Mythology Gag/Video Games

"Miranda: Well, I tarcked the guy to Melonweed. But I'm not going near the place! They'd kill me! Get my editor! He's got to get me out of this! Take one of these fake IDs to get through the roadblocks. My career is riding on those pictures! Help me, Ben, you're my only hope!"
 * In Scribblenauts, typing "scribblenaut" will call up the original player character design, which is also unlockable to play as.
 * Jump Ultimate Stars. Every single action taken by every single character, whether it's a normal punch or one of their super moves, is lifted directly from a certain panel from their respective series.
 * In the Disgaea 3 DLC, one of Gig's Evilties (abilities) is that he can Magichange into a weapon, and then when his turn runs out; he turns back into a humanoid; while the person who wielded him is temporarily replaced. In Soul Nomad and The World Eaters Gig spends most of his time as a magic weapon trying to do this.
 * At one point in the game The Darkness, you can hear someone discuss a fictional movie that he idly mentions has "That chick from Witchblade." In the comics, Witchblade and The Darkness are part of the same universe, and have had crossovers.
 * And a kid.
 * The Final Fantasy games are filled with (depending on your perspective) recurring characters and/or Mythology Gags. With the series steadily entering the XIII XIVth title, and sprawling countless spinoffs, Final Fantasy will have a lot of Mythology Gags to count on.
 * Final Fantasy II features a Dragoon, the first in the series, named Richard/Ricard Highwind; later, Final Fantasy IV would feature a Dragoon named Kain Highwind, and while the curmudgeonly airship mechanic Cid Highwind of Final Fantasy VII (himself being FFVII's incarnation of recurring character Cid) certainly doesn't resemble the traditional Final Fantasy Dragoon, his use of spears and the Jump ability in combat cement him as a Highwind in the mold of his immediate predecessor. Later translations of Final Fantasy II incorporate a new Mythology Gag in the form of Richard's son being named Kain (even though the continuity of the games, or lack thereof, means he cannot possibly be Final Fantasy IV's Kain Highwind), and the most recent translation of Final Fantasy IV brings the reference full circle with a brand-new scene where Kain mentions that his father's name is Richard.
 * There's also a couple more: an escaping villain taunts the heroes with "You spoony... guys!", referencing an infamous Bowdlerization from FFIV. And a random townsperson says a frequent line from the orginal Final Fantasy, "Warriors, bring light to the ORBS!" only for the heroes to respond "Shut up."
 * Another example is the Job System in Final Fantasy III. You got jobs from each of the Crystals. The first Crystal bestowed the jobs of Fighter, Black Belt, Thief, Black Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage. The exact same jobs that were your choices in the original Final Fantasy. In addition, the final Crystal bestowed 4 of the six upgraded jobs from Final Fantasy, with the mages gaining snazzy new names: Ninja, Warlock, Devout, and Master (Knight was on the second Crystal, and Red Wizard was replaced by the one-man magical arsenal known as the Sage).
 * The description for the song "Chocobo Chocobo" in the Final Fantasy IV DS Music Player says "They're probably all off playing in some mysterious dungeon now." A comparatively long-running spinoff series for Final Fantasy is Chocobo No Fushigi Dungeon -- which translates as "Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon", although it's usually just called Chocobos Dungeon in the US. The randomly-generated dungeons in the series are consistently called "mysterious dungeons" in either version.
 * Final Fantasy X features a "Spoony bard" too, while the Warrior Monks are in Luca. A townsperson will tell you that he asked one of them out, "but she called me a spoony bard! Can you believe it?"
 * Character Job Classes (most noticeably Bartz as a Dragoon featuring a near-identical sprite to Kain from Final Fantasy IV) in Final Fantasy V often feature cues from Final Fantasy III in at least one design. Subsequently, Final Fantasy Tactics features a similar amount of nods, with several generic character sprites featuring identical design features... Most notably the male Monk and male Thief (Bartz) and the female Lancer and Ninja (Faris).
 * The Optional Party Member Gogo in Final Fantasy VI is a direct nod to the boss of the same name who guarded the Mimic class crystal in Final Fantasy V. Even his battle menu is customizable in the same way as a Mimic in Final Fantasy V.
 * The Advance Remake has Gilgamesh as an Esper. He is once again a sword-collector; he falls for Excalipoor again, and in battle, he uses the same trick he did in Final Fantasy V; namely casting Protect, Shell, Haste, and Jumping.
 * And another new Esper is Diabolos. His specialty is, yet again, Gravity spells.
 * This was arguably the entire point behind Final Fantasy IX.
 * The play in the ending sequence of Final Fantasy IX includes the line "No cloud, no squall shall hinder us!" This is one of many such references to the game's predecessors.
 * When the main character is in a weapon shop he sees a sword on the wall. He remarks that he remembers "a guy with spiky hair" who used a sword like that. The sword looks very similar to Cloud's Buster sword from Final Fantasy VII.
 * In fact, the game was filled with these, since it was basically a reference to the series as a whole, to wit: the return of the Battle Theme Music that had been last heard in Final Fantasy VI, a sidequest involving characters named Doga and Une, the in-game band's performance of the Rufus march from Final Fantasy VII, the appearances of black mages as faceless people with glowing eyes underneath wide-brimmed hats, which had been avoided (at least for player characters) after Final Fantasy V, and the general return to cartoonish proportions in the character design, which had been eschewed in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII.
 * Ramuh has you gather and piece together the pieces of a story before he will allow you to summon him. The story is about a quest in Final Fantasy II.
 * And of course, the Trance powerup, which turns the characters into furred versions of themselves for an incredible power boost, is a reference to Final Fantasy VI's Terra.
 * In Final Fantasy X, Lulu's weapons are dolls of characters from previous Final Fantasy games.
 * Additionally, the Ronso tell Yuna that they'll build her a statue with big horn on her head. Yuna is a summoner. In previous games (III and V, as well as one of the summoners from IX-- ), the summoner class had horns.
 * Final Fantasy X 2 contains several references to other games in the series, including, on Ultima Weapon's scan data, "Whatever you do, don't call it Atma."
 * Also there's the enemy named "King VERMIN!", which is named after the insult Barrett used on Shinra.
 * When Shinra tells them of the huge amount of energy from the Farplane and how, if used, would change a lot in their world, Yuna talks about a huge city that would never sleep...
 * Final Fantasy XI has a bit more elaborate nod to FFI with what are called Artifact Armor. Some of the classes in the game can gain special armor that makes them look like characters from the older games: Fighters got bulky red platemail, White Mages got red-trimmed white robes, Black Mages got the pointy hats, and Red Mages got the distinct red jerkin-cloak-armor and the pimp hat.
 * On top of that, the 6 jobs new Final Fantasy XI characters initially have available are the same as the 6 possible party members in FFI: Warrior (Fighter), Monk (Black Belt), Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage.
