Continuity Nod - Television Tropes & Idioms

Carl Macek had to invent several of these when he made the multifarious Robotech. For example, Yellow Dancer is a singer who emulates Minmei.
This happens from time to time in One Piece, primarily through Usopp. When Usopp was first introduced he would regale Ill Girl Kaya with tales featuring things like a goldfish so large its poop was island sized, or claim he was sneaking around hunting a mole monster. After the Little Garden arc, the Straw Hats encountered a goldfish exactly like the one Usopp mentioned. During the Alabasta arc, Usopp faced Miss Merry Christmas, who had the power to transform into a mole-woman. The former case was lampshaded by Usopp commenting that the goldfish seemed familiar to him for some reason.
- Also the time when Zoro had to defeat Mr. 1, who had the ability to compose his body to the hardness of steel. To learn how to cut steel and gain one step closer to defeating his rival Dracule Mihawk, he defeated Mr. 1. He then asked Zoro as he fainted if he plans on cutting diamond next. Recently, Mihawk himself in the war against Whitebeard tried to use his strongest sword slash to see the difference between the two, only to find it blocked by 3rd division commander Jozu, who turned his body into diamond.
- During the anime's adaptation of the various Marine officers gathering in Marineford, Jonathan, The Chessmaster commander from the G8 filler arc, is shown arriving as well, accompanied by his subordinates Drake and Gu.
During the second season of Code Geass, Lelouch is shown walking past a wall in the school that is covered in cross-like marks, the end of the wall has blank bricks and a brick with just one line on it. This is a reference to the first season when he used his Geass on a girl with the instruction "make a mark on this wall every day" to test how long its effects last.
In Chrono Crusade, when Chrono tries to explain who the Pursuers are, he notes "If you count Leiraje, this is only the second time we've seen one!" (Leiraje was a character that had shown up in the first volume and kidnapped Azmaria.) Azmaria squeaks out "Really??" and Rosette snorts "Geez, nobody remembers him."
In the fifth episode of Princess Tutu, a lamp is possessed by a heart shard that she's been abandoned by the family she used to serve, and everyone has forgotten her. Princess Tutu told her that she was sure someone else would find her and love her for her light and warmth again, and sure enough, Ahiru takes the lamp home with her at the end of the episode. It's often seen in her room in later episodes.
This happens a few times in Yu-Gi-Oh GX and 5D's, in particular referencing the original series. In GX a number of times, they reference a couple of the more famous battles outside of climactic showdowns, provided they were based on the manga at least, and occasionally referenced or alluded to well-known events or cards, like in episodes 18 & 19 where Judai dueled against a copycat who had stolen Yugi's deck. This occurs far-less often in 5D's, aside from the fact it's in what we used to know as Domino City, though there are a few allusions to icons of the past on some of the newer cards.
- The Speed Fusion card portrays Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman fusing into Dark Flare Knight.
- This happened plenty of times within the original series as well. The Pharoah walking through a valley of lost spirits and flashing back to a bunch of minor antagonists. The cameos that Doma's swordsmen received after the Waking the Dragons arc, along with everyone else in the last few episodes of the whole show. While not free of filler, the franchise has a truckload of continuity nods.
- Ayukawa, the school nurse in the GX anime, makes an appearance in the GX manga observing a student's coma and noting a similarity between that coma and events in the Battle City tournament, where four people fell unconscious after their duels (Mai, Jonouchi, Rishid and Bakura), and two of them were confirmed by witnesses to be the victims of sorcery (presumably Rishid and Jonouchi). She then promptly dismisses it all as nonsense.
Several aspects of Usagi and Seiya's meetings in Sailor Stars mirror Usagi and Mamoru's meetings in the first season of the series, culminating in Usagi confusing Seiya dressed in black and red for Tuxedo Mask, who wears a black and red outfit. (Seiya went as far as to throw a red rose to distract the enemy.)
Throughout the Fullmetal Alchemist are scenes where you can recognize certain people traveling about — like the Curtis', Hohenheim, or a minor one, the mustache man in the white suit.
- In Rush Valley, you also see automail stalls with photographs of their previous customers, like the man who hijacked the train in the first volume or the army guy in one of the spin-off games.
- Later in the manga, when Roy Mustang goes on to fight the government of Amestris and the Homunculi, he calls some more familiar looking new people in his service. These were the same guys serving under him in Ishbal.
The second-to-last episode of Gokujou Seitokai has basically every character that appeared in a single episode show up to act as a diversion.
Negima chapter 268 is a flashback full of these; (links are spoilers, btw) there's the ermine detention compound, an appearance of Tosaka, Mama, and their friends, and Nagi saving a girl who appears to be a young Paio II. (NSFW)
Pokemon has a Continuity Nod in "A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine", by having Jessie, James and Meowth use their original Team Rocket motto.
Happens a lot in Monster. One notable instance is when Eva's flashbacks finally reveal why Tenma got back from his date in episode 4 so quickly.
A big one for Gundam, one spanning most of the Universal Century: Syam Vist of Unicorn (set in U.C. 0096) is 112 years old, due to the use of cryonics. Vist is voiced by Ichiro Nagai, the voice of the narrator of Mobile Suit Gundam (set in U.C. 0079).
All the Macross series have some sort of reference to another one of the series. Even Macross Zero, which occurred prior to the original series, has some connection by featuring Roy Fokker.

Too many to count in The Sandman, but the most memorable is the "Endless Nights" story, "The Heart of A Star" — Superman's ultimate origin is revealed to be a conversation between Krypton's sun and the first personification of Despair on the nature of beauty.
- This story also features a character called Killalla of the Glow, who is implied to be one of the first aliens to master the energy later marshalled by the Green Lantern Corps.
  - Heck, she's as-good-as-stated to be one of the Guardians, before the female Oans went their separate way.
- It's never directly stated, but there are enough hints to figure out that Matthew the raven was Matthew Cable, from Alan Moore's series Swamp Thing, before he died. Gaiman owes a lot to Moore in getting his career started; there are several nods in Sandman to Moore's work in the DCU.
A throwaway line in Paul Cornell's Captain Britain refers to Merlin as one of the Higher Evolutionaries, acknowledging the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip's presence in the Marvel Universe for the first time since Alan Moore was writing both characters.
- Plus, Merlin's appearance in Cornell's series looks to be a Call Back to the way he looked in the DWM strip.
Writers and artists often use scenes set in the Batcave's trophy room to give a Continuity Nod to previous Batman stories.
- Also, Batman once investigated murders at a movie set, where the movie being shot was a WWI flying action/drama. The misunderstood Villain Protagonist of said film was Hans von Hammer, in our world the main character of DC Comics Enemy Ace series.
ElfQuest examples:
- In the science-fiction "sequel" The Rebels, Gestrelle Luricahn owning elfin artifacts is just part of her job/field of research. The fact that nearly all of those that we see decorating her room had some importance in previous ElfQuest stories is a Continuity Nod.
- Sometimes panels from earlier comics get "paraphrased", using the same composition and (if possible) characters; for example one in ''Kings of the Broken Wheel'' 3 is modeled after one in the very first ElfQuest story ever.
- In a montage of the Wolfriders' dens in Wild Hunt, Tyleet's can be identified by the ornament that her long-dead adoptive son used to wear as a headband.
Quite a few in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is to be expected as its continuity arguably includes every book ever written.
Asterix does this a few times. In Asterix in Britain, you can see a few souvenirs referring to previous adventures on a shelf in Asterix and Obelix's house (including a model sphinx from Asterix and Cleopatra and a Visigoth helmet from Asterix and the Goths).

