Shout Out / Retro City Rampage

Much like 3D Dot Game Heroes, Retro City Rampage is deliberately packed with tons of references and shout-outs to other media.

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To other video games

• The gameplay in general is heavily inspired by the first two Grand Theft Auto games
• Meanwhile, the game's title is clearly intended to bring River City Ransom to mind. This is also probably the source of pedestrians dropping money when killed.
• The game starts off with a parody of the intro to Mega Man 2, almost immediately lampshading how overused it is.
  • At the end of that same intro, a guard on the rooftop gets startled by a bird. When he shoots at it and misses, an annoying dog jumps out from behind one of the pipes and laughs at him.
• The Spades to Steel Casino is named for Konami's Blades of Steel ice hockey game. The casino's games are similar to the minigames in Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Take a close look at some of the green hills scattered about, and you'll notice that they have eyes, just like the ones in Super Mario Bros. 3.
  • Also, Player can get an item that looks like either the Tanooki suit or Raccoon suit...and can fly.
• The Bikeosaur vehicle is pretty clearly modeled after Yoshi. This in turn got a recursive Shout-Out in Mario Kart 8.
  • As an actual reference to Mario Kart, the Kartio vehicle is the Standard Kart that appears in all games.
• Eventually, you get help from a literal Game Genie. There are cheat codes scattered across the city that resemble the GG's menu screen.
  • Said Genie, named Gamedini, uses a Warp Tornado to zoom you back to Grogbrush's place.
• Whenever you die, you're treated to a life screen much like Super Mario Bros.... only you start at 0 and dive deeper into the negatives with each death, also referencing Syobon Action.
  • Also like Mario, you can jump on enemies for coins. And there are pipes.
• Dr. Von Buttnick, the Big Bad, is named after Dr. Eggman/Ivo Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog. Perhaps not coincidentally, "Ro-butt-nik" was even a favorite insult for the villain on one particular Sonic cartoon.
  • Janitor Wily, his rival, is a dual reference to Dr. Wily and Groundskeeper Willie.
• Speaking of Sonic, There's a building called "SUPERSONIC SPRING SURPLUS." There is a surplus of springs in Sonic games, indeed.
• Virtual Meat Boy is one of the games featured in the arcade. It even has a faux-3D filter.
• The "Primate Peninsula" section is named after the Monkey Island series. There's also a shop called "Guybrush Paints" and a character named Grogbrush, who runs a bar named after him.
• There's an early Metal Gear-esque Stealth-Based Mission, complete with its own take on the Engrish phrases from the NES version:
  Player: "A truck are begin to move."
  Major Lee: "I was feel slept. Leave massage."
  Player: "UH OH!"
  • Said mission also includes a reference to Jackal.
    • Another mission has you sneak past guards in a box.
  • Major Lee is partially based on Solid Snake.
  • Dr Petrovik's Veterinarium is named after Dr. Pettrovich Madnar.
• The pause jingle sounds almost like the one heard in many Konami/Ultra NES games.
• One of the weapons available to the Player is a Bionic Arm.
• The "Skate 'n Buy" skateboard shop has a clerk who looks a lot like Lester.
• Repeatedly punching bystanders will occasionally yield the quotes "T-T-Tiger!" and "Uppercut!"
  • The TV Station has a reporter who wears an outfit just like Chun-Li, using her costume from the 1994 live-action film.
• In the center of town, you'll find a place called Bugeye Louie's Bikes, Boxing and Chocolate, a nod to Doc Louis from the Punch-Out!! series. It's next to a place called Lunch-@#%!
  • Before the start of the "Smut Peddler" story mission, he mentions that a "paper dude called it quits", and asks you to deliver a stash of dirty magazines for him In the Style of Paper Boy.
• "I am (null)". Null advises you to use the sword on bushes for health pick-ups, which is generally good advice in any of the Zelda games.
• During the first mission a henchman causes a huge explosion, and the "Toasty!" Man pops up from the bottom off the screen.
• When you have to cross an absurdly busy street, you can see a frog that got ran over on the road.
• The Dysentruck. Throwing someone into it gives you the message "They have died of dysentery." An update later added animations to the Dysentruck so that it bops up and down as it moves.
• The "Sweat Bomber" sequence plays a lot like 'Splosion Man.
• "Death Cam VHS" is a send-up to Smash TV, as is the level when you first meet Von Buttnick.
• Seen on a billboard in town: "Did Not Finish? Dial 555-DIPLOMA"
• The shoes that give you a quick dash tackle are from The Green Hills.
  • Also, the name of every district in Theftropolis ends with the word "zone".
• Earthworm Jim is in the Junkyard, and will shoot a refrigerator to launch cars into the ocean if you leave them at a drop-off point.
• The ending mission is a driving sequence In the Style of Rad Racer., and is also a reference to the ending sequence of Back to the Future (1989).
• There's a Graves 'n Goblets pub, right next to Gargle Quest mouthwash.
• Okie Doki Picnic
• A character says, and an achievement is called, A Winner Is You
• There is a store advertising Hot Coffee.
  • And Player takes a girl home for Iced Tea, which is represented by a bouncing "CENSORED" box.
• Vine Pit 2600
• S&M Ubermarket: All Your Eat Are Belong To Us
• Bobble Bubble Gum
• Bayou Bimmy's Freedom Fries
  • There's also a "Bimmy & Jimmy's".
• Another side mission has you tossing corpses at a haunted hearse that taunts you with quotes from Sinistar.
  "RUN, COWARD!"
  "BEWARE! I DRIVE!"
• Theta West
• Urban Snacks, across the street from Champ Bookstore — a reference to the NES game Urban Champion.
• Lynx sports cars, as opposed to Jaguars
• There's a kind of car called the "Impaler". This is a double reference to a) the real life Impala and b) the version of same from the original Grand Theft Auto, which was also called the "Impaler".
• The mission with the A.P.E. (which looks like Donkey Kong, by the way) is called Electric Force A.P.E.
• The Temple of Heroes features statues of Karnov and Rygar by the entrance.
• A sushi restaurant involving ninjas is called Ryukenden, the original Japanese name of Ninja Gaiden.
• One of the cars you need to avoid in the final level is a green go-kart that drops a banana peel that makes you slip if you drive behind it too long.
• When you're fighting Buttnick inside his base, a mook riding inside his flying machine throws down shield powerups for you between his attack phases the same way Princess Peach throws down Super Mushrooms for Mario between Bowser's attack phases in Super Mario World.
• One of the achievements, "The Crossdresser," depicts Player wearing a schoolgirl uniform and holding a BFS of a familiar design. Yes, it is a shorter version of Cloud's Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII.
• The very first mission has the Player participate in a heist on the StoogeMac Bank, and the vault is modeled after Scrooge McDuck's money bin.

