]", "[[Anime/HaibaneRenmei High-Bunneh Renmei]]", "[[VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple The Bunos Principle]]" and others.
* ''VideoGame/{{Parkasaurus}}'':
** One of the "hats" is an Elizabethan collar called the Cone of Shame, a nickname that originates from '' WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''.
** The node on the science tree that unlocks the second-tier garbage bins is called [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Captain Planet]].
** One of the decorations added in the ''Sea Monsters'' DLC is a pineapple house, like the one WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants lives in.
* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'':
** Both games feature the [="MagSec 4"=], a large handgun which fires in bursts. It's essentially the Auto 9 of ''Franchise/RoboCop'' fame with a lighter paint scheme and [[AKA47 a different name]].
** In ''Zero'', Jack Dark's HeroicSacrifice scene, where he draws enemy fire away from Joanna while she escapes, then is shot point-blank in the head by Mai Hem while on his knees after running out of ammo, almost exactly echoes Law Bruford's death at the hands of [[TheDragon Cecile Newcastle]] in ''VideoGame/WinBack''.
* ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': The Man-at-Legs' scientific name is ''Pseudoarachnia navaronia'', and it has a built-in machine gun. It's Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pixelo}}'': The background called ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' has "All animals are equal" as the description.
* ''VideoGame/PonyIsland'':
** There are multiple references to ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':
*** Louey himself is obviously a reference to Flowey. Aside from names, they both use "howdy, friend" [[spoiler:and look innocent at first]].
*** If you answer "Chara" when Hopeless Soul asks for your name, he will say "You might be in the [[Videogame/{{Undertale}} wrong game]]."
*** Asmodeus talks to you in nothing but a black screen with slowly advancing text and ominous music and attacks the screen if you answer his questions wrong. Sound familiar?
*** Checking the Credits in Pony Island 3D only gets the message "Credit Where Credit Is Due," written in a mix of Comic Sans, Papyrus, and Wingdings.
** One of the files when you exit to the desktop for the first time is called [[VideoGame/{{Pokemon}} MissingNo]]. Interesting because it's a shout-out to a famous glitch in a game that's all about fixing and exploiting glitches.
** One of the glitched option screens has a list of "[[Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle Yes, No, Maybe, I Don't Know, and Can You Repeat the Question]]".
** The way the colored version of Pony Island starts out as a bright and cheerful world and gradually decays into something more nightmarish is more than a little reminiscent of ''VideoGame/{{Eversion}}'', including trees withering away and the screen briefly flickering at some points to a screen showing only a setting sun that looks similar to ''Eversion'''s World 4.
** The [[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink I AM ERROR Room]] has ERROR with a design very similar to [[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac that other game he was in]].
* ''VideoGame/PowerStone'': Wang-Tang is a homage to Goku from ''Manga/DragonBall'', complete with a [[SuperMode Super Saiyan-esque transformation]], and is even voiced by a woman (Creator/MegumiOgata), which also applies for [[Creator/MasakoNozawa Goku's Japanese voice]]. The game also shares its name with a special weapon from [[VideoGame/MegaMan5 another Capcom game]].
* ''Videogame/PrehistoricKingdom'':
** Nigel Marven being involved in the running of a park full of prehistoric animals is a clear reference to his role in Series/PrehistoricPark, with him even stating in one of his quotes about Triceratops that he “prefers names beginning with T” for the genus, in reference to Prehistoric Park’s resident Triceratops Theo.
** The ''Torvosaurus''’ Volcanic skin has colourations very similar to the Torvosaurus from Series/DinosaurRevolution, particularly in the head region
** There are, of course, numerous references to Film/JurassicPark and the rest of the Jurassic franchise:
*** One of the maps just so happens to be on Costa Rica
*** Among the messages that flash by on the loading screens - next to "Ruffling feathers..." and "Going back in time..." is "Sparing no Expense..."
*** One of Nigel Marven’s quotes about Tyrannosaurus states that “your favourite dinosaur movie” depicted T. rex as having poor eyesight
*** Nigel Marven’s advisory role in this game is highly reminiscent of the park staff from Videogame/JurassicParkOperationGenesis and Videogame/JurassicWorldEvolution
* ''VideoGame/ThePrinceOfLandis'':
** [[PlayerCharacter Evan]]'s friend at school is a kid named [[Series/StrangerThings Dustin]].
** In the second day in school, Dustin asks [[PlayerCharacter Evan]] is he saw [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Ninja Turtles]] last night.
* In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheForgottenSands'', push 20 enemies off ledges and you get an achievement titled [[Film/ThreeHundred "This is Persia!"]]
* In ''VideoGame/ProjectHospital'', the achievement for building an inaccessible room is called [[Franchise/TheLordOfTheRings "You shall not pass!"]]
* ''VideoGame/PumpkinJack'': The hook-weapon you get after beating [[StarterVillain the Scarecrow]] bares a striking resemblance to a [[VideoGame/SlyCooper Cooper Family cane]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Q]]
* The ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series contains a number of these.
** The most prominent example takes place in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryI'', where the player is required to answer three questions in order to enter Erasmus's castle. The whole sequence is a direct reference to the similar one in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. The VGA version also includes [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland "I want to be a pirate"]] as a possible answer.
** In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryV'', if the main character drowns, the game over text mentions [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Guybrush Threepwood's]] ability to hold his breath for 10 minutes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R]]
* The first phase of the boss of ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}} IV'''s second stage looks and behaves similarly to the stage 2 boss of ''VideoGame/DonPachi'', while the third boss, which consists of multiple ships that first attack separately then combine, was apparently inspired by the third boss of Konami's old ''Raiden'' clone ''Lightning Fighters''.
* ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'':
** There's a homeless NPC that you can encounter in Chapter 2 early on. After you bribe the Lucky Charm out of his hands, you can read his mind again to reveal him saying "You all assume I'm safe here in my hood, unless I try to start again." This is a shout out to Music/LinkinPark's song, "Breaking the Habit".
** Also in Chapter 2, Oboroguruma, a ghost car that appears at the full moon, says this:
--->'''Oboroguruma:''' [[Franchise/SailorMoon IN tHe NaMe of ThE fULl mOOn, I wIll PuNiSh YOu!]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Rakuen}}'':
** One of the paintings in Monsieur Bud's mansion is of him observing [[VideoGame/ToTheMoon two people dancing inside of a lighthouse.]]
** A recurring NPC seen in Morizora's Forest is [[VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies a singing sunflower]]. Creator Laura Shigihara's first big break was composing the music for the game, as well as voicing the Sunflower.
** As a more general RPG reference the frog the Boy finds and hopes to keep as a pet is named [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger Glenn.]] The Boy's mother also mentions during one of her dialogues that she used to play a videogame where the characters traveled through various time periods.
** There is also the obvious parallel between Gemma & Winston and [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Romeo & Juliet]].
* ''VideoGame/RandalsMonday'' is filled with references to everything, from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' to ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' to ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''.
* Freebie MMO ''VideoGame/{{Rappelz}}'' has many {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs in the first area directly named after characters from the ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' strategy RPG series, at least in the English version.
* ''VideoGame/TheRevengeOfShinobi'' features a boss fight with ComicBook/SpiderMan. And when you defeat him, he turns into ComicBook/{{Batman}}. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzh7kMcuDYY Watch this video.]]
* The ''VideoGame/ReVolt'' RC car driving game has two tracks called [[Film/BoyzNTheHood "Toys in the Hood"]], set in peaceful suburbs.
* ''VideoGame/RevolutionX'' has several of these.