 * When Gilgamesh fights you in Final Fantasy XII, he breaks out a number of other Final Fantasy swords over the course of the battle. His version of the Buster Sword is marked "Replica" in kanji on its side, which makes a lot of sense for someone best known for wielding the "Excalipoor".
 * Final Fantasy Tactics a 2 has a scene where Luso accidentally bumps into a Bangaa and almost calls him a lizard... the same mistake that his predecessor Marche made in the first game. Fortunately, a moogle prevents him from saying it. As it turns out, its Montblanc, the same Moogle that helped Marche.
 * And there is Hurdy, a Moogle bard. His starting abilities include hiding at low health. It would seem that his mentor was Spoony Bard Edward of Final Fantasy IV fame.
 * And Hurdy has a twin sister named Gurdy, harkening back to Hurdy and Gurdy from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (even though there is the implication that Hurdy and Gurdy are actually the same person)...
 * Chocobos Dungeon has a dungeon filled with Cactuars and Iron Giants. The song playing in the background is a remix of the song playing in the Thunder Plains from Final Fantasy X, an area filled with said monsters.
 * The number of these gags in Dissidia Final Fantasy can only be described as "staggering".
 * Some character intros will have clear references to events in the other games: for example, both Cecil and Golbez will make reference to the fact that Gabranth is going through the same pain they have. On the lighter side of things, Kefka will tell Tidus to "go back to the beach already..."
 * Summons will reference appearances in multiple games if they have different forms by using different artwork for each one.
 * The Elemental Fiends have pretty much the same effects as the Elemental Archfiends
 * Characters are constantly taking iconic poses.
 * The Mognet Moogles complain about the Chocobo staring in a series of spin-off games (which have a Moogle as an antagonist) and declare "I know it won't be long 'til we star in our own game, kupo! And not just a racing game or mysterious dungeon spinoff, either, kupo!"
 * And many, many more.
 * In Final Fantasy VII, take a good look at Jenova's headplate. Later games and The Movie changed the plate to be much less of a Stealth Pun and to make sense in-universe.
 * The kitchen knife being the ultimate weapon. It made its debut in Final Fantasy IV, where Edge could throw it for massive damage. From the next installment onwards, the Tonberries would use these to maim your party with a gentle poke. The gag was lost since the translation of IV turned it into a Spoon for no good reason.
 * Cody in Street Fighter Alpha 3 mentions that "It's good to know more than two moves", a reference to his role as the hero in Final Fight.
 * Cody's Super in the same game is a reference to his game breaking infinite-stun loop punch glitch from Final Fight.
 * Another end battle quote by Cody is "No matter what happens, this will not be my Final Fight!"
 * In the same game, Sakura Kasugano says she likes "street fighting" as compared to "sparring in Rival Schools". Sakura made a playable cameo appearance in the first Rival Schools.
 * Dan Hibiki also claims that "I hate the art of fighting, but I want to be king of fighters!" In a previous game, he asked Ken whether he knew "the art of fighting", as well. Dan is based on Ryo and Yuri Sakazaki and Robert Garcia of SNK's Art of Fighting and King of Fighters games.
 * Street Fighter IV's incarnation of Dan features him performing the Hao Sho Kou Ken motion from Art of Fighting very slowly if he is left standing still long enough. And in Super Street Fighter IV he gets an Ultra move that is a blatant copy of the HSKK.
 * One of Chun-Li's winquotes in Street Fighter III 3rd Strike has her spout the random and rather pointless phrase "Leave me alone! I'm a fighter, not a news reporter!" In the live-action film of Street Fighter, Chun-Li was just that, a news anchor.
 * Another reference to Chun-Li being a news anchor is on the opening scene from Mega Man 9 when Chun-Li appears... as a news anchor
 * Of course, people would rather forget/enjoy that.
 * A translation error in the original Street Fighter II arcade game had one of Ryu's win quotes as "You must defeat Sheng-Long to stand a chance." Sheng Long is the Chinese reading of the first two characters in Shōryūken, one of Ryu's signature techniques, and Sheng Long was turned into an April Fools' joke by EGM. In a trailer for Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix, at the end, after Ryu attempts to chase Akuma, it shows a cryptic, soundless piece of text, simply saying, "You must defeat Sheng-Long to stand a chance..."
 * In the Street Fighter movie, Blanka and Charlie were turned into a Composite Character. In X-Men VS Street Fighter, Blanka appears in the background of one stage, but if you play as Charlie, Blanka is replaced with Beast.
 * The alternate costumes in Street Fighter IV are occasionally Mythology Gags. For example, Zangief's alternate costume is Mike Haggar. Super Street Fighter IV seems to be going even further into it: Zangief gets Mecha-Gief, and, one of the most clever connections in the series, Bruce Lee homage Fei Long gets Kato as an alternate costume.
 * Super Smash Bros is an entire game series built on Mythology Gags. Many of them are obvious, but the sheer amount of reference to Nintendo's origins is baffling. Everything from random items in the background of stages, to the particular designs of items and character's individual moves. Just look at the History Behind Smash Bros series.
 * In Brawl, Snake's Codec conversations are full of references to Metal Gear Solid that weren't present in his stage. In addition to whole slew of other things, he compares Ness to Psycho Mantis, Pikachu's electricity to Revolver Ocelot's torture device, and references Big Boss and Liquid when talking about Link's Legacy Character status.
 * In Metroid Other M, one of Ridley's attacks involves grinding Samus against the wall. This is how he introduced himself in Brawl, released at least a year prior.
 * Sonic's pose in the character select for Sonic and the Black Knight and one of Classic Sonic's level clear poses in Sonic Generations both look like Sonic's official render in Brawl.
 * Persona 3 contains an in-game MMORPG that's a giant mythology gag to the first two Persona games, which are in an Alternate Continuity. The game is named Innocent Sin Online, after Innocent Sin, the subtitle of the first half of Persona 2 and a game that was never actually released in the West. When you first log on, you get a message from Phil. -- short for Philemon, a major supporting character from the original Persona series. You start off in Lunarvale Hospital -- Lunarvale is what the city in the original Persona was named for the US release, and its hospital was the first dungeon. A girl you meet in the game suggests you name your character Tatsuya, and renames herself Maya, the mains of Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment respectively, and major PCs in the game they're not the main of. Additionally, it's established there that Persona 2 exists as a game in the Persona 3 continuity, due to one of "Maya's" comments.
 * In the Japanese version the MMO character names were N-jima and Y-riko, references to the books that started the whole MegaTen franchise, as well as the original Megami Tensei game, which was a direct video-game adaptation of the first of the novels. (From Megami Tensei 2 onwards, they drew themes from the novels, but weren't actually directly based on them.)
