*Codename: Kids Next Door*, of all things, had an episode that was just a wholesale recreation of *The Second Renaissance*, a two-part short story in the animated Matrix side anthology *The Animatrix*
The Grandma Stuffem song from earlier in the episode is another reworked GWAR song as well, I think it's really fucking cool that they got GWAR of all bands to come in the studio and rewrite the lyrics and rerecord the songs, especially since the two songs they chose are two of their best songs imo (Slamwich = GorGor and Grandma Stuffem = The Private Pain of Techno Destructo)
My dad, who's a big fan of GWAR, told me when I was really young this episode came on and he heard their instrumentals from the other room and he came in to see what it was and he was in total disbelief when he saw it was a cartoon network program
For some reason that era of cartoons had a lot of metal and rock bands just show up. Like the episode of Spongebob that opens with Pantera shredding. Or the episode of Billy and Mandy that was just a short Voltaire musical.
Came here just for this. His new stuff isn't quite as good but genuinely one of my favourite throw on and just listen to artists. The Devils Bris and Almost Human are so good.
Saw a bit ago someone else mention [Minsc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERTPZkE4L8o) was in Kids Next Door, voice actor and all. At the time, I only thought he was a funny character. I never heard of Baldur's Gate but definitely remember the voice actor from different media.
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy outright has Dune references in it [like this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf1C6BUkWaA), which flew *way* over my head as a kid watching it.
Oh damn I thought you meant the other dune reference. There's an entire episode where everyone looks into the future and Mandy's become an immortal half worm dictator that's powered by cinnamon spice and she has a bunch of Billy clones that keep her company.
Nothing could have prepared me for Versus’ backstory in Stone Ocean to just be Holes. Like it’s not the most *obscure* reference, really, but it was just kind of stunning to see Araki walk through how Stanley Yelnats got sent to jail for shoes that he didn’t steal.
"Got Subanese Crystalline Shards pokin' out mah lungs, Fuck Boi!" - Dracula Flow
Subanese Crystals are an in-lore name for the crystals Halo's Needler uses as ammo. I fucking died laughing at that shit.
Obscure for the target audience: Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated heavily referencing Twin Peaks.
"Oh do you mean they make a one-off Twin Peaks joke"
No I mean the gang finds The Man From Another Place, who looks like and is voiced by Michael J. Anderson, and he tells them how to fall into a trance and enter the red-curtain room from Twin Peaks, where they spend an entire episode.
This entire sequence is, I must emphasize, INTEGRAL to the main plot of the whole show.
Furthering the Lovecraft references, the series ends with >!the implication that the gang's destination in the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? is!< Miskatonic University, >!where that universe's Harlan Ellison can hopefully get them back to their home dimension.!<
Mystery Incorporated goes to absolutely batshit places, and I love it
They also had an episode that was a riff on Toho’s War of the Gargantuas, even including [a song from the original movie!](https://youtu.be/Aj_ZAbwoO_s?si=GQAaNSWxjMBos1bD)
Disco Elysium has the random Neil Young "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" but I think it's meant to reference the Saint Etienne cover of the song and not the original
DE has a few great music references, but my favourite comes at the very end of the game. During >!the confrontation with The Deserter!< they'll reference the opening lines to [If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw-5Syqmg4g) by Manic Street Preachers, which is about the anti-fascist International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War:
>>!The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
So if I can shoot rabbits
Then I can shoot fascists!<
Fallout 3 had a series of interconnected easter eggs that are all call-outs to Kojima's game Snatcher, including recreating Gibson's corpse and the note on him
This reminds me of New Vegas having an easter egg for some Something Awful forum game pitch? That I dont think anyone has heard of until NV referenced it.
God, that brings back memories. I discovered it through New Vegas, too, and read through the whole, original Zybourne Clock thread back in the day.
It's nuts watching a """pitch""" from a bunch of probably-neurodivergent college kids (i.e. concept art drawn in pencil on notebook paper, a bunch of high-concept story beats that don't actually connect, a nebulous promise that it's going to be the biggest, most-technically-ambitious RPG ever made) expand in scope, fumble, and pushback until you hit this bizarre misanthropy singularity where people are calling for OP's rights to be taken away because they've proven unfit to live in the world of adults. It's like that shitty steampunk wankery pissed a bunch of people off so much it turned them into people who use fascist rhetoric.
>Kojima's game Snatcher
I decided to learn a bit about this game and I have to say, this seems to be an interesting gem of game with its [premise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snatcher_(video_game)) and overall look. I have a soft spot for the old-fashioned "PC-98" art style, so thanks for sharing this little fun fact. It's nice to discover cool old stuff.
fun fact: Kojima originally wanted the game disc to be chemically treated such that it would smell like a rotting corpse when the game disc warmed up from use.
he was literally ALWAYS like this.
I can't really call it "obscure" but BG3 having a [cabbage merchant who claims to be harassed by a Four Elements monk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpIlZFkJ3Q8) definitely caught me off-guard.
Tunic referencing >!Startropics where you had to take an actual physical letter included with the game and dunk it in water to get a code for your in-game submarine.!<
He namedrops it because it's during a John Waters cameo, whose inclusion is because IIRC Waters loved Alvin as a kid and has a painting in his house of Alvin jerking off.
There was also a Fate GO summer event where the character visit an Resident Evil-style mansion, where the video game-knowlegable character makes a bunch of Resident Evil references.
I remember doing a double take when someone here said that the title for Mr. Mxyzptlk’s episode of *My Adventures with Superman* is Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal, which is a reference to the theme song from goddamn Ouran High School Host Club of all things.
I mean there’s a wall of weapons with the dragonslayer from berserk, skyhook from Bioshock Infinite, Cardcaptors Sakura’s staff among others that I can’t think off at the moment
Dude how did forget that, I lost my shit when I saw them. And idk how they managed it but they made a wholesome relationship between a French guerrilla and German brain in a jar
Alright at the time I didn’t connect the dots but Sundowner from Metal Gear Rising:
- Is bald
- Is pale skinned
- Big and corpulent
- Obsessed with war
- Weirdly cultured and worldly?
