Fate/strange Fake is famously (or infamously depending on who you ask) littered with copious amounts of Continuity Nods and Mythology Gags from all over the Nasuverse, be it old or new works, be it Fate or Tsuki worlds, verging on Reference Overdosed.
- When summoning Gilgamesh, his wannabe Master mentions that he was summoned with a snake skin in a previous Grail war.
- In the anime OAV; as Gilgamesh is being summoned; a rainbow aura appears around the summoning circle; similar to what happens in Fate/Grand Order when a guaranteed 5-Star Special Super Rare occurs. This was added to the actual OAV, it wasn't in the sneak peak.
- Faldeus mentions magical defenses such as a shield of mercury and the transmission of consciousness into insects, references to Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald's Volumen Hydrargyrum and Zouken Matou's crest worms respectively, both participants and antagonists of the Holy Grail Wars depicted in Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night. Zouken's Worms are likewise modified into a potent bacteria by the Kuruoka Family, who sought to replicate his research on their own daughter, in a manner similar to Sakura Matou.
- This war properly introduces Enkidu to the Nasuverse, when they had until then only been mentioned in side materials and in Gilgamesh's backstory and some of his dialogues in Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night, and Fate/Extra CCC.
- Prelati, the Magus who taught the mad Caster of the Fourth Holy Grail War and whose existence was only hinted at by the name of Caster's Noble Phantasm, Prelati's Spellbook, makes his (or rather her) appearance in Fate/strange fake as a Big Bad and participant in the True Grail War.
- In the same vein, Prelati expresses her disappointment that she couldn't corrupt Ruler from Fate/Apocrypha the same way she corrupted Caster. That said Gilles almost pulls it off in Fate/Grand Order (almost in that he uses a grail to make one whole-cloth from nothing).
- When the clerk with a mohawk Ayaka meets when arriving in the city learns she is Japanese, he mentions his father went to Japan and he bought souvenirs from a place called Kitsy Land. Kitsy Land is an amusement park featured in Witch on the Holy Night that went under some years prior to the story and became the site of a battle between Aoko and Alice.
- Caster mentions rumour of "some dude" able to infinitely create copies with some kind of incredible Magecraft, an explicit description of Shirou Emiya.
- Francesca briefly mentions a battle between "an elder title and the last gold wolf", which seems to allude to Lugh Beowulf, Touko Aozaki's Familiar in Witch on the Holy Night. In it, one of the Noodle Incidents both of them got up to while traveling Europe was fighting an Elder Title Dead Apostle Ancestor.
- Maiya Hisau's Child by Rape, only mentioned in her backstory as having been separated from her, appears, named Sigma, as a major character and participant of the True Grail War as the Master of Watcher.
- Jack the Ripper, as a Berserker here, briefly turns into Assassin of Black, the Jack the Ripper from Fate/Apocrypha. Flat immediately asks him to change back, because his clothes would get Flat arrested.
- The awakening of ORT, or Type-Mercury, the strongest being in the Nasuverse only mentioned in side materials and the list of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, from its slumber somewhere in South America is the goal of Jester Kartur, which Zelretch is trying to prevent. ORT is later mentioned by Prelati along with "the cursed cat of Britain", most likely referring to Cath Palug from Garden of Avalon, also known as Fou, a.k.a Primate Murder to players of Fate/Grand Order.
- Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg is the Nasuverse's world hopping Archmage, who very rarely appears outside of Bonus Materials and indirect appearances in main works despite having access to the entirety of the Nasuverse continuity (backstory blurbs on how he aided in the formation of the Holy Grail War system and mention of his intervention during Rin's inquiry in Heaven's Feel True End, him acting as Arcueid Brunestud's grandfather, a few phone conversations in Prisma Illya, etc.). Here, however, he gets a major role as he tries to indirectly interfere in the False Holy Grail War in order to prevent a bad outcome without confirming the timelinenote
- Zelretch's friend, the Dead Apostle Ancestor Caubac Alcatraz, only being heard through a Supernatural Phone that is also somehow an Animate Inanimate Object is a reference to the Type-Moon mobile site and the obscure seeming parody stories to promote it, like Nerawareta Ahnenerbe's Secret Track Drama CD and Mahou Tsukai no Hako, in which he appears and interacts with the other characters as "Mr. Cellphone" and has the form of...well, a cellphone. Since he is stuck in one of his labyrinths, it is his only mean of communication with the outside world.
- As a result of Zelretch's and Caubac's meddling, Ayaka Sajyounote is brought in as a new participant in the war. Her manner of selection is itself a reference to the original version of Fate/strange fake as a videogame, being called "the Player" and being apparently customizable.