** Mondor's nonplussed reaction to getting its legs blown off. [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail "It's only a flesh wound!"]]
** The credits end with a "Llamas Trained by" credit, and the screen starts flashing to complete the reference.
** Steven Tyler crying out, "[[Franchise/MortalKombat TOASTY!]]", when you shoot the Skull Bomb. Well, this ''was'' made at the height of Kombatmania. Not to mention it's the same developer.
** In the Middle East level, ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' machines can be found.
** "[[VideoGame/SmashTV Welcome to]] the [[VideoGame/TotalCarnage real Pleasuredome]]!" (Good ending only.)
** Blow up the school bus in the Middle East and you get a screen informing you that "[[Music/AliceCooper School's Out... Forever]]."
** The New Order Nation's logo looks like a parody of the Music/NineInchNails logo.
** The game itself is a nuttier take on ''Music/KilroyWasHere''. ''A lot'' nuttier.
* In ''VideoGame/RootsOfPacha'', Garrek's dance is reminiscent of [[Music/{{PSY}} Gangnam Style.]] He even calls it "Garrek Style".
* One of the items in ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'' is a storybook titled ''The Little Princess''. No, not ''[[Literature/ALittlePrincess that]]'' one. Although both the book and game explore the journey of an emotionally repressed orphan girl struggling to retain her moral integrity when faced with the stark realities of life in Victorian England, so the mistake is understandable.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S]]
* The arcade game ''VideoGame/SanFranciscoRush 2049'' has, on the cabinet, a telephone-style numpad for entering your password for your in-game account. It's also used in-game to activate codes. One such code, "8675309#", is an obvious reference to the song "867-5309/Jenny" by Music/TommyTutone. Entering this code will end your current game.
* ''VideoGame/TheSapling'': According to a devlog, the triple tube-shaped eyes added in the sea & sandbox update are a reference to WebVideo/AlienBiospheres.
* The eroge ''Schoolmate 2'' has a scene where the female protagonist (or rather one of the ghosts that's possessing her) finds a vibrator that she'll soon put to good use. She warns you of her discovery by [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda lifting the vibrator up to the air while singing "Ta da da daaaa!!!"]].
* The three episodes of ''VideoGame/SecretAgent'' are named "[[Film/TheHuntForRedOctober The Hunt For Red Rock Rover]]" (the RRR being the MacGuffin you're after in this episode), "[[Series/GilligansIsland Kill Again Island]]", and "[[Film/DrNo Dr. No Body]]".
* ''VideoGame/SensoyOverload'' has, at one point, a random [[TheMaze maze]] of identical rooms, eventually leading to a secret item, the Silencer. When you enter the maze, it says "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike", an obvious ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'' shoutout.
* ''VideoGame/SepterraCore'' has a shout-out to the "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?" scene from ''Star Wars: Film/ANewHope'' when Maya infiltrates Connors's pirate base. The number [[Film/THX1138 1138]] crops up in the form of an override password.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest'', Stauf's "welcome to my house" speech seems to be a reference to ''Film/TheLegendOfHellHouse''.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'':
** The Wolf Bout in ''Shadow Hearts Covenant'' features several references to the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gundam]] franchise. For example, the Black Dog Stars are based on the short-lived GoldfishPoopGang of the original series, while Blanca's ultimate move, Red Comet, is a ShoutOut to the nickname of recurring Gundam character Char Aznable.
** ''From the New World'':
*** A convict named Smith in Alcatraz asks you to spread a message to his ally Murdock. Murdock tells you to give the message to Peck, and Peck asks you to send the message to Baracus. [[Series/TheATeam Sound familiar?]]
** The Erick Theatre on Chelsea in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity is showing ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheWoolBall'': Apart from some textures outright based on the decoration from ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', there's the secret level "Smells of Doom", which has kittens dressed up like the protagonist from ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', as well as "Nostalgia Park", which contains areas using textures from ''Wolfenstein 3D'' and ''[[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1 Prince of Persia]]'', complete with animatronics of enemies from the respective games.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997'' has a few, including:
** A strung-up [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]].
--->'''Lo Wang:''' She's raided her last tomb!
** A tomb, presumably belonging to Creator/JackieChan, if Lo Wang's remark is anything to go by.
** Pick up a second Uzi and Lo Wang will say "Be proud, [[Creator/JohnWoo Mister Woo]]."
* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'':
** ''VideoGame/SherlockHolmesTheAwakened'' is packed with these. Not only is the game itself a pastiche of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle and Creator/HPLovecraft, but two major characters under investigation (Dr. Gygax and Lord Arneson), as well as the authors of several reference books Holmes consults, are named for RPG designers. Plus, there's a cameo appearance by a little Belgian kid on a train, whose name just happens to be Literature/HerculePoirot.
** In the "sequel", ''VideoGame/SherlockHolmesVersusArseneLupin'', you need to take a picture of a bat to stun it (long story). When you look at the picture, sure enough, the shadow looks exactly like [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} a famous insignia]]. And then the guard says to take it to a man named Wayne, as it was his camera.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shift}} 4'' has the ending make a reference to ''[[spoiler:Film/{{Shaft}}]]'', but the series as a whole creates lots of shout outs to ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'':
-->"The [[spoiler:timer]] is a lie!"
* In ''VideoGame/ShonenIdleZ'', there are the enemies [[Manga/AstroBoy Astrakid]], [[IProduct iCRTOPUS]], and [[Franchise/DragonQuest Metalic Slime]]. The helpers resemble characters like [[Franchise/DragonBall Master Roshi]] and [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger Lucca]]. The protagonist's outfit can be made to look like the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' Gi or Battle Armor with scouter.
* Morgan Industries, one of the factions from ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', has a subdivision called ''Morgansoft''. Its slogan: "Where do you want your node today?" -- a not-so-subtle reference to a Microsoft and their then-ongoing "where do you want to go today?" ad campaign.
* In ''VideoGame/SimEarth'', you can advance the evolution of a species with a [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey square black Monolith]]. Also, when the planet's civilisation reaches a high enough level, the cities turn themselves into starships and lift off from the planet, possibly a reference to Creator/JamesBlish's ''Literature/CitiesInFlight''.
* ''VideoGame/SINoALICE'':
** Sleeping Beauty's Paladin Class story references ''Literature/SunMoonAndTalia'', another variant of her story.
** When pulling the Grimoire, there is a chance for Parrah/Gishin to do the [[Franchise/StreetFighter Shun Goku Satsu]] on Noya/Anki. This exchanges 1 A weapon for a shiny book that's either an S or SS/SR weapon.
** [[VideoGame/{{Nier}} The Shadowlord's]] skill as a Nightmare is named '[[Literature/ForWhomTheBellTolls For Whom the Bell Splashes]]'.
** In the Manga, one of the news reporters discussing recent murders in Tokyo resembles [[VideoGame/NierAutomata 2B]] and even reports for the 2B Channel.
** The 'Yokubo Robo MKII' heavily resembles the [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Gurren]], complete with a blue version of [[CoolShades Kamina's]] [[TriangularShades shades]].
** The [[https://twitter.com/sinoalice_jp/status/1307922508390125569?s=19 preview video for the Kaguya/Spacesuit job from the Dorothy's Workshop series]] snuck in 2: a variation of Neil Armstrong's famous "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"[[labelnote:note]]That's one small step for female, one giant leap for mankind[[/labelnote]] quote, and the [[Music/{{Yes}} 'To be continued']] meme from ''[[Franchise/JojosBizarreAdventure Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]''.