 * The T.V. at the dorm sometimes shows a program called Who's Who. Some of the descriptions included a Chinese man with long hair and sunglasses and someone who wants to be a cop like his older brother.
 * At one point you hear rumours of a ghost haunting the local shrine. The same rumours circulate around the shrine in Innocent Sin, and in fact they are a major plot point. And at another point, someone rubbishes the idea of rumours becoming reality, which is exactly what happens in Persona 2.
 * And at another point, there's a brief mention of the Kirijo family once belonging to the Nanjo Group. Nanjo was a character from the original Persona -- Nanjo was his family name -- who was roughly equivalent to Mitsuru, although his rich family was much less plot-relevant.
 * Persona 4 has a few of these as well.
 * During the King's Game Scene (which just so happens to take place in the Nightclub from Persona 3), Chie compares Naoto to a detective from a film she once saw. The detective in question? Kuzunoha, of the Devil Summoner series (not to mention Persona 2!). It just so happens that Naoto looks a lot like a certain Devil Summoner.
 * During that same scene, Rise mentions that a surprise midnight performance at the same night club was canceled due to a power outage. If you played Persona 3 you can probably guess what happened... (Apparently the P4 cast can't experience the Dark Hour...) The rest of the Port Island sequence is mostly filled with overt references to the previous game as well.
 * The Entire Void Quest Dungeon is full of these, particularly in the boss fight against, which directly lifts attack menus from the original Shin Megami Tensei.
 * Not to mention one of the floor dialogues has Mitsuo's mother lift lines from the protagonist's mother from Shin Megami Tensei as well, mentioning sirens keeping her awake and a request to buy coffee. Whether it really happened or if it's another twisted manifestation isn't entirely clear.
 * Another one that probably will go unnoticed, is that the maximum XP you can gain in a single fight is 65535. That's the same number you gain from fighting Lucifer in Nocturne, which was a Mythology Gag in itself.
 * Star Wars Battlefront II has some of these in the random dialogue that comes up during battles. Of note are:
 * Imperial Stormtrooper: "It's Obi-wan! Shall we put a disturbance in his Force?" (A reference to his famed 'disturbance in the force', of Episode 4)
 * Imperial Stormtrooper: "It's Solo! And he's shooting first! That's not fair!" (A reference to the Han Shot First debate)
 * Clone Trooper: "Its Darth Maul! What's he going to do, bleed on us?" (A reference to Maul's unfortunate demise before doing anything more significant than killing one maverick Jedi, as well as being a Shout Out to Monty Python's Black Knight)
 * Imperial Officer: "You Rebel scum!" (direct quote from Return of the Jedi)
 * Rebel Soldier: "Rebel scum this!" (a rebuttal to the above)
 * Knights of the Old Republic is absolutely in love with this:
 * Held captive and asked where the Jedi enclave where you received your Jedi training, you can say it's on Alderaan, when it's really on Dantooine; an inversion of Leia claiming the Rebel base was on Dantooine in an attempt to spare her home planet of Alderaan.
 * At one point a character mentions that her husband's Sith-killing days were "a long time ago, in a war far, far away."
 * On Tatooine, you need to use bantha fodder to lure banthas into a cave as bait for the Krayt dragon living inside, and you can tell the NPC you're working with, "Look, I have your fodder."
 * In the sequel, you can at one point say "A lie is a lie, even from 'a certain point of view'."
 * The sequel was created by former Black Isle Studios employees. It contained the line "The weak suffer. The strong endure", echoing a line in the Black Isle game Planescape: Torment.
 * "My name is ]. I'm here to rescue you."
 * There is also an easter egg (after getting the Light Side and Dark Side endings, then starting another game as a female character) where Atton says something like "Are you an angel? Wow that was bad, I hope some stupid kid doesn't end up using it." when you enter the cell block on Peragus.
 * There was another one that was cut from the game, where Atton says he shouldn't even be in the game and was meant to star in a spin-off of Jedi Knight - namely, Jedi Academy, which came out around the same time.
 * Once you've, it is possible to tell her that she has "taken [her] first step into a much larger world," which is the same thing Obi-Wan says to Luke in Episode IV.
 * When you've influenced Handmaiden to become a Jedi, she says "I want you to teach me the ways of the Force. To become a Jedi Knight like my mother," which is very similar to a line spoken by Luke.
 * Also in the second game, when General Vaklu expresses his shock that you are still alive, one of the possible replies is "You'll find I'm full of surprises" (a reference to The Empire Strikes Back).
 * In the comic, Mandalore has the same mask which the random Mandalorian soldier was seen picking up in the last pages of the penultimate Tales of the Jedi story arc.
 * On Taris, you have the chance to fight a Mandalorian going by "Bendak Starkiller".
 * All Lucas Arts games had Star Wars references.
 * For example, in Full Throttle, nosey reporter Miranda begs main character Ben to help her:

"You consider taking one of them with you, but decide against it. What use could a self-respecting adventurer have for this stuff?"
 * And the man who drives the fertilizer truck has the Imperial insignia tattooed on his arm.
 * The protagonist of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed goes by the codename "Starkiller" -- a fanwink to the working name for Luke Skywalker.
 * The Visual Novel Crescendo includes a wonderfully self deprecating reference to the company's previous game Kana Little Sister when two characters watch a film obviously based on it, criticising its emotional manipulation and Deus Angst Machina. Kana sold extremely well and received excellent reviews but later received quite a bit of Hype Backlash over its Wangst, something that the developers seem to have taken in good humour.
 * While filming Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Ark in Cairo, the producers had everyone take down their TV antennas so they wouldn't show up anachronistically in a rooftop scene. In the corresponding level of the Lego Indiana Jones video game, you can find a secret room filled wall-to-wall with satellite dishes.
 * Castlevania loves this trope: in Dawn of Sorrow you can collect Konami Man, a Bell, and a Crown, which all have descriptions telling you how many points they're worth. All three come from the very first Castlevania 1986, where they were hidden items that you obtained by performing certain actions in certain places, which is the same way you obtain them in Sorrow. You can also obtain a rosary as an equippable item: in the old games, it was an item that wiped out all enemies on screen if you touched it.
 * In Aria of Sorrow, the save room contains a half-buried coffin -- it's the same coffin Alucard uses in Symphony of the Night as part of the game-saving animation.
 * Various games of the series also include skeletons of bosses of other episodes as wall decorations every now and then, with Slogra and Gaibon being the most popular.
 * In Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance, the player can find Carmilla from Castlevania II embedded in the wall.
 * In Symphony of the Night, when you explore the Arena, one of the rooms contains a dead bull monster -- you know, the one that fell through the floor in the Entryway in Rondo of Blood while chasing Richter?