From the Batman franchise: In Batman & Robin, a scene of Arkham Asylum briefly shows the outfits of the Riddler and Two-Face from Batman Forever.
In the first Alien Vs Predator film, the expedition to Antarctica was financed by the Weyland Corporation and includes Charles Bishop Weyland himself. In Requiem, the Predator's plasma gun is turned over to the obviously very-well connected Ms. Yutani. As every fan of the Alien series knows, Weyland-Yutani was the major corporation in the background of the films, at the time of Aliens 3 led by the obviously many time great Identical Grandson of Charles Weyland and the model for the Bishop androids (with Lance Henrikson playing all three roles).
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is full of them. From ancient artifacts to family photos there are dozens of references to the previous movies and to when they Recycled The Series.
- Don't forget the ultimate example in The Last Crusade, where Indy casually identifies a tomb painting of the Ark of the Covenant, as recovered by Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark — complete with appropriate musical motif from that movie.
  - A similar nod happens in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where you see the actual Ark, which has been packed up and stored in Area 51.
The James Bond film Die Another Day contains Shout Outs and Continuity Nods to all of the previous Bond films. Q's lab, for example, contains gadgets from a number of previous films, such as the jet pack from Thunderball and the crocodile sub from Octopussy.
- In addition, when Q gives Bond his new watch, he says, "This will be your twentieth, I believe." Die Another Day was the 20th Bond film.
- It also references several things in the Bond books that didn't make it into movies, such as the scene with M talking to Bond through bulletproof glass.
In A Muppet Christmas Carol, when Scrooge tells Jacob and Robert Marley (played by Statler and Waldorf, of course) that they're more gravy than grave, they tell him to "leave comedy to the bears, Ebenezer!" For those too young, sheltered, or otherwise under-a-rock to remember, on The Muppet Show, Statler and Waldorf would sit in a balcony heckling the various acts at the Muppet Theater; their favorite target was resident stand-up comedian Fozzie Bear, whose acts were often doomed just by simple expedient of having Statler and Waldorf harassing him.
Serenity has an extremely subtle continuity nod during Mal's Shirtless Scene, where one can see a small vertical scar on his upper right chest. This is the same scar he picked up in "The Train Job" when Crow threw a knife at him and hit him in that spot.
- Though the scar could also have been picked up when he's stabbed with a sword in "Shindig".
- "I got stabbed you know! Right here!"
- There's also a scar in the center of his chest from the torture device in "War Stories".
In Speed 2, a cruise liner crashes into and demolishes an expensive ~~beach house~~ boat belonging to the same guy whose sports car Jack (Keanu Reeves) wrecks in pursuit of the bus in the first movie.
Similar to the Batman example above, the 2007 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie had a scene near the end where Splinter had set up a trophy room. Shredder's helmet and various other artifacts from enemies of the previous three live-action films could be seen on shelves.
Mark from The Gamers shows up a couple of times in the second movie and makes references to it.
Kevin Smith's movies, particularly those set in The View Askewniverse, are full of Continuity Nods, with characters frequently making reference to events, characters, or relatives of characters that have either happened or been alluded to (or will be) in other movies.
The Christmas Special Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July has continuity nods to many of the previous Rankin-Bass specials. Aside from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman (as well as their sequels, Rudolph's Shining New Year and Frosty's Winterland Wonderland), reference is made to Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and The Year Without a Santa Claus.
The 2009 Star Trek movie features a brief reference to Admiral Archer, who keeps beagles, an obvious reference to the star of Star Trek Enterprise (and his owner, Captain Archer).
*A lot of nods in Star Trek: during the Kobayashi Maru test, Kirk is eating an apple nonchalantly. In The Wrath of Khan, Kirk tells Saavik how he beat the test—while eating an apple.
- Though according to the DVD commentary on the 2009 film, this parallel was unintentional.
For the most part, George Lucas ignores the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which is good or bad depending on the writer and events. But Coruscant, the capital of the Old Republic, was established in The Thrawn Trilogy. The prequel trilogy continues to use Coruscant.
In Spider-Man 2, the staff of the Daily Bugle is trying to think of a name for the recently altered Dr. Octavius. One suggestion is Dr. Strange which is rejected as already taken, presumably by Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme.
The Lord of the Rings films feature several nods to other books by Tolkien (though sometimes only in the EE): the allusions are much more explicit in the books, but in the films they can be easy to miss or obscure. See for instance the trolls (from The Hobbit) which are glimpsed in FotR and Aragorn singing the Lay of Leithian (from The Silmarillion).
The terrorist group from the movie Iron Man is called The Ten Rings. The Mandarin, a major Iron Man villain from the comics, gets his powers from ten magical rings (though later it's retconned to be Shi'ar technology)

Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier novels (part of the Star Trek Expanded Universe) include an immortal character named Morgan Primus. It's hinted that the character may be the same as Number One (from "The Cage"), suggested that she is the original model for shipboard computers' voices, and both Jean-Luc Picard and Montgomery Scott mistake her for other women they're familiar with. All of which is a big wink at the numerous roles that actress Majel Barrett(-Roddenberry) has filled in the Trek Verse.
The popular "it's a trap!" quote and meme from the Star Wars films is given a Continuity Nod twice in the Legacy of the Force novel series; once by Mara Jade in Sacrifice, and once by Luke in Revelation. I couldn't help but giggle at both.
- In DarkForceRising, Luke and Mara sneak aboard a Star Destroyer to rescue Talon Karrde. Luke sneaks into and out of the detention area via a trash compactor. (Also, earlier, looking to disguise themselves for the rescue attempt, Luke advises Mara that Stormtrooper armor is hard to see out of.)
- References to "I have a bad feeling about this" are rife in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. And Death Star is absolutely packed with acknowledgments about the builders of the Death Star, the prototypes, and what else is going on in the galaxy.
- The Star Wars EU is unusually continuous, for an Expanded Universe. In theory all books are a view of the same 'verse; some views are crystal clear, some are blurry, and some are downright abstract. In practice it depends on the writer. Karen Traviss does no research at all and merrily tramples on previous canon, then calls people who dislike this the "Talifan". Timothy Zahn reads everything, takes it into account, and then incorporates details and characters freely and subtly, though he retcons things here and there. In the first book of the Hand of Thrawn duology, he introduced the Caamaasi species, though none of them were named characters. Immediately after that, Stackpole wrote "I, Jedi" which had a Caamaasi character, and in the second book of the duology Zahn included this character in a fairly prominent role. The two books of the duology were published a year apart. The character was in character. Most writers lean more towards Zahn than towards Traviss, but is it any wonder who is more loved?
Little windows to the first book of Harry Potter abound in the seventh, and show starkly just how bad things have gotten.
- From the chapter "The Prince's Tale": "Keep an eye on Quirrell, won't you?"
- Book Five is basically one Continuity Nod after another. When Harry takes his exams, he reminisces over all the stuff he did and learned over the past five years.
Warhammer 40000: Gaunt's Ghosts has quite a few nods to other books Dan Abnett has written, and almost all of his books include references to the events and characters in his other works. Many, however, are retroactive, having been written about first as a passing reference, then developed into a full story. This can result in circular Continuity Nods.
- Dan Abnett's Horus Rising opens by recounting how Loken would say that he was there when Horus killed the emperor. This is, in fact, the emperor of a planet they conquered while he was still a loyal son of the Emperor, but it's not lacking in Irony.
  - Indeed, if you know the backstories well enough, the entire Horus Heresy series contains at least one example per chapter that is just like that. Fans will often yell 'No! No! Don't do that! You stupid plonker!' at certain actions, and frankly groan at the various lines that are just dragging the currently on-top-of-the-galaxy Horus deeper and deeper into wannabe Evil Overlord territory.
- Also, note that the first chronological literary appearance of the Dies Irae was in the very first Heresy novel, and it went on to play a major part in the series. Dies Irae appears ten thousand years later as a Chaos Titan that played a major part in Graham Mc Neill's Storm of Iron novel, written long before the Heresy novels.
One of the first Ciaphas Cain books makes reference to there being record of a Commissar who held the dual rank of Colonel, a Shout Out to Abnett's Ibram Gaunt.
Discworld has a few, thanks to Terry Pratchett. One of the bigger ones is a scene in Making Money where Moist is told "You can walk out of that door over there, and the matter will not be raised again." As the last time this happened, the door opened onto a bottomless pit, he is a little wary. It's, in fact, a normal door.
- In Hogfather, Ridcully brings up the events of Reaper Man: "Remember when we had all that extra life force around? A man couldn't call his trousers his own!" Other books have also made reference to "the Holy Wood incident" and "that music with rocks in debacle".
- This crosses through different protagonists' books. In Thud! Vimes is complaining about "that pea-brained idiot at the post office" (Stanley Howler, Head of Stamps as of the end of Going Postal), whose cabbage-scented stamps apparently ran into a few unforseen problems, and in Making Money Moist briefly apologizes to Vetinari about the cabbage stamp debacle when trying to think of reasons Vetinari might have wanted to meet with him.
Nick Hornby makes nods towards his other novels:
- In About a Boy, Will shops in the record shop from High Fidelity.
- In How to Be Good, one character lives in a flat in the same building as an employee of the same record shop.
- In A Long Way Down, a character from How To Be Good has a show on Martin Sharp's terrible cable TV channel.
The Doctor Who Expanded Universe novel Beautiful Chaos is a sequel to the TV story Masque of Mandragora, spinning from the Doctor's claim that the Helix would return after 500 years. It takes a moment to refer to the three other Expanded Universe media which took up this plot thread (another book, a Sarah Jane audio drama, and a Doctor Who Magazine comic strip), explaining that they all involved "fragments" of the Helix, but this was the real thing.
In the Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr. Watson was fond of making references to other cases Holmes had worked on. While many of these were to incidents that Conan Doyle never based stories on, a few were references to other stories found in the Sherlockian Canon.
In John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey stories, Rumpole (the first person narrator of all but a few of the stories) often makes reference to other cases he's worked on (with Mortimer going so far as to add footnotes referencing the title of the story, the title of the compilation volume in which it appeared, and the page number it started on).
- The Rumpole series is also noteworthy for perpetrating what may well be the greatest Noodle Incident / Continuity Nod transformation in the history of literature. For years, in just about all of the stories Rumpole would reference his greatest case, "The Penge Bungalow Murders" (which, as he often noted, he tried "alone and without a leader"). Finally, nearing the end of his writing career, Mortimer finally wrote the novel Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders, neatly turning that Noodle Incident into a Continuity Nod.
Not too excessive but noticeable in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga. A particularly egregious one came in the novel Cetaganda, where Miles was on the titular planet to attend a state funeral, and was talking privately with one of the keepers of the Star Creche, haut-lady Rian. The discussion is interrupted by a call to Rian from a Cetagandan agent, ghem-Colonel Millisor. Millisor was the antagonist of an earlier novel, Ethan of Athos, which took place at the same time but was written ten years earlier. Millisor's brief appearance in Cetaganda has no actual relevance, and the plot carries on as if it had never happened.
The Lord Of The Rings, in addition to many more or less obscure allusions to events from The Silmarillion and The Hobbit, manages to do an odd little in-universe continuity nod as Sam realises that he is indeed part of the same continuity, legends to him.
"No, sir, of course not. Beren now, he never thought he was going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. but that's a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it - and the Silmaril went on and came to Eärendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We've got - you've got some of the light of it in that star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?" (The Two Towers, "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol")

