Shout Out / Yandere Simulator

One of the aspects of Yandere Simulator that endeared it to so many so quickly is its utterly insane amount of references and shout-outs. So many exist, in fact, that this page needed to be created in order to pare down the Main, YMMV, and Trivia pages. However, there are certain shout-outs unique to specific debug builds or developer videos that might still appear on the Trivia page.

---

• One of the students is Pippi, the mascot for the Rhythm Game osu! (used with permission, it turns out). She used to spend most of her time in the school's computer lab playing the game.
  • She was later joined in the lab by Ryuto Ippongo, an Expy of Ryuta Ippongi from Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (who had a cameo in osu!). His routine is identical to Pippi's. They are said to have mutual unrequited crushes on each other, though regrettably there is no option to hook them up - whether there will be one in the future (fans have asked) is up to YanDev.
    • For what it's worth, they are as of Spring 2017 the only two characters thus far not linked to any rivals (test or real) who have tasks for Yan-chan to complete.
    • That changed when Gema and Gita got tasks.
  • For bonus points, a picture of Mami Tomoe can be seen on their screens.
• Musume Ronshaku is a thinly-veiled expy of Galko-chan from Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, albeit with a much nastier personality. Her original design (seen only in a promo image from the back) basically was Galko before Dev asked his artists to change it to be less infringing.
• At the beginning of the game, you can choose Akademi's uniform style. Some are shout-outs.
  • One of the customizable uniforms for boys looks a lot like Light Yagami's.
  • Uniform Style 5 bears a resemblance to the uniforms from School Days. Fitting, really.
    • The "official" uniform in the future might have even more of a resemblance.
• It is possible to give Ayano any one of dozens of different hairstyles. Most are original (many are commissions by fans and used with permission) but there are some shout-outs in there, including but not limited to… Yuno Gasai, Super-Saiyan Vegeta, Korra, Ryuko Matoi, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Soryu, Mimi Tachikawa, Shauna, Ryōko Otonashi, Junko Enoshima, Miku Hatsune, Sailor Moon, Tohru, Kanna, Elma, and of course, Agent 47. Also, Pippi's hair is in the rotation.
  • The last hairstyle (such as it is) before "Bald", turns Yan-chan's head into a massive pixellated cube à la Minecraft.
  • March 2017 saw the addition of a style — long blonde pigtails tied with red ribbons — that is an obvious nod to kgftbz, the original creator of the Pose Mod (it's his avatar).
    • Qvajangel, the 3D modeller who replaced Druelbozo, created a few hairstyles for the early-June 2017 debug builds based on YouTubers known for playing YanSim.
  • Senpai has hairstyles based on those of Nagito Komaeda and China from Hetalia: Axis Powers.
• Ayano can also be given one of a number of accessories to wear (most infamously the toaster). Some of them are shout-outs too.
  • A Yandere-fied version of Mario's hat and moustache.
  • Super Sonico's headphones.
  • Giffany's hairbow.
  • Ivysaur's flower bud.
  • A large witch's hat that may or may not be a reference to Yuki Nagato's.
  • Striped panties worn on the face much like Blue Snow.
  • No-Face's "face". NOTE: Accessory masks do not conceal your identity like a Drama Club mask!
• The idea of making Nemesis from Mission Mode a villian that does an unstoppable slow walk toward her target may be a possible shout-out to the 2015 horror film It Follows.
• The Yanvania Game Within a Game is a parody of the Castlevania games. The final battle dialogue and boss fight is taken directly from Symphony of the Night.
• Several Undertale references:
  • In a random storage room in the school, there is a piece of cheese placed in front of a mouse hole. Examining the cheese brings up the message "Knowing the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese… It fills you with determination."
    • After examining the cheese, the skull found in the Occult Club will gain a blue left eye, referencing how Sans from Undertale sometimes has a flashing left eye.
  • Through the laptop in the Student Council Room, Megami Saikou threatens Yan-chan with having a bad time, another reference to Sans.