 * Symphony of the Night also features another of these "remember that older game?" jokes -- when Alucard meets Maria for the first time, she mentions that she's looking for Richter Belmont. We are then shown two comic-book style 'thought bubbles', Maria's containing a sprite of Richter, and Alucard's -- of Trevor in all his 8-bit glory from their team-up in Castlevania III.
 * Shanoa has a catchphrase that she uses in both Order of Ecclesia and Judgment: "I am the morning sun come to vanquish this horrible night". This is heavily based on the message that appears when the sun rises in Simon's Quest.
 * In Portrait of Ruin, the "Greatest Five" Dual Crush attack summons  to attack all enemies. Occasionally,  would appear in their original NES sprites.
 * The name of the Bionic Commando podcast is a mythology gag -- it's called "Top Secret", which was the original Japanese name of the Arcade and NES games that started the franchise.
 * You get another one in the next-gen Bionic Commando, at the Avenue of Heroes. The statues of "RAD" Spencer and "Super Joe" Gibson are dated 1989 and 1991 respectively -- one year after the release of the NES Bionic Commando, and Mercs. (The first game to refer to "Super Joe" by the name Joseph Gibson)
 * In Star Fox Command, one possible ending references the planet Papetoon, from the Canon Discontinued Nintendo Power comic series.
 * Papetoon was mentioned in the Japanese manual for Star Fox 64.
 * Every game in the Dragon Quest series contains some variation on either "No response. Looks like a corpse." (Translations for Dragon Quest VII and earlier), or "No reply. It's just a corpse." (Newer translations, because consistency in mythology gags is for losers) This is a call back to the original Dragon Quest, where, during the now-traditional Playable Epilogue, you could visit a soldier who had been injured for the rest of the game and receive this response -- the one downer element of the Happily Ever After.
 * The English translation of the DS version of Dragon Quest IV features some mythology gags regarding the name changes in the translation of the original NES version. The character Ragnar, who was named Ryan in the Japanese, now has the full name Ragnar McRyan, while the full name of Torneko, who was renamed to Taloon in the NES version, is now Torneko Taloon.
 * In Megaman Legends 2, a TV in a bar displays a short looped animation with Guts Man, Proto Man, and the original Mega Man. A poster in the same city displays Zero prominently.
 * The Zetsabre (Z-Saber), a part necessary to complete one of the game's strongest weapons is referred to as "A weapon of a legendary hero". To get it you must ether pass a 100-question exam or hand over 3 million Zenni, but it's worth it due to the Gamebreaker damage levels of the Blade Arm.
 * Megaman Battle Network, like Legends before it, is actually rife with Mythology Gags. Zero (the one from the X series) is featured on posters, there's a ServBot rug, a Show Within a Show (or game, as the case may be) whose main characters suspiciously resemble the Bonne clan, and countless others.
 * Final Transmission in BN 3 is a remixed version of Wily Stage 2 in Mega Man 8.
 * If you listen to Blues's theme in the Gaiden Game Rockman.EXE 4.5: Real Operation, the opening tones sound exactly like Blues/Protoman's whistle from the original Mega Man series.
 * The 4.5 PET theme of every Navi based on a Robot Master is a remix that Robot Master's original Empire Theme. Blues' is the Blues Whistle in its entirety, and Forte's BGM is the Forte riff from Mega Man 7.
 * In a reference to the mistranslation of Dr. Light as Dr. Right in some early Mega Man games, the equivalent doctor in Battle Network is named Tadashi Hikari, which means Right Light in Japanese.
 * Don't forget that about half the characters are inspired by the original Robot Masters. Guts Man comes to mind.
 * Mega Man ZX Advent is crawling with Mythology Gags. Two items you can find are a manga starring Konroman, a camping stove robot master from the highly unpopular Mega Man & Bass game for the Wonderswan, & a picture of the hated US boxart of Mega Man 1.
 * In the Xbox 360/PS3 versions of Sonic Unleashed, you can buy chili dogs, Sonic's favorite food from the animated series of the '90s.
 * And then, the intro scene of Sonic and The Black Knight has him landing in the realm of King Arthur... holding chili dogs, effectively turning this from Mythology Gag to Canon Immigrant.
 * Used as a Brick Joke in Sonic Generations, where Sonic's special present is a chili dog, but he doesn't get to eat it before the Big Bad attacks. At the end of the game, he returns to his time and catches the dog, which is still warm.
 * The Xbox 360/PS3 Prince of Persia reboot begins with the Prince looking for his donkey, Farah; Farah is the name of the Action Girl love interest in the Sands of Time trilogy.
 * Oblivion simplified Morrowind's armor system by combining the pauldron slot with the cuirass. They nod to this in the Shivering Isles expansion, where a local smith's shop is called The Missing Pauldron. This also refers to how Morrowind's Daedric set was, for quite a while, missing one of its available pauldrons until an expansion came out.
 * There's also M'aiq the Liar, whose entire dialogue is filled with mythology gags.
 * Starcraft has Jim Raynor seeing the purple goo stuff that emanates from Zerg colonies and saying "What the hell is that!? Looks like the ground there is alive!". War Craft III, meanwhile, has Jaina seeing the corrupted stuff that emanates from Undead colonies and saying "It looks like the land around the granary is... dying.".
 * In Silent Hill 3, the player is given the option of having the protagonist reach into a filthy (even by Silent Hill standards) toilet to search for anything useful. She refuses to, and a cutscene plays in which she looks directly at the camera and says "Who could do something so disgusting?", referencing the protagonist of the previous game who did do without hesitation, which remains a frequent joke at his expense among the fandom.
 * For those who wish to see this scene, it occurs only if the memory card you're using also contains Silent Hill 2 save data.
 * In Silent Hill 4, Henry shows a similar aversion to toilets, saying "now is not the time for this kind of thing", despite showing no reservations about going into dangerous/disgusting places otherwise.
 * The Legend of Zelda has a number of these. For example, in Twilight Princess, Link takes special lessons from a character known only as the Hero's Shade, a skeletal figure accessible in a sort of dream world. It's never directly stated in-game, but it was eventually confirmed that this is the Hero of Time, the Link from Ocarina of Time.
 * Also in Twilight Princess, the six Sages found in the desert have the same symbols as their Ocarina of Time counterparts did, even though they are completely different. The Temple of Time also has the same music in the entry area as its older version, despite being located somewhere else.
 * Not to mention that some of the melodies you have to howl as a wolf to obtain the secret techniques are, ostensibly, the ocarina melodies.
 * One is from Wind Waker, and one debuted in Majoras Mask. The former of which is kind of ironic - considering that the two games are generally accepted to be in separate timelines.
 * The one melody is "Ballad of the Gales", the bulk of which is derived from "Minuet of Forest". Each Howling Stone song seems to share emotional significance to Oo T Link. "Song of Healing" is the central melody of "Saria's Song" backwards and is important in Majora's Mask. "Requiem of Spirit" is the warp song to the final (in storyline order) Temple in Oo T. "Prelude of Light" is the first warp song and likely the one used right before the final dungeon. "Zelda's Lullaby" can be considered the most important in-story theme in the series. And the "Light Spirit's Theme" is the theme of the Shade's protege, TP Link.
