Shout Out / Kamen Rider Ex-Aid

Gaming References

• The most painfully obvious shout out has to be on every Rider's chest, with the buttons resembling those of the Super Famicom controller, the Japanese version of the Super NES.
• It takes a keen ear, but the bass line in the latter half of "Excite" is pulled from the theme to Zero Wing.
• Aside from the cameo of the WonderSwan, the handheld everyone seems to be playing in the series is pretty much identical to that of the Neo Geo Pocket Color.
• Genm's Bugvisor is essentially an oversized Game Boy Advance with a mini-chainsaw sticking out of one end and two laser guns out the other.
• Several to Danganronpa:
  • Emu is "Genius Gamer M"? Might as well called the "Super High School Level Gamer".
    • For bonus points, playing video games is one of Makoto's hobbies.
  • Hiiro's backstory alludes to the tragic romance between Hajime and Chiaki in the Prequel.
  • Let's see, Taiga is an insanely wealthy Smug Super Jerkass, while Nico admires him for that attitude. Are we talking about Togami and Toko?
  • Kuroto as Genm Level X has the same color scheme as Monokuma. His Hidden Depths in #31 has something to do with him being a Momma's Boy on par with Gundham and Teruteru.
    • The first thing the audience could think of after hearing the word "Genocide!" in the Buggle Driver's transformation announcement is Genocider Sho.
    • Thanks to his Kazuma Kenzaki disguise in the Gorider special, he might (or might not) also get along with Tsumugi as "cosplayers".
  • Parado being the Evil Counterpart of Emu alludes to both Nagito and Makoto being Super High School Level Good Luck students. Even their Rider names solidify this: Para-DX and Ex-Aid.
  • Poppy's role in the series is similar to Chisa Yukizome. Both of them started out as a caretaker-like allies to their respective main characters, only to end being dragged into villainy and turned into Perky Female Minions. At least Poppy gets better as of #28, while Chisa is quickly taken out.
    • Being themed after Idol Singers and Rhythm Games, Poppy is technically Sayaka as a Cute Monster Girl.
  • Masamune's role as the true mastermind behind everything in the series makes him the equivalent to Junko's role as the mastermind of The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History.
• The Mighty series and all forms based on it are a pastiche of the Platform Game genre:
  • Kirby: its protagonist is pink and is said to grow stronger by eating things. Maximum Mighty X also shows Mighty piloting a Mini-Mecha that resembles himself, not unlike Kirby: Planet Robobot.
  • Mega Man: Maximum Mighty X is also similar to the Ride Armor from Mega Man X.
  • Super Mario Bros.: Character that starts out small and deformed? Check. Wields a hammer? Check. Has a Goomba Stomp? Check. Can power up to a more proportionate form? Check. Has a game afterwards that adds a nearly identical green brother? Check. Form with fire abilities? Check. Can grow giant? Check. Can damage enemies by jumping upwards into a row of bricks the enemy is standing on? Check. Receive a star-shaped power-up that give invincibility for 10 seconds? Check.
  • During Ex-Aid's first fight, he performs a spin dash, and breaks open a block to collect a gold coin.
  • His name resembles that of Mighty No. 9.
• It's funny that the Gashat Gear Dual uses two Gashats - Knockout Fighter and Perfect Puzzle. While its obvious theme is mainly "body and mind", there is a game that features fighting game characters in a puzzle game that fight each other through puzzles: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo.
• Kamen Rider Brave's main Gashats, Taddle Quest and Taddle Fantasy, are undoubtedly references to the long-running RPG series Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. His Level 2 form even has a shield that is Buckler-ish in appearance, which makes total sense, since the Buckler is the first shield for the Fighter type character in the latter.
  • Taddle Fantasy in particular is noted to have a Villain Protagonist a la Dungeon Keeper or Disgaea.
• That creepy "See You Next Game" at the end of each episode? It's a shout-out to Super Metroid, and probably the Metroid series in general.