  • The Halloween 2016 present is a YanSim-ified version of the Sans battle, with Oka Ruto as your opponent.
  • And, of course, there is the "Bad Time Mode" cheat in the debug builds, which turns Yan-chan into Sans with most of his powers. ^note The similarities used to be even more obvious –- "Megalovania" was the BGM and the Gaster Blasters looked like 3D versions of Undertale's -– until Toby Fox told YanDev to knock it off and made him change things to be less infringing.
  • The FUN GIRL is an expy of W.D. Gaster: an omnipresent glitch-person who suffered a little accident. To hammer things further, one of her lines quotes Entry Number 17: "YOUR IDEA OF FUN SEEMS VERY VERY INTERESTING."
• YandereDev is clearly a big fan of K-On!, and has put several references to the series into his game over time.
  • Early in development, the Rainbow Girls' original names were swiped from K-ON!, and a cutscene test showed an alternate uniform similar to K-ON!'s.
  • The design and layout of the old Light Music Club are the exact same as K-ON!'s light music club.
  • Mr. Jazzy Feet is a pet turtle owned by the Light Music Club, who lives in an aquarium tank in the corner of their club room. Albeit with god-like powers.
• One of the manga series Yan-chan can collect is called Life Note. It was eventually turned into an in-game anime that the player could watch in order to learn more complex murder methods. It even stars a female Expy of Light Yagami.
• The Photography Club members are expies of Mystery Inc. And yes, its leader is a blonde boy who wears an ascot. And yes, his name (for now) is an Engrishification of Fred Jones.
  • As of June 2018, the Photography Club has been implemented and the other members added, and while the names and designs may not necessarily be final, they continue to reference Mystery Inc. Their names are Dafuni Bureiku (Daphne Blake), Beruma Dinkuri (Velma Dinkley), Rojasu Noribiru (Norville Rogers, aka "Shaggy") and finally, Sukubi Dubidu.
• Aiding The Horror has him give Yan-chan access to supernatural arms that can destroy anyone she desires (except Senpai). She effectively becomes a Diclonius, though the arms themselves resemble a Dead Hand.
• Aiding The Fiend gives Yan-chan (in addition to pyrokinesis) a black dress that resembles Tatsumaki's.
  • Considering the fire powers you gain and the grey dress, plus Ayano's natural brunette hair color, she bears a pretty striking resemblance to Cinder Fall's masquerade disguise. The personality of a mass murderer isn't that far off, either. ^note The black mask that sometimes appears is not part of the getup; it's a texture bug that only appears to players who activate the "censor panties" option.
  • Oh, and the way you start this Easter Egg to begin with requires taking the Ritual Knife and heating it up with three acetylene blowtorches, an obvious nod to the "1000º Knife" videos that YouTube heavily promoted at the end of 2016. From there, you simply return the knife to its skull. Then the fun can begin.
    • Those blowtorches also serve a gameplay purpose: cauterizing stab wounds to keep a corpse from bleeding, making cleanup much easier.
• If Yan-chan joins the Science Club, the accessory she gets to wear is a Scouter.
• If Yan-chan joins the Gaming Club, she used to get to wear a white d-pad hairclip. Now it's an accessory.
• The cravat that Yan-chan used to get for joining the Drama Club looks a lot like the one Miles Edgeworth and Franziska von Karma are known to wear.
• In the online shop on your computer, school uniforms are sold by "Reevocs Inc".
• The Magical Girl Wand was originally one of the Crystal Princess Wands from Go! Princess Pretty Cure before its design was swapped out for a non-infringing one. One of the actions needed to get the magical girl game is to type “love and justice” - the first three words (in Japanese) of Sailor Moon’s In the Name of the Moon speech.^note Ai to seigi no sera fuku bishoujo senshi, Sera Muun!/For love and justice, the pretty sailor in a sailor suit, Sailor Moon! Sailor Moon also wields two heart-topped weapons: the Spiral Heart Moon Rod (born out of Usagi and Mamoru’s love, for extra hilarity points compared to Ayano) and Eternal Tiare (used by Eternal Sailor Moon, the most powerful incarnation of the character after Neo-Queen Serenity).