 * Also, that you get to visit a ruined version of the exact same Temple of Time from OoT; when you go into its past, you get to see a graphically improved version, complete with the same music.
 * Considering that might as well be another example.
 * Much easier to miss, the Goron on the observation deck in Hyrule Castle Town says "It's a secret to everybody."
 * And The Wind Waker shows the Sages on stained glass windows in Hyrule Castle. However, this one is an explicit sequel.
 * The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures features the origin of Ganon's Trident that he would later use in A Link to The Past, and the deaths of the Knights of Hyrule that were mentioned in the Backstory to that game.
 * A subtle one appears in Phantom Hourglass. When you approach the villain's hideout while roaming the overworld, the sky goes dark. The same happened years before in Ocarina of Time.
 * Skyward Sword has so many Mythology Gags that it has its own subpage.
 * In the intro of Super Mario 64 DS, Yoshi is first seen sleeping on the roof of the castle. The roof was where Yoshi was found in the original Super Mario 64.
 * I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream includes a mention of the insane supercomputer AM torturing one of the protagonists by coaxing him into walking through a thousands of kilometers of ice to reach a pile of canned fruit, only to discover that AM didn't give him a can opener. This is nearly the entire plot of the original short story the game is based on.
 * The Fist of the North Star PS 2 fighter lets the player recreate some of the anime series' most famous events. For example, if Shin is losing to Kenshiro on the Southern Cross stage, Shin can pull off a self-inflicted Fatal KO, a recreation of Shin's death in the series.
 * There are others, as well. Ken's timed-death move does not work on Souther, Rei's instant kill is different when done to Juda or Mamiya, Mamiya's instant kill is different when done to Rei, Jagi's instant kill is different when done to Ken, Ken's instant kill is different when done to Jagi, and so on. But then, considering that about 75% of the special moves are taken from specific scenes in the series (such as Raoh's foot-stab or Jagi's pillar attack), the whole game really is a series of massive shout outs and mythology gags.
 * In Elite Beat Agents, the actor from Makes no Difference is actually from Osu Tatakae Ouendan, the game EBA was based on. This is actually less subtle than most other continuity nods, as he even does the arm waving thing. Also, in The Anthem, the kid's friends are Ted from Highway Star, and the boy from Walkie-Talkie Man. OK, if we were going to list all of these, we would have a pretty big list (Sam is in almost every stage though). Most of them also qualify as an Early Bird Cameo.
 * There are actually a lot of very brief blink-and-you-miss-it cameos of characters from Ouendan, as well as for the EBA cast themselves. It's guaranteed that you'll see characters from the later stages appearing in the early stages. It would be a very big list if it was made.
 * The good endings' credit sequences in Bubble Memories has Bub and Bob using their parasols, which they've also used in Parasol Stars. Both games are in the Bubble Bobble series. Although both may be Non Linear Sequels, Memories apparently takes place after Parasol Stars but before Bubble Symphony.
 * Though the various settings in Command and Conquer are quite different, with confusingly varying timelines, there are often references to events that have taken place in previous games.
 * In Red Alert II, General Carville remarks that the Soviet Union is sending a naval force to take Pearl Harbor, and then snickers at the thought of anyone ever succeeding at attacking the base. This is a reference to the first Red Alert, which had a completely alternate World War II where the Japanese never attacked Pearl Harbor.
 * But when you actually play the mission, the sunken Arizona, complete with memorial, lays in the harbor...
 * While the series' concept of canon is very loose, it is common fan conclusion that the Japanese-American war in the Pacific still occurred, albeit on a smaller scale.
 * In Red Alert 3, another mission is set at Pearl Harbour... only this time, you're the Japanese, defending it against a surprise Allied Strikeforce. The mission intro even has George Takei expressing his vehement disbelief that anybody would ever attack the heavily fortified Pearl Harbour.
 * Also from Red Alert 3 (which takes place in a different timeline than the earlier games) a Soviet mission starts by showing Tanya destroying dreadnaughts and talking about "old times", exactly the same way the Allied campaign starts in Red Alert 2.
 * The Allies' Mission Control is always named Eva, as a reference to the mission control AI EVA (or Electronic Video Agent) from the Tiberian series of games. Likewise, she has a rivalry with Allied commando Tanya over the affection of the Allied commander.
 * In Tiberium Wars, though the insidious Tiberium has evolved into completely new forms with new methods of expansion, nods to the original Blossom Trees from earlier Tiberium games can be seen throughout the Red Zone maps, in the form of withered but recognizable Blossom Tree husks.
 * Also, the game's entire Database holds subtle references to characters and events from the previous games. The game also has a statue of Havoc, the commando from Renegade. The Novelization also makes references to Tiberian Sun, even going so far as having the GDI player character, Micheal Mcneil, as a character. In a "criminal dossier" from the game designer's, a even subtle reference to Red Alert is made.
 * In Tiberian Sun you can find an abandoned GDI base made from buildings found in the first game, as well as functional mammoth tanks.
 * In Renegade a cutscene shows that the GDI controls their troops with the exact interface the player used. In fact, it shows part of an actual mission in the original game, then switches to the game level with the exact same layout. Several audios were also taken over, such as the death sounds of Nod infantry or EVA lines like "reinforcements have arrived". During the credits, the same "news" that were shown during the GDI ending also play here.
 * Many of the same units in the various sequels end up being Expies of themselves -- for example, you can pretty much count on any future Red Alert sequel having the Kirov airship, and the Devil's Tongue flame tank down to its name is a link from the first and second Tiberium games in the form of a continuity nod.
 * Many commando units in the series will have similar lines to the first commando in Tiberium Dawn, including Havok making a reference in Renegade, "Just doesn't seem fair, does it? Maybe I'll shoot left-handed."
 * Super Robot Wars is rife with these, especially in the Original Generation continuity. The first such occurrence is in Original Generation 2: Ryusei Date jokes about renaming the SRX "Dairyusei", or maybe "Dairaioh", when teammate Raidiese F. Branstein protests. The actual Dairaioh later appears in Alpha 3 as a completely different machine.
 * The Updated Rerelease of Original Generation 2 has Lemon Browning mention people other than Beowulf/Kyosuke Nanbu who use the "Wolf" moniker, Foreshadowing the appearance of Hugo Medio and Albero Esto (members of a team called the "Cry Wolves") from MX. Sure enough, the Cry Wolves appear in Original Generation Gaiden.
