Pharaoh Rebirth has many references to video games, anime and movies:
- There are a few references to the "Vania" part of the Metroidvanias, such as the bats that act like the Medusa Heads and one character named Sir Belmonte. A more precise reference would be Dr. Mahone who looks just like Genya Arikado from Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and acts like him too, being actually the Big Bad's son who works undercover with the good guys to defeat his father. The final boss has an attack phase involving repeatedly teleporting then attacking, and indeed starts off sitting on a chair in the middle of a room. And like Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, you can get prizes for beating bosses (with a couple exceptions) without taking a hit. And the game's overall structure as a split-level Metroidvania is similar to Ecclesia's structure.
- Jonathan is an Adventurer Archaeologist whose rival is a French Jerk who hunts artifacts for profit. Can you say Raiders of the Lost Ark? What's better, the Ark itself appears, encased in a barrier, in a hidden part of stage 1!
- The Egyptian Book of the Dead as depicted in the game is similar to the depiction used in The Mummy (1999). Speaking of the Mummy franchise, the lost oasis of Amshear is likely a reference to the lost oasis of Ahm Shere featured in The Mummy Returns.
- The Full Moon Silhouette mentioned above is of course a reference to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- A curse that kills in seven days.
- To counter said curse's effect, Jonathan and Andre try to catch all the seven Holy Grails to become immortal. Seven magic artifacts that grant a wish when put together... Nope, never heard of that.
- One artifact summons a spirit that attacks enemies; it attacks and behaves just like a Stand. It also has a command-input move identical in function to Maria's Guardian Knuckle.
- The conductor of the ghost train looks like the alien conductor from Galaxy Express 999.
- One boss is only seen as a half-transparent silhouette, similar to Predator's use of the cloaking device.
- Two homages to Noitu Love 2: Devolution. The beginning of the game with Andre attacking Jonathan with a fighter jet is very similar to the beginning of Konjak's game, also the haunted elevator sequence in the Cairo hotel stage is modeled upon the elevator part at the start of level 5 in that game. Krobon knows about Konjak and follows him on Twitter, so it's definitely a conscious homage.
- The fight against Sir Fernando on an excavator has shades of the fight against Monster X in Cave Story.
- Krobon himself says that
the idea of people turning into humanoid animals comes from Porco Rosso and Jonathan's morphs when he uses his abilities are a T-1000 reference. - Andre's Sniper Mode works more or less the same as throwing eggs in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
- Dr. Mahone resembles Hieda Reijirou, the archaeologist protagonist of Daigoro Morohoshi's Yokai Hunter.