  • If you look closely on Graphite's face, he looks similar to a Chozo.
• Emu notes that Bang Bang Shooting in an FPS that has been stuck in Development Hell; which sounds an awful lot like Duke Nukem Forever.
• Taiga has the habit of spinning his Gashat before placing it in the Driver. Gun Twirling, eh? Where have we heard that before?
• Ex-Aid in his Robots Action Gamer Level 3 form resembles Fighter Roar from the Compati Hero Series and Super Robot Wars: Original Generation.
  • The helmet even gains a V-fin like a Gundam!
  • Brave's "There's nothing I can't cut!" is another reference to the Super Robot Wars franchise, most notably one Sanger Zonvolt and one of his catchphrases.
• The cartoony armor design of Gamer Hunter as well as Graphite's title of Dragon Warrior also seem to be references to Dragon Quest. Graphite having a monster and human form appear to be nods to the first game's antagonist, Dragonlord.
• It may be a Woolseyism by the fansub team, but in Episode 9 Emu runs off to track the Bugster by himself - and Asuna tries to warn him that "It's dangerous to go alone."
• A few to Monster Hunter:
  • Drago Knight Hunter Z is based on Monster Hunter. It is easiest to use together in a group of 4 (the maximum size of a hunting party and the easiest way to defeat most large monsters). "Soloing" it takes a lot of skill and strength. The Hunter Gamer form even looks like a cartoony version of the Fatalis Armor. Graphite was created from the data of the game, meaning his Rath-like appearance is not a coincidence. However, the weapon types (Fang, Blade, Gun, and Claw) appear to be based on the Transforming Weapons from Bandai's own God Eater series^note which was created to Follow the Leader after the outstanding success that Monster Hunter had.
  • Graphite, being the Bugster of Drago Knight Hunter, almost resembles a humanoid version of the franchise's flagship monster Rathalos. His powered-up forms being mere Palette Swaps might be a reference to Monster Hunter's propensity for having recolored monsters as sub-species like Azure Rathalos, Silver Rathalos, etc.
• Snipe's Level 50 form gives him an admiral's cap and has him wearing naval guns like armor... sound familiar?
  • On the subject of KanColle, Nico's bratty attitude is similar to Shimakaze, the ship girls' "problem child". Made sense if the viewers noted that her semi-Ship Tease moments with Taiga can be compared to the marriage system between the Admiral and a ship girl.
• The four Riders standing in a black and light blue data field ready to fight each-other is similar to the opening scene from Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory.
• The jingle for Ex-Aid's Double Action Gamer Level XX seems to invoke, of all franchises, Persona. ^note "Ore ga omae de! Omae ga ore de!" (I am you! You are me!) vs. "Ware wa nanji. Nanji wa ware." (I am thou. Thou art I.) It becomes a lot more apparent once Parado's true nature is revealed.
• Kamen Rider Para-DX:
  • Fighting Gamer bears a strong resemblance to Ryu, from his eyebrows, headband, and hair.
    • While Ryu does have red gloves, they are more like bulky and armored gauntlets akin to Jin Kazama's.
  • Meanwhile, his Puzzle Gamer mascot, Perfect Puzzle, resembles that of sphere jellies with eyes.
  • Knockout Fighter performs an SNK-style ground fireball and its Finishing Move begins with a Shoryuken.
  • if we decipher these Knockout Fighter's pre - transformation lines... "The strongest fist (round 1!) Rock and fire! its almost equivalent to .. "the King of Iron Fist tournament Round 1... Fight!" from Tekken.
• The VA for Para-DX's finishing attacks sounds pretty close to Smash 4 announcer.
• The title of episode 15 is "A New Challenger Appears".
• The colors and helmet shape of Ride-Players resemble that of Goombas. The fact that they're weaklings also contributes.
  • Genm's Level 0 form has ninety-nine lives. So how does Kuroto respawn himself if he gets killed off? He pops out from a purple Warp Pipe.