 * In Original Generation Gaiden, Aqua Centrum appears and says she'll never wear anything as Stripperific as Lamia Loveless, a nod to the fact that in her debut game MX, she actually wears an outfit even more revealing. In the same game, the epilogue has reference the Shadow-Mirror's "Project EF", a direct nod to the spinoff OG Saga: Endless Frontier.
 * Fire Emblem's arena themes are for the most part, remixes of the main battle themes of previous games. For example, the 11th game (Shadow Dragon) uses the 9th game's (Path of Radiance) while the 8th (Sacred Stones) uses the 2nd's (Gaiden).
 * When playing "Yellow Submarine" in Rock Band: The Beatles, the dreamscape depicts the band wearing the same clothes as their animated versions in the film of the same name. Similarly, the song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" depicts the eponymous band performing in Pepperland.
 * A literal example occurs in Grim Fandango, when Manny can examine a statue of the first boss at the Department of Death, who was before his time, but supposedly a "real slave driver." Since the game takes place in a very strange version of the Aztec afterlife, this first boss would be Mictlantecuhtli, who was, to put it mildly, a greedy, sadistic Manipulative Bastard.
 * The Spaceship Victory movie in Civilization IV has a black man who looks suspiciously like Nwabudike Morgan falling out of his cryopod and looking out over the new planet.
 * It's far more likely to be Captain Garland.
 * In Rockstar's Bully, one of the classes that the protagonist takes is an autoshop class. While only allowed to work on bicycles himself, the cars that the seniors are working on are strikingly similar models to cars that appeared in Grand Theft Auto Vice City.
 * Mythology Gags run rampant in the Tales Series. Some examples:
 * There's always a coliseum where you'll run into characters from previous games.
 * You can dress characters in the costumes of previous game characters.
 * In Tales of Vesperia, there are enemies based on the characters Luke, Tear, and Mieu from the preceeding game, Tales of the Abyss.
 * In the PS 3 version, new character Patty Fleur can summon Mieu and Quicky with her Mystic Arte.
 * Each Tales game has a canon set of items, like the gels/gummies.
 * A character named Tokunaga has appeared in at least two of the games, as Anise's puppet in Tales of the Abyss and as the captain of the ship the Fiertia in Tales of Vesperia.
 * Tokunaga is also the butler/caretaker for Seles (Zelos' sister) in both Tales of Symphonia games.
 * The Spirits -- Gnome, Undine, Luna, etc. -- from Tales of Phantasia recur in almost every game in some form, such as "Summon Spirits" in Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Legendia, "aggregate sentiences" in Tales of the Abyss, or simply "spirits" in several other games.
 * The Legendary Pirate Aifreed is references in numerous entries to the game, and his treasure is sometimes available to find.
 * One of the Gentleman bosses in Tales of Hearts, himself a walking Shout Out to Katamari Damacy, will attack you with "Tales of Rollup", where he rolls a katamari of Tales references over you, including Swordians, several common Tales items, Tokunaga, and Mieu.
 * And let's not forget Dhaos and his aversion to the classic lightning spell, Indignation. Get him to half health and it's an instant kill in all his cameos. He also makes it a note to recite his classic line of "Sonna... Sonna baka na!" right before he gets owned by it.
 * Made more then a mythology gag in the PS 3 version of Tales of Vesperia, where Rita will suddenly learn and use the spell out of the blue if she casts Thunder Blade on him under the right conditions, just so she can nuke him out of existence. She can use it on anything after that.
 * A series of weapons available in Tales of Graces f are named after past Tales games, and also have designs based on things from the associated game. Hubert's Brave Vesperia is perhaps the most recognizable, essentially being a much smaller, dual-bladed version of the feather sword Yuri used in the finale to cleave the Adephagos in half.
 * Early in Fallout 3, a bully and his gang demand you turn over a sweetroll you received as a present. This is a recurring situation from the The Elder Scrolls's character generation process.
 * Fallout 2 contained many nods and references to its prequel, but some of the funniest were in the water chips. In the first game: MacGuffin. In the second: They come in packs of five, you can find over 100 in an area barely a quarter into the game, and a portal into the past causes the PC to create a Stable Time Loop by breaking the chip from the first one...
 * Ghostbusters the Video Game includes tons of subtle references to the past movies -- for instance, you can find Vigo's painting and listen to him talk smack to you -- as well as other Ghostbusters-related media: If you look closely at the computer at the Ghostbusters' headquarters, you can see the infamous A Winner Is You ending screen from the Ghostbusters NES game on the monitor!
 * All of the trophies/achievements are references to lines from the movies, as well.
 * The third Spider Man movie game has references to the Baxter Building (HQ of the Fantastic Four in Marvel canon) and the classic ads in which superheroes would Deus Ex Machina their way out of trouble with Hostess Twinkies and Delicious Fruit Pies.
 * In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, you have the news report on a red Gyarados, as well as a reporter who claims he covered the story. Also, before Jasmine's cameo in the Gen IV games, you can see her in the audience of Pokémon Contests in Gen III.
 * In the games, certain character elements have been brought over from the anime, along with other stuff. Brock asks for a Bonsly in the remakes of Pokémon Gold and Silver, Togepi cry whenever they enter Misty's Gym and you talk to them, Misty acts Tsundere in the Johto games, etc.
 * The games have lots of recurring elements. There's the basic plot which revolves around getting eight badges and such, but there are also other minor elements, either straight from Gen I or from Gen II onwards:
 * Trio of legendary Pokémon of different typings, and several other legendary Pokémon not belonging to the trio
 * Pseudo-legendary Pokémon: they have specific stat totals - higher than other Pokémon, lower than all legendaries; they are catchable in any amounts but only in one location, they rely on Magikarp Power and evolving them takes long.
 * Some of the older Pokémon, even the ignored ones like Aipom, suddenly getting new evolutions in later generations, is very explicitly a mythology gag as well.
 * In Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers, Kiesha Phillips, Pablo Sanchez, and Vicki Kawaguchi have their nicknames from the first games, before the Continuity Reboot.
 * Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future features occasional references to the original games; Hanging Waters in particular is packed with them. The level itself is the 3D version of the Skyway, the squid may be referencing both the Eight-Arms and the flying medusa all in one go, and the giant bird towards the end calls the helpful pteranodon to mind, right down to how he's summoned with song.
 * In a DLC mission for Mass Effect 2 there is a statue of a Dragon Age Ogre in an art-filled vault.
 * The same room also has the head of the Statue of Liberty. "Damn you, Hock!"
