This is what happens when one work references or shows a part of another work, both of which are owned by the same company, network or studio.
During The Golden Age of Animation, many studios had cartoon series produced and/or distributed by them play songs from their music library, or caricature movie stars the studios had under contract to them.
Contrast Continuity Nod and Mythology Gag. Doubles as intra-company Product Placement. Crossovers don't count, but a Crossover Punchline can. Compare Production Foreshadowing.
Examples
- The Amazing World of Gumball: In the episode "The Boredom", as the Wattersons' house is hauled away, it passes by the sets of Clarence, Regular Show, and Uncle Grandpa. Gumball and Darwin, who are inside the house as it is being hauled, fail to notice because they're convinced nothing interesting is happening and are too busy staring at the clock.
- Ben 10: Omniverse: In one episode about a store that shifts between dimensions, Cow and Chicken make a cameo as alien customers in said store.
- Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: Gwen's cousin Sunny is a complete expy of Blackfire, down to having a black-and-purple colour scheme and being voiced by Gwen's VA, Ashley Johnson (In Teen Titans, Blackfire and Starfire shared a VA, Hynden Walch).
- Chowder has two references to The Powerpuff Girls:
- At the end of "The Hot Date", Miss Bellum is initially revealed to be the police chief's blind date, before she realizes she mistaked him for her actual blind date a few tables away.
- In "The Heist", Mung tastes a Sweet Sapphire crystal that's so sweet, his head briefly changes into Bubbles and he speaks in her voice.
- Clarence:
- While Clarence is angrily burying his "Lil Buddy" doll in the episode of the same name, a silhouetted Greg and Wirt can be seen walking behind some trees in the background.
- During his attempts of getting Chad into the "camping spirit" in "Where The Wild Chads Are", Clarence comes across Chad sleeping while a little TV plays an Affectionate Parody of Adventure Time.
- Codename: Kids Next Door: Dexter makes a cameo as a balloon in a Zombie Apocalypse episode.
- Dexter's Laboratory: In "Tele-Trauma", Dexter, who is beaming TV shows straight to his brain, is constantly reciting TV quotes, including "Townsville's in trouble!".
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends:
- Many references to The Powerpuff Girls, given that both shows are created by Craig McCracken.
- Frankie wears a t-shirt with color-coded silhouettes of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup.
- In the pilot movie, Mojo Jojo appears as an "unimaginary" imaginary friend, as an example of friends based on things kids see on TV.
- In "Cookie Dough", Bloo names off some cities that want shipments of Madame Foster's cookies, including Townsville and Johnny Bravo's Aron City.
- In "Nightmare on Wilson Way", Frankie dresses as Blossom for Halloween.
- In one episode, Mac comes up with a theory about every imaginary friend being suddenly adopted before being returned. At one point, Mandy can be seen returning a smiley-faced imaginary friend for being "too happy".
- In "Eddie Monster" Ed, Edd n Eddy make an appearance.
- Many references to The Powerpuff Girls, given that both shows are created by Craig McCracken.
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy:
- In "Sickly Sweet", Grim is watching Codename: Kids Next Door.
- In "Herbicidal Maniac", Cow gives Skarr a bag of manure for his garden, while Johnny Bravo makes a background cameo at Skarr's party.
- In "Billy and Mandy vs. the Martians", Billy sees a giant holographic screen and laments "Hey, this isn't Codename: Kids Next Door!"
- Johnny Bravo: In "I Dream of Johnny", Johnny tries to use his mind to return his "dream" girl back to her previous hot form. In one of his false tries, she becomes I. M. Weasel.
- Lamput: In "Super Docs", Slim Doc mixes up his bag of clothes with someone else's at the laundromat. When he gets home, he and Fat Doc use the superhero outfits they find in the bag Slim Doc did bring with him to go after Lamput; Slim Doc wears a blue outfit with a red cape and triangle-shaped Chest Insignia clearly meant to be Superman's costume, and Fat Doc dons a black costume with little pointy ears at the top and a yellow belt, meant to be iconic getup of Batman (both franchises are owned by DC Comics, itself owned by WarnerMedia who also owns Lamput's broadcast channel Cartoon Network India).
