Konami loves having fun in its games, and this one is no exception.
- A lot of item names in the US release are references to The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. The Fist of Tulkas (one of the more powerful gods), the Crissaegrim (named after a mountain range in the books), the Mormegil (a black sword featured in one of the major tales) and the "Ring of Varda" (which alludes both to the top goddess from the Silmarillion and the One Ring itself from LOTR, the item description being "Golden ring to rule them all!" ), for example.
- At least a few item and monster names in the original Japanese release were already Tolkien references to begin with. The giant wolf, "Warg" in the US, is "Anfauglir" in Japan, both terms connected to wolves. Then the Japanese name of the Crissaegrim, rendered in the English versions of later games as "Valmanway", seems to be alluding to Varda's husband Manwë, with the "val" part taken from "Valar" (singular form "Vala"), the word for the gods. Crissaegrim/Valmanway (Vala Manwë?) is said to mean "Blessed Wind" in its description, and Manwë is basically a sky and wind god.
- The Forbidden Library area primarily contains three enemies: that Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man. The Medusa boss in the Inverted Castle says "I'm petrifyiiing!" when you beat her, to top that reference chain off.
- An enemy that can only be found in the Library is named "Shmoo".
- The Capsule Monster rare items are from Ultraseven.
- The Gold and Silver Rings as well as the clock face are a reference to The Castle of Cagliostro.
- The morphing Black Panthers are a reference to Lodem from Babel II. More people probably remember its cameo in Giant Robo. The actual panther sprite is ripped directly from this old Konami game
, which featured a cyborg panther that moved at high speeds. - The Moon Rod is from Sailor Moon.
- In Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, a Granfaloon was a group of people who falsely believed they shared the same identity or purpose, but in fact their association was meaningless.
- A portrait of Vlad Tepes is a usable item.
- Olrox is based on Orlok from the film Nosferatu, complete with the movie poster on his door.
- From Michael Moorcock's The Elric Saga:
- The sword Mourneblade, which heals Alucard everytime he strikes something with it, is a reference to Mournblade, the sister-sword to Elric's runesword Stormbringer. Stormbringer, as well as Mournblade, stole their victim's souls, strengthening their wielders in the process.
- The Dragon Helm is a reference to the Elric Saga's Dragon Helm which was a symbol of rulership among the Melniboneans and last worn by fellow white-haired pretty boy Elric.
- The Great Sword is described as "Greatsword of Aubec". Aubec was a historical character in the Elric Saga, whose sword Elric wielded before gaining the Stormbringer.
- The Sword of the Dawn, a hidden sword with a special ability to summon minions that attack Alucard's foes, is also a reference to Michael Moorcock's work. His character Hawkmoon wielded The Sword of Dawn, a weapon that summoned warriors to aid Hawkmoon.
- In-game, Terminus Est is described as a poisonous executioner sword. This is a shoutout to Book of the New Sun, the Terminus Est was the protagonist's executioner sword filled with mercury to increase the force of its stroke depending on how the wielder uses it. Note that in the Japanese version, the sword was called Hrunting.
- The monster "Ctulhu" is obviously a shout-out to H.P Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, though the monster's likeness is used for the Malachi enemy instead.
- The Shield Rod can create the Shield powerups from Gradius. The Bat familiar, when leveled up enough, can summon more bats when you take bat form. These bats move much like Options.
- Among the many items that Alucard can wear on his head, one of them is an ancient ceremonial stone mask.
- A rare drop is a red gemstone belt called the "King's Stone".
- Very occasionally, Alucard will turn into a gargoyle when petrified. While pure speculation, he shares his crouching "thinker" pose with Goliath of Gargoyles, a series which was very popular at the time of this game's development due in no small part to casting several Star Trek alums as one-off, recurring and even principal characters.
- The Nose Demon familiar is a reference to Time Bokan, particularly Yatterman. Sharing the lanky build, large nose, Japanese voice actor, and even button-pressing catchphrase with Boyakki, he's an expy of a classic henchman.
- Joseph's Cloak, an item that allows the player to customize its colors, is a reference to Joseph's coat of many colors from the Book of Genesis.
- In the Saturn version, Maria can summon a blue dragon◊, which looks like the Intruder/Fire Dragon◊ from Life Force.
- The Requiem re-release has plenty of those in its trophy list:
