Gwain Saga contains many references to various media.
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In General
- Most of the background songs and sound effects are from different videogames franchises.
- Geo himself could be considered one to Modern Sonic, since nearly every one of his sound effects come from a modern game, and his hair even looks similar to the famous hedgehog.
Episode 1
- When Geo is falling into Teora, the overworld theme of Super Mario Bros. 2 plays, referencing the beginning of the game.
- The confrontation with the wolves begins with a battle right out of the original Paper Mario.
Episode 2
Episode 3
- As Ami and company travel to the university, the art style changes to look like a Gen 1 Pokémon game.
- Agni's bullies look a lot like Soldier 76, Mercy, McCree, and Sombra from Overwatch.
- Geo fights the bullies in a battle right out of Final Fantasy VII.
Episode 4
- When Geo is chasing Marlow, her run pattern looks a lot like the intro sequence in Sonic CD.
- There's a chase sequence that's ripped right out of Battletoads.
- Marlow's bestiary has a picture of Triclyde from Super Mario Bros. 2 on the cover.
- When Marlow opens up her Bestiary to the Vampire section several famous (or infamous) vampires from popular fiction show up, such as Count Burns and Count von Count. One character even mentions certain vampires sparkle in the sunlight.
- Marlow and Geo end up in a shot-for-shot recreation of Armored Armadillo's stage, complete with a remix of the stage's theme music. The Robot that attacks them even appears to be an Expy of Mole Borer, the Mini-Boss of Armored Armadillo's stage.
- The giant snake monster that appears near the end resembles a Steelix.
Episode 5
- After the intro, episode 5 begins with Gwain chastising Geo in a scene stylistically reminiscent of Peanuts. Geo even licks the Queen across the face like Snoopy, to her disgust.
- While Electra is handing out invitations, she gives invitations to the Mane Six and Professor Burnett.
- Agni and Deva disguise themselves as Daft Punk to get into Electra's party.
- When Geo goes up against the Elite Captain, the area changes to the Asterisk Holder battle screen from Bravely Default, complete with "That Person's Name Is" playing as the background music.
- The gift that Geo and Ami give Electra looks exactly like an Electrium Z.
Episode 6
- All of the promotional material for Episode 6 referenced various westerns such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Back to the Future Part III
- There's a girl on the train that looks a lot like Agent 8 from Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion.
- As Geo pursues Luna on the train, the scene is stylized after Sunset Riders, with Geo as Cormano with the soundtrack "Gunfight At The Sunset Corral" as the background music, along with sound effects from Metal Slug.
- Before getting on the train, Geo makes the characteristically annoyed growl of Snoopy.
- The train conductor resembles Sr. Pelo, right down to his verbal expressions.
- Also in Episode 6, Deva makes ice platforms in a floating line, in a similar vein as in Fortnite. She notes it's embarrassing, but doesn't know why.
Episode 7
- Fittingly for episode 007, the opening credits are done in the style of a James Bond movie's titles.
- The same sequence also doubles as one to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater; the opening song is a parody of the game's theme, with the lyrics replaced by ones about baking.
- After witnessing Ami make a cookie disappear, Savien leaves by wrapping himself in his own cape and flying upwards, much like Meta Knight.
- The Statue of Gwain is based off of the Statue of Liberty.
- Several popular Twitter artists make cameo appearances in the crowd during the unveiling of Gwain's statue.
- Including Sr. Pelo, who was the train conductor in the previous episode.
- Though in other episodes the place Lanney works is called GwainBucks, an obvious reference to the real life brand Starbucks
- Golden Sun gets a huge shout out when Ami finally confronts her mother for her inaction against Luna, between the overworld variation and in-battle UI.
- Marlow goes super during her fight with Luna.
- Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 make a cameo appearance as two girls standing next to a dumpster during the rain
- Lanney's moveset is greatly inspired by Kirby's Stone ability and the Battletoads' skills.
- The whole sequence where Lanney scales the Gwain statue is framed with a HUD similar to the one found in Final Fight.
- A Smash Bros. ring-out blast effect is used frequently throughout this episode's fights.
- The follow-up fight scene with Tahjin includes a Marvel vs. Capcom appearance, with Lanney keeping several of her moves from the Beat 'em Up segment while adding new ones such as Gamma Tsunami and Mijin.
- Lanney makes a face reminiscent of Aqua after Geo comes back to finish off Tahjin
Episode 8
- Vania's escape from the castle is done in the style of Castlevania, with Gwain serving as a stand in for Dracula.
- Marlow is seen playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And the pause menu seems to be the boot screen for a ZSNES emulator.
- When Ami starts to gain the upper hand in an arm-wrestling match with Geo, the music and how the scene is structured is just like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. And when she's just about to win, she makes an expression as though she's saying "O Kawaii Koto".
- The climactic sequence is set to the Shrek 2 cover of "Holding Out for a Hero".