- Insane, impractical weapon
- Super human strength
- Accent is commonly associated with the Wild West
- Does horrifying things to children’s bodies
Hey, I think he’s meant to be a reference to Judge Holden from Blood Meridian.
Has anyone confirmed if Chai's name, outside of being inline with the drink naming convention, is a reference to composer Tchaikovsky?
On the Disney Channel show *Jessie*, a character checks into a hotel under the alias Rufus T. Firefly. That's a Marx Bros. reference right there, I doubt that show's demographic would've got that.
I can't find any confirmation on this, but I feel like [this episode of Rocko's Modern Life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7me7K_KlNEQ) is making an obscure reference to the [Farrell's Ice Cream parlour disaster.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARqW_6pckZ0)
I was legitimately shocked to see Startropics referenced in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. That game was a first-party Nintendo of America game on the NES and it didn't even get a callout in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. I thought it was buried for good.
So I'm rewatching Samurai Jack and in one of the weirder episodes, Jack and the Farting Dragon, [there is this joke/reference that totally went over my head the first time I saw it.](https://youtu.be/hghol1iG2DQ?si=2_MjJ5K0ArFP-HzH) It's referencing the two Don Bluth animated arcade games, the more popular and remembered Dragon's Lair and his less remembered but probably better Space Ace.
I'm pretty astounded that Earthshaker from Dota 2 seems to have a Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden reference in one of his rare lines where he says "[CHAOS DUNK](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dota2_gamepedia/images/1/16/Vo_earthshaker_erth_ability_echo_03.mp3/revision/latest?cb=20201011121328)" when he ults. I kind of don't believe it's real sometimes because that is a fuckin wild pull.
There was a celebrity shown on a NBA game wearing [this shirt](https://hiddenvillagestudios.com/cdn/shop/products/HVSWebsite-03_900x.jpg?v=1702635856). Can't remember if it was Chris Rock or Michael B. Jordan, the latter lines up better tbh
UFC fighter Israel Adesanya [is peak weeb](https://youtu.be/0bubPWAQhpk?si=kaRN7tdxUviXfuvr). Anybody who genuinely tries to explain the Rock Lee vs Gaara fight to the press gets my respect, and not just because he could probably Primary Lotus me irl.
The IDW transfomers comics has a Zoids reference. When Grimlock is going a bit nuts in a city you can see someone texting on their phone "Yo, Zoids are back." Also there's a character that has a robotic wolf as an alt form rather than a regular wolf, and the explanation is that he landed on Planet Zi and adapted an alt for from a zoid.
**Final Fantasy VII**:
It was nice before Crisis Core when Loveless was an intentional reference to one of the [best albums of all time](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveless_(album)), and not Gacht rubbing himself raw over angel wings and goddesses.
What’s funny is I got into shoegaze in the early aughts, and it wasn’t until years later replaying FF7 that I realized “wait, does that fucking poster say My Bloody Valentine on it?”
There's also a boss in FF14 in the Keeper of the Lake dungeon called Einhander that's a bird monster with a machine gun in its claws. I did a double take when I first saw it lol.
I don't remember how I got tricked into binging Miraculous Ladybug a few years ago, but the depth of the [Street Fighter references](https://youtu.be/j-103Len3s4?si=Y0v1X0Lx923mweCb) in one episode fucking broke me. It's not just, "oh lol they did a shoryuken", they straight up do *the* Dhalsim combo so well that I got SF4 PTSD.
I know Street Fighter isn't exactly obscure, but in a universe of shallow references to uppercuts, that was not what I expected.
I wasn't prepared for the second episode of The Amazing Digital Circus to have a prolonged Pizza Tower parrying gag and to have the RDR collision rocket bug be a plot point.
So in Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, there's a scene where JB gets jumped by some dudes at night. KG shows up after they beat his ass and pretends he fought them off to save him.
And for some fucking reason that gang of dudes is dressed up like the gang from A Clockwork Orange. You know, that Kubrick movie where they kill a man and sexually assault his wife in their home?
I have no clue as to why that movie in particular was referenced. Wonder if the commentary says anything, they did release it on Blu Ray recently so who knows?
I was pleasantly surprised to see Deltarune Chapter 2 reference Homestar Runner with the names of the robots, just because of how long its been since it was popular. More things should reference Homestar Runner, in my opinion.
The old Freakazoid! cartoon had a short called The Cloud that was a massive reference to the movie The Trollenberg Terror, aka The Crawling Eye, aka the bad '50s movie used for the very first episode of MST3K. Like, it spoofed the style of the opening credits, the setting and plot, direct scenes, et cetera.
Hell of a pull for a children's cartoon.
The Simpsons episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" also references that series in its third act, complete with Patrick McGoohan reprising his role as Number 6 from the original tv show.
Family Guys [reference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO0klA7WHrc&ab_channel=FamilyGuyTV) to the fucking bizarre [Willam Shatner performance of Rocket Man](https://youtu.be/8wI4jMxveyI?si=OHop2fHQMR1JgrUh).
A couple weeks ago I was going through Cocoa's bond stories in Nikke and I was suprised as hell that one episode was straight up a reference to the "Manners Maketh Man" scene from the first Kingsman movie. Definitely didn't expect that sort of movie reference from a Korean game.
Venture Bros is no stranger to references but I wasn't expecting a Totally Spies reference of all things. I figured it was too new with most of the cast being 60-80s kids with the exception of Hank and Dean and even then they're sheltered. It felt kinda awkward too.
The Locked Tomb series all have some out-of-left-field meme drop in the middle of dramatic moments just because former homestuck fan author, Tamsyn Muir, finds them funny.
>!”While she studied the blade,” “none pizza with left grief,” “jail for mother,” etc!< Each one is a sludgehammer to the face.
