Shout Out / Vampire Survivors

• The entire game is inspired by the old-school Castlevania games, mainly down to using the same item graphics and premises for weapons, attacking candelabras and braziers for items, items and Arcana named for songs from the series, and many enemies inspired by the CV aesthetic.
  • The items needed to evolve the Clock Lancet, the Silver Ring and Gold Ring, are direct references to identical items from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Not only do they also have fragmented descriptions that need to be read together to make sense, but they unlock the "true ending" by making it possible to kill the Red Death without cheesing or exploiting the game.
  • The Drowner is a homage to the Water Mage in Castlevania: Bloodlines, both of whom flood the screen from bottom to top with a deadly liquid.
  • Many of the Arcana are references to music from Castlevania, such as Disco of Gold, Lost & Found Painting, Waltz of Pearls, Slash and Heart of Fire.
  • Inverse Mode, which turns the entire stage upside-down and makes it much more difficult, is a reference to the inverted castle from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
  • Just before the Final Boss fight, The Directer breaks its usual unintelligible speech to declare "But enough talk... Have at you!"
• The description for the Inlaid Library questions where the stone mask came from.
• Unlocking any character found in a coffin in one of the stages will have them mention that the Vampire is in another coffin.
• The evolved version of the Garlic is called the Soul Eater.
• The curse-inducing passive item is known as the Skull O'Maniac.
• Several references are made to the Bayonetta series:
  • On the title screens for the base game and the adventure "A Garlic Paradise", Imelda Belpaese and Poe Ratcho are respectively posed in front of the moon akin to Bayonetta on the box art of Bayonetta 2.
  • Pugnala Provola has a hairstyle and costume reminiscent of Bayonetta's appearance in the first game.
  • Pugnala's starting items, Phiera Der Tuphello and Eight The Sparrow, are red and blue pistols that fire projectiles in four directions and can be evolved into Phieraggi, purple pistols that fire light beams in eight directions. All three items respectively share the colouration of the default pistol weapons featured in each main entry of the series; Scarborough Fair, Love Is Blue and Colour My World.
  • Pugnala is one of the characters who is unlocked by discovering them inside a coffin; Bayonetta was sealed inside a coffin during the events of her backstory.
  • Pugnala's theme song, "Red And Blue" is named similarly to the recurring song "Red And Black" from the Bayonetta series.
• As admitted by a developer in a news post, the 2800 coins you receive for using the Konami Code is a reference to the reward for using the Astarte password in Kagero: Deception II.
• Gallo Tower's former description mentioned that it held "historically accurate monsters". The boss that appears at the 25-minute mark is a Giant Enemy Crab. It's listed as such in the Bestiary.
• The evolved Runetracer, "NO FUTURE", is a diamond-shaped eyeball that fires explosive rebounding lasers. It's a reference to Genocide Heart, one of the final bosses of SaGa Frontier; the item's sprite resembles one of the boss's forms, and its signature "Carnage" attack flashes "NO FUTURE" across the screen before blasting the party with reflecting lasers.
• The method of unlocking Toastie is identical to the method of fighting Smoke in Mortal Kombat II, while its name references the franchise's recurring Easter Egg.
• O'Sole Meeo is named after the famous Neapolitan song "O Sole Mio". Additionally, the character is likely a reference to the game Ōkami. O'Sole is a white canine, similar to Amaterasu's white wolf incarnation. The character's starting weapon, the Celestial Dusting, spawns flowers that bloom behind O'Sole as they move. This is similar to how flowers bloom behind Amaterasu as she runs, and is named similarly to the Celestial Brush powers that she uses in that game.
• When playing as O'Sole Meeo, you can type P-E-T during gameplay to receive a one-time full heal. The developer post for this update includes a gameplay video that makes it clear that it was a deliberate reference to the Twitter account Can You Pet The Dog?
• The second area in Moongolow is referred to as Holy Forbidden, with the subtitle "Hidden Ground". This refers to the Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground from the .hack series.
• Smith IV's name and unlock method are a shoutout to Ultima IV.
• ZI'Assunta's theme song is named "Moms are tough" after a line from Final Fantasy XIII said by the character Hope's mother in the prologue. The song itself includes a use of violin that may bring to mind some of that game's music to tie it back to the reference.
• Boon Marrabbio is a shout-out to Noob Saibot from Mortal Kombat. Like Noob, he's a shadowy Palette Swap of another character (as a bonus, Noob's incarnation in the original Mortal Kombat 3 was a palette swap of Kano, the franchise's resident knife thrower), and his playstyle is quite unlike anything else in the game; rather than a conventional bonus to any given playstyle, Boon throws projectiles at a snail's pace. For bonus points, read Boon's first name backwards.
  • "Marrabbio" is the name given to Yaeko's father in Kiss Me Licia, the Italian adaptation of the Ai Shite Night anime. The "spell" code used to unlock him is "fettinepanate" (more or less "breaded cutlets"), referencing an infamous meme spawned from Love Me Licia, the Italy-produced live-action sequel to the anime.
