!To the ''Final Fantasy'' games:

* The majority of {{Mook}} Nobodies are named after the various job classes in the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, and often behave as such.
* The poses Sora does when he wins a tournament round in the first game are victory poses from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII VIII]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX X]]''.
* Most of the Gummi Ship names are names of various airships from the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games.
* Also in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', when Cloud goes up against Sephiroth, Sephiroth begins his BreakingSpeech. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud tells him to shut up.]]
* At the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', Donald tells Sora to "calm down and drink (his) tea", a much less raunchy version [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII of the original line.]]
* The Parasite Cage Heartless in the first game bears many similarities to an early boss in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', Prison Cage. In both games, a character (Pinocchio in Kingdom Hearts and Garnet, then Vivi, in Final Fantasy IX) gets trapped inside the creature, and the main character (Sora/Zidane) must work together with his at-the-time enemy (Riku/Steiner) to free them. Both enemies are fought twice in total. Vivi and Pinocchio also share some similarities, as Pinocchio is a puppet who possesses a heart and a conscience, and Vivi is an artificial lifeform who also possesses a conscience and "heart".
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', after Tron puts in the password for the DTD, the MCP attacks the party with a bolt in a matter similar to the lightning bolts of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. The reactions of everyone is also similar to that game, where Tron manages to dodge by jumping back, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy are struck, with the latter two flipping from the recoil.
* The first Formchange for the Wheel of Fate Keyblade in ''III'' is called "High Wind" and is a spear, referencing the famous Dragoon class and its ThemeNaming from the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The weapon's combo finisher is also heavily inspired by the Dragoon's Jump ability.

!To other franchises:
* The Darkside Heartless is named after ''Tales from the Darkside'', an anthology horror TV series. The Twilight Thorn is called [[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]] in Japanese, referencing another famous horror TV series.
* Part of End of the World from the first game seems to have been inspired by [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Nowhere]].
* Xigbar's [[RedBaron title]], "Freeshooter", is taken from the title of the German opera ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Freischütz Der Freischütz]]''. The eponymous marksman makes a DealWithTheDevil in exchange for seven magical bullets; the first six are controlled by the marksman while the seventh is controlled by the Devil.
* While fighting the hydra in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', you can use a reaction command called "Urninator", a play on "[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Trogdor the Burninator]]"
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', there's a set of weapons called Casual Gear. When this is equipped, Demyx's sitar turns into a tennis racket. Its name? [[Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis Prince of]] [[WebAnimation/AwesomeSeries Awesome]]. Another of Demyx's weapons in ''Days'' is called "[[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Up To Eleven]]".
* The last Gummi route in ''II'', Assault of the Dreadnought, is a direct homage to ''Franchise/StarWars'', particularly the Death Star battles in ''A New Hope'' and ''Return of the Jedi''. Likewise, as a continuous homage to the theme naming from the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, two shopkeepers (one in Twilight Town, the other in Hollow Bastion/[[spoiler:Radiant Garden]]) are named after Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles, though the presence of Jessie confirms they are based on the Biggs and Wedge of ''Final Fantasy VII'', instead.
** Terra's story in ''Birth by Sleep'' is a homage to ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', right down to him succumbing to the dark side like Anakin Skywalker. Riku can even be seen as a parallel to Luke Skywalker, and Sora with Han Solo. Both Luke and Riku were tempted with the dark side, and succeed with what their father/predecessor failed: [[spoiler:becoming a Jedi/Keyblade Master]]. Meanwhile, both Han and Sora take on {{Non Human Sidekick}}s with a CoolShip, and spend a year [[spoiler:frozen in carbonite or sleeping in a pod]].
** When crushed by the painting of Ansem (really [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort]]) in the manga adaptation, Sora mutters "[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Ansem strikes back]]".
* The trophy for completing all the Gummi Ship courses in [=KH1:FM=] or getting an S-rank on all EX Gummi Ship missions in [=KH2:FM=] is called " Film/TopGun "
** The trophy for winning 100 duels in [=Re:CoM=] is called " [[Franchise/DuelMasters Duel Master]] "
* [[spoiler: Young Xehanort]] belts out a '''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure "TOKI YO TOMARE!"]]''' in the Japanese version of [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance KH3D]] when he momentarily stops time to rewind to the start of the boss battle. He also has an attack where he generates icicles that after a brief flash of light, are inexplicably going to converge on [[spoiler:Riku]].
** Also considering this point it's very possible that Ansem's [[FightingSpirit Guardian Heartless]] is also a shout-out to [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure stands]].
** In [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover]], Aced has the power to create vacuums, not unlike [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Okuyasu Nijimura.]]
* In the manga adaptation for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', Manga/{{Doraemon}} and the Anywhere Door is mentioned when Sora and his friends enter the memory-based version of Traverse Town.
* Since Demyx's [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed appearance is based on]] the late Music/DavidBowie, his [[ThatOneBoss infamous quote]], "Dance, water, dance", was taken from the song "[[VillainSong Dance Magic Dance]]", which Bowie sang in the CultClassic film ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''.
* Look at the cover of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and notice the throne Sora is sitting on. Not that different from another [[Series/GameOfThrones throne also made out of swords]], right?
* Tinker Bell is a fairy that can heal Sora, as well as be used as an extra life. Think she moved to Neverland from [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda a certain other land?]] Especially noteworthy is the fact that [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime a certain blue fairy companion of Link's]] has been noted to be a parallel of Tink's, since both are fairies who have feelings for their partners (Link for Navi, and Peter Pan for Tink), and are jealous of another girl close to them (Princess Zelda and Wendy Darling, respectively).
* The keychain that Sora obtains in Halloween Town in the first game (and later as an Attack Card in [=CoM=]) is named " Film/{{Pumpkinhead}} "
* In ''Kingdom Hearts II'', the only way to get to Yen Sid's Tower is by a mysterious train in Twilight Town, much like the Wizard's special subway train in ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}''. Becomes HilariousInHindsight in 2019, when Creator/ZacharyLevi (Flynn Rider) is cast as adult Billy Batson in [[Film/Shazam2019 the DC Extended Universe film]].
* Yen Sid's name is an homage to Creator/WaltDisney, and not in the way it originally seems; while "Yen Sid" is indeed "Disney" spelled backwards, Walt Disney himself would use the SdrawkcabAlias "Retlaw Yensid" when involving himself in projects and media that he did not want the public to know about.[[note]]For example, he called himself by this alias while scouting Florida for the property that would eventually become Ride/WaltDisneyWorld, due to knowing that if the real estate owners knew just ''who'' was looking for land, they might try to up-sell him unsuitable property for the theme park.[[/note]]
* The finishing command for Peter Pan's LimitBreak in ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is called Theatre/JourneysEnd.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', the information scroll for the Ice and Lava Titan boss fight reads "[[Film/ClashOfTheTitans Clash with the Titans!]]"
* The Trophy/Achievement earned from defeating [[spoiler:[[{{VideoGame/Einhander}} Schwarzgeist]]]] in ''III'' is named after its theme from its origin game.
* In Monstropolis, Sora's fur color will become yellow with orange stripes if he Formchanges into Guardian Form, making him resemble [[Franchise/RatchetAndClank a lombax]]. For bonus points, one of the Guardian Form Keyblades, [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh Hunny Spout]], transforms into guns.