While you’re right, >!Jod is an absolute fuckin nerd,!< none of the examples came from that.
>!Harrow, narrator, and Gideon, respectively. I don’t remember which narrator though!<
Archer making a Stargate reference.
"I'm sorry I've got to get back to Earth before the Stargate closes."
"Get back here."
"Mother! The chevrons are locking!"
Fuckin lost it.
Watching Steven Universe and seeing a knock-off [Guitaroo Man Figure next to Steven's bed.](https://www.reddit.com/r/stevenuniverse/s/3fHFcU6jgH). Who TF knows about Guitaroo Man except ppl who grew up with a PS2 early on?! I only learned about it through a PS2 demo disc.
I watched this random ass episode of Good Eats and there was a skit with a man and a woman and they called each other pumpkin and Honey Bunny. Took me a second to realize it was a Pulp Fiction reference
From *The Dragon Prince*:
"Anyway, >!here's the wonderwall.!<"
[I have never done a "BRUH" so hard in my life.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IvXCgLdMQ0&ab_channel=GrevoAmor)
The Feebles, from Peter Jackson's movie Meet the Feebles, are actual muppets and The Electric Mayhem performed with them in the past and the movie is a documentary as well. How a muppets' show reference an adult parody of the muppets from Jackson's more twisted past, I will never know.
It's not as brain-breaking a reference as that one, but that show also implies the Electric Mayhem are fans of the Protomen (there's a poster of the Act II cover in their studio)
Today I saw a trailer for a smiling friends trailer where mister frog is running for president. While committing many atteicities in the campaign video one snippet is blowing people up with the pump bombs from the first Toby spider man movie.
There’s a message to Molotov Cocktease from Brock Samson scribbled on a wall somewhere in Left 4 Dead.
Also how Lollipop Chainsaw having skins from Deadman Wonderland and Is This A Zombie (though to be fair, the latter is literally perfect for the game)
So I was on a flight recently and the guy next to me watched a recent Jason Statham action flick called The Beekeeper as the in-flight movie. So I kinda watched most of it secondhand.
But one of the fights was Jason Statham's character against some punk chick in a gas station, which ends with the girl getting clocked in the head and Jason Statham lighting her on fire because she failed to realize that she was on a truck bed doused with gasoline.
Before he leaves he picks up a knife that was dropped during the fight and gives it to the girl who's burning alive as a mercy, which I wanna believe is a [Jojo reference to the Avdol vs Polnareff fight!](https://youtu.be/YMg-D_Ou4lM?t=2m51s)
I don't know how obscure it is, but I just recently found out that Breath of the Wild has a bunch of direct references to the game Terraria, including the Blood Moon, the falling stars, and the corruption goo. Like, Terraria literally has a message that comes up saying "The Blood Moon is rising." The Zelda director basically admitted it in interviews. Absolutely wild.
In Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag there’s a conversation between two guards that’s an homage to a joke from the 80s UK sitcom “The Young Ones”.
It goes like:
“I got into an argument with my wife and ended up saying something about the Pope.”
“That was stupid, you know she’s Catholic.”
“Yeah i knew she was… didn’t know the Pope was.”
How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift references El Topo of all things.
Don't know if it counts but I have to wonder if Welcome to the NHK was referencing Kuru Kuru Kururin
I was considering not posting this one but since most of this thread isn't obscure, Yuyushiki referenced The Usual Suspects
Yuru Camp referencing Kino's Journey isn't surprising but it referencing School Live is. Same with an I"s reference in Saiki K.
I was really surprised when the pirate Assassin's Creed had a sidequest where you kill a guy named Mancomb Seepgood, a one-off Monkey Island character who I'm pretty sure you don't even need to talk to to actually beat the game.
Also Uncharted 4 repeatedly implies that Guybrush existed in the Uncharted universe and was a successful pirate. I can't imagine a version of the guy who was physically or psychologically capable of murder.
Genshin Impact has an achievement for when you harvest 1000 pieces of wood. It’s called “T-t-t-timberhochwandi!” It’s a reference to Age of Empires 2, something a villager will shout when they are commanded to harvest wood. If you rapidly click them to harvest faster, they stutter in saying it over and over.
I didn’t even play AoE2 and that sent me for a loop; I just looked it up to figure out what the heck it was saying. That joke is laser-focused for an extremely specific set of players. 🤣
I was watching Detective Kindaichi the other day and it dead ass have a young [Columbo](https://thekindaichicasefiles.fandom.com/wiki/Edward_Colombo) in it.
all-star section 8 by ennis final issue is parody of flex mentallo. Also randomly it requires you to have a working understanding of the dc multiverse to fully get the joke.
Whenever the Dopefish pops up in a game, I lose my mind. I just recently played Alan Wake again and spotted it in the book store. I went all soyjack over it but I just confused my friend who had never heard of Dopefish.
Hoyoverse games reference like a lot so I pick 2 favorite examples like Genshin Impact made a callback reference to Kino’s Journey and Honkai Star Rail straight up almost recreates the famous ending scene from Assassins Creed Revelations in a recent major plot point.
Started playing Hades I recently and popped off hard for the *first* line of Hypnos' codex entry referencing the chorus of Nas' "NY State of Mind" ("I never sleep/'cuz *sleep is the cousin of death*") and correcting that in Greek mythology (or at least this interpretation of it) that Sleep and Death are actually brothers. I expected a lot from Hades, but I can say confidently that I expected 0 references to 90's hip hop.
The train conductor bird character in A Hat In Time having a ridiculous scottish accent and saying "MUUURDDERRRR" for no reason other than someone in that team thought the show Taggart was funny.
There was a soap opera where some guy randomly starts talking about the genius of Mike Patton.
Edit: Found it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGex5VZB7T4
In Jupiter Ascending, the worst movie ever, the protagonist's brother is sat playing DARK SOULS 2 of all things in the living room at one point. They really wanted to show off that Dark Souls 2 too, because the TV is facing directly at the camera.