- This Ayaka's whole backstory, and her constantly seeing a ghost of the Little Red Riding Hood, is directly lifted from a Ghost Story told by Ayako Mitsuzuri in Fate/hollow ataraxia.
- El-Melloi II reminisces that, under his tutelage, Ayaka had to deal with Flat causing an incident by deciphering the Voynich Manuscripts. This is a pretty obscure reference to Himuten/material, a companion material for the gag manga Himuro's Universe - Fate/school life, in which Ayaka is a character. In Himuten/material, Ayaka's relationships section in her profile describes how her senpai deciphered the Voynich Manuscripts and then plants from Another Dimension started coming out during a botany class. This bit in strange fake seems to confirm that said senpai was Flat.
- Rohngall mentions that one of the Tohsakas was currently studying in the Clock Tower, which could only refer to Rin as the Grail War in strange fake takes place some time after the Fifth in Fuyuki. El-Melloi II later mistakenly wonders if she is the one who told Flat how Holy Grail Wars work, and his apprentice later suggests to ask for her help.
- Upon discovering that Jester is a Dead Apostle, False Assassin recalls ancient texts that spoke of Dead Apostles attacking during The Crusades. The Dead Apostle that attacked during the First Crusade was one with countless beasts in his body, a clear reference to Nrvnqsr Chaos.
- Though unnamed, Gray, El-Melloi II's personal apprentice from Lord El-Melloi II Case Files is still his student here and is studying Magecraft from her master in the Clock Tower.
- Risei Kotomine was considered a Parental Substitute by Hansa for his expertise in Bajiquan.
- Chief Reeve purchases a secret weapon, a hydra venom-soaked knife, from Kairi Shishigou.
- While praising his professor El-Melloi II to Berserker Jack, Flat talks about the past cases he solved, and somehow manages to give the exact names of the Story Arcs in Lord El-Melloi II Case Files...or at least attempts to, as he butchers them by giving them a more...extravagant flair:"It's not just the Grail War; the Professor solves all sorts of cases at the Clock Tower too! There was 'The Divided Castle Adra: The Moonlit Crest Contest Serial Killings,' and 'Dangerous Beauty: Vanishing at the Towers of the Twin Faces,' and 'The Super Express: Judgment Eye' and, umm..."
- Tine's a bit nervous holing up with Gilgamesh at one of Snowfield's most expensive hotels, recalling the fate of the Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel. Faldeus also references the hotel and it having been turned into a magical fortress when he compares it to Bazdilot's Workshop.
- Bazdilot's mana crystals are directly stated to be a refined version of Atrum Galliasta's system, on a grander scale with many more sacrifices.
- Bazdilot is said to have survived fights with Kairi Shishigou, Wu of the Marble Company and Sponheim Abbey.
- The Don Galvarosso Scladio went to the Rail Zeppelin, the Mystic Eyes collecting train briefly mentioned in Witch on the Holy Night and prominently featured in Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, to get himself a pair of Mystic Eyes.
- Haruri Borzak, the Master of True Berserker, is the granddaughter of Odd Borzak, a renegade magus who was killed by Kiritsugu Emiya and Natalia Kaminski in Fate/Zero's backstory.
- On the note of True Berserker, it's never stated outright but it's quite clear that Haruri expected to summon Thomas Mazda Edison, the berserk version of Thomas Edison briefly mentioned in Grand Order. Her catalyst was a Mazda lightbulb and she calls him Tesla's rival. She does end up summoning an electrified lion monster, but... it is definitely not Edison.
- Francesca mentions the organization she's working with tried to engage the services of Touko Aozaki, who was uninterested even when offered vast sums of money. Francesca feels they would have had more luck had they worded their request to better resonate with Touko's interest; for example, seeing if Touko could create a doll capable of housing a Heroic Spirit.
- As a kid living in Monaco, Flat snuck on the casino boat of Van-Fem, another Dead Apostle Ancestor only mentioned in Bonus Materials of Tsukihime, who let him stay in exchange of seeing his magecraft. Seeing it make him cryptically comment that Flat had achieved the forgotten 1,800-year old dream of the Escardos Family.
- Among the people who killed (and thus impressed) her, Francesca lists her teachers, Zelretch, Van-Fem, Satsuki Kurogiri, "the consoling witch that is eternally alive" (possibly April
from The Room of the April Witch), the Comte de Saint Germain, and "Scar Red" (aka Touko Aozaki).- Speaking of, Francesca made it a point to smash Touko’s Berserk Button by calling her “Dirty Red,” and Touko predictably one-upped her BRUTAL killing of Alba from Kara no Kyoukai. After murdering Francesca THIRTY TIMES and torching multiple safe houses, her family had to come and get her.
