Shout Out / Starbound

• Apex society practically mirrors Oceana from Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is all about obedience to the state, particularly the "Great Ape", a digital construction designed to be watching everyone, operating out of Miniknog. If it wasn't obvious enough, Miniknog is actually short for "Ministry of Knowledge", an organization focused on enforcing obedience in the population.
• One of the Glitch armor sets is known as the Templar's set. This could be a reference to the historical Templars, if it weren't for the quotes.
  • The description for the greaves says, "The templars are a mysterious order some say secretly run glitch society".
  • Even better is the description for the hay pile. "Trying to hide in this pile of hay following a failed crime spree is not a solid plan".
• The human and Apex respawn animations have the character built up to the muscles, then put through some kind of light-based skin regrowth process. This bears a resemblance to a similar sequence from The Fifth Element. And you can find and wear the iconic white monokini from the movie.
• The theocratic, aztec-esque architecture of the Avian as a whole could be a reference to the Chozo.
• The Film Noir-style store of a Glitch detective looking for a "malfunctioning" Glitch in a murder case rings of Blade Runner.
• The snow infantry armor set offers excellent protection against the cold and bears an uncanny resemblance to the clothing worn by the rebel soldiers on Hoth. On Glitch, it makes them resemble Quote as well.
• A few screenshots show demo players wielding clear nods to the assault rifle from the Alien franchise. You can also come across penal colonies run by the USCM.
  • Another nod to the Alien franchise is the fact that by crawling through the vents of the Erchius Mining Facility you can find a cat.
• Matter Manipulator, the tool that players use to place and build is very similar to the Plasma Cutter (and now only used for its intended function instead of a makeshift weapon) from Dead Space.
• One of the head options for the robot race Glitch in the online character creator is clearly meant to look like the iconic helmet of Dead Space protagonist Isaac Clarke.
• The player can craft and wear the helmet worn by the hero of Doom. Notice how Armagon has been playing Brutal Doom lately...
• A mock-up◊ of the quest system has one possible quest with an Avian named Toras Belanna.
• The demonstrations of the instruments and singing system featured songs from Portal (Still Alive) and Sonic the Hedgehog (Bridge Zone Music, from the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog). The very first video also featured a rendition of Für Elise. Other songs with a .abc attachment can be added to the PC version of the game as well.
• It seems that Terraria isn't going to be the only one featuring hero's clothes◊ (the human on the left).
• Inevitably, there are multiple to Terraria itself. Considering the main programmer of the game did work on Terraria, this was bound to happen, even if it didn't bear more than passing resemblance.
  • Humans start out with the Broken Hero Sword, a rare drop during Terraria's solar eclipse (which can't be used as a weapon in Terraria itself).
  • The Flesh Cavern and Heck mini-biomes strongly resemble the Underground Crimson.
  • As the Merchant in Terraria did, most races will point out that dirt blocks look extra dirty when examining them.
  • A meta-example: A hole straight down from surface to mantle is often called a Hellevator, even by the developers.
  • The Rabbit Statue found ingame looks very similar to Terraria's bunnies.
  • One of the names a randomly-generated pistol may have is Zapenator, one letter away from Terraria's Dummied Out weapon Zapinator.
• Bombs look exactly like bob-ombs without legs.
  • Upon examining a "Fireflower", a human will wonder if they'll gain the ability to throw fireballs by eating it.
  • Avian Sky Pirate ships bear an uncanny resemblance to Bowser's airship, complete with a climbable anchor and mast-propellers.
• The look of the Hylotl Underwater cities strongly resembles Rapture.
• Creepers and Diamond Pickaxes are also in this game.
• In this mockup◊, a Poke Ball can be seen on one of the posters. Furthermore, it's possible to craft "Capture Pods", catch young monsters, and get them to fight alongside you. They can even evolve into adult monsters if given enough time!
• One of the possible technologies that has been shown is a morph ball.
  • In the Avian story mission, there's a secret room that can only be reached via the ball. Now who raised Samus again?
  • One of the upgrades for the ball lets you hold the button to charge, and release it to roll forward at high speed. Much like a certain blue hedgehog. This upgrade is called "Sonic Sphere". It also functions similarly to the Boost Ball upgrade in Metroid Prime.