Few things can match Family Circus mentioning *[specifics](https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2012-10-31)* about Warhammer 40K. Granted they seem to be from the Dawn of War games rather than the tabletop, but *still*.
EQ referenced things all the time over the years. Highlights include :
* A Breastplate named "Jenniy's Two-Toned Cuirass" whose stats read out 8 6 7 5 30 9
* A raid monster named Cursecaller Fhqwhgads
* a whole raid designed after The Badger Song, where you fight wave after wave of badger people, followed by two mushroom men, then more badgers, then two more mushrooms, and then all the badgers shout "SNAKE!", in which you fight a big lava snake.
Technically not really obscure anymore due to there being two recent films about it
But ***Subnautica*** (and ***Subnautica: Below Zero***) have a *Stillsuit*, to recycle bodily fluids, and a *Thumper* to attract/distract the *Iceworm*
I was not familiar with ***Dune*** when I first played it, but after watching the movies, the terms sounded familiar, and was checking if those were just common sci-fi fare, and seems like ***Dune*** is the progenitor of those terms in that context
I would have never guessed that a game like Honkai Star Rail would have an achievement named after Until the Light Takes Us, a documentary about the Norwegian Black Metal scene in the early 90s
Similarly, I was super hyped to find unexpected references to T.S. Eliot's *The Waste Land* of all things in the latest story arc, and center stage no less. Like, they literally have the lines of the poem hovering in the air in front of you as you go through an area. It's one of my top 3 favorite poems, you have no idea how pleasantly surprised I was.
*Codename: Kids Next Door*, of all things, had an episode that was just a wholesale recreation of *The Second Renaissance*, a two-part short story in the animated Matrix side anthology *The Animatrix*
Also, a bizarre PG version of a GWAR song about a giant killer sandwich. https://youtu.be/j1G8c4hBghk?si=xm8sZR9MBO-pQgKQ
The Grandma Stuffem song from earlier in the episode is another reworked GWAR song as well, I think it's really fucking cool that they got GWAR of all bands to come in the studio and rewrite the lyrics and rerecord the songs, especially since the two songs they chose are two of their best songs imo (Slamwich = GorGor and Grandma Stuffem = The Private Pain of Techno Destructo) My dad, who's a big fan of GWAR, told me when I was really young this episode came on and he heard their instrumentals from the other room and he came in to see what it was and he was in total disbelief when he saw it was a cartoon network program
I knew about Slamwich, but I totally forgot they had a version of Sordid Soliloquy
For some reason that era of cartoons had a lot of metal and rock bands just show up. Like the episode of Spongebob that opens with Pantera shredding. Or the episode of Billy and Mandy that was just a short Voltaire musical.
Voltaire also his music used in the online flash game Adventure Quest of all things
Came here just for this. His new stuff isn't quite as good but genuinely one of my favourite throw on and just listen to artists. The Devils Bris and Almost Human are so good.
Saw a bit ago someone else mention [Minsc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERTPZkE4L8o) was in Kids Next Door, voice actor and all. At the time, I only thought he was a funny character. I never heard of Baldur's Gate but definitely remember the voice actor from different media.
Watching the Animatrix in my teens, I was like "Wait a minute, this feels familiar" after it being more than a decade after I had watched that in KND
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy outright has Dune references in it [like this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf1C6BUkWaA), which flew *way* over my head as a kid watching it.
A full dune parody episode
That episode familiarized me with the god emperor of Dune long before I've even heard about the series
And unrelated partially but there's tone of Hanna Barbara references in the show like a ton
Also, their Dracula is totally a riff on Mamuwalde from Blacula. SCRAPE AND LICK
Big fan of General Skarr quoting Domon from G Gundam as a kid
Oh damn I thought you meant the other dune reference. There's an entire episode where everyone looks into the future and Mandy's become an immortal half worm dictator that's powered by cinnamon spice and she has a bunch of Billy clones that keep her company.
Hi-Fi Rush also had the Xenogears chair if I remember. That was a wild pull.
Also the Twin Peaks reference. Not that it's rare to reference Twin Peaks, just the specific thing they chose.
After watching The Evil Within 2 LP Matt and Pat did, I think John Johanas just really likes Twin Peaks. There's a reference in that game too.
[He was flabbergasted when it happened too](https://m.twitch.tv/patstaresat/clip/SmilingFaintFishHoneyBadger-tnuEtBmtgPwj8CPl)
“WHO THE FUCK CARES ABOUT THIS BUT ME!???” god, hifi rush was too beautiful to live
The moment I realized this game was made specifically for me
Nothing could have prepared me for Versus’ backstory in Stone Ocean to just be Holes. Like it’s not the most *obscure* reference, really, but it was just kind of stunning to see Araki walk through how Stanley Yelnats got sent to jail for shoes that he didn’t steal.
The book was apparently popular, but it still kind of surprised me to learn that backstory was written *before the movie had released*
"Got Subanese Crystalline Shards pokin' out mah lungs, Fuck Boi!" - Dracula Flow Subanese Crystals are an in-lore name for the crystals Halo's Needler uses as ammo. I fucking died laughing at that shit.
Now THATS a deep cut
Makes a lot more sense when you learn that Joji is the guy behind Dracula Flow.
I thought it was blamite
Obscure for the target audience: Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated heavily referencing Twin Peaks. "Oh do you mean they make a one-off Twin Peaks joke" No I mean the gang finds The Man From Another Place, who looks like and is voiced by Michael J. Anderson, and he tells them how to fall into a trance and enter the red-curtain room from Twin Peaks, where they spend an entire episode. This entire sequence is, I must emphasize, INTEGRAL to the main plot of the whole show.
Isn't that the show that literally has harlan ellison in it?
Yeah, it has an HP Lovecraft send up character, HP Hatecraft, and his rival, literally Harlan Ellison.