  • The Hyper Muteki Gashat is basically the Starman, especially in Muteki Mode concurrent to another Gashat.
• Emu's line when confronting Parado in episode 32 is a reference to Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama's Tekken 4 endings where Jin confronts the recently-resurrected Kazuya after having the Devil Gene activated within him.
  Emu: Once I beat you, Kamen Rider Chronicle will be over.
  • The final part of the Genm vs. Lazer trailer is yet another Tekken reference where Kiriya and Kuroto trade fists to each other's faces.
• With Cronus Resetting Time After his loss in ep 40. He really is looking like a genocide player in Undertale only as the GM/final boss rather than the player, making our heroes similar to a genocide run's Sans.
• Gamedeus Muteki, with its black and silver color scheme and Badass Longcoat, seems like it might be a shout-out to Sephiroth.
• Genm's Zombie Gamer form, alongside alluding to survival horror games, also makes heavy reference to glitches, primarily games with "zombie" glitches that interrupt a character's death state, leaving their health at zero and thus unable to properly die. Much like the glitch's easier solution in most cases, Zombie Gamer's glitched immortality is fixed by giving Genm health first so he can be properly registered as dying.
• The opening begins with the line "I gotta believe!"
• The name of Mighty Action X is similar to Mega Man X (or Rockman X in Japan).

Other Shout Outs

• Emu isn't the first legendary gamer with spiky hair to have his personality flip between a somewhat wimpy sweetheart and a smirking badass.
  • Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Emu's creation of the concept of Mighty Action XX through a drawing he made as a child, and would lead to a power that involves having dual personalities in one body, and an orange-and-blue color scheme, including eyes, isn't unlike Judai's creation of the Yubel card that would ultimately lead him to having, among other things, glowing orange-and-blue eyes.
  • Taddle Fantasy's overall motif is actually Jack's Red Daemon's Dragon and Reiji's DD Monsters being mixed in a blender.
  • With the reveal that Parado is the physical form of Emu's repressed childhood wish to have a friend to play games with, he's also an Expy of Yubel themself.
  • Para-DX Level 99 looks suspiciously similar to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: fire elemental, Asian-themed, and having dichromatic eyes.
  • Kuroto, resurrected as a Bugster, tells the Doctor Riders to call him "Neo Kuroto Dan". Are you sure you're not "Neo New Sawatari"?
  • Cronus' color scheme looks like a combination of Earthbound Gods and Supreme King Dragon Z-ARC.
  • Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer has stars in its armor, which brings to mind Yusei's Stardust monsters or the positioning of the stars might bring to mind Kill la Kill's Three-Star Goku Uniforms.
• It hasn't gone unnoticed by fans that Ex-Aid's Anime Hair is similar to that of Akiba Red aside from color, with some even joking that, instead of becoming an official Sentai series, the Akibarangers have become an official Kamen Rider series.
• Taiga has a skunk stripe in his hair and apparently has his medical license revoked. Definitely screams Black Jack.
  • As well as Nico's clingy relationship mirroring Pinoko's with Black Jack.
• The Level 1 concept is quite similar to the final two Metal Heroes entries - B-Robo Kabutack and Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack. These two series featured heroes that have a Super-Deformed, cartoonish look, but when needed to act, had a more serious-looking battle mode.
• Speaking of Metal Heroes, the Riders have a Stage Select ability that drags all the action to an alternate dimension, rather like the use of Makuu Space from the Space Sheriff series.
• Snipe's transformation to Level 2 has him doing the Last Shooting as seen here.
• Shakariki Sports is a reference to the novel Shakariki!, by Masahito Soda (also adapted into a film directed by Shinsuke Ono), about a competitive cyclist.
• Brave's Level 3 is DoReMiFa Beat, in other words Brave becomes Brave Beats.
• The name and label design of Gekitotsu Robots may remind some folks of the decidedly non-electronic game Rock'em Sock'em Robots.