* ''VideoGame/TheSkeleton'': The mode that pits you against a small army of skeletons is known as "[[Music/TheLivingTombstone Spooky Scary Skeletons]] Mode".
* In ''VideoGame/SodaDungeon'', the pet Dasha references Rainbow Dash from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Masks and hairstyles in the customize menu reference Crono from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', Cloud from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Wakka from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', the mask from ''Film/TheMask'', the Guy Fawkes mask from ''Film/VForVendetta'', Trap Jaw from ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', Ghostface's mask from ''Film/Scream1996'', and Hannibal Lecter from ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. The Lair of Despair monsters reference ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'', ''WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost'', ''Film/CastAway'', ''VideoGame/DuckHunt'', ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', [[UsefulNotes/KentuckyFriedChicken KFC]], Love Lamps, Ring Pops, and Troll Dolls.
* The achievements of ''VideoGame/SolastaCrownOfTheMagister'' contain a lot of references to pop culture:
** Surviving a CriticalHit is the requirement for the achievement [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Just a flesh wound]]. Killing an enemy with your own critical hit grants [[WebVideo/CriticalRole How do you want to do this?]]
** Identify 20 magic items and you get the achievement [[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Stay awhile and listen]].
** Exploiting ElementalRockPaperScissors for the first time gives you an achievement titled [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} It's Super Effective!]]
** The achievements for killing 20 enemies in a single campaign each with Cold and Poison damage are respectively [[Music/VanillaIce Ice Ice Baby]] and [[VideoGame/DOTA2 Ah, sweet toxicity!]]
** Creating a Cleric grants the achievement [[VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} I need healing!]], a Wizard grants [[Franchise/HarryPotter Yer a wizard, Henry]], a Barbarian grants [[Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982 To crush your enemies]], a Druid grants [[Literature/TheLorax I speak for the trees]] and a Monk grants [[Film/TheMatrix I know Kung Fu]].
** Kill Mardracht and you get an achievement titled [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory You get nothing! Good day sir!]]
* ''VideoGame/SolomonsKeep'' has a ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}'' reference. There's a chance for the evil necromancer himself to appear on a cleared floor to whack the player wizard's hit points really low. After which he says: "[[EvilLaugh Muahahahaha]]! Blue Wizard needs [[HealingPotion potion]] badly!"
* ''VideoGame/SoManyMe'': One of the costumes you can collect in the game is called "Grimm", and looks like [[VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesGrimm a certain area-corrupting troll]].
* ''VideoGame/SomaSpirits'': To ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'': The Long Rope's FlavorText is a reference to that, another UsefulNotes/RPGMaker game, which is distributed at the same site as the freeware version of ''Soma Spirits'':
--> A very long rope that doesn't quite reach the top of the sky.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The series is fairly laden with obvious references, especially with the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Egg]] (originating in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', and seen many times since) and [[Anime/DragonBallZ Super Sonic]] (also originated in ''Sonic 2''). But there's also less obvious ones, such as G.U.N, a play on ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}.
** Eggman is a reference to the [[Music/TheBeatles I Am The Walrus]] song.
** Eggman's robot storage facility in ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'' is named [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Gimme Shelter]].
** A quest in ''[[VideoGame/SonicChronicles Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood]]'' tasks you with retrieving a shopkeeper's prized possession in exchange for a piece of Eggman's old tech, which is needed to advance the story. The missing item in question? The shopkeeper's [[Film/OfficeSpace beloved red stapler]].
* ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur'': The fourth game features the "Tower of Lost Souls" mode, which has similar reward functions to ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga''.
* In ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', when Christophe sends the hero and his/her group off to fight one of the World Eaters, Danette demands to know its special powers and weaknesses:
-->'''Gig:''' ...it can fly at like 5 million miles an hour. It has heat vision, it can breathe super-freezing air, and it can shoot freaking lasers from its eyes. Oh, but it can't see through lead, and it's totally weak to a certain element from its home world.\\
'''Danette:''' R-really?\\
'''Hero:''' No. He just stole that from [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} somewhere]].
* In ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers 2'', there's a disease that you can catch that makes you see strange things in space, including [[Franchise/StarWars the Death Star, the battle between Red Squadron and Darth Vader's wings]], and the ''Series/BabylonFive'' station.
* ''VideoGame/SpandexForce 2: Superhero U'' has a "Professor [[ComicBook/{{XMen}} Stormbringer]]" as well as a "[[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Lighting Lad]]" who claims he misspelled the name on his application. During Professor Blizzard Wizard's Christmas speech he states "And also, to [[{{HelloInsertNameHere}} So-and-So]], for cool logic in the face of danger, I award [[{{Literature/HarryPotter}} Chimeron House]] fifty points."
* In ''VideoGame/Spectre1991'', the flying Hunter-Killers resemble the HK-Aerial gunships from the Future War in ''Film/TheTerminator''.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSpectrumRetreat'', most of the achievements you get for completing levels are references to the song "Hotel California" by Music/{{Eagles}}.
* ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'' features Spidey remarking, "[[Webcomic/PennyArcade You know what? Chicken butt]]", at least if you're running it on PSP.
* ''VideoGame/SpiderManTrilogy'':
** ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'':
*** Aside from having the usual Shout-Outs to Spider-Man and the Franchise/MarvelUniverse in general, the game also includes a considerably more subtle Shout-Out to a completely different work. The Shout-Out comes in the form of a random piece of dialogue you might hear from some thugs on the street.
---->"[[Film/AClockworkOrange Time for a little of the ole ultraviolence.]]"
*** There's also Mysterio saying "[[Film/ArmyOfDarkness Clatto Verata Nicto!]]" and "[[VideoGame/ZeroWing YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME!]]"
** ''VideoGame/SpiderMan3'' has Spidey telling villains "[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} I'd heard you were a cowardly and superstitious bunch...]]"
* ''VideoGame/{{Spiritfarer}}'':
** Raccoon Inc, the main business that you buy goods from throughout the game, mimics Tom Nook's business Nook Inc. from the ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' series. It's staffed by various raccoons (or tanukis, Gwen isn't quite sure) all named Theodore, and has a reputation for being a harsh PredatoryBusiness reminiscent of [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation a long-standing]] [[RonTheDeathEater interpretation]] by Animal Crossing fans of Tom Nook being a sleazy businessman.
** The description for sawdust reads that it's [[Film/AttackOfTheClones coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.]]
** The names of the three turtles (Olga, Masha, and Irina) are taken from Anton Chekov's play ''[[Theatre/ThreeSisters Three Sisters]]'', which [[AllThereInTheManual the artbook lists as Stella's favorite piece of literature.]]
** Upon offering Gwen a cup of coffee, her favorite food item, she proclaims it to be "[[Series/TwinPeaks a damn fine cup of coffee.]]"
** Among Buck's figurines are a man with an absurdly huge sword in a red cloak between a man with white hair and armor and a dark-skinned woman, both wielding more reasonable swords. Seems the guy is a fan of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. He also has a Literature/ConanTheBarbarian poster and a pair of hobbit figurines.
** While it could be a coincidence, the description of sugar cane is "That cane will sure come in [[{{Pun}} candy]]!" Puns aside, that's exactly how [[VideoGame/GrimFandango another charming psychopomp offered a comfortable journey into the afterlife]], though admittedly on a tighter budget.
** There's a twofer in the mint trading card -- it's for "[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Sorcery: the Reunion]]" and the narration hopes it's a Black Thunder Lotus.
** The description of the Valuable Ring:
--->[[Literature/TheLordofTheRings A beautiful specimen of the one true ring. But this one doesn't rule anything, except your wallet.]]