  • Similarly, the little figurines Efude draws noticeably resemble (though not enough to get Dev sued) the main quintet of Smile! Pretty Cure.
• The "Challenges" menu was directly inspired by the "deaths checklist" from Long Live the Queen.
• In the April Fools' Day 2016 joke game Kuudere Simulator 2, one of the things Himedere-chan can say is "You foolishly foolish fool!"
• Two of the masks hanging in the Drama Club room represent Amaterasu.
• In May 2017, the storage room with the cheese (itself a shout-out listed above) was given an overhaul. YandereDev now refers to it as the "Meme Closet", with good reason.
  • On one of the shelves can be found a plush "scrub", a shout-out to YouTuber Bijuu Mike, who had interviewed YanDev the previous month.
  • Also in the room is a giant upturned SAIKOU-brand cardboard box for Yan-chan to crawl around in à la Solid Snake, though its utility is far less effective than MGS's -– everyone can see you through the box.
• In the early-June 2017 builds, YandereDev snuck in an Easter Egg that, when activated, swaps Ayano's model out for that of Kizuna AI, a popular Japanese "Virtual Youtuber" who debuted at the end of 2016.^† She's actually a custom-made MikuMikuDance model controlled by a voice actress using what seems to be a combination of motion capture programs –- Kinect for her body and something higher-end for her face; she has been shown to be capable of interacting with people in real time. Dev stated he had sought permission from Ai-chan's creator to include her in his game, as he had with Pippi, but has not as of this edit received a response.
• YanDev has been teasing the "Bad Romance" Easter Egg since mid-2015, but it never did anything, so no one really cared except to mention it on the Trivia page. However, in Spring 2017, players discovered it had suddenly become mostly functional. In response, Dev said that cheat (due to all the work put into it) would have an announcement once it was ready to be officially unveiled.
  • It got it in June 2017, and it is a legitimate Easter Egg requiring several steps to activate and no explicit instructions on how to do it. ^{Instructions!} Find eight items around the school labeled "?" -– they're in all six classrooms, the Headmaster's Office, and the Teacher's Lounge –- then go up to the roof and laugh like a maniac.
• The January 1st, 2018 build added a short poem to the meme closet. Reading it turns Yan-chan into Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, or Monika^note Reading the poem repeatedly switches between them.
• The plot of "Magical Girl Pretty Miyuki", as described formerly by Sota and Haruto, and currently by Yaku and Horo, sounds a lot like Puella Magi Madoka Magica but with celebrities. Haruto/Horo even lampshades it at one point.
• The Game Within a Game adaption of Magical Girl Pretty Miyuki is pretty much a Shoot 'Em Up mini-game akin to Touhou Project.
  "I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time there's been a show like that."
• In 1980's mode, Ryoba has the option of sneaking into an abandoned asylum. The transients there can say "Itchy...Tasty", which is a well known meme from the original Resident Evil when a guard's journal describes his final devolution into a zombie.
• The following list is the entire "Easter Egg Menu"… which aren't actually Easter Eggs since they are so easily accessed (just press "/"). They are, however, all shout-outs to one thing or another. Some have already been mentioned above. Some of these aren't even listed in the actual menu but will work anyway.
  • "D" – Disables copyrighted music (a dwindling number of these play copyrighted music for humorous effect)
  • "P" – Punished Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan gets an artificial arm, torn uniform, cigar, eyepatch, scars, a piece of shrapnel in her head, and the music becomes a soundalike of Mike Oldfield's "Nuclear" (early builds used the real song).
  • "U" – Bad Time Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan's skin turns bone-white, she gains a blue and black tracksuit, her idle stance changes to hands-on-hips, and her eyes turn black with yellow dots. She gains the ability to throw NPCs around with psychokinesis (but not Senpai, since you must be nearly touching your target and his aura prevents you getting close), conjure bones from the ground that kill anyone they touch (including Senpai), and fire giant lasers at anything in front of her (also including Senpai). The music originally became "Megalovania", before Toby Fox demanded YanDev use a different song (more specifically, music from the C64 game Monty on the Run). The Gaster-blasters were remodeled at the same time to be less infringing.