 * Also, in Mass Effect 2, several of Tali's battle quotes are "Go for the Optics, chiktikka!" which is a Shout Out to the Baldurs Gate character Minsc, who sometimes will shout, "Go for the Eyes, Boo" before battle, as well as "Nothing is faster than Chiktikka vas Paus", which is a pun on one of Aerie's, another Baldur's Gate character, battle quotes, where she says "Nothing is faster than Chiktikka fastpaws." Another gag is found on the Citadel, where one can purchase a "Space Hamster", which is the name of the species which Boo (purportedly) belongs too. Another example: If importing a Mass Effect 1 character to Mass Effect 2, when Shepard first reunites with Liara on Ilium, she will tell the man she is speaking to "Have you ever faced an asari commando? Few have!" which is the same thing Matriarch Benezia tells Shepard when you faced off against her in the first Mass Effect.
 * Miranda's loyalty mission contains a scene in which she punches the control panel in a slow cargo elevator and demands to know why it won't go faster, a reference to the infamously slow elevators in the first game.
 * Dragon Age has, among other things, "When in doubt, go for the eyes!" in the otherwise serious hints section on the loading screens and a piece of paper sitting around near the end of the Deep Roads mission containing clear Mass Effect references.
 * Near the end of Leliana's romance arc, you can tell her "You're cute when you're embarrassed," if you feel like making a Knights of the Old Republic reference.
 * There is also a woman by the name Edwina running a tavern in Denerim, which is a reference to in Baldur's Gate 2,
 * Dragon Age II contains a dwarf named Varric bearing a crossbow by the name of Bianca. One of the designers commented in an interview that Mirabelle was already taken.
 * This made it into a bit of party banter; Fenris asks about the origin of the name, and says she must have been named after someone. Varric replies that Mirabelle was already taken.
 * During Merrill's romance in Dragon Age 2, she interjects "is it getting hot in here?" into her dialogue in the exact same way Tali does in similar circumstances in Mass Effect 2.
 * Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song has these in the Children's Section in the Melvir Library. Having a tale reference the infamous Saw glitch from the first SaGa (The Final Fantasy Legend), another one reference the 7 heroes from Romancing Sa ga 2, and another possibly referencing one of the Frontier games or Romancing Sa ga 3.
 * If you get a chance to look closely at the back of one of the "Chocobites!" cereal boxes in Left 4 Dead, you'll notice it advertises a six-inch Team Fortress 2 action figure inside. "Collect all 10!"
 * And of course the "I love steam" line in "Crash Course."
 * Transformers War for Cybertron has some G1 nods. At one point, in the Kaon prison, an Autobot prisoner is pronounced guilty and thrown into a casket. He responds with "Spare me this mockery of justice!", the same quote from when the Quintessons sentenced Kranix the Lithone to Sharkticons in the original movie.
 * In the Soundwave boss fight, Rumble repeats one of his lines from the original movie: "First we crack the shell, then we crack the nuts inside!"
 * When Optimus and company have a face-to-face encounter with a space slug (It Makes Sense in Context... sort of.), Ironhide tries the Universal Greeting.
 * More or less every line and every achievement in the game is a reference to some previous character, characterization, line, song, toy gimmick, or storyline. Every bleedin' one.
 * Saints Row 2, as seen in one of the advertising screenshots, has a billboard advertising a military-themed restaurant called "Company of Gyros".
 * In Trinity Universe, upon hearing that Lucius and Violet are not into anime, Flonne tries to introduce them into one. The series in question? Disgaea.
 * Also when Prinny asks if it's okay to do the "Next Episode" bit, Etna mockingly says, "Can I Really be the Hero?"
 * The back wall of the pawn shop in King's Quest VI holds many items that would have been very helpful to players of previous King's Quest games.
 * Dynasty Warriors 5 had a nod back to the previous installment during the Wu Zhang Plains stage: After seeing Zhuge Liang's star fall, Sima Yi gleefully rushes the Shu camp, but stops when he gets there, spooked at the sight of Zhuge Liang.  he shakes his head, and realizes it's actually Jiang Wei, who has taken up Zhuge's mantle.
 * In the The Godfather game there is a character called the Trojan who gives you hits to carry out and then vanishes without a trace after the last contract hit. In The Godfather Part II, the Trojan's name (not his real one though) briefly appeared on a diagram of the Corleone family tree and he is listed as serving time in jail.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 4, the description of the Five-seveN states that it was Snake's main weapon 'when he infiltrated Galuade in 2003'. Galuade is the fortress from Metal Gear Ghost Babel, a non-canon "alternate sequel" to the original Metal Gear.
 * During the ending of Earthbound, Ness' mother refers to Giygas using an incorrect name that bears resemblance to prototype names for Gyiyg/Giegue/Giygas for back when MOTHER was going to be officially released in English.
 * In the sequel Mother 3, if you look at a certain bookshelf you will find the Overcoming Shyness book from the first game.
 * Also in Mother 3, guess what one of Lucas's best weapons is?
 * Aside all the Legend of Mana references in Sword of Mana there are twins in the town of Ish practicing summonings. One speaks "Klnka Irma Myron Tinqua" which are the words in the original Final Fantasy Adventure to reverse the Waterfall. The book the kid lost in Topple is about Magical Vacation which was another game produced by the developers. Finally in game there is the Brown Brownie which gives the Brownie Ring a staple item in game produced by Brownie Brown that is often dummied out.
 * The third season finale of Telltale Games' Sam & Max series features a scene inside Max's inventory. The inventory room contains several items from earlier parts of the series, but also from the original Lucas Arts game. It's a nice nod and establishes that games from both companies are in the same continuity.
 * Sam and Max Season 2 has a Max puppet made out of a paper bag and glued-on bits of white paper pinned to the message board in Sam's office. The Max puppet was from a No Fourth Wall make-and-do segment from the comics; it was later adapted for the ending of one of the episodes in the Sam and Max Freelance Police animated series.
 * The office in the Telltale games is full of references to Hit The Road, aside from looking very similar to its predecessor.
 * DC Universe Online returns the favor to Smallville by including a Global Alert in its endgame content that takes place in Smallville, Kansas.
 * Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds has this in friggin' spades. From Captain America and Iron Man referring to Civil War, to She-Hulk telling Deadpool that she'd be attacking him with a health bar if the game was set in the right era, this game really gets its jollies off on continuity and mythology.
 * The Halo series is rife with references to other Bungie games and meta-elements. In the words of former Bungie public liaison Matt Soell, "Anyone can enjoy Halo, but it will be the old-school Bungie fans who enjoy it the most."
 * The Marathon logo is visible in many places, particularly in the first game.
 * The Covenant cruisers look just like the Pfhor ships from that series.
 * Any time an NPC in the game yells "They're everywhere!" or "Thank god it's you!" is a reference to the first Marathon's limited NPC reactions.
 * Several mid-mission chapter names are also references to older Bungie games, such as "If I Had a Super Weapon..."
 * Visable in Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST is the logo of the in-universe company Traxus Heavy Manufacturing, named for an AI in Marathon.
 * Several of the mining facilities in Halo Reach are owned by the BXR company, a reference to a well-known exploitable glitch in Halo2 that involved pressing several controller buttons at once.