• Jet Combat Gashat's jingle sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's the chorus for the opening of Choujin Sentai Jetman. Not surprising considering the singer of the opening and the Gashat voice - Hironobu Kageyama!
  • Mighty Brothers XX has the first few notes of "Go Go Power Rangers" in its jingle.
  • A later Gashat is known as "Hurricane Ninja."
  • Simulation Gamer's bgm sure sounds similiar to the beginning of Evangelion's "Decisive Battle".
• Cyber Rescue abreviation: CR is commonly used in Pachinko Games.
• Kiriya's death is incredibly similar to Maes Hughes' from Fullmetal Alchemist, both discovered the plot of the villains far before the others and both are killed off before they have the chance to inform the others. Unlike Hughes though, we get to see Kiriya futilely try to fight back before he's killed.
  • Likewise, Dan Masamune being one of the main villains hiding in plain sight is similar to Fuhrer King Bradley/Wraith from the same series.
• Several to Sword Art Online:
  • If Poppy's disguise is named "Asuna Karino", does that make her "Asuna Yuuki"? Not to mention, her Idol Singer motif is similar to Yuna Shigemura from The Movie.
    • Ironically, she's actually a video game character, just like the MHPCs such as Yui and Strea.
  • Brave is blue in color, themed after a knight, has ice-based attacks, and fought the main character at some point. Sounds like a Kamen Rider versions of both Eugeo and Alice Synthesis Thirty.
  • Look at Snipe. Now look at Sinon. Do you find them similar to each other? Not to mention, they use guns as their weapon.
  • This isn't the first time a player gets a "Game Over" and then dies if the HP bar is completely depleted.
    • Also, Lazer combines the aesthetics of Klein's Samurai motif and Yuuki's role as the Sacrificial Lion.
  • When Emu achieves Level 99 form and removes Kuroto's immortality, and later, his Rider powers, he's reduced from a Killer Game Master to a pathetic SOB with a keyboard. Kirito did exactly the same thing to Sugou's GM powers thanks to Kayaba's Administrator ID. The only key difference is what happened afterwards: While Sugou lives as a disgraced criminal for the rest of his life in prison, Kuroto is killed off by Parado.
    • His resurrection as a Bugster in #30 can also be summed up as Kayaba's Virtual Ghost given physical form.
  • Now that we finally see Kamen Rider Chronicle in action, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Ordinal Scale.
  • Poppy telling Emu that she's a Bugster and they're the "enemy of humanity" in #28 sounds like a racial variation of Asuna's "It's All My Fault" speech to Kirito.
  • Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer is themed after stars. Kirito's title in UW is called the "Star King".
• The Victim of the Week from ep. 19 starts doing a robot dance and takes it onto the streets, just like Genki Sudo's World Order dance crew.
• In the Kamen Rider Brave spin-off, we get to see Asakura Takeshi/Kamen Rider Ouja grab a fish which he then proceeds to eat, before complaining that it is not mackerel. It's pretty much a line-per-line from a similar scene he did in Choukou Senshi Changéríon, another Toei-produced tokusatsu show he starred as a lead.
• In ep. 20, when Kuroto returns to his office in a limp state, Parado asks him "Have you cooled your head a little?"
• Tetsuya Iwanaga was inspired by Light Yagami's downfall at the end of Death Note when portraying Kuroto's last scene in episode 23.
• In #27, as Amagasaki threatens Taiga by mentioning what he plans to do with Nico, he puts his hand up in imitation of the other Nico's hand gesture when she's in her iconic "Nico-nico-nii!" pose.
  • Coincidentally, the aforementioned episode's title refers to a μ's song called, "Oh, Love & Peace!".
  • Even better, on #37 she's eating a snack named Niconicorn.