  • "Q" – Huntress Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan becomes a Samus Aran lookalike. The music once became "Mission Final" before being replaced with a soundalike.
  • "Z" – Slender Mode ^Explanation  The screen goes monochrome, the music becomes scary violins, Yan-chan becomes ten feet tall, loses all facial features, her hair becomes stringy and swirls around her head, and she immediately hits maximum insanity. However, there are ways to calm down, like standing within Senpai's aura but out of his sight or "using" photos of him. At that point, you can play the game as relatively normal.
  • "S" – Spooky Mode ^Explanation  All the female NPC's become skeletons as a soundalike of "Spooky Scary Skeletons" plays on constant loop (earlier builds used a remix of the real song).
  • "B" – Bancho Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan originally gets a black uniform, bandaged arms, a hat, a piece of hay in her mouth, and the music changes to a soundalike of Taku Iwasaki's "Baf-Baf! Sonna ni Moeru no ga… Suki ka" (earlier builds used the real song). Now she gets a hat and a coat and can run fast and punch people.
  • "H" – Hateful Mode ^Explanation  The screen goes monochrome and red, Yan-chan gets long stringy hair and ratchets up to max-insanity as heavy metal music blares in the background.
  • "Y" – Cyborg Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan becomes a cyborg à la Raiden, her running speed is nearly doubled, and she gains an "Energy Sword" that immediately dismembers any student or teacher she attacks (Senpai cannot be attacked due to his aura). The music was originally "A Stranger I Remain", but was very quickly replaced with an original track, "Keeping Your Enemies Away". A bizarre side-effect of this mode (until it was sadly patched) was that it allowed Teachers to function like female students. That meant you could talk to one, kidnap her, and turn her into a mindslave.
  • "F" – Falcon Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan gains a familiar blue uniform and red helmet, and her sprinting speed is cranked up to insane levels. By pressing Ctrl, she can perform a Yandere Punch which sends NPCs flying – prior to mid-April 2016, this included Senpai, who would be literally knocked out of his aura; it remained wherever he was when you punched him. The music for a long time changed to "Big Blue", until it was finally replaced with a soundalike in Spring 2017.
  • "O" – Punch Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan gains a yellow suit with a white cape and red gloves. She also turns bald and gains the ability to punch people and send them flying. The music changes to a soundalike of "The Hero" (earlier builds used the real song).
  • "C" – Cirno Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan turns into Cirno the ice fairy as her walking animation is replaced with hovering, and her top speed is slightly increased. Pressing the laugh button makes her shoot ice-balls that act as a One-Hit Kill to any character with a hitbox… yes, even the teachers and Senpai; almost everyone can die while this is active.
  • "E" – Ebola Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan gains a nurse's cap, her skin and uniform turn bone white, her idle stance becomes identical to Rival-chan's, and she gets a pair of pink pigtails and tiny translucent purple devil wings. Any hitbox-having NPC she touches dies instantly, formerly including Senpai. The music became "Remnant of Twilight" until it was replaced with an original soundalike.
  • "T" – Titan Mode ^Explanation  Every NPC student (except Senpai) becomes forty feet tall and naked with exposed muscles (though Barbie Doll Anatomy is in effect), Yan-chan's uniform changes to off-white and brown, and a soundalike of the AoT theme "Guren no Yumiya" plays on constant loop (the real song was used until it was changed out). You can still kill students in this mode… the result of which warrants simultaneous entries in the "Funny" and "Nightmare Fuel" subpages.
  • "G" – Galo Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan's skin becomes dark-tan; she sports gold rings, bracelets, and sunglasses; her hair mirrors Vegeta's when he goes Super Saiyan – yes, pressing the laugh button causes her to do a power squat and focus her ki. The music became Policeman's "Galo Sengen" on constant loop until it was finally swapped out in June 2017 (probably holding the record for longest time an unauthorized track remained in the game).