Several on the new Doctor Who series:
- "Dalek": Several of the Doctor's enemies from the old show are on display in an underground museum.
- "Bad Wolf": The Face of Boe is described as the oldest inhabitant of the Isop galaxy. The Isop galaxy was the setting of the William Hartnell story "The Web Planet".
- And both "Bad Wolf" and "Parting of the Ways" had a transporter that left behind what appeared to be ash, echoing "The Twin Dilemma".
- In "The Satan Pit", the Doctor mentions the inhabitants of Daemos, attributed in "The Daemons" as the source of demonic imagery in human mythology, among the races who share similar Satan-like characters in their mythologies.
- In a cross-media nod, the Big Finish audio "The Kingmaker" features a scene in which a stranded Doctor leaves a note for his future self to find. It is "later" mentioned to have been delivered by "some bloke with big ears and a Northern accent", an apparent nod to Christopher Eccleston. In that same story, Tom Baker provides a cameo in the form of a clip from a history documentary, presented as the Doctor's taped notes (not actually Tom Baker, but a very convincing impression by Jon Culshaw).
  - Another character with an accent similar to Eccleston's also gets in a "Fantastic". Big Finish: tweaking the limits of BBC licensing restrictions for over 10 years.
- In "Tooth and Claw", the Tenth Doctor arrives in 19th-century Scotland and uses "Dr. James McCrimmon" as his alias. Jamie McCrimmon was one of the Second Doctor's companions, hailing from 18th-century Scotland.
- In a hilarious Continuity Nod In Joke, in the Series 4 episode "The Poison Sky", when the Doctor is given a Gas Mask by the UNIT General, the Doctor remarks "Are you my Mummy?".
- At the end of "Turn Left", Rose's appearance and the upcoming danger is heralded by the words "Bad Wolf" appearing everywhere the Doctor looks. This is a shout out to the ongoing mystery of the first season, the repeated words Bad Wolf appearing everywhere they went, but not with nearly as much frequency.
- Obscure one: In "Destiny of the Daleks" (Tom Baker era, late 70s), quoth Davros: "Doctor, do you believe your puny efforts can change the course of destiny? ... Destiny, Doctor.... Invincible necessity.... Power. My power. My invincibility. My supreme plan to control the universe... Errors of the past will be rectified. I will ad new design elments to the Daleks' circuitry. They will be armed with new weaponry. Weaponry so devastating that all matter will succumb to its power! I will equip them with all the knowledge of the universe! ... The Daleks NEED ME!" — In The Stolen Earth/Journey's End at the end of season 31 (aka Series 4 in the new ordering), Davros does, indeed, equip them with a universal-knowledge level weapon capable of destroying, quite literally, all matter in the universe.
- Probably the longest delay before a continuity nod, in The Stolen Earth the Doctor mentions, "Someone tried to move the Earth before, but that was a long time ago...", calling back to the Hartnell era in which the Daleks overtook Earth and began drilling to its center to install a massive engine and move it to parts unknown (If you wondered, 45 years. 45 years!)
- In the novel The Last Dodo, the Tenth Doctor names the titular bird "Dorothea", but never explains why. Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet was a companion of the First Doctor.
- Not as far reaching as most of the above, but in the finale of season 4, the Doctor and Rose notice ask if Gwen from the Torchwood team has a family history in Cardiff. She says that she does, going "back to the 1800s," indicating that the character Gwynneth from the third episode of Season One, played by the same actress, was her ancestor.
- "Voyage of the Damned" nods to the previous two Christmas Episodes by having everyone realize that London isn't a good place to be on Christmas unless you like being at ground zero of an alien invasion.
- So at the conclusion of The End of Time, the Tenth Doctor is about to regenerate into Matt Smith and say his last goodbyes to his companions over the years. And then there's Alonso from "Voyage of the Damned". And THEN there's the great-granddaughter of Nurse Redfern "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood".
- In "School Reunion", Rose argues at companion from the 1970s (or the 1980s) Sarah Jane over who faced the toughest aliens and monsters, referencing actual episodes of the classic and new series, including the previous week's.
One of Xander's roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (possibly an aspect of his role as the "heart" of the team) was pointing out the similarities of their current situation to plots from the past.
- In Buffy's Season 2 finale, Willow is going to attempt to restore Angelus's soul. Xander comes to Buffy knowing this, but he chooses to lie, telling Buffy that Willow said to "Kick his ass." Nothing is made of this until five years later, on a Season 7 episode, Buffy refers to the "Kick his ass" message in front of Willow and Xander. Willow indignantly denies the allegation, Xander glosses over the awkward moment, the subject is changed and nothing is said of it again.
Angel, as a Spin Off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, occasionally included Continuity Nods to its parent show. One good example was an episode where Angel tracked a girl with Telekinesis who accidentally TKed a steel rebar into his chest. Being a vampire that didn't kill him but the pain distracted him enough that he didn't get any information on the girl, not even her name, before she ran off, making helping her difficult. When Cordelia chastises him for it he says "Do you know how hard it is to think straight when you've got a steel rebar embedded in your torso?". She thinks for a second then says "Actually, I do. Benefits of a Sunnydale education", referencing an accident the character had 2 and a half years ago on a different show.
The Cosby Show and its Spin Off A Different World maintained close continuity ties even after Lisa Bonet left the latter program. Dwayne Wayne once visited the Huxtable home, and a former regular character from The Cosby Show, Charmaine Brown (played by Karen Malina White), showed up on A Different World as a new student at Hillman College.
Arrested Development does this very frequently, one of the reasons it is much admired by fans.
Third Watch's finale had a photo in the background reporting on events a few years previously, when Ty Davis Jr. helped save lives during a blackout.
The HBO series The Wire may be one of the most consistent examples of this trope, going out of its way to reference events and characters from multiple seasons past. Notable examples include: Drug dealer Bodie Broadus referencing a conversation from the beginning of the series when talking to a detective in the fourth season; a former chauffer named Day-Day being brought in to testify against a senator in the fifth season (after his last appearance was in the first season); Omar Little's death in season five is caused by Kenard, a small boy who was seen trying to emulate his target two seasons prior to the episode; the main criminal organization of the second season (The Greeks) show up again in the final season to do business with drug baron Marlo Stanfield...the list goes on.
- An addict first appears in Season 3 as a clean-cut college student buying drugs in Hamsterdam. In Season 4, she is seen talking to Old Face Andre, now obviously a streetwalker. And finally in Season 5, she appears in order to give a speech at a Narcotics Anonymous Meeting.
- And that's not even mentioning the string of characters from seasons past that made brief appearances in the fifth season even if they didn't have major bearing on the season's plot themselves, including but not limited to Nick Sobotka, Clarence Royce, Randy Wagstaff, and Wee-Bey Brice.
The Degrassi franchise does this, most notably in its current incarnation, Degrassi The Next Generation. The pilot episode, and many of the scenes involving adults that come later on in the series, are continuity nods. Joey Jeremiah owns a car dealership (he was obsessed with vehicles in Degrassi High), and other characters make cameo appearances (some of which are still affected by events that happened in previous series, like Lucy).
Lost has featured several of these, such as allusions to the polar bear in the pilot episode. The episode "Exposé" was essentially one big long Continuity Nod.
In the 2008 season opening of NCIS, Tony has been assigned to the (fictional) aircraft carrier Seahawk. The Seahawk was a recurring location on JAG, including being the location of the Pilot Movie. NCIS is, of course, a Spin Off of JAG.
Stargate SG-1 has plenty, ranging from the blatant (anytime Carter's reminded that she blew up a sun) to the very subtle (Jackson always looks a little uncomfortable when someone mentions radiation).
Star Trek Enterprise was practically built around this concept. Considering its status as a prequel, most episodes revolved around the minute facts surrounding the future events like the forming of the Federation. Some range to really excellent uses like the first practical use of the force field and Brent Spiner as a distant Mad Scientist relative of Data's creator, to some groaners like a discussion on the probability of Vulcan/Human hybrids.
Criminal Minds makes extensive use of this as Character Development — Garcia's fear of being outside her office, Hotch looking at his phone out of habit, and Garcia and Morgan's relationship being prime examples. The casual viewer would completely miss all this without it affecting the story too much.
The Seinfeld episode "The Andrea Doria" features George telling a condo board his entire life story to arouse their sympathy so they'll give him an apartment. Naturally, it consists entirely of references to previous episodes.
In the House episode "Painless", a man walks to the conference room, and asks which one is House. House says: "The big black guy". Later, he tells to Foreman: "Can you blame me? The last time that happened, the guy shot me" — a reference to the episode "No Reason".
Used every now and then on How I Met Your Mother. For example with the saluting to things like "private matter", "general idea" and "major clean up".
- A particular favorite of mine: Barney makes a throwaway reference in one episode to having had sex with Madeleine Albright. In a later episode when we see several of his conquests flash before his eyes, Albright is among them.
In a recent Law and Order, Jack McCoy goes after a John Yoo-like figure for war crimes. When he's called on it, he mentions a previous episode where he prosecuted a Chilean general for war crimes.
Psych does this on multiple occasions, including references to "Chad," the character Shawn played on a telenovela in an early episode.
In Mr Monk Gets Cabin Fever, Natalie mentions that people seem to die wherever Monk goes. Stottlemeyer agrees with her, citing a few different Busmans Holiday incidents involving Monk, all of which were previous episodes of the show.
An interesting case of a literal Continuity Nod on Iron Chef America: in the opening, the Chairman nods in respect to a yellow bell pepper-the symbol of his uncle and predecessor, Chairman Kaga.
Used pretty frequently on ER. But then, with 15 seasons, the show has a lot of backstory to refer to.
The recent CSI crossover gives us a very nice continuity nod in its first part. When Ray Langston arrives in Miami, Horatio Caine asks him to give his regards to Catherine Willows and gives condolences for the loss of Warrick Brown (both characters traveled to Miami and worked with Horatio in the CSI episode which served as Miami's pilot). Similarly, in the final episode of the crossover, Ray gets texts from both Horatio and Mac Taylor, informing him of arrests related to his case.
- CSI itself also had smaller continuity nods, recalling events from the first and second seasons in the ninth and tenth - a comatose rape victim and the adopted son of an early recurring foe respectively.
In the third season The Man From UNCLE episode "The Hula Doll Affair", the entrance to THRUSH Headquarters in New York is an upper-class haberdashery, in contrast to the working-class Del Floria's Tailor Shop which serves as the entrance to U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters. Solo, as he is captured by Oregano (a THRUSH operative), remarks on the contrast:
Napoleon Solo: Very ingenious. Am I to assume I'm in THRUSH Headquarters?
Oregano: When we reach the 13th floor.
Napoleon Solo: Mmm. That haberdashery shop...
Oregano: What about it?
Napoleon Solo: It's quite impressive. I wish U.N.C.L.E. could afford that.
Sometime offscreen third season, the Winchester brothers each got a possession-blocking protective tattoo. From that first appearance onward, the tattoos can be seen from time to time over the collar of their shirts, though attention is almost never drawn to them again.
Red Dwarf: In "Demons and Angels", whilst testing the food on the 'high' Red Dwarf, Lister refers back to several previous episodes: "I've been to a parallel universe, I've seen time running backwards, I've played pool with planets and I've given birth to twins, but I never thought I'd taste an edible Pot Noodle."