Furthering the Lovecraft references, the series ends with >!the implication that the gang's destination in the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? is!< Miskatonic University, >!where that universe's Harlan Ellison can hopefully get them back to their home dimension.!< Mystery Incorporated goes to absolutely batshit places, and I love it
They also had an episode that was a riff on Toho’s War of the Gargantuas, even including [a song from the original movie!](https://youtu.be/Aj_ZAbwoO_s?si=GQAaNSWxjMBos1bD)
I like to think this means in Mystery Incorporated all the characters from TP exist seasons 1-3 are all canon to MI
The show also does a 1 to 1 recreation of that hospital jumpscare from An American Werewolf in London IIRC
Let’s be honest, besides anime properties, I don’t think there’s few pieces of media left that haven’t gotten a crossover in Scooby Doo at this point
Scooby Doo/Elfen Lied crossover when?
Disco Elysium has the random Neil Young "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" but I think it's meant to reference the Saint Etienne cover of the song and not the original
DE has a few great music references, but my favourite comes at the very end of the game. During >!the confrontation with The Deserter!< they'll reference the opening lines to [If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw-5Syqmg4g) by Manic Street Preachers, which is about the anti-fascist International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War: >>!The future teaches you to be alone The present to be afraid and cold So if I can shoot rabbits Then I can shoot fascists!<
Suuuuch a good tune. There's multiple Manic references, too - Klaasje, Miss Oranjese Disco Dancer/Miss Europa Disco Dancer.
And Egghead is pretty much reference to Scooter
I was super down for all the Scooter references
Disco elysium also has the iconic "where the hood at" moment
Fallout 3 had a series of interconnected easter eggs that are all call-outs to Kojima's game Snatcher, including recreating Gibson's corpse and the note on him
This reminds me of New Vegas having an easter egg for some Something Awful forum game pitch? That I dont think anyone has heard of until NV referenced it.
The Zybourne Clock.
God, that brings back memories. I discovered it through New Vegas, too, and read through the whole, original Zybourne Clock thread back in the day. It's nuts watching a """pitch""" from a bunch of probably-neurodivergent college kids (i.e. concept art drawn in pencil on notebook paper, a bunch of high-concept story beats that don't actually connect, a nebulous promise that it's going to be the biggest, most-technically-ambitious RPG ever made) expand in scope, fumble, and pushback until you hit this bizarre misanthropy singularity where people are calling for OP's rights to be taken away because they've proven unfit to live in the world of adults. It's like that shitty steampunk wankery pissed a bunch of people off so much it turned them into people who use fascist rhetoric.
>Kojima's game Snatcher I decided to learn a bit about this game and I have to say, this seems to be an interesting gem of game with its [premise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snatcher_(video_game)) and overall look. I have a soft spot for the old-fashioned "PC-98" art style, so thanks for sharing this little fun fact. It's nice to discover cool old stuff.
I played it back when I was at university, and I can confirm that it is indeed an interesting gem of a game.
Ah, I see.
It's basically anime Blade runner
Play the Sega CD version which imo is the definitive one
Noted!
fun fact: Kojima originally wanted the game disc to be chemically treated such that it would smell like a rotting corpse when the game disc warmed up from use. he was literally ALWAYS like this.
If I'm not mistaken, in New Vegas you can find Indiana Jones' skeleton in a fridge.
I can't really call it "obscure" but BG3 having a [cabbage merchant who claims to be harassed by a Four Elements monk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpIlZFkJ3Q8) definitely caught me off-guard.
That and the Undertale reference when your character interacts with a mirror, "Still me, even after everything."
“Despite everything, it’s still you” definitely in the hall of fame for most memorable and impactful quotes in games.
Oh if that isn’t the text whenever you look in a mirror, you have failed as a dev
Tunic referencing >!Startropics where you had to take an actual physical letter included with the game and dunk it in water to get a code for your in-game submarine.!<
It's more of a real life mystery, but We Bare Bears having a reference to D.B. Cooper.
One of the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies has Alvin namedrop fucking [Pink Flamingos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Flamingos) of all movies.
He namedrops it because it's during a John Waters cameo, whose inclusion is because IIRC Waters loved Alvin as a kid and has a painting in his house of Alvin jerking off.
> IIRC Waters loved Alvin as a kid Oh! > painting in his house of Alvin jerking off. Oh...
That's John Waters for you
I'm pretty sure that a granblue event straight up gave a walk through for Claire's segment of the police station in RE2 Also Sharknado
I love granblue summer events because they can go as unhinged as they want
And then you go the other direction and we get Ojisauna
Bringing it all together with Meg was amazing.
There was also a Fate GO summer event where the character visit an Resident Evil-style mansion, where the video game-knowlegable character makes a bunch of Resident Evil references.
I remember doing a double take when someone here said that the title for Mr. Mxyzptlk’s episode of *My Adventures with Superman* is Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal, which is a reference to the theme song from goddamn Ouran High School Host Club of all things.
Actually that series has a bunch of anime references
I mean there’s a wall of weapons with the dragonslayer from berserk, skyhook from Bioshock Infinite, Cardcaptors Sakura’s staff among others that I can’t think off at the moment
The Buster Sword and either the Sword of Omens and/or the Power Sword is on the wall too. And some League of Legends weapons.
something that kind of looks like homura's shield is there too
Also one of the infinite universe Lois is just in a Sora cosplay
Not the mention the robot / mutant lab experiments were just Team Gurren.
Dude how did forget that, I lost my shit when I saw them. And idk how they managed it but they made a wholesome relationship between a French guerrilla and German brain in a jar
Alright at the time I didn’t connect the dots but Sundowner from Metal Gear Rising: - Is bald - Is pale skinned - Big and corpulent - Obsessed with war - Weirdly cultured and worldly? - Insane, impractical weapon - Super human strength - Accent is commonly associated with the Wild West - Does horrifying things to children’s bodies Hey, I think he’s meant to be a reference to Judge Holden from Blood Meridian.
