Aside from the general homage to the MSX, there are many references to specific games, some of them quite obscure:
- A ROM combo involving Castlevania will make your whip more powerful. Also, Lemeza's whip upgrades are the same as the Belmonts' from various Castlevania games.note
- Two ROM combinations let you play parodies of Parodius and Snatcher.
- Combining the two Metal Gear ROMs will make a "!" appear over you when you solve a puzzle.
- Many of Elder Xelpud's seemingly-nonsensical quotes allude to MSX games:
- "With my spare money, all I could buy was Salamander. I always got the bad ending." In the MSX Salamander, you need to have Nemesis 2 in the second cartridge slot to get the good ending.
- "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B A. What's that?" None of Konami's MSX games uses the Konami Code, which originated on NES/Famicom games, and Xelpud is a staunch Famicom hater.
- "I wonder what happened to Venom? I haven't seen him since I heard him laughing while in a time slip. I certainly hope he's doing well." Venom is the Big Bad of the MSX Nemesis 2 and 3, and the ending of Nemesis 3 has the protagonist fleeing from him in a time warp.
- "I can't believe that Simon is a model pervert." (Simon Belmont is described that way in the MSX mahjong game Hai no Majutsushi, also known as Mahjong Wizard.
- The Bragging Rights Punishment is a Shout-Out to Dragon Quest II. Yes.
- One fish enemy in the Spring in the Sky has an iron pipe sticking out of its crotch, like the hero of Ashguine 2, and the background music for that stage, "Curse of IRON PIPE," is based on a theme from that game (which is why it had to be replaced in the WiiWare version). The game is also referenced in Elder Xelpud's ramblings.
- A certain enemy in the platforming hell that is the Tower of the Goddess most assuredly is not a Medusa Head, but it does come at you in a sine wave, present a frustrating hitbox, and knock you down to the bottom in exactly the same way as everyone's favourite clock tower foe.