Occurs on a comedy album, of all things. The Lonely Island's Incredibad opens with a song about Carlos Santana's champagne brand, which is referenced in the Memetic Mutation-level I'm on a Boat.
- And again in the interlude Normal Guy.
Meat Loaf has the song "Blind as a Bat", with a title blatantly designed to remind of his great hit "Bat Out of Hell", even though the songs have nothing really to do with one another. (One might argue that this applies to the entire Bat Out of Hell "trilogy"...)
The Beatles' "Glass Onion" actually approaches Continuity Porn levels, referring directly to "Strawberry Fields Forever," "I Am The Walrus" (with a twist), "Lady Madonna," "The Fool on the Hill," and "Fixing A Hole."
The lyrics of the Megadeth song Victory consist of previous Megadeth song titles written in a Previously On form.
In 1996, R Kelly had a song featuring the Isley Brothers about a man cheating with "Mr. Biggs'" woman. In 2001, the Isley Brothers had a song featuring R Kelly concerning the same issue and the same characters. Or as Mr Biggs puts it, "Don't I know you from somewher a long time ago?"
George Clinton has a habit of recycling his older melodies in new contexts while making it seem more like creative fun than lack of originality. For example: The Funkadelic song "Red Hot Mama" borrows the melody from their older song "I Bet You", and the Parliament Song "Do That Stuff" takes a riff from "You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure" by Funkadelic.

Throughout the Attitude Era, the WWF gave us a subtle Continuity Nod on a weekly basis, in the form of Chyna's nickname, "The Ninth Wonder of the World". You may be saying, "Wait, aren't there only seven wonders?" Yes, but in the '70s and '80s, the WWF billed Andre The Giant as "The Eighth Wonder of the World", and thus Chyna was next in line after him.
The WWF shows from October '99 to around August '00 paid a greater attention to continuity than usual thanks to the efforts of then head writer, the late Chris Kreski. Kreski made a habit of extensively storyboarding everything and keeping continuity charts. One specific continuity nod sticks out in a world where allegiances are constantly changing and old ones are often ignored. Shortly before Kreski took over, Summerslam '99 saw the climax of the feud between Test and Shane Mc Mahon over Test deserving the love of Shane's sister Stephanie. Test won a "Love Her or Leave Her" match and the next night on Raw, Shane told him he was the better man and that they should be friends from then on. After Kreski took over, and even for a long time after Stephanie turned heel on her family and Test to marry Triple H, Test had Shane's back whenever he was needed. I believe that at least for a while, this thread even outlasted Kreski's run as head writer.
Subverted by WWE firing the continuity editor when he pointed out too many issues and never hiring a new one.

In both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40000, references are usually sprinkled around for fans to find referring to all manner of things from the previous editions that may have been forgotten about, passed over or deliberately retconned. For example, in the Grey Seer novel for Warhammer Fantasy, Grey Seer Thanquol makes a passing mention to the "blasphemous Kweekul", referring to the 2nd edition "Realms of Chaos" sourcebooks, during the time of which Skaven were actually part of the Chaos forces, and specifically referring to a Skaven Daemon Prince used to highlight the "design a Chaos God" rules. Similarly, the 7th edition Warriors of Chaos sourcebook mentions Lothar Bubonicus and Werner Thunderfist, two Chaos Champions (Nurgle and Tzeentch respectively) who each ascended to Daemonhood. Both of them were warbands played by the writers of White Dwarf, and their progress was shown in issue #124.

