There are a lot of shout outs in Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale. It's part of what makes the game so enjoyable.
- This game is full of good one liners.Recette: Given how "Lost" you seem to be, I hope the trees don't start shaking....
Recette: [reading a quest posting] "Drive away the God of Destruction. Beware pickaxes."
Recette: [reading a quest posting] "Slay the lord of Dragons for all of us!"
Recette: [reading a quest posting] "My inner mind has become a reality-cracking Overgod. He torments me! Please help!"
Recette: [upon being surprised by Griff] Oh Carp!
Tear: We automatically refuse to place horse heads in anyone's bed.
Euria: Son of a SUBMARINER! - Tear starts to call the magic door you use to instantly escape from deep in a dungeon a goho-M, but catches herself. Afterwards she insists that you call it an "Exit Door" and that absolutely nobody is to use the phrase "going home" around it.
- When Tear is explaining Recette's father's disappearance, she shows a photo of man on top of a volcano fighting a dragon, a reference to Ortega from Dragon Quest III.
- Tear notes that meeting someone was not unlike meeting a hurricane in human form.
- Some back to other tropes - the description of a cloth newsboy-style cap describes it as being popular with young runaway boys and girls who want to look like runaway boys.
- In the description of a "Fur ball" - "Contrary to popular opinion, it does not coo."
- A Man's Fist
◊: Made by a line of men who believed in others who believed in them. Unrefined but burns with passion. - Divine Finger: He who uses this with love and sorrow cannot lose.
- TH Shield: Uses a Total Horror Field to use the wielder's own psyche to protect him.
- Eldon's final two books are titled Eldon: Doom/Reborn and End of Eldon, likely references to Evangelion's Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion movies (especially since their descriptions imply a Gainax Ending).
- 200 Warriors - Surprisingly, a slapstick comedy about 200 warriors saving a village. This is humor!
- Silver Watch: An old watch that still works perfectly. The inner cover seems to have an inscription, but you can't read it.
- Louie thought eating a mushroom will make him bigger.
- Recette meets Alouette for the first time when the other girl infiltrates her store by hiding in a cardboard box whose insignia suggests that it came from Amazon.com.
- Description for a Tail: "The long, flexible tail of a giant mouse. Useful as an ingredient. Occasionally searched for by dragons."
- Elan's Fist Flurry ability is fundamentally Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu without the screen going black. The icon for it even looks like Akuma!
- Some monsters looks very much like ones in other games.
- Example: Bombs, Ahrimans/Evil Eyes and Ropers.
- The fire-shooting teleporter wizards are quite reminiscent of Wizzrobes.
- The game's version of ropers were originally from The Tower of Druaga but most Americans have probably never heard of that series.
- One man that Recette (and Griff) meets stargazing comments on the constellations. One of them being "TannhauserGate".
- The Survival Knife: "Cuts rope, food, crocodiles, and throats with ease."
- Power Glove: "A glove which enhances the user's strength, though not enough to lift boulders. Not so bad after all."
- The Picnic Basket tells you to you "Beware of bears" while carrying it.
- Relatedly, an ingredient called the Jellystone.
- Shortcake: "Does not transform into a little girl."
- The Plaid Muffler is "oddly popular with wizards."
- Candy: "People keep saying you can find golden prize wrappers, but no luck today."
- The icon for Nagi's Hundred Thrusts attack resembles Miku Hatsune.
- Brave Heart: Medicines made from this increase a person's courage tremendously. Not actually taken from from Blue-faced men.
- Louie plays almost identically to the 2D incarnations of another hero who battles with a sword and shield.
- Arma's one and only special skill, Vector Cannon, is a direct copy of its original from Zone of the Enders 2, with the same activation time and firing delay, orbiting nodes, and even the charge meter!
- Caillou's Teleport ability shows Dhalsim as the icon.
- His Gemini Force spell has Youmu Konpaku as its icon.
- Dudely Mitts: "Gloves made by a race of beings obsessed with fighting. All for the perfect punch."
- Star Glove: "The foes of he who wears this glove are already defeated."
- Melon: The very paragon of a palatable papaya-gourd.
- The icon for Griff's Dark Claw ability is Hsien-Ko.
- The icon for his Vampire Vortex is Hazuki.
- Near the beginning of the game when Recette is aware of the bill, she doesn't know how to pay it back. She considers selling a internal organ, thinking that if she eats enough spinach it could replace her blood, but is worried because she doesn't want to become a sailor.
- The knight-type enemies all have rare drops in the form of crystals. Admittedly, there are crystals for Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.
- The Guildmaster is occasionally ordered to buy and sell stuff from "She Who Must Be Obeyed".
- One of the quest listings in the pub reads "Please kill 10 crows around the garbage dump. Green item offered".
- Blue Line Shield: "The old shield of the Golden Knight. There's one with a red line too, but this one is better."
- Again from The Tower of Druaga, the Golden Helmet: "The helm of the Golden Knight. He used this helm to scale a tower full of demons, aided only by a priestess."
- Ak-kai Claw: "Claws of a legendary demon that could travel on water and land. The red color triples their value.
- One item is a book called "Les Infortunes". The description comments on the difficulty in keeping track of its large cast.
- There's another book entitled Tale of Two Sisters. "A nonfiction work about two sisters and their travels. Shouldn't this have been released sooner?"
- Upon your first trip into a dungeon, Tear opens up with, "'Welcome to the jungle', as they say."
- Caillou's Sparkbomb power: "Fires off a torrent of arcane missiles, penetrating any darkness."
- Arma's Null-Parts weapon fires a very dense spray of bullets. The bullets' art and spray pattern are lifted right from Touhou Project.
- Upon trying to rip off Louie...
- Giant mouse boss Reginald Drisby is likely named after The Secret of NIMH's Jonathan Brisby.
