History GeniusBonus / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}:

* ''VideoGame/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' on XBOX contains a plot where The Master takes over Angel's body. David Boreanaz; who plays Angel, cameoed as The Master in the season two premier after the character was killed off.

*** The entire final battle against Kefka draws heavily upon inspiration from Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy.'' The first segment of [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/f/fd/Tower_of_gods_ffvi_concept_art.jpg the Tower of Gods]] is set against a demonic visage of Kefka, submerged up to its waist into the ground, mirroring Satan's portrayal in ''The Divine Comedy'' as encased in ice up to his waist. The second segment is a group of humans, beasts and machinery, representing purgatory and its population of beings that were not virtuous enough to ascend into heaven, but also not wicked enough to go to hell. Third is an outright PietaPlagiarism with Kefka replacing [[UsefulNotes/Jesus the Saviour]], which represents heaven. Lastly is the fight against Kefka himself, who descends from up high and declares that he will destroy all life, all dreams and all hope, mirroring the moment when Dante meets with God in the grand finale of the book and God tells Dante the meaning of life.

** When [[spoiler:Legion]] hacks a rocket turret during their loyalty mission, one of the possible random comments is "Executing sudo command." 'Sudo,' short for 'superuser do,' is a UsefulNotes/{{Linux}} command that allows an admin to give certain users temporary admin privileges. (Even more hilariously, in the early stages of that mission, [[spoiler:Legion]] informs us that [[spoiler:Geth]] do not use windows.)

** A lot of foreshadowing hints are given through characters' signature firearms, meaning lots of character details are hidden to players who aren't gun nuts. For instance, Meryl's use of a Desert Eagle and Ocelot's use of an SAA both riff off stereotypes in the Japanese gun {{Otaku}} community of fans of those guns (Meryl loves the image of being a soldier much more than she likes actually being a soldier, so goes for something AwesomeButImpractical; Ocelot uses a gun that nerds like and that you can do fun tricks with, as well as (as Liquid points out) it being a gun that tends to shoot bullets that stay in the body and kill slowly, which also reinforces his {{sadis|t}}m). EVA in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' handles her Mauser using a Chinese technique, and hers is (as she says) a Chinese copy, hinting at her actual backstory long before there's any reason most players will suspect it. Solid Snake's signature weapon is the SOCOM Mk. 23, a gun that in real life is known for being heavy and impractical, which makes his ability to handle it effortlessly into a glint of something superhuman about him.

** ''Any'' person who has served in the army and been trained as a combatant will chuckle and nod when Grit shows up. To just about everyone else it's a suitable enough name for a cowboy-themed FriendlySniper, but those familiar with Infantry Fire Control Orders will instantly recognize his name as the mnemonic GRIT used to remember the correct order and steps to issue said orders: G for group (who will fire), R for range (distance to enemy), I for Indication (identifying a target to the group), and T for type of fire (how they will fire at the enemy).

* In ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'' the alchemic ingredients for gunpowder are sulfur and saltpeter. These, along with charcoal mind you, actually ''do'' make gunpowder in real life if you grind them to a fine powder and mix them in a ratio of 2 parts sulfur, 15 parts saltpeter, and 3 parts charcoal, as the sulfur ignites the charcoal fuel which gets so hot it literally tears the saltpeter molecules apart creating an exothermic reaction.

* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'', very playable main character barring Nero [[ShoutOutThemeNaming is named after a character from the work]] (your first hint is that the protagonist is named Dante), and Nero was originally going to be named Rodin in honor of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin the man who sculpted]] ''[[HellGate The Gates of Hell]]'' after scenes from Dante's ''Inferno''. The various demons, key items, and even some of the locales come from a myriad of mythological sources and demonology. The BigBad of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'' was named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arius Arius,]] several enemy types in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' found their namesakes in the SevenDeadlySins, and once ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' [[FauxSymbolism kicked the Christian symbolism into overdrive]], we even had prominent human characters named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_(music) the Ordinary of Mass.]] Creator/{{Capcom}} seems to like this in their more supernatural series. See also: ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'', ''VideoGame/ChaosLegion''...

*** The entire final battle against Kefka draws heavily upon inspiration from Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy.'' The first segment of [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/f/fd/Tower_of_gods_ffvi_concept_art.jpg the Tower of Gods]] is set against a demonic visage of Kefka, submerged up to its waist into the ground, mirroring Satan's portrayal in ''The Divine Comedy'' as encased in ice up to his waist. The second segment is a group of humans, beasts and machinery, representing purgatory and its population of beings that were not virtuous enough to ascend into heaven, but also not wicked enough to go to hell. Third is an outright PietaPlagiarism with Kefka replacing [[UsefulNotes/Jesus the Saviour]], which of course represents heaven. Lastly is the fight against Kefka himself, who descends from up high and declares that he will destroy all life, all dreams and all hope, mirroring the moment when Dante meets with God in the grand finale of the book and God tells Dante the meaning of life.
*** The music, [[https://youtu.be/JbXVNKtmWnc "Dancing Mad"]], not only incorporates several, very poignant leitmotifs from throughout the game, such as [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt "Catastrophy"]], [[BookEnds "Omen"]], [[ClimaxBoss "Battle to The Death"]] and, of course, [[AGodAmI "Kefka"]], but also draws inspiration from Music/JohannSebastianBach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" and Music/GeorgeFredericHandel's "Messiah." All in all, the music is just as much a part of Kefka's [[BadassBoast Badass]] and BlasphemousBoast as the visual imagery of the fight is.