The music in the Magmoor Caverns in Metroid Prime and in the PYR sector in Metroid Fusion are almost note-for-note the same as the Norfair music from Super Metroid.
- Not to mention the Torvus Undertemple music in Metroid Prime 2 being taken from the red area of Brinstar from Super Metroid as well, and the Pirate Homeworld music from Metroid Prime 3 being taken from Crateria from Super Metroid.
In Unreal 2, a tech tests your powered armor with a simulated deathmatch, then mentions he could sell tickets — maybe even get Liandri to back it. This is a reference to Unreal Tournament — which was released before Unreal 2, but takes place after in the timeline (or maybe before, but then this nod doesn't make sense) — in which the gameplay and plot (such as it was) revolved around a blood sport run by the Liandri Mining Corporation.
The dark-blue-on-light-blue humanoid robot Mega Man is one of the most recognizable characters in all of video gaming. Mega Man Zero, the sixteenthish installment of the series, was really quite effective at getting the players' attention by coming out of a long timeskip After The End with La Resistance being slaughtered by degenerate dark/light blue robot cyclopes.
- In Mega Man ZX Advent, the "Control Center" area is very obviously the bombed-out ruins of Slither, Inc. HQ — the final area of the original ZX.
  - In an extension, Area F in ZX is covered in snow during Aile/Vent's visit; by the time Grey/Ashe get to it in Advent, it's become a snow-free scrapyard thanks to Vulturon and a recently-revived Model W. The Highway in Advent is likewise a part of Area D that borders water, and the Floating Island is a distant part of Area A brought off the ground by, you guessed it, Model W.
- ZX Advent has quite a few of these, such as the model train you're send to recover in one Fetch Quest. It's identical to the trains used in various missions in the Zero series. Another mission has you recover various "artifacts" that are all from the original MegaMan series, such as an Energy Balancer (from 6) and a Life Tank (from 5). Additionally, the Three Wise Men in the game are named after the three main roboticists from the classic Mega Man series (and one may or may not actually be one of them)
Phantasy Star IV, being the final game in the series, has several. There is a town that has a statue in honor of Alis Landale, heroine of the first game. That very same town sells expensive Alis-themed merchandise, including a replica of her sword, which can be used as a weapon for Chaz (it pretty much sucks, although it's needed for a sidequest). An optional dungeon is the wreckage of a worldship like the one PSIII takes place on. Rika and Rune are (for lack of a better word) descendants of Nei and Lutz respectively. On the outskirts of town, Aiedo has a bakery with its storefront underground. The player can also visit an optional dungeon full of Musk Cats and meet their chief, Myau. Of course, none of these things are elaborated on in any way, so if you didn't play the first game, it can feel like you're missing out.
- A bigger nod is the mission in Phantasy Star Online where you have to travel through a tough dungeon run to visit a small cake shop, a nod to a sidequest in the first game where you pretty much did the same thing.
In one level of Star Wars: Republic Commando, you can find a lightsaber on a ship that's been taken over by mercenaries. Upon seeing it, the player character alludes to Obi-Wan's "civilized weapon" line, then adds "Well, times have changed."
The King of Fighters '98 features a headless Goenitz sitting in the background of the Black Noah stage, with wires coming out of his neck. In continuity, Goenitz took out Rugal Bernstein's left eye (the character to whom the stage belongs).
Capcom vs. SNK has a ton of these (as would be expected of a Cross Over game), with many of them being character-specific. For example, playing on a certain stage with Kyo and Benimaru results in Goro Daimon showing up in the background, a reference to the older King of Fighters games where your teammates would watch you fight from the background and cheer you on.
In Super Metroid, two of the first places Samus goes though on Zebes are the very first and last areas of the first game. Mother Brain's chamber and the escape route, of course, are sufficiently blown to hell. Also, good portions of the maps in the early stages mirror the maps from the original Metroid game, just with enough graphical upgrades that you might not notice.
In Jedi Academy the player finds the statue of Darth Vader Luke toppled in Dark Empire to defeat a group of Dark Side Elite.
In Tomb Raider 3, it is possible gain entry to a secret room in Lara's mansion, which contains artifacts from her previous exploits displayed in glass cases.
- Also, in Tomb Raider 2, a different secret room can be entered, which, amongst other things, contains an Egyptian cat statue, which can be seen in the Egyptian levels of the first game.
Monster Rancher games frequently contain references to monster species not present in that particular game, including those that haven't been seen in several games.
In the Halo games, the insignia from "Marathon" is evident throughout. In Forerunner glyphs and control panels, in the architecture and especially in the insignia painted in blue on the side of Pillar of Autumn in the beginning of the first game. Marathon logos are all over the place.
- Similarly, there are several recurring lines throughout the series. "Keep your head down. There's two of us in here now, remember." from Cortana and "Were it so easy." from the Arbiter spring to mind.
In The Secret of Monkey Island, there's a hollow tree stump that you can try to enter, only to be told to "insert disk 23"...then disk 47...and then disk 117, none of which actually come with the game. Many players apparently took the joke seriously and called Lucas Arts' help line about the missing floppies: In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, the player can actually call the hint line and ask about the stump joke, prompting the operator to mention that she's sick and tired of people calling and asking about the stump. In The Curse of Monkey Island, you can enter a tunnel on Plunder Island, and come out in that same tree stump, complete with the very same background used in the VGA version of the original game. Guybrush refuses to pass through, however, since the hole is too small for him to squeeze through, and the forests of Melee Island are rife with hyper-realistically rendered jaguars.
- Note that the joke is changed in the CD version. rather then referring to the disks, Guybrush just comments about a series of catacombs. When you can check the stump in Curse of monkey island, you're in, well...the Goodsoup family catacomb.
  - By the way, catecombs may also be a nod to Indiana Jones
- This same joke is echoed in some of Tim Schafer's games, particularly Grim Fandango and Psychonauts (where examining a tree stump will make Raz discover a tunnel that opens up to a system of catacombs underneath).
- Also from Secret, when Guybrush introduces himself to the Lookout with "I'm Guybrush Threepwood, and I want to be a pirate!", the Lookout responds "You look more like a flooring inspector." In Curse, when a ghostly bride with a thing for pirates asks Guybrush what he does for a living, our hero hastily answers "Flooring inspector."
- In the vein of the above-mentioned stump joke, Curse features another throwback to the first game: If the player repeatedly asks Guybrush to walk into the ocean on Blood Island, he will eventually comply...and wind up under the pier in Melee Island from the first game, seeing his past self as a corpse, having choked to death under water. This is in reference to a puzzle in the first game, where Guybrush has ten minutes to free himself and get back out of the water before he chokes.
A Continuity Nod is found in the Database description of the top-down shooter stages in Bionic Commando: Rearmed. It mentions that the stages "remind you of the war stories Super Joe used to tell you." Super Joe is originally from Commando, an arcade game that was entirely a top-down shooter, and is the character you rescue in the original Bionic Commando English translation.
Zork Grand Inquisitor is filled with references to earlier Zork and Enchanter games. For example, one of the Plot Coupons is a Cube of Foundation like the ones found in Spellbreaker. Also, at one point the game has the player going back in time to visit The White House, the house from the original Zork. And of course, there's the ever-present threat of grues.
Grand Theft Auto is fond of those. Both Vice City and San Andreas, which were released after GTA III but are set before them in the series continuity, include character nods to III. The San Andreas nod has some emotion behind it, as the Player Character from III makes a cameo with a woman he'll end up killing at the end of his own game.
- The Lost and Damned expansion pack runs in parallel with GTA IV; several events from IV are referred to on the radio, and one character in TLAD is killed offscreen near the start by "some Serb bastard," because he was going out with the daughter of a Russian gangster - a mission that the player did indeed carry out as Nico in IV.
In Soul Reaver, one area contains an enormous skull toppled to the ground, which those who played Blood Omen would recognize as part of the first big dungeon that Kain goes through. Later games, with their use of time travel, has Kain and Raziel ending up alongside other big events in the series; for example, Raziel's slaughtering of the six Sarafan inquisitors in Soul Reaver 2 coincides with Vorador's attack on the Circle of Nine.
Summoner 2 contains many Continuity Nods and Call Backs to the previous game. Luleva and Erho, minor characters from Lenele, both make short appearances as adults, as does Empress Sihua aka Flece.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood contains a particularly obscure Continuity Nod. One of Amy Rose's POW attacks is based on her ability to see the future — in her first appearance in Sonic CD, this was why she was involved in the adventure in the first place... but seems to have been completely forgotten until this nod.
- So that's why Amy always seems to know where Sonic is...
The Very Definitely Final Dungeon of zOMG! chapter one is filled with these. The ruins of Gambino's Tower, Grunnies, and Labtechs all make appearances. Not to mention the fact that the story ties many of the older storylines. Other Continuity Nods exist as well, but this is the most extreme example.
In the first Ratchet and Clank game, at one point the duo are "hired" by Gadgetron to serve as the image for their new line of hoverboards. Ratchet then asks if they will receive a special discount only for the CEO to explain they have to be with the company for two years before the employee discount kicks in. In Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal (which was released two years after the first game), if you still have a Ratchet And Clank saved game, you actually get said discount.
The first two games of the Fatal Frame/Project Zero games have no connection at all, beyond the Camera Obscura, however both are referenced frequently in the third game, especially with the protagonist of the first game is for some parts of the game a playable character. Another playable character is the uncle of the twin girls from the second game.
This has become very common in the more recent Tom Clancy games. The Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter series, Rainbow Six Vegas series, End War, HAWX, and Splinter Cell all contain slight references to each other, since they all take place in the same universe. The vast majority of the nods are usually quick name drops, but a notable exception can be found in HAWX, where the player actively assists the Ghost Recon team on several missions.
- Briefing cutscenes in HAWX also have some video clips that look like they're taken straight from End War, and the SLAMS anti-ballistic missile system is obviously the initial phase of the worldwide anti-missile shield the Russians in End War sabotage to start World War III. You can also fly the fighter plane that provides air support for the JSF in HAWX, and it's even specialized for air-to-ground, although it's stats make it perfectly capable of dogfighting.
- When playing as the JSF in End War, the Ghosts make up your riflemen, whereas the EF get Rainbow.
Gradius ReBirth, despite its name, is more or less a prequel to the lesser-known MSX Nemesis arc:
- The plot is set in cosmic year 6664, 3 years before the events of Nemesis 2.
- The pilot's name is James Burton, who was the protagonist of Nemesis 2.
- Venom, the Big Bad of Nemesis 2 and 3, appears as James's CO.
- The powerup sounds are from Nemesis 2 and 3.
The Suikoden series is rather fond of this. In the 5th game the gladiator Shoon mentions a fellow gladiator who had his eyes removed because he was too powerful, making for unbalanced matches. He was still far stronger than the others, so he was shipped off to the Island Nations and never heard from again. This isn't mentioned again in the game itself, but fans of the series may realize that he was referring to Morgan, a blind martial artist you can recruit in the first game, which takes place several years after S5 chronologically (supplemental materials reveal that Morgan's ship was wrecked, which is how he escaped and ended up in the Scarlet Moon Empire instead).
While House of the Dead: Overkill is mostly self-contained from its parent franchise, it includes a few more subtle callbacks to past games in the series. For example, the in-game title for Agent G's theme song is Suffer Like G Did.
In Banjo-Tooie, Klungo is last seen walking off into the distance, saying he's going to quit being Grunty's minion and "find easssy desssk job, maybe make ssstupid gamesss..." So, that's just Self Deprecation coming from Rareware, right? Actually, when Klungo returns in Nuts 'n' Bolts, he's managed to create a minigame called Hero Klungo Sssaves Teh World, which is indeed stupid.
The island of Mira, which played a major part in the first Baten Kaitos game, was conspicuously absent from the prequel, Baten Kaitos Origins. However, near the end of the game, it's mentioned briefly (which probably created a small Continuity Lock Out for people who only played the prequel).
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror has the Smash ability, which lets Kirby "attack with... familiar fighting moves", specifically his moveset from his appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series.
Kotomine remarks offhandedly about how Tohsaka will feel much better after being buried underground for a bit amidst a conversation that skims along the topic of vampires. Shirou isn't sure whether to take the comment literally or seriously. This little conversation gave rise to some epileptic trees suggesting that Tohsaka is the descent of a vampire.
Persona 4 makes a few references to the previous game. A few of the major characters from Persona 3 make an appearance as minor characters in the game.
Almost the bread and butter of Disgaea. For example, the Prism Rangers making a reappearence in Disgaea 2... and are terrified of demons because of what Etna did to them in the first game.
Final Fantasy IV The After Years has plenty of such moments with regard to Final Fantasy IV, from Leonora being the girl Palom was bragging to in the end sequence of the original, to Calca and Brina's Band attack that turns them into Calcabrina, to all flashbacks to the distant past being done in the same graphical style as the SNES version of Final Fantasy IV, including playable flashbacks in Porom's and Golbez's scenarios.
World of Warcraft has an involved continuity, and so pulls out many continuity nods to previous games in the series and early, obsolete content. The human starting area contains five farms, the same number as you are asked to build in the same area in the human tutorial mission in Warcraft I. Characters from all three games appear as minor NP Cs in World Of Warcraft, although some give quests and some have become enemies. Heirloom items, special items that level up with a character and can be traded between alts, are usually references to desirable items from the original game. The most commonly referenced nod is "Hogger", a level 10 elite monster in the human starting area who is not only the first monster players need to team up for, but can be quite difficult to kill even then. These continuity mods extend to mechanics, as well: the final boss of the Ulduar instance in the second expansion, the Old God Yogg-Saron, works somewhat similarly to the Old God boss that appeared in the original game, C'Thun: the boss stays stationary in the middle of a circular room, and needs to be attacked from the inside by a small strike force before it can be damaged on the outside. Both fights are involved enough, though, that the strategies required are different.
Ace Combat has quite a few of these in subtle details; the series article proper lists some of them.
Metal Gear Solid has a fair few of these in the overall series. A musical one occurs in Metal Gear Solid 2: get into an encounter, and occasionally you can hear what sounds like the encounter music from the first game.
In the first Jak and Daxter game, Power Cells were the "most important Precursor artifact you could find." In the sequels, they inexplicably disappeared... until Jak X, when they were used for the Turbo Dash races.
The reappearance of Steele Stadium in Backyard Baseball, removed from earlier installments.
Twilight Princess has one with the entry hall in the Temple of Time (of the past). It's an almost exact replication of the one from Ocarina of Time - right down to even the background music.
- Likewise, in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Zelda makes a comment about how her ancestors were 'good at waiting'. Considering that practically every Princess Zelda in previous games, has spent most of it locked up and/or awating rescue...
- Oh, that's just the tip of the iceberg! Tetra left tons and tons of those in Hyrule castle, from having a giant stained-glass window of herself in the thoronation chamber, right down to dressing every single guard in her castle like her best friend and hero, Link. Also, Niko aka "He, who nicknamed Link "swabby"", is still alive. Naturally, his house is a temple of Continuity Nods.
- The Minish Cap's opening gives a subtle nod to the opening of Link to the Past, whilst also subverting it. Ltt P begins with Zelda calling for help from Link and his uncle. In MC, she visits their house to take Link out to the fair. In both, it is down to Link's uncle whether he does or doesn't go. The house itself is visually very similar to the house in Ltt P, situated on a similarly small hill with some grass growing on the front.
Thunder Force V is set sometime after Thunder Force IV. The Rynex, the protagonist ship of TFIV from a faraway galaxy, is found drifting within Earth's Solar System and its advanced technology is utilized by Earth for massive technological improvement. This goes over very badly with the AI in charge of the project.
In the second Spider-Man movie game, there are feathers near the top of the game's second tallest building. Why? Because that's where you fought the Vulture in the first game.
Even ignoring the identity of the final boss, Mother 3 still has a good number of nods to Earthbound. The Friend's Yoyo and Real Bat being references to Ness's choice of weaponry is one, but one of the funnier ones is the various "useless" actions the Porky Bots can take, which area ll basically the same as the useless "attacks" that Pokey would take when he was on your team in Earthbound, but with "Mechanical" appended somewhere. Like "Mechanically pretended to cry", or "suggested a mechanical truce" or "flashed a mechanically incincere smile".
This is the primary reason to load your save files from Mass Effect 1 when starting a game in the sequel. Sure, there's a lot of important stuff that ports over, but almost every single decision that you made in the first game is referenced in some way. Truly, it is present to such a massive degree that the game feels completely different from if you just played it from scratch.
At one point in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, you encounter an area covered in poisonous gas. You are provided with a small pot that can be temporarily enchanted with a barrier that keeps the poison away, requiring you to carry the pot around with you if you don't want to take damage. People who played the original Crystal Chronicles will be very familiar with a mechanic like this.
In Pokemon, the True Final Boss of generation II and its remakes is Red, the hero of generation I, and he's highest level trainer in series history. He doesn't even speak, a nod to the fact that he was a Heroic Mime.