- The story briefly cuts to some students in Fuyuki who talk about rumors that there used to be a "ghost in a kimono" who haunted Ryudo Temple, obviously referring to Assassin/Sasaki Kojiro.
- Atalanta and Jason appear in Bazdilot's dream of True Archer's past.
- True Caster says it is possible for someone to become a Heroic Spirit while they are still alive, and Francesca wonders if Artoria Pendragon was one of them (she was).
- Flat and False Berserker Jack are attacked by a magi chess-themed assassin squad called Zugzwang. This is the same group that attacked Reika and Assassin Jack in Fate/Apocrypha to predictable results. They also dispose of other assassins, likewise killed by Jackie, and when Jack changes into her for a moment, every mercenary feels chills but doesn't know why.
- Haruri Borzak's former master and custodian was present during the Rail Zeppelin Story Arc in Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, where she got to see Lord El-Melloi II in action, but hers is an odd case: she isn't from the novels, but is a Canon Immigrant from the anime adaptation, where she was an unnamed background character with no lines as one of the train's passengers.
- Lord El-Melloi II hires the mercenary magus Flueger, another character originating from Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, to investigate the events in Snowfield in his place. To communicate privately, they use spiritron hacking, a relatively new form of magecraft not used in the Clock Tower.
- Sigma recounts an event that sounds suspiciously similar to what happened to the Red Masters in Fate/Apocrypha, except the group being betrayed and hypnotized by one of their own happened at an auction, and Lord El-Melloi II. In gratitude, they sent some of their relatives to his classroom, which are mentioned in the first volume and in Lord El-Melloi II Case Files as well.
- Talking to Hansa, Flat mentions having gone to Blackmore Cemetary in Gray's hometown in Wales, which was the fourth Story Arc of Lord El-Melloi II Case Files. Hansa also mentions being acquainted with the characters affiliated with the Holy Church who resided there and were part of the Story Arc.
- The two Prelatis talk about how one of their goals is using the Grail to enter the "great labyrinth" and get their hands on the "microcosm of the world" hidden in its depths. This may be another reference to Caubac Alcatraz, who created his last Great Labyrinth to contain within his "ideal terminal", the Holy Scripture Triten, described as the conclusion to his research. It is not clear exactly what it does, but Mahou Tsukai no Hako shows that it is a Living MacGuffin taking the form of a teenage girl named Hibiki Hibino.
- Tsubaki's father mentions that the bacteria used to modify Tsubaki were taken from South American ruins and idly speculates that they may be a remnant from the Age of Gods or of extraterrestrial origin, a reference to how the Aztec pantheon was revealed in Fate/Grand Order to be derived from symbiotic alien bacteria that came to Earth via the Chicxulub asteroid.
- At the end of the sixth volume, Hishiri Adashino from Lord El-Melloi II Case Files and Goredolf Musik from Fate/Grand Order make brief appearances as the Clock Tower's Policies department places Lord El-Melloi II under house arrest.
- Gilgamesh's attempt to see into the past Fuyuki Holy Grail War has him instead see "Lancer's Heaven III" scenario from Fate/hollow ataraxia where he is fishing with some children to show up Archer (EMIYA) and Lancer (Cú Chulainn).
"Hmm... 'Splash'...? This can't be right...? Fishing...? No..."
- Werner uses a Peligor-brand cell phone, a company whose founder was an old classmate of Waver and featured prominently in a special holiday OVA for the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files anime.
- Rin's piracy operations in Singapore from Adventures of El-Melloi II is mentioned in volume 7. Luvia has started up her own private military contractor company in response.
- In one of the Prelatis' illusion sequences, Francois starts rambling to everyone else's confusion about how their dressed up Castle Csejte should have castles stacked on top of it, referencing the popular fandom meme of adding more and more castles to Fate/Grand Order Halloween event's Serial Escalation of castle stacking.
- In her fight against Doris Lusendra, Rin uses a spell called "Cutting Seven Colors", which is actually one of her super moves from Fate/unlimited codes
- Speaking of the Lusendras, the previous head of the family, in order to further his attempt to become an oni, went to Japan to eat one of the Divine Bodies, the Pieces of God serving as the foundation of Japanese traditional magecraft as revealed in Adventures of El-Melloi II. However, before he could do that, he got killed by actual oni-blooded Kouma Kishima.
- Werner mentions that Svin Glascheit and Roland Berzinsky recently lost against one of the Zemlupus beast hunters in volume 8.
