The Best Fiends game has a boatload of references. Fans speculate that the developers definitely are delightfully nerdy.
Characters
- Edward's name comes from a certain literary figure.
- Karma, a chameleon, gets her name from the Culture Club song "Karma Chameleon".
- Gene is named for Gene Kelly, well known for his tapdancing abilities.
- Temper is very much a Batman parody, even parodying the famous "hero that Gotham deserves" line in his side quest. This side quest also gives him an outfit known as "The Dark Mite", dressing him in Batman's black and dark grey outfit.
- Dennis is a grasshopper.
- Newt is a reference to Isaac Newton, with his description saying he had an apple fall on his head as a tadpole and that he too has a connection with physics, defying them rather than defining them via his super fast tongue.
- Freddie is no doubt an homage to Freddie Mercury, being a one-man band (which Mercury effectively was, being a musical virtuoso).
- One of the most obvious references has to be Lapoleon, with his imperial ambitions à la Napoléon Bonaparte. The web shorts end up making him specifically a French cockroach.
- Not only is Kim, an earthworm, named similarly to Earthworm Jim, it's heavily implied she's his little sister, and has grown up in his shadow to the point that she probably would not react well to hearing his name in conversation.
- Gene's "Gene of Rock" costume gives him a look similar to that of The Ramones.
- Toddler Vincent's costume references one of his favorite things as Fiendimons.
- Beebert has the costume "Spielbert", making him a director. The description lists a long list of AKA names for him: "Alejandro Beeberitu, Spike Bee, Ang Bee, Beebert Scorstingy, Ingmar Beeman, Beely Wilder, Beebert Welles, Guillermo del BumbleBee, Luis Beeñuel, Tim Beeberton, Quentin Beebertino, Akira Beeosawa..."
- Carmen is named for Carmen Sandiego, with her tagline on the website even being "Where in the world?", along with a bright red coloration.
Levels
- 80: Game of Thorns
- 95: Temple of Boom
- 160: Sludge Dread
- 381: Linking Park
- 417: The Shining
- 421: Rolling Stones
- 562 is called "Get Down!", which doesn't seem too unusual until you get to the next one which is called "Get Down Again!", probably a reference to the "Little Tortilla Boy" joke by comedian Pablo Francisco.
- 681: It's a Trap!
- 683 squeezes in another musical reference via its title "Purple Maze".
- Not only is 691 called "Test Your Mite", it even gets as close to replicating the TYM display as you can get in this game.
- Yet another musical reference appears via the Hero World Tour area: the Dread Zeppelin.
- 999: Gauntlet of Infinity. The level itself even requires the player to collect diamonds before launching the attack.
- 1000: Long and Winding Road
Webseries
- "The Fight Before Christmas" is a whole pastiche of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Other
- When you catch Dude, one of the little bunnies for Splendid's Easter Party (a one-time event that happened for Easter 2019), Splendid remarks that she's "special", and says, "We were somewhere around Cactus Cove, on the edge of the desert, when the Slug smoothie he invented began to take hold..."
