There are numerous references to memes, video games, movies, and luchadores throughout the game. The sequel has its own page here.
- Super Turbo Championship Edition is not only an obvious reference to Street Fighter II, but the trailer for it also references SSFII's opening cinematic, with Juan replacing Ryu
- Some can be seen in El Pueblucho:
- A poster advertises a lucha libre match between La Máscara and Mega Hombre. Mega Man in his classic jump & shoot pose can also be seen in the brickwork.
- A stained glass window inside the church has an elf resembling Link with the symbol of The Triforce behind him.
- A hidden room in the church's belfry has Fez script advising players to drink their Ovaltine. Speaking of Fez, the forest has an owl statue hidden in it.
- "Business Cat VS Foul Bachelor Frog" is a painted in a wall, a reference to two Internet memes.
- You obtain your main, roadblock-busting attacks from a Goat Hermit's "Choozo" Statues.
- There is billboard in a level that reads "Las Gemas" featuring The Crystal Gems.
- A room in the Forest has a mural of a man striking a skeleton with a whip. Dracula is also one of the opponents advertised in the wrestling match posters.
- A floor design in the forest has embedded images of the pixelated aliens from Space Invaders.
- There are statues and wall tapestries in the shape of giant, toothy jellyfish with round nuclei.
- Sierra Morena, being Jaguar Javier's place, is filled with feline statues. One of them is... the Nyan Cat
. - The world of the dead version of Sierra Morena's music references the main title theme of the Metroid series around the 1 minute mark.
- The town of Santa Luchita is even FILLED with them:
- Posters for bands, lucha libre matches, and local movies: the Los Super Hermanos tag-team, the Casa Crashers band, the movies "Limones Mutantes Atacan" (Mutant Lemons Attack) and "Bust-It Bill," a poster of a man in a balaclava with a bunch of churros shoved in his mouth, a poster for "One night only, EL LINKO!" with a luchador holding another one up high over his head while a triangular spotlight shines behind him. The Dead World version has a poster for Bane vs. Batman. There's also an El Nino de Carne vs. El Ninja visual gag poster. You can also see most of these in one place at Combo Chicken's gym. At the top of one apartment building, you can see a sign advertising ''"Me Gusta Guavas"', while the other sign says "Gato Gruñón Brand Cat Food"'. Speaking of internet memes in Santa Luchita, the Loco Lobo poster is a reference to Insanity Wolf, an "O Almente" poster resembling the O RLY? Bird meme, there's Pedobear a la "Pedrobear", a poster of Business Cat vs. Foul Bachelor Frog can also be seen inside Combo Chicken's "dojo".
- Bricks layered to form a silhouette of an 8-bit Mario.
- There is a pillar of stones on the highest part of the town, with a statue of Donkey Kong in between them.
- Some children in the plaza are seen pitting their pet critters against each other.
- A portrait resembling Booster can be seen hanging in one of the houses.
- Mega Man's Energy Tank appears in Combo Chicken's posters.
- A poster referencing Tales from Space: Mutant Blob Attacks inside Combo Chicken's dojo, as well as a "La Limones Mutantes Attack" poster outside.
- When you hop to the dead world dimension, a man garbed in a purple tunic and trapped inside a house says him being there is a stupid mistake, therefore, "I AM ERROR."
- There are also several posters based on Image Macros and one poster featuring "El Destructo Vs. La Bomba", a reference to gaming websites Destructoid and Giant Bomb.
- In the Land of the Dead, there is a "Missing" poster with a picture of Manny Calavera. The same poster in the world of the living features the IKEA Monkey.
- There is a shop called Viva Pinatas. When Juan switches to the Land of the Dead, the pinatas resemble Skelanimals.
- The house where the dead child resides has a painting of the six characters from VVVVVV. The same house has, in the living world version, a painting of the "Three Wolf Moon" T-shirt.
- One of the buildings in the Land of the Living is for the mining supply store, "Mine Forever". On its side is a picture of a pixelated pickaxe. To drive the point home, that same building in the Land of the Dead is a bar called "The Nether Portal".
- There's a poster with 3 luchadors wearing animal masks that says "Call lucha hotline".
- Posters for bands, lucha libre matches, and local movies: the Los Super Hermanos tag-team, the Casa Crashers band, the movies "Limones Mutantes Atacan
- Another poster reads "Fuerte Malo" Who is displayed on said poster? Strong Bad.
- The giant Alebrije is an unstoppable behemoth that chases after you, and can only be destroyed when you hit a Gold Axe at the far end of a collapsing bridge, dropping the monster into a pool of lava. After that scene, you encounter X'tabay telling you your Princess is in another castle.
- Juan's version of the Rooster Uppercut visually appears to be a direct shout-out to the Dragon or Tiger Uppercut, while La Tostada's version more closely resembles Shin's Nanto Gokuto Ken.
- The Dead World version of the Tule Tree has carvings of the tulip-shaped version of Fire Flowers from Super Mario World.
- El Presidente's Daughter and Calaca quote Luke and the Emperor's dialogue from Return of the Jedi at each other in a cutscene.
- The "Gumshoe" trophy for capturing the Chicken Thief is a portrait of Detective Gumshoe wearing the luchador mask. He even has the Pointless Band-Aid on his cheek on top of the mask.
- The Desert has a Cactuar statue in the background.
- The slope leading to the top of the mountain of Sierra Morena has a scarfed, red-robed figure lying amongst grave markers in the snow.
- The "El Portero" costumes are references to the outlandish outfits of Jorge Campos, the goal keeper of the Mexican national soccer team for most of the 90's. "Portero" = "goalkeeper".
- At the very end of the credits, you get a screen proclaiming that A WINNER IS YOU! even with the appropriate sprite work.
- Near the end of the adventure Juan needs to go through blue and orange swirling portals.
- The pin-up calendars in El Infierno are set on the month of Smarch.
- Part of the Great Temple theme contains the opening riff of the underground theme from Super Mario Bros.
- From the Steam achievement names for Super Turbo Edition:
- The first mask piece you find gives you the achievement "Gotta catch em all", along with an icon resembling the Pokeballs.
- "Boom-Shack-Calaca" is a pun of "BOOM SHAKALAKA!" from NBA Jam.
- "The Devil wears Revenge!"
- "Poncho'd Out"