• In #31, as Ex-Aid and Genm deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Parado with their weapons, they swap places with a move similar to the Total Elimination/Fall of Man where Ex-Aid does a leg sweep and Genm does a spin kick from mid-air.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Similiar to how Dio forsakes his humanity to become something monstrous in a last ditch effort to defeat the protagonist, so too did Masamune as Cronus.
  • Kamen Rider Cronus' powers are similar to DIO's stand, The World. He can "pause" the universe and conveniently attack his opponents while they are completely immobile.
  • Emu managed to move during Cronus' pause is pretty similar to Jotaro being able to move during DIO's The World.
  • How the villain's power was defeated with a 10 seconds time limit.
  • Kiriya has "Kujo" as a last name.
  • Lampshaded by the Ex-Aid cast and crew, who posed like JoJo characters in a few behind the scenes photos.
  • Cronus' use of "Reset" is awfully a lot like that of Yoshikage Kira's ultimate power, Bites the Dust.
  • Kuroto can essentially be seen as the Kamen Rider equivalent to Yoshikage Kira during episodes 13-23 - after being revealed to the main characters, he secludes himself from society, and slicks back his hair.
  • The way Chronus can defeat Bugsters for good, forcing them to relive the moment of their death endlessly, is exactly what Giorno Giovanna's Gold Experience Requiem does to Diavolo in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind.
• Kamen Rider Lazer Turbo is a long-awaited reference to Wreck-It Ralph, where Turbo was a racing game character gone rogue.
• Muteki Gamer looks a lot like a Gold Saint from Saint Seiya.
• The delayed reactions to Muteki Gamer's finisher is pretty similar to how people react to Hokuto Shinken. The show itself acknowledges this in ep. 37:
  Kaiden: Your blade needs yet more work, young man.
  Ex-Aid: The game is already over.
• At first, it seems like Muteki Gamer's Hyper Critical Sparking is referring to the form's, well, sparking look. But then you realize the Gashat's voice, and that he (Hironobu Kageyama) did the opening songs of Dragon Ball Z, with the first one (CHA LA HEAD CHA LA) ending with "SPARKING!"
• Fūma's Gashat being named Hurricane Ninja calls to mind some other "Hurricane Ninja" warriors who transform.
• Dan Masamune initially appearing to be a Benevolent Boss and overall, Lighter and Softer in comparison to Kuroto, only to be revealed that not only is it all an act, he's as bad, if not worse than, his son brings to mind Great Professor Bias^note although in Bias's case, he appeared Lighter and Softer in comparison to the previous Sentai big bads as opposed to another Liveman villain.
• When Kuroto dies from overworking himself attempting to recreate Hyper Muteki, he makes the same pose as the position on the final page of Tomorrow's Joe, complete with faded colors.
• It's been noted that Masamune as Cronus bears similarities to the Greek God of the same name, including abilities.
• Ren Amagasaki's demeanor has reminded people of Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki from Fairy Tail which coincidentally, has a fellow guild member character named Ren Akatsuki.
• How the protagonists requires special surgery to gain the ability to fight "bugs", surgery that involves said "bugs", main protagonist being a special case, sorta resembles TerraforMARS.
• 2 geniuses known as M and N having a one-sided rivalry since they were young, both geniuses' names are related to their alphabets, coinciding with an american live-action adaptation in the same year of 2017.
• Also from 2017, a movie with a whimsical female antagonist named Poppy who infects people with a virus in a scheme involving using victims as bargaining chips, likes music and adding personal touches to their living quarters which are both confined.
• Monk slaying zombies you say?
• Some of the series' premises also somewhat mirrored the 2015 Korean drama Blood's, doctor protagonists trying to resolve the mysteries which involves an unusual type of virus and the death of one of the character's closed ones, with the antagonist experimenting with the virus for the reason of helping humanity, one character's mom being infected, the protagonist and antagonist are infected, one character's condition being kept secret and another character being The Mole.
• A Mini-Mecha with a face on the chest, and the rider's head poking out the top? Maximum Mighty X shares a lot with Ganmen.