 * Mortal Kombat is full of these.
 * Johnny Cage going to Shang Tsung's tournament to prove his moves aren't faked is a reference to many action heroes using stunt doubles, and fans not being pleased.
 * Babalities, Friendships, and Mercy are a reference to how the game was supposedly so violent.
 * Nightwolf is a reference to Thunder Hawk from Street Fighter, and the Five Token Band nature of Jax.
 * And his Friendship has him transforming into Raiden and saying "I've never seen a Kano transformation.", a reference to the Urban Legend of Zelda regarding that.
 * Animalities refer to an Urban Legend of Zelda.
 * Scorpion's Animality is a penguin, a reference to Sub-Zero's being a polar bear.
 * Brutalities are a reference to 100% combos.
 * Ermac was supposedly an error message.
 * Klassic Sub-Zero from Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a reference to the fact that there are two Sub-Zeros in kanon.
 * Blaze is a reference to the kombatant in the background of Mortal Kombat 2. Similarly, Mokap is a reference to motion kapture.
 * Noob-Smoke is a reference to how they both originally had Scorpion's moveset, both were secret kharacters in Mortal Kombat 2, and are both klose to Sub-Zero.
 * Meat is a reference to a bug in Mortal Kombat 4.
 * In Mortal Kombat Deception, the female Khameleon from the Nintendo 64 Mortal Kombat Trilogy is present. In Mortal Kombat Armageddon, the male Chameleon from the Playstation version is present.
 * Mortal Kombat Armageddon is a reference to "What if X fought Y?" theories since the days of Mortal Kombat 2, when Kano, Sonya, and Goro were removed from the game.
 * Mortal Kombat 9 has quite a few of these as well. For example, he trailer for Noob Saibot appears to reference Mortal Kombat: Annihilation; not only does his fighting style now incorporate ink-like clones, much like how Noob was to Ermac in the film, but his in-trailer tag-team partner is Ermac as well.
 * In Story Mode, Kung Lao faces both Quan Chi and Shang Tsung in his chapter. Quan Chi comments "You cannot stop this Deadly Alliance."
 * There are several more, such as a subtle nod to Liu Kang and Kung Lao's bickering about Kitana's relationship to Liu Kang in Shaolin Monks. A slightly more obscure one occurs in Smoke's chapter, where he's seen spying on Kano and Shang Tsung behind a tree in the Living Forest. In MK2, Smoke and Jade could be seen poking their heads from out of the background on occasion (in fact, Smoke could be faced as a Bonus Boss here in order to unlock him).
 * When using the Player 2 version of Noob Saibot's classic costume, available as Downloadable Content, his shadow clones will be replaced by Smoke, referencing the two of them being playable as a tag team in Deception.
 * Shang Tsung's primary Fatality is a straight, though much more gory, version of The Joker's from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
 * Since Shaolin Monks, the living trees in the background can eat a player as a fatality. This is also based on an urbann legend that you could do that in MK II.
 * Wario is often seen using an Ultra Hand as a special attack because Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi invented the device.
 * In Inazuma Eleven 3, several of the original Raimon team members from the first game get Put On a Bus early on by not getting picked for the Inazuma Japan team. Starting in Chapter 5, a team of four of the aforementioned characters become one of the mini-battle Random Encounters in Liocott Island's Japan Area. If they show up to challenge you, the ensuing battle will have a couple cosmetic elements revert to the first game's style, particularly the background music.
 * If you're a Japanese who's huge lover of classic Shoot Em Ups and Konami, you might claim Parodius to be actually the Smash Bros of Shoot Em Ups, with lots of Japanese craziness and LSD, and is also a huge tribute to Konami's Shoot Em Ups as well as its other famous game series. At first it was meant to parody Gradius, but as the series evolved on, characters like Goemon and Ebisumaru, Twinbee and Kid Dracula started to show up, each equipped with weapon sets taken from many Shoot Em Ups of the time. The inclusion of some bosses and villains from other Konami games and classic music medleys along with Konami's music (mainly from Gradius) doesn't help.
 * Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius, particularly its Forever With Me-port for PS 1 and Saturn, is full of Mythology Gags and references to other Konami games, like Ganbare Goemon, Twinbee, Lethal Enforcers and Tokimeki Memorial. Sadly as it's Japan-only, many miss the references and parodying jokes poking fun at the games. One guy seemingly tries to cover them up with his own response to History Behind Smash Bros with History Behind Parodius.
 * In the Geneforge series, servant minds are immobile creatures that act somewhat like organic Magitek computers. Since the first game takes place on an island abandoned for about two hundred years, you would frequently have to find preserved jars of nutrient paste and feed the minds for them to be able to interact with you coherently. In the fourth game you can find a cupboard full of jars of mind food, and the narration notes that


 * The boss of the Tutorial in Dark Souls is the Asylum Demon, which bears a more than passing resemblance to the Vanguard that ended the tutorial in Demons Souls. In contrast to the Heads I Win, Tails You Lose near-Hopeless Boss Fight scenario of the Vanguard, after initially having to flee from the Asylum Demon, you come back with a proper weapon and a vantage point for a Dynamic Entry and utterly destroy it -- this is hugely satisfying to anyone who played the earlier game.
 * Ultima Underworld 2 has the Trilkhai, who share their felinity, their backstory and the letters in their name with the Kilrathi of the Wing Commander series.
 * The Peanuts iPhone/iPad game "Snoopy's Street Fair" has plenty of these, especially with regard to minor characters who have their own booths. Frieda has a cat-petting booth featuring her cat Faron (who disappeared after only a few strips), Emily (who met Charlie Brown at a dance studio) is selling dance supplies, Lydia (the girl who constantly changed her name) has a "Guess the Name" booth, and Shermy, who sold root beer in one of the early strips, is back in business.
 * In the "Kirby Quest" minigame in Kirby Mass Attack, Escargoon from Kirby of the Stars makes an appearance if King Dedede gets a chance to attack.
 * In the intro of Sim City 2000 you'll see a UFO flying into the centre of a spiral galaxy. Fast forward to Spore, where you explore a galaxy in the last stage. If you manage to navigate to the centre of that galaxy, you'll find...
 * In Baldurs Gate there are merchants selling items belonging to a lot of the companions of the Nameless One in Planescape Torment, such as Vhailor's helm, Dakkon's zerth blade etc.
 * The Team Fortress 2 short "Meet the Sniper" begins with Sniper poking a bobblehead in his van. Many people mistake the bobblehead for G-man, but it's actually Civilian from Team Fortress Classic, which had ten classes instead of nine.
 * The absence of the Civilian class is also referenced in-game. When playing on Harvest during the month of October, you will find a gravestone which reads "R.I.P. The tenth class".
 * Demoman wears an eyepatch and knit cap just like the TFC Demoman did.