• Two of the Glitch heads in the online character creator look like the helmets worn by the band Daft Punk (a single visor with lights across it and a large display that goes to the top of the skull). A third Glitch head resembles a Borg drone, with a large optic unit with glowing wires sticking out of it, and a fourth resembles RoboCop's helmet.
• It: The decorative wall pipe from the sewer biome. The description reads. "A sewer pipe. Watch out for clowns". A reference to the clown in the book hiding in the sewers and storm drains.
• A "Perfectly Generic Item" exists, which can be bought from the "Treasured Trophies" shop in the Ark since 1.0. The item itself has been around for much longer though, and is used as a placeholder when a player tries to spawn a non-existent item. And yes, like its inspiration, it is a simple green cube.
• There is a notable novel called "Floran Peace". in case you don't get it read the name out loud, pronouncing it "Floor An"
• A character's jumping animation bares a slight resemblance to Mega Man (Classic). Coincidentally, the animation used when the player beams to and from the ship resembles Mega Man's stage entry.
  • Damn, there's a MEGABUSTER among the test assets◊ for guns!
  • The gate to your ship's cockpit is exactly the same one from the SNES Mega Man X games.
  • Ixodoom's boss fight is reminiscent of Bospider, although this time the player doesn't have to worry about predicting the spider's movement.
• The description for potato seeds says 'Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew.' The description for the potatoes themselves? "Po-ta-to".
• Likewise, the description for rice: 'When you're hungry and want to eat thousands of something.'
• The "eyesword" weapon type has teeth and an eye in its hilt. Similarly, one of the Glitch heads has swept-back wing-like projections similar to Nightmare's helmet in Soul Calibur II.
• Upon finding a lone glitch castle, the noble will sometimes shout "Referential: Hark! A Vagrant!"
• Apex "dungeons" are extremely similar in style and tone to Aperture Science's Testing Facility. Driving the point home, examining a level designation poster with a Glitch will cause them to wistfully reminisce how an old friend of theirs used to run a facility like this.
  • There's also hidden chests in the lava.
• Examining a Rainbow Painting with each race has them reference the "double rainbow" meme.
  Apex: This painting... so intense...
  Avian: A painting of two rainbows. What does this mean?
  Human: Wow, wow, oh my god. Look at that painting of a rainbow.
• Examining a Horizontal Danger Sign with a Floran will cause them to say they "laugh in the face of danger. Haha!"
• The "Decorative Troll Mask" found in Avian tombs is in the shape of... well... what else◊?
• You can find a Dance-Dance game console. Floran characters will even complain about the arrows going too fast.
• The "Gothic Painting" item is intended to be the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood.
• The Florans have an unusually sibilant way of talking, are very violent and cunning, and have an extreme affinity for the word "stab". They share these, and several other attributes, with the Tediz from Conker's Bad Fur Day, particularly the Sneekers from Live and Reloaded.
• A painting of a Glitch with a very familiar hairstyle and outfit can be found.
• Another Glitch painting resembles Salvador Dalí's "The Persistence of Memory".
• The item description for the Floran Statue notes that it "looks almost alive". This is a reference to the infamous Deku Scrub sculpture that can be found in the beginning of Majora's Mask. This is further reinforced by Florans noting that it looks like them, but is a bad likeness; in MM, your Fairy will comment that the statue looks somewhat like Link, who is trapped as a Deku Scrub.
• Among several fairly ordinary hairstyles to choose from for male human player characters, eleven in particular stand out.
  • They're even in order.
  • In addition, one of the available heads for the Glitch is Cyberman-esque.
  • Adding even more, there's an item called "Cool Fez", with the description: "Fezes are... neat!", referencing Eleven's catchphrase.
  • And even after that, you can find a medical display examining a human with two hearts.
• The flavor text for the wiring station is "It's time to take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"
• The Space Uniform costume bears a resemblance to the Starfleet uniforms from Star Trek.
• The Turtle Shell's flavor text: "A turtle shell. Pizza not included".
• The Hylotl-exclusive Tier 9 spear Seaserpent looks suspiciously like the Lance of Longinus from End of Evangelion.
• Sometimes, a player can encounter a ruined town populated by armored demons. One of the phrases a demon can say upon charging the player is "I...See...You!", a reference to the Emberverse books by S.M. Stirling.
  • This could also be seen as a reference to In the Mouth of Madness
• According to the Hylotl PC when examining a pineapple plant, one would never find pineapples under the sea.
• One of the arcade machines is called Psychedelic Rodeo Melee.