Homestar Runner has absolutely massive amounts of these. The most minor characters will pop up in various places, turns of phrase and vocabulary items will be thrown around in completely different contexts, objects from previous cartoons will make appearances elsewhere for little reason. At its greatest, a one-off joke will come back so much that it becomes a much larger part of the website, such as the band Limozeen. All you need to do is go to the Homestar Runner Wiki, find a cartoon's page and look at inside references, where each Continuity Nod, Shout Out and Mythology Gag will be documented in precise detail.
"Aw, shit. And I was in charge of confetti."
- Red Vs Blue has quite a lot of these. It's only a the third watching that I noticed one in the second season. When Grif somehow revived Sarge from a gunshot wound he was chastised for how random that treatment was and Sarge ask if he would have treated a shot in the foot by rubbing aloe vera on his neck. When Grif talks to Doc, a (not very good) medic, Doc tells Grif that he made the right decision and states that he just treated Caboose's gunshot wound in the foot by rubbing aloe vera on his neck (then his toe fell off).
- A more recent one was in Recreation. 'Why are there only four pedals if there's six directions?' There's been several per episode recently, though many are of the "blink and you'll miss it" variety.
In Charlie the Unicorn 3, having been through everything else the cartoon is going to throw at him, at least he finds that kidney they stole back in the first one.
This fan work for Watchmen is filled with nods toward the original graphic novel, from Rorsachs' "love of animals" to the scene where the comedian falls out of a window.