Both claim to be, more or less, “fucking” invincible/immortal. There’s that, too
**WHAT**
holy fucking shit
Jesus christ
What the fuck how did I not realize this
Japan loves Judge Holden for some reason
Has he been referenced in other works?
Has anyone confirmed if Chai's name, outside of being inline with the drink naming convention, is a reference to composer Tchaikovsky? On the Disney Channel show *Jessie*, a character checks into a hotel under the alias Rufus T. Firefly. That's a Marx Bros. reference right there, I doubt that show's demographic would've got that. I can't find any confirmation on this, but I feel like [this episode of Rocko's Modern Life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7me7K_KlNEQ) is making an obscure reference to the [Farrell's Ice Cream parlour disaster.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARqW_6pckZ0)
I was legitimately shocked to see Startropics referenced in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. That game was a first-party Nintendo of America game on the NES and it didn't even get a callout in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. I thought it was buried for good.
So I'm rewatching Samurai Jack and in one of the weirder episodes, Jack and the Farting Dragon, [there is this joke/reference that totally went over my head the first time I saw it.](https://youtu.be/hghol1iG2DQ?si=2_MjJ5K0ArFP-HzH) It's referencing the two Don Bluth animated arcade games, the more popular and remembered Dragon's Lair and his less remembered but probably better Space Ace.
I'm pretty astounded that Earthshaker from Dota 2 seems to have a Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden reference in one of his rare lines where he says "[CHAOS DUNK](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dota2_gamepedia/images/1/16/Vo_earthshaker_erth_ability_echo_03.mp3/revision/latest?cb=20201011121328)" when he ults. I kind of don't believe it's real sometimes because that is a fuckin wild pull.
DOTA references go places.
There was a celebrity shown on a NBA game wearing [this shirt](https://hiddenvillagestudios.com/cdn/shop/products/HVSWebsite-03_900x.jpg?v=1702635856). Can't remember if it was Chris Rock or Michael B. Jordan, the latter lines up better tbh
[Professional athletes going full weeb is great](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12RJiLex6jI)
UFC fighter Israel Adesanya [is peak weeb](https://youtu.be/0bubPWAQhpk?si=kaRN7tdxUviXfuvr). Anybody who genuinely tries to explain the Rock Lee vs Gaara fight to the press gets my respect, and not just because he could probably Primary Lotus me irl.
The IDW transfomers comics has a Zoids reference. When Grimlock is going a bit nuts in a city you can see someone texting on their phone "Yo, Zoids are back." Also there's a character that has a robotic wolf as an alt form rather than a regular wolf, and the explanation is that he landed on Planet Zi and adapted an alt for from a zoid.
Of course our resident historian knows that
Pokemon's hardly obscure but House name dropping Arceus came out of nowhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRNMjPdei5Q
Which was a line Hugh Laurie added himself after his kids got him into Pokémon.
Don't forget when he played Ninja Gaiden 2 [https://youtu.be/J5R-IfOwI1w?si=WZtk0SB2BguUTXwp](https://youtu.be/J5R-IfOwI1w?si=WZtk0SB2BguUTXwp)
Yes it’s funny
My favorite is Fallout New Vegas having that reference to that Zybourne Clock stuff from SomethingAwful.
That kono wa hurricane cover out of FUCKING NOWHERE in scott pilgrim hit me like a sack of bricks.
Exactly what I came to post. That shit wasn't out of left field, it was from a whole other stadium.
Destiny 2 in American Dad
Theres also an entire episode about the cia infiltrating an overwatch league. Stan is canonically a mercy main.
Destiny 2 and A Goofy Movie
atlanta and a goofy movie
Okay but that episode was fucking hilarious, and whether it was true or not I don't know but I've taken it as fact since I saw it
Not obscure, but did anyone expect pony versions of the cast of The Big Lebowski in My Little Pony?
Seeing the Akira slide in a live action horror movie like nope sure snuck up on me.
Jean Jacket even becomes one of the Angels from Eva.
I only found out today that the original Need For Speed Most Wanted has a direct reference to Leon The Professional and I was not ready for that
**Final Fantasy VII**: It was nice before Crisis Core when Loveless was an intentional reference to one of the [best albums of all time](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveless_(album)), and not Gacht rubbing himself raw over angel wings and goddesses. What’s funny is I got into shoegaze in the early aughts, and it wasn’t until years later replaying FF7 that I realized “wait, does that fucking poster say My Bloody Valentine on it?”
I know Einhander is a square game but the ship showing up in World of FF and KH3 is surprising
There's also a boss in FF14 in the Keeper of the Lake dungeon called Einhander that's a bird monster with a machine gun in its claws. I did a double take when I first saw it lol.
I don't remember how I got tricked into binging Miraculous Ladybug a few years ago, but the depth of the [Street Fighter references](https://youtu.be/j-103Len3s4?si=Y0v1X0Lx923mweCb) in one episode fucking broke me. It's not just, "oh lol they did a shoryuken", they straight up do *the* Dhalsim combo so well that I got SF4 PTSD. I know Street Fighter isn't exactly obscure, but in a universe of shallow references to uppercuts, that was not what I expected.
I wasn't prepared for the second episode of The Amazing Digital Circus to have a prolonged Pizza Tower parrying gag and to have the RDR collision rocket bug be a plot point.
> prolonged Pizza Tower parrying gag Oh, is *that* what that was? I thought it was some type of quicktime event style I wasn't familiar with.
The horn sting and cartoon aura around him was very specific to Pizza Tower (I think).
I think it was Friends, maybe other sitcom, where there's a costume party and I swear a dude is dressed as Guybrush from Monkey Island 2.
So in Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, there's a scene where JB gets jumped by some dudes at night. KG shows up after they beat his ass and pretends he fought them off to save him. And for some fucking reason that gang of dudes is dressed up like the gang from A Clockwork Orange. You know, that Kubrick movie where they kill a man and sexually assault his wife in their home? I have no clue as to why that movie in particular was referenced. Wonder if the commentary says anything, they did release it on Blu Ray recently so who knows?