** This is a pretty obscure one, but it has to do with a {{Mondegreen}}. In the song "Our Lips Are Sealed" by Music/TheGoGos, the titular line is sometimes misheard as "Alex the Seal." The seal which runs the [[WarpWhistle bus stops]] is named Alex. Also, one of the game achievements is called "Sealed Lips."
** The self-help books you can add to Jackie's On-Call Room are described to be written by "self-help professionals such as Bobson Dugnutt and Dwigt Rortugal". These names come from the Japanese version of the SNES game localized as Fighting Baseball, where the Japanese developers didn't have the rights to use the names of real MLB players and made up [[{{Engrish}} American-sounding names]] instead. A list of several of them went viral online around 2017.
** Francis's errand to give him three different kinds of tuna in exchange for five jars of honey is called [[Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids "Honey, I Shrunk the Fishes"]].
** One of the residents at Edgeborough Lane says, "[[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove When the sun hits that dumpster just right]], you can really smell the dead fish."
* ''VideoGame/SplosionMan'' makes a Shout-Out in the process of pointing out that something else in the game isn't actually a Shout-Out -- the achievement for getting all the Cakes is called "This is not a VideoGame/{{Portal}} reference."
* ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsSuperSponge'':
** The bonus levels take place in an AmusementPark called "[[Ride/SixFlags Six Clams]] Adventure Park".
** There is a "[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Sponge-Signal]]" high in the sky in the background on the box art.
* There are a lot of strange creature in ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', but one of the stranger Maxis-created ones are the Barney Empire. And yes, they are [[Series/BarneyAndFriends purple dinosaurs]]. Oddly enough, they also [[spoiler:live in close proximity with the Grox]], [[TakeThat/VideoGames which might say something about Barney]]...
* One of the Specimens from ''VideoGame/SpookysJumpScareMansion'' was intentionally designed to resemble the Happy Mask Salesman from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''.
* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'':
** There's one in ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998'' to VideoGame/ParappaTheRapper. In the "Gnorc Cove" level, when Spyro rescues Tomas, at the end of their conversation Spyro goes "You gotta believe!" in a similar tone to that of Parappa.
** ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'':
*** In the level "Desert Ruins", there's an explorer called [[Franchise/TombRaider Tara]], who is a not-so-subtle parody of Lara Croft. Not only does she have large... bazoomas, when she sees Spyro, she complains that she spends "all day moving crates, and pushing switches", only for someone else to come and steal her treasure.
*** There is one in Shelia the Kangaroo's stages. Unlike the rest of the game, it's almost completely viewed [[SideView from the side]]. Its name? "[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Krash Kangaroo]]".
*** The first-person shooter section with goals entitled [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} "You're Doomed!" and "You're Still Doomed!"]].
*** Moneybags claims that Sgt. Byrd is pining for the fjords. [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Not that children would get that one.]]
*** In Enchanted Towers, one task involves rescuing a wolf called Farley, and returning them to their owner, named Mowat. At one point, Mowat says "[...] Don't cry, wolf, never cry, wolf...". The entire thing is a ShoutOut to the book ''Never Cry Wolf'' by Farley Mowat.
** A ''T. rex''-shaped robot enemy ''VideoGame/SpyroEnterTheDragonfly'' is known as the R-1000. It is an obvious reference to the T-1000 of ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' fame, right down to the liquid metal construction.
** ''VideoGame/SpyroAHerosTail'' has a scene where the Professor advises Spyro on what he needs to reach a level. Most of his suggestions are shout outs to other games.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Stacklands}}'', the Plank item card is depicted with a crudely-drawn smiling face on it, one that makes it look exactly like Johnny 2x4's CompanionCube pal Plank from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy''.
* In ''[[VideoGame/WithFriends Stampede Run]]'', one of the victory poses has that character doing the [[Music/{{PSY}} "Gangnam Style"]] dance.
* ''VideoGame/StarControl'' series has enough Shout-Outs to earlier works of science fiction to have [[http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Influences_and_References a long "Influences and References" list]] on its own wiki. Perhaps the most obvious is the roster of human starship pilots, which includes such names as [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Kirk]], [[Franchise/StarWars Solo]], and [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 Adama]] -- as well as literary Shout-Outs such as Literature/{{Ender|sGame}}, [[Franchise/{{Dune}} Halleck]], [[Creator/StanislawLem Pirx]], [[Literature/PolesotechnicLeague Van Rijn]], and [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Spiff]]. Several are hidden inside {{Technobabble}}; especially subtle is a reference to ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic''. Even ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' gets a plug.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalacticBattlegrounds'' features the Imperial basic troops (unsurprisingly, stormtroopers) announcing "[[Film/THX1138 THX-1138]] ready, sir."
** When the player is doing well while playing as Han Solo in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII'', an enemy stormtrooper will occasionally exclaim, "Hey! Solo shot first! That's not fair!", a clear reference to Han's confrontation with Greedo at Mos Eisley in the original ''Star Wars'' movie.
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsKnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has a few.
** The most obvious one is Bastila, who is a slightly more developed version of Aribeth from [[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights an earlier BioWare game]].
** "Canderous" was also the name of a minor NPC in Castlekeep.
** The 2001 Xbox game ''Star Wars: Obi-Wan'', set before and during the events of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', ends on a bizarre parody of the "Choose life" monologue from ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}''. It's an obvious ActorAllusion to Creator/EwanMcGregor's roles in both films, but TheOtherDarrin Lewis Mcleod plays him as a lot more Scottish than Obi-Wan ever sounds in the film, while also making reference to a lot of characters Obi-Wan never meets in any of the films.
-->"Choose the Force. Choose a job. Choose the Dark Side. Choose the Council. Choose a flubbing big lightsaber. Choose protocol droids, holoprojectors, and R2 units. Choose Watto, Tatooine, and Alderaan. Choose fixed-interest credit payments to Sebulba. Choose a Corellian freighter that did the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. Choose a Wookiee. Choose sitting in Jabba's throne room, watching mind-numbing dancers, stuffing green chubas into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, disappearing into thin air, nothing more than an embarrassment to the whiny kid you trained on the way to Alderaan. Choose your destiny. Choose the Force. But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose the Dark Side. I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got a lightsaber?"
* ''VideoGame/{{Starcrystal}} Episode I: Mertactor: The Volentine Gambit''. The instruction book for the game says that one possible job on the planet Mertactor is collecting the droppings of Beck's Beasts. It says "When your grandchildren ask 'What did you do in the Fifth Frontier War?', you can say 'I shoveled dung on Mertactor'". This is a reference to a line in the movie ''Film/{{Patton}}'' where the title general says that if your grandson "asks you 'What did you do in the great UsefulNotes/WorldWarII?', you won't have to say 'Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana'".
* ''VideoGame/{{Startropics}}'' has a [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Moai head]] as a boss in one of its later levels.
* The ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' game ''VideoGame/StrangeJourney'' has a skill called [[Music/{{Queen}} Bites The Dust]], [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure which turns the target into a living bomb]].
* ''VideoGame/SteamWorldDig'' has a hidden area in the Old World stage, where you find a half-destroyed video game shop deep in the caves. It's adorned with ''Half-Life 3'' logos and posters ("It's Finally Here!"). It also has a line of skeletons who were presumably queuing for launch day - shame about the world ending first. One of them is even wearing a rather familiar HEV suit...