• Christine Davain is a homage to Sailor Moon; she has the requisite sailor fuku, starts with the Pentagram which becomes the Gorgeous Moon when evolved, and is named after Cristina D'Avena, the singer of the original Italian dub's theme song.
• Sir Ambrojoe's starting weapon, La Robba, resembles a Kinder Surprise Egg.
• You can obtain a Great Gospel which unlocks the Limit Break ability. In addition, one of the hidden unlockable characters is named Gains Boros, and it's found in a flower field, not unlike Aerith's garden.
• The Shadow Pinion and its evolved form, Valkyrie Turner, are relatively subtle references to Morrigan Aensland's movelist. Fittingly, its default wielder has an outfit resembling a witch-ified version of Morrigan's dress.
• At the end of Cappella Magna, the background for the endboss fight against Ender is a circular swirl of white and purple clouds; heavily reminiscent of Safer Sephiroth's battle background. Ender itself is a Power Rangers-inspired combination of the five colored Deaths.
• Gyorunton, the three-headed dragon, is likely a reference to King Ghidorah. He even has a head with an extra-silly expression much like Ghidorah's Kevin.
• The "spell" code to unlock the Great Gospel is "icanhearthecriesofcaptainplanet".
• The "spell" code to unlock the Sorceress Tears is "timecompression". Likewise, everything about Leda is a reference to Sorceress Adel from the same game: her design is similar to her with a human upper torso being imprisoned into a much larger body, her starting weapon is the upgraded Magic Wand referencing her Sorceress status and the "spell" used to unlock her and the text visible outside the Gallo Tower while fighting her are both references to Freeze-Frame Bonus text associated with Adel.
• missingN▯ is a very clear shoutout to MissingNo., an infamous glitch from Pokémon Red and Blue.
  • The fact they're unlocked by specifically defeating 128 of the required enemies is also a reference to how having MissingNo. in your party would give you 128 of your 6th bag item (as the number was the game's item limit)
• The titles of the vast majority of Theme B options in the song selection are references to popular disco songs.
• The upgraded Candybox, which allows you to instantly claim an upgraded weapon, is called the Super Candybox II Turbo.
• The ever-growing ball of skeletons in the Bone Zone is known as the Sketamari.
• The Chaos Update has a level called "Bat Country" referencing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and it even has "We can't stop here" as the Flavor Text. The level itself is inspired by the bonus stages from Sonic 1 and 3, and has an artifact called the Chaos Malachite which uses a very similar sprite to that used for the Chaos Emeralds. The update also adds the Eggman as a new merchant in Moongolow.
• The "Poetrait" from the Astral Stair has an interesting relationship with its subject: "As Poe becomes ever more aged and garlic-scented, this elegant portrait becomes ever younger and smells increasingly of lavender. Who wouldn't clamor for a Picture of Poe to Display?"
• From Tides of the Foscari, Maruto Cuts' first name is a shout-out to Naruto, but the rest of him is a walking homage to Guts, protagonist of Berserk: his surname, his design, his BFS, and even his Leitmotif's title, "Slaying Dragons."
• Je-Ne-Viv's design and name homage Jenova for another Final Fantasy VII reference.
• The "Glove of Glory"'s bestiary entry describes how "It likes to collect plush dolls and impart life on them with a snap of its mighty fingers, watching with glee as they brutalize each other in a violent melee before spitefully bringing a fist down on the winner. Prepare for a real brawl with this one — it likes to smash."
• Sammy the Caterpillar is a shout-out to Colin the Caterpillar, a popular British roll cake used for birthdays.
• The icon for the Mindbender is a pair of glasses with Groucho moustache and eyebrows, referencing the Caponians' "disguise" from Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.
• Secret character Cosmo Pavone ("Cosmic Peacock" in Italian) is named after and referencing the name given to the Jujaku/Firebird in Calendar Men, the Italian adaptation of Tatsunoko's Yattodetaman anime, part of the Time Bokan metaseries. The "spell" used to unlock it is "lhovistoio", meaning "I have seen it", referencing the anime's narrator who ended every episode by asking the viewers if they had seen the Firebird.
• Divano Thelma is named after and vaguely resembling Divino Otelma, an Italian TV personality and "magician". Also, "Divano" means "sofa" in Italian.
• During Adventures. Poe can appear as a shopkeeper in the Planar Bazaar, who offers you a clove in this trying time.
• The Emergency Meeting DLC adds a large number of enemies from various sci-fi properties even beyond the obvious Among Us tie-ins. Examples include:
  • Gala Invaders, bats with color patterns based on the enemies from Galaga
  • Steroid, a large robot modelled after Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
  • Trip Trop, essentially tripods from The War of the Worlds
  • G062T, a close facsimile of Robby the Robot
  • A duck with a fishbowl helmet and walking cane
  • A stalagmite-shaped monster whose description mentions is no match for a scientist with a blowtorch.
  • An intelligent cosmic otter-person that chooses to live a simple lifestyle and write poetry.
• The Vandalier weapon is named after Ash's ultimate class in Vandal Hearts, complete with a similar color scheme and an attack resembling Plasma Wave, the strongest spell in the game.