Gunnerkrigg Court: In chapter 13, Kat disagrees with Alistair about which is Prodigy's best album, then Alistair gives all his possessions to Kat before he leaves. In chapter 14, Kat is seen wearing one of Ali's T-shirts. Then in chapter 15, she wears a shirt with the XL Recordings (Prodigy's record label) logo.
When they did a Bleach parody for VG Cats, Leo draws his Rat-Flail (an item he tried to make in a poor attempt at a D&D game by tying a rat to a stick), then turns it into an gigantic living Rat-Morningstar.
The Adventures of Doctor McNinja has its share of these as well. Some even link to Alt Text comments — one memorable one being the Doc's List of Things To Do Before He Died. Another being the peg-faced pirates, and Dan Mc Ninja's 'poison eyes'...
The Order of the Stick has plenty of these, acting as both tiny details and important plot pieces throughout the course of the comic. The most significant of which being an elder dragon who happens to be the mother of a young adult dragon the main characters killed over 400 strips earlier.
- "Wait a minute, I had a 22!"
- In the cast page, Haley is now holding an IOU note after she stole the diamond off the cast page.
- "You're invisible!"
- And then there's the boots that Haley wanted dyed when she bought her new armor. Remember? Those lime green Boots of Speed she found and mentioned to V way back when as what seemed like a one-off gag?
  - Also, any time there's a flashback to Haley's teenage years, she's wearing lime green boots.
- And a Lampshade Hanging in strip #683 about a reference from strip #87:
  Vaarsuvius: You are a bottomless pit of self-reference, are you not?
An untitled webcomic frequently makes use this, frequently brining up often inconsequential side points from older comics and twisting their meaning and often connecting them to all kinds of other events. Recently it has been revealed that this is all the machination of the Illuminati of which Steve Jobs is a member.
Read the Alt Text on comic 576 of xkcd. Now, go back and read comic 325.
- Also in xkcd, the super soaker ends up reappearing a while later.
  "Man, I forgot that was there."
- Another Alt Text nod from xkcd: #616 referencing #150. There's also an AltText referrence to the elliptical reflector dish.
Appears a few times in Something Positive. First is the reference to "I lava you," first seen on a note read by Davan and Nancy, and later repeated in a joke between Lisa and Gaspar.
- There's also the time when Aubrey and Kestrel entered a supply closet in the Nerdrotica building, where Aubrey stored some props from her less successful escapades. She is shown picking up a Cthulu mask, a reference to an earlier plot where she attempted to film a show called "My Neighbor Cthulu."
One strip in a Christmas-themed arc in Brawl In The Family, has King Dedede starting to go around stealing things set to a Filk Song from How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Now, going back a year...
Unwinder's Tall Comics has a lot of these, sometimes resulting in Continuity Creep. For example, this comic references at least 5 different earlier strips.

On Batman Beyond, the Batcave is filled with relics from Bruce Wayne's crimefighting career, in the original Batman The Animated Series. This merges with Chekhov's Gun when Bruce uses Mr. Freeze's cryogenic gun to subdue a villain when she invades the cave.
- In the same show, there is an odd example of a Mythology Gag becoming a sort of retroactive Continuity Nod: the elderly Bruce Wayne's pet Great Dane is named Ace, which was also the name of the Bat-Hound, Batman's pet dog who appeared in his comics during the 1950s and 60s. In a later episode, though, we learn about one of his later adventures as Batman, and the name of "Ace" takes on a whole new meaning: Namely, the suggestion that Ace is named after Ace of the Royal Flush Gang, whom Batman stayed with as she slowly died in the Justice League Unlimited episode 'Epilogue'.
  - And that episode was also filled to the brim with Continuity Nods, considering it was intended to be a Grand Finale. A visual that referenced the first episode of Batman The Animated Series, connecting a Joker plot in Justice League to the Batman Beyond movie, the random appearance of a villain we haven't seen or heard from in over a decade, the list goes on.
- Terry McGinnis goes to Hamilton Hill High School, named after Gotham's mayor in Batman The Animated Series.
- One of these relics actually makes a pretty good explanation for the unexpected reappearance of a certain character at the end of Return of the Joker. Even though said reappearance was a last minute decision. When Inque infiltrates the Batcave during the series, Harley Quinn's costume can be seen among the trophies. Even though not stated directly by the writer, it created the idea among fans that Barbara might have lied to Terry about Harley Quinn's end. That she either didn't fall into the chasm, Batgirl managed to pull her up, or that they actually checked for her body and found her alive and covered up her survival to prevent Tim from taking revenge on her. This could also be seen as unintentional continuity nod.
- The Splicers, people who use Lego Genetics as a form of body-art akin to tattoos & body piercing use technology desecended from that used to create Man-Bat, as well as the various cat monsters in "Tyger, Tyger".
- A very nice touch is the fact that the relic given pride of place in the cave (apart from the suit rack) isn't a trophy from a case, it's the costume of The Grey Ghost, Bruce Wayne's in-universe inspiration for his vigilante career.
The DCAU had tons of Continuity Nods throughout its run, the first of which is probably from the pilot of Superman The Animated Series where Ma Kent encourages Clark to do an interview because she doesn't want people to think he's like "that nut in Gotham City."
- In "Obsession", Billy Batson is clearly seen covering the fashion show (though Captain Marvel wouldn't appear until Justice League Unlimited
- Plus the fact that the entire Cadmus Arc from Justic League Unlimited is essentially based off of the last episode of the last episode from Superman The Animated Series, and indeed, its conclusion refers to events as far back as the middle of the show's second season.
In the Futurama episode "The Sting", Fry's funeral includes many guests from previous episodes — including the fossilized Seymour, the women he made out with (including the radiator from "The Lesser of Two Evils"), and other characters and plot points. The DVD movies are just full of nods.
- Futurama is basically one big nod. My favorite is the throwaway line in which Bender states that "bending" is his middle name — meaning, of course, that he's good at bending. He then says that his full name is "Bender Bending Rodriguez" due to being made in Mexico, which any other show would never mention again and/or directly contradict in other episodes. Futurama, however, makes the name canon and mentions it often, even having an orphanage named the "Bender B. Rodriguez Orphanarium".
Zoidberg: (trying on a Mariachi replacement shell) Arrr-iba!
Bender: Hey, that's offensive! I'm Mexican!
In many episodes of The Simpsons, there are small bits in the background which recall earlier episodes — the enormous stone head that was in their basement for years, the electric hammer showed up in one of the Treehouse of Horror shorts, "Homer's Enemy" had Frank Grimes in complete disbelief when he saw Homer's Grammy award and photos from his time with NASA, and so on. However, despite these things, The Simpsons usually has Negative Continuity. It plays them against each other, like the episode where Homer took off Ned Flanders' roof to act as a snowplow, and Flanders complained that Homer used to be a professional snowplower and still had the equipment (and theme song). Similarly, Mr. Burns and Krusty the Clown never recognize Homer and Bart, respectively, even when all the previous episodes they've interacted in are mentioned.
Smithers: That's Homer Simpson, sir. All the recent events in your life have revolved around him in some way.
Mr. Burns: Simpson, eh?

-

Bart:Me and my sister got you out of jail.

Krusty the Clown: ...

Bart:We reunited you with your estranged father?

Krusty the Clown:Not ringing a bell, what did you do for me recently?

Bart:I got you that Danish.

Krusty the Clown:And I'll cherish it always.

In the Movie, towards the end when Homer and Bart jump Springfield Gorge on a motorcycle, you can see an ambulance crashed into a tree - the same one that carried Homer away to hospital (well, almost did) after Homer failed to jump Springfield Gorge much earlier on a skateboard.
In the Prescription Drug Smuggling episode, the news refers to Homer as "Ex-US Astronaut Homer Simpson".
Moe references being a Snake Handler (but not a practising Snake Handler) in a recent episode.