* ''VideoGame/StickyBusiness'': In ''[[DownloadableContent Plan With Me]]'':
** William Forger's username is [[Music/WillIAm "@will.i.am"]].
** The achievement for completing Violet and Emily's storyline is called [[Music/{{Nirvana}} "Smells Like Sticker Spirit"]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Strangeland}}'': The close-up shot of [[https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1369520/ss_b177fa1b7e4af18a233358f6682b2fb7d2ecfb24.1920x1080.jpg?t=1622328924 the stranger talking on the payphone]] is a [[https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.w4H84U6m0vT_CXXtIALIJQHaEK%26pid%3DApi&f=1 visual reference]] to ''Film/PhoneBooth''.
* In ''VisualNovel/StrawberryVinegar'':
** If Rie refuses Licia's deal:
--->'''Rie:''' I know about ''[[Theatre/DoctorFaustus Dr. Faustus]]'', and I know what happens to people who make contracts with demons.
** Licia mentions that her mother loves the manga ''[[Anime/CreamyMamiTheMagicAngel Silky Mami]]'' and ''[[Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles Violet of Versailles]]''.
** Rie knows a ''concerning'' amount about the H-scenes in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'':
--->'''Rie:''' And you don't know anything about mollusks, or carnivorous plants, or honey pots?\\
'''Licia:''' Ehehe...I really don't know what you're talking about. Is it some kind of code?\\
'''Rie:''' I-in a matter of speaking, I suppose.
** The online forum Licia's sister visits where she posts pictures of anime girls and tells people to kill themselves. Licia says her sister gets really mad every time she gets on it, but for whatever reason keeps going on it. [[Website/FourChan A certain real website comes to mind.]]
** The name of a waitress changes to [[Literature/TheRing Sadako]] after Rie comments on how her complexion and black hair make her look like she should be in a horror movie.
* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage 3'' has a trio of {{Ninja}} {{Mooks}} named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiro_Mifune Mifune]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sho_Kosugi Kosugi]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Chiba Chiba]].
* ''VideoGame/StringTyrant'' has a few:
** The testaments and best gear are all tributes to {{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}
** The achievement picture for getting the golden ending on the hardest difficulty is a reference to one of the Studio's other NSFW projects.
** The person who made all the dolls that populate the manor is named Pygmalie, in reference to PygmalionPlot.
* At one point towards the end of ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'', you can answer a phone that isn't actually ringing to get a warning from a girl that [[Film/TheRing you will die in seven days]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'', the home base of the characters is always somewhere near water -- it's actually an enormous ship, in the most extreme case. This is a subtle Shout-Out to [[Literature/WaterMargin the novel]] from which the series gains its name and some of its themes -- including the recurring 108 characters -- in which the bandit protagonists are based out of a marsh.
* ''VideoGame/SummonNight'':
** ''VideoGame/SummonNightSwordcraftStory'' has standard {{Mythology Gag}}s to the main series, but Atlus added at least one ShoutOut in it. [[Film/TheWizard "I love the knuckle. It's so bad."]]
** ''VideoGame/SummonNightSwordcraftStory2'':
*** A sword in the game has the FlavorText of "[[Franchise/GhostBusters Who You Gonna Call]]"?
*** The protagonist says the line "Don't call me Shirley!" from ''Film/{{Airplane}}''.
* In ''VideoGame/SumomoTheater'', a parody of ''VideoGame/WonderMomo'', enemies resemble a female ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro'', the floating samurai-helmeted boss from ''VideoGame/GetsuFumaDen'', the zombies in ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'', fire-breathing ninjas from ''VideoGame/TheNinjaWarriors'', horned enemies from the arcade version of ''VideoGame/{{Rygar}}'', the hoverbike riders in ''Seicross'', the avian pilot from ''Sky Kid'', the Rick Dom mecha in ''VideoGame/SpaceHarrier'', blue ghosts from ''VideoGame/{{Spelunker}}'', and the wizard from ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga''.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' contains an incredible number of Shout Outs to the mecha genre, which should come as little surprise as the entire series can be considered a virtual love-letter to the genre and its fans.
** One famous example is Ryusei Date, an AscendedFanboy who yells out phrases from his favorite shows while in battle.
** Some of the mecha unique to the game were made as homages to others; the most famous of these are the Grungust series, made to resemble Anime/MazingerZ and its brethren, and the Huckebein series, which look like dead-ringers for [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gundams]]. In their first appearances, they even went so far as to give one of the Huckebein's alternate colors the familiar red, white and blue scheme.
** ''Original Generation 2'':
*** In the ending to several members of the team are re-assigned to a remote base in Russia called Gandum. Ryusei seems to find the name [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam awfully familiar]]...
*** Earlier in the game, Masaki gives another character the nickname of "Comet", as she's TheRival of a third character known as "Shooting Star", and happens to be piloting a red fighter. One of Masaki's [[TalkingAnimal cats]] starts to say "So should we call you the Red...", but is [[YouWannaGetSued interrupted before she can complete her sentence]]. This sure sounds familiar to some rivalry in a HumongousMecha show...
*** Excellen accidentally refers to the machine Calion as the "Galion". Ga''le''on is the name of the lion that turns into Anime/GaoGaiGar.
** In ''Original Generations'', Excellen Browning shows ''her'' own brand of nerdiness, especially when she references ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''.
** In games where they appear together, [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro Ray]] and [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Misato Katsuragi]] flirt constantly, a [[CastingGag reference to the fact that their voice actors played Usagi and Mamoru]] in ''Anime/SailorMoon''. As well, many characters will note how they sound similar to other characters.
** Mio Sasuga from the ''Masou Kishin'' sub-series of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' brings us a ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' shout out, especially in ''Alpha Gaiden'' where attacking with her Zamzeed's Chou Shin Dou Ken had her yelling Kenshiro's battle cry "Atatatatatata!" and ending with his CatchPhrase "[[YouAreAlreadyDead Omae wa mou shinderu]] ...Just kidding!"
** In addition to the general influence from and gags related to mecha series, ''Super Robot Wars'' contains a massive degree of homages, pastiches, and general shout-outs to every thinkable medium. In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX'', for example, the protagonist quotes (or comes very close to quoting) quite a bit of dialogue from Shigotonin, one of the nicest-looking attacks performed by the originals is a shout out to one of that series' most iconic sequences, and one of the major themes associated with the heroes is a clear musical parallel to it's musical intro.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsV'':
*** The [[Anime/TheBraveExpressMightGaine Shadow Army]] mooks, after being critically damaged by a Gundam, will ask if it's equipped with Shingan Sensor. This is actually a reference to "Hidden Shadow of G", an extremely obscure UC Gundam spinoff about [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot a ninja Gundam fighting other mobile suit ninjas]].
*** An equally obscure one happens in the "Three Strengths" DLC mission, where [[Anime/ShinMazinger Kouji]] compliments [[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion Shinji]], saying that he was a "warrior of miracle", referencing the name of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFidP9p8j9M cheesy, super robot-esque]] insert song of the Sega Saturn Evangelion game.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX'': Mazinkaiser is the next in line to pay homage to [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Raoh's]] DyingMomentOfAwesome by uppercut-firing its Kaiser Nova towards its target in the skies, complete with the same angled shots.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosCrusade'' has a Sandvich from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' as a recovery item. Unlike in [=TF2=], though, this is a regular food recovery item and doesn't recover all your damage.
* ''Videogame/SupremeCommander2'' has a subtle ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' Shout-Out late in the game:
-->[-Which one should I attack first?-]\\
[-The ugly one.-]\\
[-.....could you be more specific?-]
* ''VideoGame/SwordOfChaos'':
** "[[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft For the alliance!]]" --Centaur, Pleiadene Temple.
** "Queen Humbaba is angry. [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk You won't like her when she's angry--]]" --Crucifer, Green Courtyard description.
