Shout Out / No Game No Life

• As early as Episode 1, after the monologue about the history of the world which is done in a pretty close style to The Legend of Zelda as a whole, the narrator has a sound effect associated with his strong-styled face. The last few seconds also have Sora use the exact same smirk Lelouch used at the end of the first episode of Code Geass.
• In Episode 2, while Stephanie is fighting with her inner self, she yells "WRYYYYY!".
• In Episode 3, when Sora barges into Kurami's coronation ceremony, he interrupts an elderly official that bears a striking resemblance to the judge from the Ace Attorney series. During this scene he also yells "Objection!" (complete with Ace Attorney-style speech bubble) and plays music that is highly reminiscent of one of the most iconic soundtracks for the series (which is often heard during a turnabout in events, after an objection) on his smart phone. Being a game otaku, he's was savvy enough to invoke it. This also continues to the siblings' coronation in Episode 4. Better yet, the way they're seated during the chess match (along with Not-Judge presiding the match) and the crowd's reaction to Shiro not wanting Sora to create a harem take pages from the visual novel itself.
• When both reject Kurami's offer to withdraw from the tournament in Episode 3, they make a shout out to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (specifically Part 4) via Art Shift, while stating Rohan's famous line, "But, I refuse!" and that they 'like saying "no" to people who think they have the upper hand'...and then immediately cheer that they were finally able to say it and check it off their bucket list.
• Right after the siblings get coronated, Steph reminds them not to play games and help solve issues with the country's governance instead. They settled it in a matter of hours. When asked how did they managed to solve it this quick, Sora credited Civ as one of the games he played.
• In the localization of Volume 2, after winning against Steph, Shiro says, "All your panties are belong to us."
• In Episode 5, when a Floating Continent appears, Shiro and Sora promptly belt out "Laputa really exists!" and are suddenly dressed up as the main duo from the titular film. They even reference the film's climax when thinking of a way to get up to it, which is so blatant a reference that they had to bleep it out.^{Explanation (Spoilers for Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky.)} At the end of the film, the two main characters recite the spell of destruction, which nearly destroys the floating continent by making its treasures and weapons forever lost to the villains, but leaving the forrest, animals, and ruined city on top of it unharmed. The continent was an exceed, so Shiro and Sora try to bring it down by also reciting the spell. It doesn't work. Their comment that the servers are better refer to when people in Japan repeatedly tweet or post the spell on the internet and subsequently crash the servers whenever Laputa airs on televison. The Episode 6 preview also has Jibril quoting the "Death should not have taken you" line from the Dragon Quest games whenever a character is revived.
• Several things in the background after the time skip in the Materialization Shiritori battle in Episode 6 are references to Western culture and common mythology. Among other things, the Moai statues, Mayan civilization, what looks like the Amazon Forest, a classical orchestra, and an Alien with the correct H. R. Giger inspiration all show up in the span of less than a minute. The King Kong lookalike with a yellow ring around it◊ references the Go!Go!CURRY restaurant's logo, as well as their dish called "Grand Slam◊" that Sora is eating.
• At the very end of Episode 6, Sora mutters the infamous "I used to be a [XX] like you, until I took an arrow to the knee" stock line of city guards in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (i.e., "gamer") before Stephanie yells "Stahp!"
• Episode 7 is practically a reference festival. When Stephanie objects to Jibril calling her "Dora-chan", she immediately shouts "DORA??" while darting back and forth in protest. Later, while seeking information from Jibril regarding the Eastern Federation, Sora is seen with glasses on and hands clasped, a la a certain anti-alien organization figurehead. While Jibril reminisces about her past activity as a Living Weapon, she does the infamous "yandere trance" gesture. Much later, upon realizing that Elchea was the realm that foolishly challenged the Eastern Federation for a decade, Sora crosses the Despair Event Horizon while striking a pose akin to that of a certain suicidal homeroom teacher. The episode also has two references to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in the form of God-Warrior lookalikes during Jibril's flashback and the uncanny resemblance of the secret room of Stephanie's grandfather to that one in said anime. The preview for Episode 8 also has Sora and Shiro utter the traditional war declaration.
• When visiting the Warbeasts' embassy and meeting Izuna in Episode 8, Sora and Shiro call out "King Crimson!" (in the dub, they reference King Crimson's ability to "erase time") before petting Izuna.
• In the anime, the coachman who drives the carriage taking Sora, Shiro, Steph and Jibril to the Warbeasts' embassy looks like Professor Layton.
• In Episode 11, while explaining to Shiro that they are just in a simulated reality that looks too similar to modern Tokyo, Sora does his exposition amidst a cheerful yellow background with rainbows akin to that frequently seen in Persona 4, complete with the All-Out Attack cut-ins of Chie (from that same game), Kurisu Makise of Steins;Gate and Kati Raikonnen of Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed (with their eyes censored-out, of course). The entire premise of the game is also suspiciously similar to Gal*Gun. "Love is Over" plays as Sora gushes over his sister as a side effect of being shot by an ally. Also, when Sora asked Jibril to fight Izuna to stall for time, the latter reply with "You don't mind if I defeat her, do you?"◊, complete with Sora calling her out on it as it might be a death flag. Also, the scene where Jibril scales a building looking for Izuna looks very similar to the battle between Saber VS Rider. And don't forget during Inu's game tutorial explanation he's wearing a familiar bandanna and armor combo.
• In the English Dub of Episode 12, Sora shouts "This is BS! Not even Mario can do that!"
• In Volume 5 of the light novels, during the game between 『　　』 and the Flügel in Avantheim, Sora compares the incoming Binding Curtain fired by an infuriated Azrael (i.e. the game's final boss) to Touhou Project's Bullet Hell, but comments that it's rather boring compared to the video game.
• In Volume 8, a city engulfed in conflict decides to use their "nuclear option" in a Taking You with Me move on the invading enemy forces, which Sora dubs the "Belkan Defense".
• One of the mini episodes in the anime home release is structured somewhat like a Fighting Game. The opening title, character select, Versus Character Splash and even some of the background music seem lifted from the third Darkstalkers entry Vampire Savior.

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