  • "K" – DK Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan (as well as every other NPC with a hitbox) gets a gigantic head and arms. Note that because objects map themselves to your arm, meaning they'll change size if your arms do, it is impossible to mop up blood while in this mode. Originally, the infamous "DK Rap" played while this was active, until a soundalike was added in a later update. Also worth mentioning is this mode is unique in that, if activated first, it can be stacked with one other mode, so Yan-chan can become, for instance, a gorilla-proportioned ice fairy.
  • "2" – Blade Hair Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan gains two long pink pigtails that form into axes on the end. Swinging her hair-blades around – by pressing Ctrl and making her pirouette – instantly dismembers any NPC they touch.
  • "7" – Tornado Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan sports an outfit that heavily resembles Tatsumaki — a.k.a. Tornado of Terror — albeit with pink hair and a white dress (a recolored version of what she wears in the Flame Demon Easter Egg). She gains the ability to conjure up tornadoes that can send students flying. The music is identical to Ebola Mode's.
  • "8" - Yandere-kun ^Explanation  This allows you to play as Yandere-kun, the male equivalent of Yan-chan. It's merely a cosmetic change, as he still plays exactly like Yan-chan, albeit with a different walking and running animation (he also retains all of Yan-chan's voice clips).
  • "L" – 47 Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan's uniform turns all-black with a red bowtie, and she becomes bald with a barcode on the back of her head; the music originally switched to Jesper Kyd's "Only You Can Stop Them", until it was replaced with a soundalike.
  • "X" – X Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan becomes the mascot of 4chan's /x/ board. The music is the same as that heard in "Slender Mode".
  • “6” - Hunger Mode ^Explanation  Ayano gets a raincoat and can eat students and formerly teachers.

• "R" – Pose Mode ^Explanation  Yan-chan can grab/spawn any NPC in the game and mess with their models to create amusing scenes. Put into the game because YandereDev saw a fan-made mod that did this and thought it was a neat idea.
• "I" – Disable Gravity On Corpses ^Explanation  This is pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Activating this causes corpse-ragdolls to ignore physics almost entirely. Killing NPC's inside causes them to float until they hit a ceiling and slowly settle to the ground. Killing NPC's outside may cause them to fall up, possibly so high they disappear from the game. It also does not preclude other modes' use, meaning people can (and often do) use this to Falcon-Punch students and teachers into the literal stratosphere.
• "W" – Unlisted, but pressing this key turns Yan-chan into what appears to be Bayonetta.^*  There is a texture bug with this mode; as Yan-chan's sanity drops, her exposed skin below the neck gradually turns darker and greyer, blending with her clothing (which lightens slightly) until she looks like she's wearing a unitard.
• "Spacebar" – AI Mode: Unlisted. ^Explanation  A secret command that appeared in June 2017. It turns Yan-chan into Japanese "Virtual Youtuber" A.I. Kizuna, whose 3D model has a similar shape and code base to Yan-chan's. Many animations aren't compatible, though, meaning playing as her is buggy as all hell. But, you can manually change her expression. YandereDev stated he tried to contact Ai-chan's notoriously reclusive creators for permission to use her. This mode disappeared a couple builds later without mention or explanation.
• "N" – Unlisted in the menu, it automatically makes you Nude (albeit covered with Censor Steam).^†  Bizarrely, the game still requires you to take off your nonexistent clothes in order to bathe. You'll also need to dump said nudity (the swimsuit as far as coding is concerned) into the incinerator to avoid being arrested for murdering someone.
• "V" – Also unlisted. It gives Yandere-chan a Very Long Skirt.^{More Info}  YandereDev uses this to test for bugs in the model before applying it to other characters – the female delinquents will probably wear it once/if texture and clipping issues are fixed. If they do wear such skirts in the final game, Osoro – their boss and your eighth rival – may or may not.

---