Other shout-outs and references

• Biffman and the Jester = Batman and The Joker.
  • The bank robbery near the beginning contains a homage to The Dark Knight, via the schoolbus crashing in and the boss killing his henchmen off.
• If you let Biffman's Biffmobile get away during the Stalking Mission, the failure text will read, "...and Biffman takes ballet?" a reference to "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells".
  • Biffman is really Biff West.
• The Turtle Van is one of the standard vehicles that can be stolen and driven. You even get an achievement for killing four turtles in one fight.
  • Speaking of the Turtles, one string of shops has a place called "Ninja Wraps"...right next door to a shop owned by "Vanilla T. Cube".
• The time-travel plot incorporates many references to Back to the Future and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
  • A store called "Bip & Jed's""
• The logo for "Bundy's Wedding Chapel" closely resembles the logo to Married... with Children.
• The Great Gamedini mentions that he used to go to Bayshore High, but he got in trouble with a "Principal Balding".
  • And you fight Duke Norris in Zack's Burger. With a friend named Squeak. And an associate named M.C. who says "Preppie."
• The date "Player" joins the gang: October 18, 1985, the same date the NES was released in North America.
• Axel looks like the guy from the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" video, and says (Player's) plans will come in for some sabotage.
  • The same scene contains an Officer O'Farva.
• Instructions on how to use the time machine: "If flashing use kit to clean cartridge... JUST BLOW ON IT."
• When you go to collect the cars as "insurance" one of the people you steal a van from is clearly based off of Shaggy. Another car resembles KITT, the person owning it resembles David Hasselhoff and he keeps talking about cheeseburgers being left on the floor in reference to a viral video filmed by his daughter when he was trying to eat burgers while drunk and half-naked.
• Sixbucks Cafe is a shout out to Starbucks.
• DJ Hammer's Hardware
• A tattoo shop named Flesh Prints
• Exxcon Fuels & Lubes
• A movie theater is showing "Ernest Gets Rabies" and "Trek Wars: The Search for Ock."
• "Deep Gulp"
• The address of Biff Manor is in the state NES, zipcode 90210.
• Goatse is mentioned.
• Fabby-O's Cereal.
• Bodacious B
• A company called Perigee with a similar logo.
• Go Go Busters
• A restaurant called "SUBPAR."
• "Taco Chime"
• "Yippie Ki Yay Mother Baker's Hard Pies"
• There's a sewer level where you fight turtles with mops.
  • A "radioactive plumber" who looks like Mario bites you, giving you the "Super Stomp" ability. Hmmm, bitten by a radioactive creature and getting powers... sound familiar?
• The person you get the Raccoon suit from is nerdy genius named Billy Campbell, a clear take on Billy Cranston. His house even looks like the one in the show. Morphenomenal!
• In the Gated Community Zone, you can find a police car with a huge megaphone on its roof.
• A vehicle with a confederate-looking symbol on the roof is called the Generally.
• During the Death Cam VHS mission, at one point you stumble into a studio for some sort of talk show. The guest being interviewed: Phil Fish. He even has Gomez in his picture!
  • And the host of the show, there's PJ Fresh Phil.