Kim Possible does this frequently, especially during its fourth season. Not terribly surprising that the creators would want to throw out these little "treats" for the rabid fans, considering that they're the reason the show has a fourth season.
- Just to give one of the many examples, remember Drakken's mind controlling shampoo? Hank Perkins does when he comments about how 'we tried Dr D's, but people thought it was shampoo for some reason." In another episode, Warmonger uses the video Drakken made on the American Idol parody as her reasoning to side with him.
In a season one episode of Duckman, the title character causes a supercomputer to go haywire by presenting it with logical conundrums. A season later, despite the show's usual Negative Continuity, he spills coffee on another such machine destroying it, and remarks "Wow, me and supercomputers, huh?"
Xiaolin Showdown is always bringing back Shen Gong Wu (magical artifacts) from previous episodes. It has become impossible for all but the most dedicated fans of the show to determine which Shen Gong Wu changed hands when.
During its latest season, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends has been making numerous continuity nods to previous seasons, such as when Mac saw the "Rocket Wars" action figures he was forced to sell online in a previous episode when he was at a swap meet.
WITCH uses it to the extent that each episode continues on into the next, and keeps drawing aspects from as far back as the first episode. Objects, items, dialog quips, and plot points are always being referenced and built upon, to the point where if you miss an episode you can become entirely lost. As a result, the entire series is a continuity nod to itself.
Used so much in Avatar the Last Airbender that it could have its own archive. But to mention a few: The umbrella from "The Fortuneteller" is found in Appa's luggage by Sandbenders in "Appa's Lost Days". The eye-patch wearing Fire Nation commander from "Jet" shows up again in "The Cave of Two Lovers". The tsungi horn and ruby encrusted monkey statue Iroh buys in "The Waterbending Scroll" appear several times. And so on.
The entire finale of Codename: Kids Next Door features one nod after the other, framed around a scavenger hunt.
The numerous Fenton devices that make up Danny Phantom, not to mention several previous events that are stated in later episodes, "Memory Blank" has quite a lot.
- Also, keeping watch during the Grand Finale could result in spotting such obscure ghosts as the trio from the comic book convention, the Danny clones, the Greek Mythology ghosts, the mutants that attacked the summer camp, and even the ghost that the Guys in White used to bait Skulker.
- Danny: Hey, why is there all this meat down here?
The effective use of this in Aladdin and the King of Thieves is considered by many to be what made that movie better then the first sequel to Aladdin, The Return of Jafar, which entirely relied on the events of the first movie. That, and Robin Williams returning as Genie.
Teen Titans has several of these, including the baby moth-monster that Beast Boy keeps as a pet and Starfire drinking mustard as if it were a normal drink.
Ed Edd N Eddy has a number of continuity nods:
- Several scenes in the junkyard show inventions from previous episodes (like the swinging-chair ride from "Eds-aggerate")
- In "To Sir, With Ed", Eddy convinces his friends to come over by telling them a snake had snuck into his room. They show up wearing uniforms for "Eddy's Snake Removal", which are just the "Eddy's Bee Removal" outfits from "Pop Goes the Ed" with "Bee" crossed out and replaced with the word "Snake".
- Then there's this exchange from "Stuck in Ed", where Eddy convinces Jimmy to help him think up a scam, and Edd brings up the events of the episode "Ed in a Half-Shell":
  Edd: Have faith, Eddy. After all, you did teach Jimmy everything you know.
  Eddy: Oh yeah! Didn't we win an Emmy for that episode?
  Edd: Hardly...
- In "May I Have This Ed?" Ed produces a "lucky cheese chunk" he calls Sheldon Jr., a reference to his lucky cheese chunk Sheldon from "Thick as an Ed".
- In The Big Picture Show, Eddy's brother is shown wearing the same jersey and pants that Sarah and Jimmy wore in the episode "Ed, Pass It On", where they were masquerading as Eddy's brother.
  - The movie was full of continuity nods. References to previous episodes were shown throughout the episode.
The Venture Bros. Seriously, watching through seasons 1 and 2 again after seeing season three, it's surprising just how much this series feeds back into itself like a giant ball of yarn. For instance, season 3 contains a complete explanation, ala Billy Quizboy flashback, as to why Phantom Limb...well, has invisible limbs. Season 2 sees about a third of an episode devoted to various main characters talking with each other about how Phantom Limb became the way he was, including Billy Quizboy in every story in one way or another (and saying that he lost a hand in one way or another in each). The post episode blurb (after the credits), had Dr. Venture asking Billy how he lost his hand, to which Billy responded he had no clue (again explained in the S3 episode — his memory was lost).
- Anything mentioned in passing in the shows numerous Seinfeldian Conversations will eventually get a nod. In Season 2, The Monarch mentions that when he first met Dr. Girlfriend she had red streaks in her hair; in Season 3's flashbacks, she does. In Season 3, The Monarch brags that he once tricked Captain Sunshine into thinking that he was invulnerable; when Captain Sunshine finally makes his first appearance in Season 4, he still believes it - and by the way, Captain Sunshine was mentioned as far back as Season 1, when The Monarch tells his henchman to return "the charred remains of Wonderboy" to him; he eventually admits that he "kinda slew" the sidekick, and Captain Sunshine is seen to still be searching for a replacement.
Camp Lazlo had a few of these. On the episode "Hello Dolly", Edward has a Barbie-esque doll named Veronica, who makes cameos later on "No Place Like Gnome" and "Beans in Toyland". On another episode, the campers start the Camp Kidney radio station back up, and Lazlo is shown in the station at the start of the episode "Samson Needs a Hug".
Family Guy has a few, but the most obvious one is when Brian throws a rock at Peter's head (instead of hitting the serial killer who had just let him go). When Peter chastizes him he explains that he was aiming for Peter in the first place as belated revenge for a gag in an earlier episode (specifically, not rolling down the window of their mock General Lee they had built before encouraging Brian to jump in through the window).
- This seems to be a Running Gag with Brian. Another episode had Stewie about to take a drink from a cup that Peter had actually been using to spit his tobacco in. Brian started to warn Stewie about this, but then remembers a bit from an earlier episode where Stewie beat him to a bloody pulp, and decides against telling Stewie anything (with unfortunate results for Stewie).
In an early episode of The Tick, the villain Chairface Chippendale tries to write his name on the moon, but only gets three letters in. For the remainder of the series, every time the moon appears the letters "CHA" are visible on its face. The lunar abuse continues when the Tick goes to the moon to erase the letters, but only removes the "C" before being blasted into deep space. He meets a Galactus-pastiche and convinces him to spare Earth by snacking on the moon instead. A set of bitemarks accompanies the "HA" forever after.
- It may be worth noting that this is something that shows up in the comics, too, as to this day, as the comics are still being published, every single panel with the moon in it will have "CHA" written on its surface.
In the pilot episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a large rabbit robot (named the Rabbot) put a large hole in the side of Dr Weird's laboratory/asylum. The Rabbot-shaped imprint remained on the wall of his lab for the rest of the first two seasons and the movie, even playing a major role for how his creations escape or how leprechauns break in to steal his inventions.
- The Aqua Teen's television is destroyed in nearly every episode. However, in "The Cloning" after Shake shoots the television with a flaming arrow, Frylock complains about every one he destroyed throughout the series.
In an episode of King of the Hill, everyone is concerned about Hank's anger problem after he accidentally cuts off Dale's finger. Later on, when they go to a funeral of an anger management classmate of Hank's who had a severe anger problem, although dead, he still has an angry scowl, and Peggy says to Hank "that's what you look like when you sleep—" and Hank thinks back at all the mean things he's ever done shown in a montage of clips from many past episodes highlighting Hank's most aggressive and violent moments.
Invader Zim: One scene in "Battle of the Planets" has the Almighty Tallest recalling some of Zim's more humorous transmissions. The scene they were recalling—"Remember that one time...when he called up...and he was completely covered with meat?"—refers to the episode "Germs", which ended with Zim using germ-proof meat to keep from contracting the titular threat.
- In "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", Zim makes Dib hallucinate that aliens from the planet Meekrob give him special powers. Either a month before or minutes afterwards, depending on whether you go by airdate or production code order, Invader Tenn is said to be stationed on Meekrob in the episode "Megadoomer".
- In "Battle of the Planets", Scooge is seemingly killed when he is fired out of a cannon straight at the Planet of the Slaughtering Rat People (It Makes Sense In Context.) However, he reappears in "Hobo 13", and rather than ignore the problem altogether Zim actually calls him on this. Scooge Hand Waves it by saying he got better.
- Dib goes to Zim for help in "Gaz: Taster of Pork", and Zim—being Zim—laughs at him and then turns him away. Dib mentions that he helped Zim when they were turning into baloney loaves, way back in "Bolognius Maximus". This messes with Negative Continuity a bit, as the episode ended with them failing to find a cure, and being trapped as baloney loaves hiding in an abandoned house surrounded by feral dogs.
Done a number of times on Phineas and Ferb. In "The Chronicles of Meap", Dr. Doofenshmirtz mentions having to stand in for his family's lawn gnome, as he mentioned previously in "Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror!", and even says "You remember that backstory, Perry the Platypus..."
In Code Lyoko, all of the characters have their Limited Wardrobe overhauled right in the middle of William's possession, where he, being trapped inside the supercomputer, obviously would not have time to change clothes. His clone gets a new outfit instead...but when he's released from the supercomputer, he's still wearing his old outfit, as if to say "see, we remembered!" It might've been more effective if he hadn't come out of the computer, clothes changed, a few episodes earlier.
- A similar nod with the flashback of how Aelita got virtualized for the first time years ago at the end of Season 2; she's seen wearing (logically) the same clothes as with her first virtualization at the end of Season 1. (Earlier flashbacks tends to have her wearing her current Limited Wardrobe clothes, but since those are basically Aelita hallucinating, they are a bit more subjective.)
In Stroker and Hoop, the private detective duo puts out a series of billboard advertisements that place them as the subject to ridicule by most who see them due to a typo. These billboards show up in a few episodes, even going as far as to getting them in trouble with a drug king-pin, who identifies them by the glaring billboards.
- "Dammit, we still have those things?"
- Every episode has in some way a background character with the same voice but never commented on. In the Series Finale they're captured by a guy seeking revenge against them but they don't recognize who He is. Turns out the voice was the same guy every time and goes on about Stoker and Hoop ruined His life, accompanied by a montage of His appearances.
Tiny Toon Adventures: "Buster Versus the Wolverine" features the Mynah Bird as a Running Gag.
In Winx Club season four, the final battle against the Wizards of Black Circle happens in the Omega Dimension, the ice prison Baltor escaped from in season three.

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