** "I was also once an adventurer. Until I was [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim hit in the knee by an arrow]]..." --Arena Officer
* In ''VideoGame/{{Swordigo}}'', a man hands the hero a sword, and says, "[[Memes/TheLegendOfZelda Before you go, take this sword. It's dangerous to go unarmed.]]"
* ''VideoGame/SydneyHunterAndTheCurseOfTheMayan''
** In the first temple, you can converse with a Mayan who wonders why the merchants selling things for money don't just break the pots containing all the gems they want. His final line is "[[WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero Knowing is half the battle.]]".
** Upon giving the Ka'ak Tablet to Bit'Hed, he will activate the magical [[Franchise/MegaMan disappearing and reappearing floating block platforms]].
** Before [[spoiler:growing Kukulkan to the size of a house]], Kinich Ahau tells Sydney he's gonna die a Creator/Suda51 death, and shouts "[[VideoGame/TravisStrikesAgainNoMoreHeroes Kukulkan Strikes Again!!!]]".
* In ''VideoGame/SymphonyOfWar'', [[spoiler:after returning from the dead]], the player character's class becomes "Lord". A heavily armored sword wielder who calls lighting from the sky to strike down an entire enemy squad. In ''VideoGame/OgreBattleTheMarchOfTheBlackQueen'' the player character is also has the lord class, with a similar attack (if of neutral alignment) while wielding a sword.
* The SpaceElevator in ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}} Wars'' is placed in Sri Lanka. This is also home of Creator/ArthurCClarke, who popularised the idea in fiction.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:T]]
* Freeware puzzle game ''TAG: The Power of Paint'' features a neat ShoutOut. In the game, different color paints give you different powers when you walk over them. [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 And red paint makes you go faster.]]
* In ''Tales of Lagoona 2: Peril at Poseidon Park'':
** Some of the quests are called "[[{{Film/Spaceballs}} You've captured their stunt doubles!]]", "[[{{Film/Sneakers}} My voice is my passport]]", "[[WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer I'm the map]]", "[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay]]", and "[[Film/{{Scarface 1983}} Say 'cello' to my little friend]]". The latter's description says that every time two rival orchestras get together in a back alley "[[Film/WestSideStory1961 finger-snapping and drum solos]]" take place.
** Leona's grandfather says "[[Series/Batman1966 Holy barnacles, Batmanatee!]]" when he sees the park improvements.
** A ''Barnacle Falls Bulletin'' headline states "[[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Aperture Science lies about cake for test subjects]], lawsuit pending."
** A quicksand-making puzzle says to watch out for "[[Film/ThePrincessBride rodents of unusual size]]".
** Two of the characters are named [[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Peabody and Sherman]].
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** The series as a whole likes to reference other Namco-Bandai games. ''VideoGame/PacMan'' is a favourite -- there's a Pac-Man sculpture in Flanoir in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', and Jade Curtiss's belt is shaped like Pac-Man in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', Cress can equip a set of ten items from ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga'' to receive the title "Gilgamesh". The same title and a similar set of items exist for Zelos Wilder in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', which is also a prequel to ''Phantasia''.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' features the recurring phrase "Give me your name and I'll give you mine," from the [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Dwarf-raised]] Lloyd.
* In ''Tap Adventure: Time Travel'', Fiery Fox may be a reference to [[UsefulNotes/MozillaFirefox Firefox]].
* In ''[[VideoGame/KatamariDamacy Tap My Katamari]]'', in a victory screen, the Prince says, "[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing One does not simply roll a Katamari...]]"
* In ''Tap Tap Infinity'', there is the zombie [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Lurch]], the frog soldiers [[Film/ThreeHundred Spartan and Prince Leomitus]], and the red bat [[Website/{{Reddit}} Rhed'it]].
* ''Tap Titans'':
** In the first game, the hero Twitterella the Tweeter is a reference to Website/{{Twitter}}. The enemy Nicholson is a reference to Creator/JackNicholson.
** ''Tap Titans 2'' has the heroes [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Sawyer]] and [[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Zato]], there is a blue [[VideoGame/MarioKart spiked shell helmet]], and there are the Titans [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack Ackkuh]], [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Dead Poo]], [[VideoGame/Portal1 G.L.A.H. and D.O.S.]], [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Great Old One]], [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Drakecula]], [[Series/TheMunsters Munster Man]], [[Music/PaulMcCartney Sir Paul Beat]], [[Music/RingoStarr Starry Ringo]], [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stalk]], and [[Music/JohnLennon Witty Birb John]].
* In the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum game ''Techno Cop'', one crime to which the player is called is "Baby being crushed". The perp's name is Charles Paisley, the "baby crusher" mentioned in the Piranha brothers sketch from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantsInManhattan'':
** After you beat Wingnut, he flies off on a flying machine similar to the [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Green Goblin's]] glider.
** Before the climax of the game, Michelangelo says "[[VideoGame/ZeroWing All your base are belong to us]]" with Krang's robot-head.
* ''VideoGame/{{Teenagent}}'':
** Mark Hopper mentions even [[FRANCHISE/ASTERIx Obelix]] has friends besides being fat.
** Mark Hopper mentions he always liked ''Franchise/StarWars''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'':
** The Kickstarter trailer included two players, [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Fry and Leela]], joining forces for a cooperative battle.
** Trainers are referred to as Tamers, much like Franchise/{{Digimon}}.
** Monsters are kept in [[Franchise/YuGiOh cards.]]
** A tamer named Olayinka in the Chini Grotto resembles [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Korra]].
** In Arbury (an island based on Great Britain), there's a ginger woman named Mèrida who's looking for her bow, just like the protagonist of ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''.
** Also in Arbury is Lady Romanescu, a parody of [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage Lady Dimitrescu]]. Down to jokes about her ass.
** If you try to go to another room in the Evershifting Tower without choosing a starter first, a dialogue box says "It's dangerous to go alone!", a reference the old man's iconic line in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' when he gives Link the sword.
** Chromeon's Tempedia entry begins with the line ''"Chrome-chrome-Chromeoooon, you come and gooo..."'', a reference to "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club.
** Halzhi is partially named after HAL 9000 from ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''; Skail and Skunch are named after Skaven, the rodent-people from ''TableTopgame/{{Warhammer}}''; and Oceara is named after the Mearas Mearas, a breed of wild horses from ''Literature/LordOfTheRings''.
** Hoglip and Hedgine's "Gotta Go Fast" trait is named after the memetic opening line of the ''Anime/SonicX'' theme song.
** The description of Psychosis says "Never take a shower before checking you're really alone," a reference to the famous shower murder from ''Film/{{Psycho}}''.
* ''Tetris with Cardcaptor Sakura - Eternal Heart'' is a ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster'' LicensedGame spinoff based on ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura''. The goal is to clear seven jeweled blocks rather than make lines. This objective was adapted into a game mode in ''Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror-Instinct''. Heboris, a fan clone of [=TGM=], features a similar mode called Tomoyo.
* ''VideoGame/ThanksKillingDay'': Whenever the killer pilgrim manages to kill [[PlayerCharacter the kid]], the ''Franchise/FinalFantsy'' theme plays over the GameOver screen.
* In ''VideoGame/ThetaVsPi7'', you talk with a piano player early on who is less than impressed. He claims that even [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros his plumber]] is a better adventurer than you.
