Here is a list out of all the shout-outs that have appeared on Dragon Cave:
- A couple to Pokémon:
- Pokémon Night
itself, when many of the dragons' sprites were replaced with those of Pokémon for a joke. - The Legendary Trio - the codes of three of his were abbreviated versions of Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos' names (Arco, Mlts, Zpds). The Guardian of Nature dragon's description and the fact that a player must obtain all three of the Legendary Trio in order to summon it are references to Pokémon 2000.
- Shallow Water dragons' Breed-Specific Action is Splash. Like in the Gameboy games, when you use this, it will say "DRAGON used SPLASH! But nothing happened!" After roughly 100 times using this action, you will gain a Magikarp badge on the top of your scroll.
- Pokémon Night
- A couple to Portal:
- One of the treats in the 2010 Halloween trick-or-treat scavenger hunt is a cake. If you look closely, you will see the word "LIE" written on the side of the slice.
- There is a Portal-themed skin you can use for viewing the site.
- The Desert Sands release was the Sunstone and Moonstone dragons, which are orange and blue. The release's image said "The Blue and Orange conspiracy theory continues." Members immediately thought of Portal, but in reply TJ linked to a site pointing out Orange/Blue Contrast.
- Dinos are a based on the Yoshis from Super Mario Bros., from sharing their more cartoonish appearance, the shoes, their Extreme Omnivore diet, down to having the three giant spots on their eggs, but color-inverted. They used to be actual yoshis before The Great Fog replaced their art work.
- TJ's fake egg "<3", which can be seen here. One member had commented how the new dragons from a certain release matched up with the elements on Captain Planet and joked how the release was missing "the element of heart", so TJ added the heart egg.
- Saurian, a language invented for the game Star Fox Adventures, is used a lot on this site:
- TJ used to post all the announcement threads in Saurian, requiring users to translate the message.
- All of TJ's dragons are named in Saurian (thus, dragons descended from his are known as "Thuwed" dragons, as "thuwed" is Saurian for "dragon" and appears in the names he gives his dragons - for example, "Wahc Fadb Thuwed", which is literally "Girl Pink Dragon").
- In the Halloween 2011 Haunted Mansion event, there were "spells" that were really just words in Saurian.
- One of the 2012 Valentine's Day valentine messages was "Xuff 0 Lucokado'j Tu 0" - "Happy Valentine's Day" in Saurian.
- TJ has apparently stated that the chickens are a reference to the Harvest Moon games.
- The Leetle Stack of Pancakes has the code IHOP, which is a reference to the International House of Pancakes.
- For the 2011 Christmas Dress Up, the Green/Pebble dragons were given ham, and a veeery familiar cape and pair of orange shades...
- Valentine's Day 2012:
- The ever-quotable "Arrow in the knee" meme from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was part of one of the messages you could send.
- As a shout-out to Homestuck, one of the sendable messages was: "I desire you for my flushed quadrant."
- Both Easter 2012 and Trick or Treat 2012 have 'Lilo and Stitch" themed items- namely, an easter egg with Stitch-like patterns, and Lilo's doll as one of the Trick or Treat items.
- All of the Holiday 2012 Stories are dragon-themed parodies of actual stories and songs, such as The Twelve Days of Christmas and A Christmas Carol.
- The item you collect at the end of the "Haunting in Aliset" Halloween 2013 story is a sandwich; when someone asked if this is a reference to Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2, TJ responded, "Sandvich does not need Heavy Weapons Guy. Sandvich can be star all by itself."
- Easter 2013 had an egg that had a guitar and a Guitar Hero game going on.
- There're a few references in the item toolbox during the 2013 Christmas event:
- The descriptions for log walls and log doors read, "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay. I sleep all night and I work all day" and "On Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea".
- One log roof references "The Roof Is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three/the Bloodhound Gang, and the other mentions a fiddler.
- The gargoyle sculpture says it's no Idol of Durand.
- Easter 2015 had several eggs that contained shoutouts:
- One egg had Harry Potter's glasses, scar, and wand.
- One egg◊ was based on Rose Quartz from Steven Universe.
- A snowflake egg◊ with Elsa's hair, from Frozen.
- Fina's dress◊ and a silver magic circle, from Skies of Arcadia.
- Mima◊ from Touhou Project
- FOE◊, from Etrian Odyssey and this video
- Sayaka's soul gem◊ and Ocktavia's grief seed◊ from Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- The game◊ Limbo
- Enderman◊ from Minecraft
- Shield of Seals and Grima◊, Roy◊, and Emmeryn◊ from Fire Emblem: Awakening
- "The Dress"◊, a photo that went viral a month or so earlier
- One◊ that referenced "Magic to Do" from Pippin
- One◊ referencing The Phantom of the Opera
- Mike◊ from Monsters, Inc.
- A Wreck-It Ralph egg◊
- A Red Lyrium◊ egg from Dragon Age
- Skywarp◊ from Transformers: Generation 1
- "Valkemarian Tales" from the 2015 Christmas event has a few:
- The Festival of Eggs 2018 included two eggs with the job icons for the Red Mage and Samurai in Final Fantasy XIV, colored to resemble the respective jobs' soul crystals.
- Item descriptions found in the shop for Snow Wars 2:
- Path Intersection: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood // and being one traveler, long I stood"
- Snowy Festive Fir: "O Tannenbaum O Tannenbaum, du kannst mir sehr gefallen!"
- The Trojan Reindeer is an extremely obvious parody of the Trojan Horse from The Iliad.
- The Peace on Earth, as well as its description "Goodwill toward man." are references to the angels announcing Jesus's birth to the shepherds.