** The combined form of Bit and Byte in VideoGame/MegaManX3 is known as Godkarmachine O Inary, which is basically a big old mish-mash of Shinto and Buddhist references. Bit and Byte's Japanese names (Vajurila FF and Mandarela BB) are also Buddhist references.

** While gamers are an audience expected to understand a lot of military jargon, ''Modern Warfare'' basically requires the player to sit down with a book of U.S Military code phrases to get a full idea as to what is going on around them. "Oscar Mike" is just the start. For instance, anyone familiar with the phrase "Broken Arrow" will undoubtedly have an additional OhCrap moment at the start of "Wolverines!", whereas the rest will probably wonder [[Film/BrokenArrow1996 what the hell that Christian Slater movie has to do with a Russian invasion]].

** The ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' metaseries, which includes the ''Persona'' games, is also generally chock full of very obscure mythology references. The tameable/fusable "demons" include Greek and Roman gods, Judeo-Christian angels, both Eastern and Western dragons, Japanese mythological creatures and even Aztec deities. Splitting Satan and Lucifer into separate figures is a particularly good example since Judaism and Christianity are very different traditions and even shared figures tend to be very differently characterized. Satan in Judaism is a divine Prosecutor working for God while Lucifer fills Christianity's Satan as tempter role created by combining the two. Confusing to people who are familar only with Christianity, but a neat bonus for people who are also familiar with Jewish views on the supernatural.

** Exeggcute is a part Grass-type Pokémon that looks like a bundle of eggs. It's an often ignored Pokémon that has a very interesting concept. It's a VisualPun on a eggplant. In Alola, it evolves into a coconut tree, and is hunted by Crabrawler. There is a very obscure species of crab in real-life that occasionally eats coconuts. Who at [=GameFreak=] actually set there and thought all this through?

** It's never mentioned or noticed by any of the characters in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', but Ada Wong [[http://images.wikia.com/residentevil/images/a/a5/RE2_AdaFirstAppearance.png fires her weapon]] on a 45 degree angle and uses the edge of the slide to aim. This is actually a tactic used by Chinese Special Forces, and it basically screams out loud [[spoiler: that she's a spy]] to anyone playing the game who knew it.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations''. Ever read the ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''? Play this game and count the references. It may take a while.

** The Komeiji sisters have many of these: their costumes are negati or specifying tempo for movements as ves of one another, Koishi's theme sounds the same [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4BWUjPebmE played backward or forward]], and many of Koishi's spell cards have Psychology related themes such like ''Instinct "Release of the Id"'', ''Suppression "Super-ego"'', ''Subconscious "Rorschach in Danmaku"'' and of course, the one that Dr. Freud would be proud of ''Rekindled "The Embers of Love"'', which is basically a barrage of {{danmaku}} phalluses. And yes, MOST of the attack patterns used by these bosses and others do reflect the meaning in their names. Also, from the wiki:

** The lore of the Outside World claims the extinction of supernatural creatures are to be blamed on Outside World's humans' gradual rejection of supernatural because of their increasing knowledge of science. It's outright stated in the exposition by the characters of the future that the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Unified_Theory Grand Unified Theory]] will be completed and humanity will base the explanations of miracle on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything Theory of Everything]]. Then, why people who are the closest scions of future humanity like Yumemi and Renko are chasing after supernatural despite being genius scientists and specializing in physics? One of the rejection against Grand Unifed Theory is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel%27s_incompleteness_theorems Incompleteness Theorem]] which basically claims there are things that just can't be proven true or false because of the variable's lack of measuring scale. Supernatural existence is dwelling in this paradox, as faith is the substence the supernatural feeds on as faith can't be measured by laws of physics for being its direct opposite. Stephen Hawkins is one of Gödel's supporters. Hawkins is explicitly said as Yumemi and Renko's idol.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'': Doubling with MeaningfulName, the Noble alliance calling their airship ''The Pantagruel''. While Pantagruel could also refer to a musical ensemble, it is also the title of a [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel collection of extremely vulgar and obscene books]]. And Pantagruelism is pretty much synonymous to Hedonism- a fitting name then, in reference to the Noble Alliance’s attitude. Fittingly enough, [[spoiler:Class VII raids the second half of the pair, the Gargantua battleship in ''Cold Steel IV''.]]

** The name "Thanos" comes from the name "Athanasios" which means "immortal" or "undying," which is appropriate for the oldest guest in the mansion and ironic given that everyone in the mansion is already dead.

* ''VideoGame/PicosSchool'': When Pico calls Cyclops a poser, Cyclops retorts that Pico listens to techno. There was a sizable overlap in the early techno scene and the goth music scene, with many fans of one being fans of the other. This is paid off decades later in the game ''Love Conquers All'', where Pico shows he also listens to same goth music that Cassandra calls "the best in all time and space", which gives the two some common ground to talk things over.