* Some of ''VideoGame/ThunderForce V'''s bosses are named after bands: for instance, Music/DeepPurple for Stage 1, and Music/IronMaiden for Stage 2.
* ''VideoGame/{{Timberborn}}'': The flavour text for the medical bed begins with "'Tis but a scratch!", a line from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''.
* ''VideoGame/TimeGal'' has one, but only in Japan: in one of the death scenes in 1588, Reika is chased by a shark. What does she say while this is happening? "[[Film/{{Jaws}} JAAAAAAAAAWZUUUUUUUUU!]]" In the U.S. version, when swinging on a vine in 65,000,000 B.C., she ''attempts'' a Franchise/{{Tarzan}} scream.
* The first motorcycle level in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend'' is a shoutout to the ending of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''.
* ''VideoGame/TotemTribe'' has a series of stones with mostly-helpful information along the coast of the game's various islands. On Monkey Island, one of them says "[[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Guybrush Threepwood was here.]]"
* ''VideoGame/ToyStory3'': Once you get deeper into the Haunted House, the game starts playing "[[Franchise/TheHauntedMansion Grim Grinning Ghosts]]".
* Seeing as how ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'' is basically High Moon Studio's love letter to the childhoods of boys who grew up in The80s, the whole game runs on Shout-Outs to the Transformers universe.
** What isn't a blatant re-purposing of content from other continuities is simply PragmaticAdaptation: turning Megatron's alt mode from a pistol to a tank is one of them.
** Clearer examples are often used for the names of achievements. For example, if you kill two snipers within 5 seconds of each other, you are rewarded with the achievement "Targetmaster".[[note]]For those who aren't Transfans, the Targetmasters was a line of toys produced during Generation 1.[[/note]]
** Props go out to the [[spoiler:boss battle with Soundwave during the Autobot half of the Campaign mode. After the player hasn't seen hide nor hair of Rumble, Frenzy, or Laserbeak during the three missions where you can play as Soundwave, and possibly as a mild Shout-Out in his possession of the Sentry ability, he produces all three during the boss encounter, and they are in fact integral to defeating the monotone fiend.]]
** The entire game is basically a re-imaging of the backstory to G1, with a TV series following up on it planned. It has Shout-Outs to every other Western ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' thrown in for good measure. Actually explaining ''how'' Starscream went from a scientist and friend of Jetfire to a treacherous Decepticon is a nice touch.
** ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' continues the tradition, with Slug (formerly Slag) quoting his entrance from ''The Transformers: The Movie''. Plenty of other pop up as well, including Starscream's crown from his coronation scene in the same film.
* ''VideoGame/{{Transistor}}'':
** The Bracket Towers Maintenance Section has the code 0451, which is famously used as the initial door code in ''VideoGame/SystemShock'', and many games referencing this since. (Which is itself a reference to ''Literature/Fahrenheit451''.)
** In a track "She Shines" has a set of lyrics that could be a nod to Film/BladeRunner.
--->"Lost in the cloud, like tears in the rain."
* ''VideoGame/TheTreeOfLife'':
** Row 9 of Coin upgrades is the opening lines of ''Franchise/StarWars'' films, with "rather near here..." instead of "far, far away..."
** The last five Amino Acids milestones that are exclusive to non-extreme mode are taken from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's Sonnet 106.
** The Dilation challenge is partially inspired by Time Dilation from ''VideoGame/AntimatterDimensions'', as the changelog for the entry that added an explanation for it states "[go play AD y'all]".
* In ''VideoGame/TrinityUniverse'', there's an optional event where Kanata and his friends run into Recit after he goes on a rash of cash register vandalism. Recit immediately admits to being responsible, which disappoints the Prinny, who expected to engage in a battle of wits where Kanata would "[[Franchise/AceAttorney use logic, deduce, and present evidence]]" to incriminate him.
-->'''Prinny:''' Take that, dood!\\
'''Pamela:''' Objection!
* ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA'': [[Film/ArmyOfDarkness "Like this? This is my BOOMSTICK!"]]
* The Steam achievements for the oil-drilling business simulation ''Turmoil'' include [[Film/ThereWillBeBlood "Empty Milkshake"]] and [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark "Tree Fiddy"]].
* In Outlaw's ending of ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal: Head On'', Carl accidentally wishes for Jamie to "shut up", and her [[WipeThatSmileOffYourFace mouth fuses shut]] in the same manner as Neo's in ''Film/TheMatrix''.
* ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'' all over the place, with details referencing not only Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon but also the original fairy tales the works were based on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:U]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Understand}}'': The theme of level 8-? is references to other puzzle games. [[spoiler:The rule is that you have to highlight the name of the game being referenced.]]
** 8-?-2 is a straight-forward reference that spells out the title of ''VideoGame/TheWitness'' and displays some symbols from it.
** 8-?-3 references ''VideoGame/BabaIsYou'', and even uses the RosesAreRedVioletsAreBlue poem from the "Poem" level.
** 8-?-4 shows you a sentence along with the main character from ''VideoGame/{{Fez}}''.
** 8-?-5 shows you the ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' logo, a companion cube and another portal. [[spoiler:The portals are functioning, and necessary for spelling out "PORTAL".]]
* ''VideoGame/UnisonLeague'':
** "How can the princess be MISSING? Is she [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 in another castle]]?" --Falsa, after completing Stage 3.
** "Still, as a wise man once said, [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda it's dangerous to go alone]]." --Nimey, explaining how to join a guild.
* ''VideoGame/TheUniversim'': One of the posters that can appear on the side of a skyscraper depicts Nugget versions of WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty, and occasionally they'll visit your planet through a portal.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unpacking}}'':
** The protagonist gets her hands on several classic Nintendo systems throughout her life, such as a UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, UsefulNotes/NintendoWii, UsefulNotes/GameBoy, and a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS. In addition, some of the games that you must put away are not-so-subtly inspired by real games, such as ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsHitAndRun'', and ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}''. She also acquires a UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and an appropriate collection of games for it. She also has a couple volumes of the ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' English hardcover collection and [=DVDs=] and [=Blu-Rays=] of assorted movies such as ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''Film/BrokebackMountain'', ''Film/DonnieDarko'', ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{UP}}''.
** One of the protagonist's stuffed toys is Bluey from ''Webcomic/DragonTails''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V]]
* ''VideoGame/VentureKid'': One of the treasures you can collect to get the game's TrueEnding is a golden [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem [=NES=]]] cartridge.
* ''VideoGame/VermintideII'':
** One of the tomes in the map "Empire in Flames" is located in a [[Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado bricked-up alcove in a wine cellar with a skeleton in it]].
** The picture for the "Gun to a Swordfight" achievement is clearly a reference to a famous scene from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', where Indiana Jones [[CombatPragmatist shoots a big man brandishing a sword at him menacingly]].
** An exchange between Saltzpyre and Kruber is very similar to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArRJFo27oh0 one given]] in ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'', where the dying Cpt. Murray gifts his officer's sword to the protagonist Richard Sharpe. Given that it's the same actor, Tim Bentinck, it might qualify as a {{Homage}}.
-->'''Saltzpyre''': Should I die, Kruber, I want you to have my sword of office.\\
'''Kruber''': Uh, why? So people will think I'm a Witch Hunter?\\
'''Saltzpyre''': No. [[PetTheDog So that people will think I liked you.]]
* ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'': The Developer's Note for the song "Royalty". The ''Lennus'' series is ''VideoGame/PaladinsQuest'' and ''VideoGame/LennusII'':
--> This song was pretty heavily inspired by the music from the Lennus series.\\
I also attribute my overuse of the glockenspiel to the Lennus series (though there is no glockenspiel in this song).