• One of the cosmetic item sets available is a greenish jump suit, mentioned as being made in Deep 13.
• The Tool Merchants sell three things: Flares (which contain oil), Rope and Bombs. Lamp oil, rope, bombs, anyone?
• Rarely, in USCM bases, you can find holograms of the Death Star, complete with the flavor text "That's no moon...".
  • The flavour text for the Universalist, the Tier 10 Human armour, reads "This impervium helmet contains a voice box changer. Side effects may include picking up any heavy breathing".
• When examining certain plants as a Floran, the PC will say "Floran weak to color yellow".
• Cooked bacon's description: "Bacon strips & bacon strips & bacon strips & bacon strips!"
• Some Avian Airships contain the diary of Mallard Wrenolyds, as well as a documentation of the Iron Avian.
• The Iron Throne is a piece of furniture.
• The Wizard costume set looks suspiciously like Wizard Mickey's robe....
• One of the Human hairstyles resembles Son Goku's.
• A Hylotl examining a metal bookshelf: "Tomes rich with human history. This one chronicles the life of a man who dressed like a bat and fought crime".
• Wooden bookcases have a book called Fifty Shades of Green. "It's about aliens".
• One of the legendary weapons is a "Slave Sword". Besides being a play on the Master Sword, it also fires out a similar Sword Beam, and makes a similar sound to an enemy getting struck in LoZ when the projectile hits them.
• The item description for Fish Fingers says "Tasty fried fish in stick form. Where's the custard?"
• One of the starting weapons for a Novakid is a "Red Ryder" rifle.
• The boss for the mining facility mission is basically a purple Ramiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Complete with screaming.
• The Apex pet is a weasel. Why? It's a reference to the childrens' song "Pop Goes The Weasel". (All around the cobbler's bench, the monkey chased the weasel...)
• When looking at the data for a planet, one of the fields relates to how dangerous it is. A safe planet? Harmless. A slightly more dangerous planet? Mostly Harmless.
• Things you can make with a Portable Pixel Printer include Red Plastic Blocks.
• If playing as a glitch, talking to Apex Villagers will occasionally yield a question: "Do you think love can bloom even on a battlefield?"
• One of the possible names for a solar system is "Fribbulus Xax".
• A late game weapon from a treasure chest is the Magnorbs - Special bracelets that give you three boomeranging metal orbs which can distort into shielding discs, perfect for those who want to recreate the scene of Magneto devastating a building and all within it with ball bearings.
• As you destroy the projectors that project the head of Big Ape, his face starts glitching out, and becomes a polygonal version of itself. Now, where else have we seen a huge polygonal head belonging to an evil ape?
• The Fluorescent Helmet◊ is basically the white uniform helmet worn by the Spaceballs.
• The achievement for harvesting 30 different crops is "Starbound Valley", and includes the description "Start thinking about who you'd like to romance and that barn extension".
• In the 1.0 intro, there's a robust toolbox on a shelf.
• Mech bodies that make your mech look like a Waddling Head also make it look like a Gunmen.
• The Beat Mech Body is pretty obviously inspired by Dr. Robotnik.
  • The Spikefist Mech Arm falls under this as well, being the same arms used by Dr. Robotnik's final machine in the second game.
• When inspecting a building in a Mini Village:
  • The human comments, "I can't remember, is this eat me or drink me?"
  • If a Novakid examines it, they postulate, "This must be a house for ants."
• Many of the wall decorations in the game are copies or variations of real-life art.
• The Frontier Wagon Painting features a cow pulling a wagon in green in the exact same design and layout as that of The Oregon Trail.
• The human PC will wonder if an Avian Closet holds some sort of "Avian Narnia", like the eponymous wardrobe of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In addition, there is a similar allusion with the Medieval Cabinet item.
• A Floran inspecting a Trash Bag or Trash Can will enthusiastically exclaim "Gaaarbage day!", the memetic line from Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2.
• You can cook a Pearlpea Jam by combining Sugar and Pearlpea at a kitchen counter. The description for the food item says that it's "commonly known as 'pearl jam'".
• The Glitch habit of stating their emotional intent at the start of a sentence bears some resemblance to the habit of the elcor from Mass Effect. However, because it's robotic bipeds doing this, and the emotions are often specific to the point of comedy, this behavior also brings to mind the quirkily homicidal HK-50 droids of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.

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