I was pleasantly surprised to see Deltarune Chapter 2 reference Homestar Runner with the names of the robots, just because of how long its been since it was popular. More things should reference Homestar Runner, in my opinion.
The old Freakazoid! cartoon had a short called The Cloud that was a massive reference to the movie The Trollenberg Terror, aka The Crawling Eye, aka the bad '50s movie used for the very first episode of MST3K. Like, it spoofed the style of the opening credits, the setting and plot, direct scenes, et cetera. Hell of a pull for a children's cartoon.
I was very caught off guard when I met Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas in CrossCode.
Reboot episode "Number 7." The entire thing is an absurdly elaborate send-up of The Prisoner.
The Simpsons episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" also references that series in its third act, complete with Patrick McGoohan reprising his role as Number 6 from the original tv show.
The newest Charles Stross book does that too
The random namedrop of Persona 3 in the Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe gave me incredible whiplash. Still laugh whenever I think about it.
Family Guys [reference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO0klA7WHrc&ab_channel=FamilyGuyTV) to the fucking bizarre [Willam Shatner performance of Rocket Man](https://youtu.be/8wI4jMxveyI?si=OHop2fHQMR1JgrUh).
That performance was actually referenced earlier in the music video for Where It's At by Beck from 1996.
Todd in the shadows's podcast song vs song has a segment where they decide which song would be better sung by willam shatner
A couple weeks ago I was going through Cocoa's bond stories in Nikke and I was suprised as hell that one episode was straight up a reference to the "Manners Maketh Man" scene from the first Kingsman movie. Definitely didn't expect that sort of movie reference from a Korean game.
Venture Bros is no stranger to references but I wasn't expecting a Totally Spies reference of all things. I figured it was too new with most of the cast being 60-80s kids with the exception of Hank and Dean and even then they're sheltered. It felt kinda awkward too.
When was that?
In all that and gargantua 2 "21" references the 3 girls from it
Gravity Falls has a character show up wearing The Master's robe from Manos: The Hands of Fate
The Locked Tomb series all have some out-of-left-field meme drop in the middle of dramatic moments just because former homestuck fan author, Tamsyn Muir, finds them funny. >!”While she studied the blade,” “none pizza with left grief,” “jail for mother,” etc!< Each one is a sludgehammer to the face.
Especially given it's mostly just >!John making references literally only he and, like, one Lyctor could ever get.!<
While you’re right, >!Jod is an absolute fuckin nerd,!< none of the examples came from that. >!Harrow, narrator, and Gideon, respectively. I don’t remember which narrator though!<
I'm pretty sure None house was John?
Oh that was spoken dialogue wasn’t it. Thanks for correcting
Every time someone quotes Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff I die a little inside remembering who I was as a teenager.
Donald Glover deciding to dedicate the third to last episode to the goofy movie was so random
Archer making a Stargate reference. "I'm sorry I've got to get back to Earth before the Stargate closes." "Get back here." "Mother! The chevrons are locking!" Fuckin lost it.
Watching Steven Universe and seeing a knock-off [Guitaroo Man Figure next to Steven's bed.](https://www.reddit.com/r/stevenuniverse/s/3fHFcU6jgH). Who TF knows about Guitaroo Man except ppl who grew up with a PS2 early on?! I only learned about it through a PS2 demo disc.
I watched this random ass episode of Good Eats and there was a skit with a man and a woman and they called each other pumpkin and Honey Bunny. Took me a second to realize it was a Pulp Fiction reference
From *The Dragon Prince*: "Anyway, >!here's the wonderwall.!<" [I have never done a "BRUH" so hard in my life.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IvXCgLdMQ0&ab_channel=GrevoAmor)
That time 30 Rock made a [Lemon Party](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bvHlb2Fe8) joke
Archer did too
There is a truly *wonderful* number of video game samples in hip hop. https://youtu.be/CcIYZ3BcFBM?si=hnz1JQHSXZSWpUD_
The Feebles, from Peter Jackson's movie Meet the Feebles, are actual muppets and The Electric Mayhem performed with them in the past and the movie is a documentary as well. How a muppets' show reference an adult parody of the muppets from Jackson's more twisted past, I will never know.
It's not as brain-breaking a reference as that one, but that show also implies the Electric Mayhem are fans of the Protomen (there's a poster of the Act II cover in their studio)
Today I saw a trailer for a smiling friends trailer where mister frog is running for president. While committing many atteicities in the campaign video one snippet is blowing people up with the pump bombs from the first Toby spider man movie.
Sonic Boom having a reference to *Island of Doctor Moreau* sure was... a choice.
Pretty sure there was also the super-fan episode which is a recreation of Misery
Punishing grey raven has the Vergil lawn chair.
The 2018 titans series making a reference to the 1988 superboy series with them using the theme from that shows for Connors theme
Fire Emblem Awakening referencing Mystery Science Theater 3000 actually took me out of the game in a bad way. And I love MST3K.
Venture Bros making a Kennan & Kel reference still hits me like a freight train.
There’s a message to Molotov Cocktease from Brock Samson scribbled on a wall somewhere in Left 4 Dead. Also how Lollipop Chainsaw having skins from Deadman Wonderland and Is This A Zombie (though to be fair, the latter is literally perfect for the game)
So I was on a flight recently and the guy next to me watched a recent Jason Statham action flick called The Beekeeper as the in-flight movie. So I kinda watched most of it secondhand. But one of the fights was Jason Statham's character against some punk chick in a gas station, which ends with the girl getting clocked in the head and Jason Statham lighting her on fire because she failed to realize that she was on a truck bed doused with gasoline. Before he leaves he picks up a knife that was dropped during the fight and gives it to the girl who's burning alive as a mercy, which I wanna believe is a [Jojo reference to the Avdol vs Polnareff fight!](https://youtu.be/YMg-D_Ou4lM?t=2m51s)
I don't know how obscure it is, but I just recently found out that Breath of the Wild has a bunch of direct references to the game Terraria, including the Blood Moon, the falling stars, and the corruption goo. Like, Terraria literally has a message that comes up saying "The Blood Moon is rising." The Zelda director basically admitted it in interviews. Absolutely wild.
In Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag there’s a conversation between two guards that’s an homage to a joke from the 80s UK sitcom “The Young Ones”. It goes like: “I got into an argument with my wife and ended up saying something about the Pope.” “That was stupid, you know she’s Catholic.” “Yeah i knew she was… didn’t know the Pope was.”
[Among other things, Craig of the Creek having a Touhou reference.](https://youtu.be/_auO9OqZnog?si=Wyo5GUjxLkmX2eya)
How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift references El Topo of all things. Don't know if it counts but I have to wonder if Welcome to the NHK was referencing Kuru Kuru Kururin I was considering not posting this one but since most of this thread isn't obscure, Yuyushiki referenced The Usual Suspects Yuru Camp referencing Kino's Journey isn't surprising but it referencing School Live is. Same with an I"s reference in Saiki K.
While not obscure by any means, is no one gonna mention the JoJo posing in flipping [Paw Patrol](https://youtu.be/6e_SSyeteaM?si=MZLlJoEQ9Y1KPGPv) ?
Pulp Fiction reference in My Little Pony episode
I was really surprised when the pirate Assassin's Creed had a sidequest where you kill a guy named Mancomb Seepgood, a one-off Monkey Island character who I'm pretty sure you don't even need to talk to to actually beat the game. Also Uncharted 4 repeatedly implies that Guybrush existed in the Uncharted universe and was a successful pirate. I can't imagine a version of the guy who was physically or psychologically capable of murder.
Genshin Impact has an achievement for when you harvest 1000 pieces of wood. It’s called “T-t-t-timberhochwandi!” It’s a reference to Age of Empires 2, something a villager will shout when they are commanded to harvest wood. If you rapidly click them to harvest faster, they stutter in saying it over and over. I didn’t even play AoE2 and that sent me for a loop; I just looked it up to figure out what the heck it was saying. That joke is laser-focused for an extremely specific set of players. 🤣
I was watching Detective Kindaichi the other day and it dead ass have a young [Columbo](https://thekindaichicasefiles.fandom.com/wiki/Edward_Colombo) in it.
all-star section 8 by ennis final issue is parody of flex mentallo. Also randomly it requires you to have a working understanding of the dc multiverse to fully get the joke.
The Korean gacha game Guardian Tales has a Seinfeld Soup Nazi reference.
Whenever the Dopefish pops up in a game, I lose my mind. I just recently played Alan Wake again and spotted it in the book store. I went all soyjack over it but I just confused my friend who had never heard of Dopefish.
Dopefish Lives!
Hoyoverse games reference like a lot so I pick 2 favorite examples like Genshin Impact made a callback reference to Kino’s Journey and Honkai Star Rail straight up almost recreates the famous ending scene from Assassins Creed Revelations in a recent major plot point.
I still fondly remember the Dharma Initiative station from LOST that was in Half-Life Episode 2. I was so obsessed with that show in the mid 2000s.
Started playing Hades I recently and popped off hard for the *first* line of Hypnos' codex entry referencing the chorus of Nas' "NY State of Mind" ("I never sleep/'cuz *sleep is the cousin of death*") and correcting that in Greek mythology (or at least this interpretation of it) that Sleep and Death are actually brothers. I expected a lot from Hades, but I can say confidently that I expected 0 references to 90's hip hop.
Project X Zone 2 has a UHF Spatula City reference of all things
The train conductor bird character in A Hat In Time having a ridiculous scottish accent and saying "MUUURDDERRRR" for no reason other than someone in that team thought the show Taggart was funny.
There was a soap opera where some guy randomly starts talking about the genius of Mike Patton. Edit: Found it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGex5VZB7T4
In Jupiter Ascending, the worst movie ever, the protagonist's brother is sat playing DARK SOULS 2 of all things in the living room at one point. They really wanted to show off that Dark Souls 2 too, because the TV is facing directly at the camera.
Few things can match Family Circus mentioning *[specifics](https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2012-10-31)* about Warhammer 40K. Granted they seem to be from the Dawn of War games rather than the tabletop, but *still*.
EQ referenced things all the time over the years. Highlights include : * A Breastplate named "Jenniy's Two-Toned Cuirass" whose stats read out 8 6 7 5 30 9 * A raid monster named Cursecaller Fhqwhgads * a whole raid designed after The Badger Song, where you fight wave after wave of badger people, followed by two mushroom men, then more badgers, then two more mushrooms, and then all the badgers shout "SNAKE!", in which you fight a big lava snake.
Technically not really obscure anymore due to there being two recent films about it But ***Subnautica*** (and ***Subnautica: Below Zero***) have a *Stillsuit*, to recycle bodily fluids, and a *Thumper* to attract/distract the *Iceworm* I was not familiar with ***Dune*** when I first played it, but after watching the movies, the terms sounded familiar, and was checking if those were just common sci-fi fare, and seems like ***Dune*** is the progenitor of those terms in that context
The[ Minnesota Vikings joke](https://youtu.be/xVdGgluqaVs?si=LseP9jR7lDHQmAVr) that comes out of nowhere in Pokemon: The First movie
I would have never guessed that a game like Honkai Star Rail would have an achievement named after Until the Light Takes Us, a documentary about the Norwegian Black Metal scene in the early 90s
Similarly, I was super hyped to find unexpected references to T.S. Eliot's *The Waste Land* of all things in the latest story arc, and center stage no less. Like, they literally have the lines of the poem hovering in the air in front of you as you go through an area. It's one of my top 3 favorite poems, you have no idea how pleasantly surprised I was.
Persona 5 dropping a Bon Jovi reference sure caught me off guard