* ''VideoGame/VGAMiner'': To ''Literature/TheHobbit'' when the game ends:
-->-- Thanks for playing ''Miner VGA.'' Hope you had a good time. May the hair on your toes never fall off... Frodo
[[/folder]]

[[folder:W]]
* ''VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997'' has Shakespeare himself quote his own play when trying to get his dog to leave. He yells "[[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} Out, damned spot]]."
* In ''VideoGame/WhileTrueLearn'', one of the [[VirtualPaperDoll skins]] you can buy for your pet is [[Anime/MyNeighborTotoro Catbus]].
* ''VideoGame/WhiteNoise2'': One of the new investigators, Maria, has [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse Rose Quartz's]] hair.
* In ''[[VideoGame/WuTangShaolinStyle Wu Tang: Shaolin Style]]'', Inspecta Deck's TouchOfDeath fighting style references Kenshiro's Hokuto Shinken art from ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', complete with a [[YourHeadAsplode head-asploding]] FinishingMove.
* In ''VideoGame/WitchHunt'', the player is followed around the map by a mysterious black goat that looks a lot like [[Film/TheWitch Black Phillip]]. [[spoiler:And like ''Film/TheWitch'', the ending implies the goat is Satan in disguise, keeping tabs on you]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Y]]
* ''VideoGame/YoNoid2EnterTheVoid'':
** The names of the unlockable characters:
*** The default Noid is "None Pizza", a reference to the "None Pizza with Left Beef" meme.
*** "The Return" lets you play as a Noid who wears green, jumps higher, wiggles his legs while jumping, and skids to a stop, making him a clear parallel to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]]. Additionally, his name in text boxes is "Mr. Green", confirming that he's the antagonist of the original game.
*** [[Music/Crush40 Crust 40]] has you play as a Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}}-like Noid.
*** The pill-shaped Noid is selected through the "[[Franchise/MegaMan Proto Man]]" option. According to the text boxes, his name is [[VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey Cappy]].
** In Swing Factory, there's a platform near the start with four notches, pepperonis in three of those notches, and a rock nearby. Putting the rock in the empty notch causes [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild a mushroom named Oroki to appear, who says "Yahaha! You found me!"]]
** The final boss of the game is [[spoiler:a blue-haired man "voiced" by a text-to-speech program, named [[Music/HatsuneMiku Mike Hatsune]]. He also makes reference to creating a [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} "vocal Noid"]].]]
* ''VideoGame/YourBizarreAdventure'' (a ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' FanGame):
** Most of the game's music is taken from ''Manga/MadeInAbyss''.
** You can find "Joe Kojoe" ([[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Part 6]] Jotaro) out into the ocean surrounding the main map's Colosseum, referencing [[https://media1.tenor.com/images/1d8eff7b5f3a4446a60af0e73e700873/tenor.gif?itemid=8182319 a popular GIF]] depicting him dancing in a shallow body of water.
** Death is always accompanied by "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZIpFytCSVc Bruh Sound Effect #2]]".
** The pizza place occasionally plays [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czTksCF6X8Y the pizza delivery music]] from ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'' while you're inside it.
[[/folder]]

* ''ShoutOut/LEGOBatman''

* "VideoGame/MidnightFightExpress":

* In ''VideoGame/{{APICO}}'', the chapter in Grandpa's Guidebook that teaches you how to make incenses is called [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist "Full-Beetal Alchemist"]].

* ''ShoutOut/{{Visage}}''

* In ''VideoGame/StickyBusiness'', the achievement for completing Violet and Emily's storyline is called [[Music/{{Nirvana}} "Smells Like Sticker Spirit"]].

* The main menu music from ''VideoGame/DonutCounty'' uses a sample of the Equip sound effect from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2''.

* The [[ExpansionPack Deluxe Pack]] for ''VideoGame/KittyPowersMatchmaker'' has a new Dating Dilemma where you have to identify the candidate's favorite actor from various movie posters that are parodies of real-world movies such as ''[[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon How to Train Your Drag Queen]]''.

** ''ShoutOut/AnnoMutationem''

* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'':
** A viewable cartridge is titled "[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Super Hacker Bros.]]" on a console resembling the UsefulNotes/Atari2600.
** The "Combo Experience" achievement artwork depicts [[VideoGame/FruitNinja several fruit being sliced apart]].
** The "A Dangerous Day" collectible movie poster is an exact homage of ''Film/BladeRunner'''s poster.
** At Harbor Town, Ann can speak with a gang member who tries to impress her with a pirouette that Ayane recognizes as "[[Theatre/SwanLake Dance of the Little Swans]]".
** At Noctis City, there's an arcade game found in an alley called "Invincible" that has the cover art of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' featuring Doomguy.
** One of the collectible items is a toy resembling ''Franchise/DragonQuest'''s Slime, which is a mix of both a slime and Healie.
** The collectible poster titled "Blood Night" has the monster being [[Film/{{Nosferatu}} Count Orlok]].
** There are several playable arcade games of ''[[VideoGame/{{Pong}} Tong]]'' in a few areas.
** At Siberius's antique shop, the monitors feature ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}'', ''VideoGame/RadRacer'', and ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' on display.
** One collectible poster features a contest for a shoot em' up game called "[[VideoGame/SpaceInvaders UFO Invaders]]".
** One of the achievements earned for using the shower several times is titled "[[Music/OutKast So Fresh and So clean clean]]".
** Utilizing the item dissembling mechanic earns the achievement "[[Music/StevieWonder I think it's broke]]".
** At Skopp City, after giving enough tributes to a statue, the achievement "[[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Serenity Now]]" is earned.
** One collectible poster is depicted with the title of '[[Franchise/StreetFighter Legendary Fighter]]', the lead being called [[Creator/BruceLee Bruce M. Bee]].
** Ayane's bedroom holds a display featuring ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' in the midst of a miniature city facing off against ''Series/UltraMan''.
** One of the collectible items is called the '[[Toys/{{Tamagotchi}} Annogutchi]]', an animal-styled life simulator toy.
** The achievement earned for destroying a red ball of energy is called "[[Series/TheHoneymooners In the smacker]]".
** An achievement for completing several {{Hacking Minigame}}s is titled "[[Film/TheMatrix You Are The One]]", illustrated with a few Agent Smiths.
** In the Mysterious Console DLC, Noni's weapon selection menu takes cues from ''VideoGame/MetalGear'''s design.
** One achievement is called "[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} Science, it works!]]"
** At Luhrs' item shop in Harbor Town, one of the swords shown on display is [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda The Master Sword]].
** A message from a '[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto Grand Theft Audry]]' says they're furious that the car they stolen was taken.
** One of the collectible posters details about [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles four brothers living in the sewers]] fighting monsters.
** One achievement is titled "[[Film/MidnightCowboy I'm walking here!]]", earned by making several cars in the city stop on the road.
** Completing the Freeway 42 area following a supernatural revelation earns the achievement "[[Series/TheXFiles The truth is out there]]".
** A civilian dressed as [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Asuka Langley]] can be seen in Skopp City.
** An achievement is titled "[[Franchise/StarWars Annakin Skyscroller]]".
** One of the collectible movie posters is called ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' about an underwater amphibious creature.
** The flavor text for the Stormram weapon describes it as a ''ComicBook/ChicagoTypewriter''.
** ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'''s Hammond works at the weapon shop in Harbor Town.
** Jill and Dana from ''VisualNovel/VA11HALLA'' appear at the bars in Magarita and Harbor Town.