- In the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Mystery Science Fair 201X", Dendy takes K.O. to her secret lab to figure out how to get him to transform into T.K.O. as part of Dendy's science project. The entire sequence in Dendy's lab contains several references to Dexter's Laboratory (among other things, K.O. and Dendy's footsteps make the same sounds to Dexter and Dee Dee's footsteps and the former characters also walk similarly to the latter characters, and Dendy at one point speaks in Dexter's accent, even saying "Get out of my observatory!"). It gets to the point that there's literally a line of text saying "With apologies to the crew of Dexter's Laboratory :)" in the episode's The End tag.
- "Crossover Nexus" is basically nothing but this. We get cameos from characters from dozens of different Cartoon Network shows, although only four of them play an important role.
- Near the end of Over the Garden Wall, an overhead shot shows that the layout of Wirt and Greg's town is almost identical to the layout of Aberdale.
- The Powerpuff Girls: Dexter had background cameos in several episodes. In addition, "Imaginary Fiend" featured a cameo by Dee Dee's imaginary friend, Koosie.
- "Say Uncle", in addition to being a crossover between Steven Universe and Uncle Grandpa, has Uncle Grandpa go through a checklist with the names of nearly every Cartoon Network child character on it (at the time of airing) along with the SWAT Kats.
- Teen Titans Go!:
- In "Squash and Stretch", the Titans watch a parody of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner featuring characters who are obviously meant to resemble Gumball and Darwin, with the Gumball lookalike representing Wile E. Coyote and the Darwin lookalike representing Road Runner.
- "Beast Boy On A Shelf" is a spoof of The Elf On The Shelf, a storybook whose animated adaptations air anually on Cartoon Network.
- In "The Great Disaster", Robin dons the costume of Freakazoid!, the protagonist of another WB cartoon about superheroes.
- Not only does "Huggbees" have a crossover with Freakazoid!, but it also has references to fellow WB series Histeria! and Detention.
- In one episode of Time Squad, Buck and Larry try to find an orphan to replace Otto after a fight. One of them is Dexter, who complains that he's not an orphan.
- We Bare Bears: In "My Clique", Chloe is watching an actual episode of Adventure Time on TV.
- Aladdin series:
- Aladdin: The Genie Knows Jack Nicholson, so of course he also knows other Disney characters:
- When Aladdin promises Genie that he'll use his third wish to free him, Genie believes he's lying and promptly turns his head into Pinocchio's, complete with growing nose.
- When searching a book for a spell that will turn Aladdin into a prince, he mentions "Alaskan King Crab" and gets his finger snapped from inside the book by Sebastian, complete with the first few bars of "Under the Sea" playing.
- The Beast is one of the Sultan's toy animals.
- When trying to coax a depressed Aladdin into freeing him, Genie says to him as "When You Wish Upon a Star" starts to play...
Genie: Aladdin, you just won the heart of the princess! What are you going to do next?note
(Aladdin doesn't listen and drops onto a pillow)
Genie: Hey, your line is "I'm going to free the genie." (beat) Any time. - At the end, the newly-free Genie prepares to see the world and dons a tourist getup, complete with a Disneyland Goofy hat. Doubles as an Actor Allusion, as Robin Williams wore that same outfit for the short film Return to Neverland.
- Aladdin: The Return of Jafar: Genie turns into a set of animatronics and sings the line "It's a Small World after all!" as a way of explaining why he's returned from his intended world tour so soon. Then when he releases the protagonists from the dungeon, he chants "Bippity-boppity-boo!"
- Aladdin and the King of Thieves: Among Genie's impersonations are several characters from other Disney films, such as Tinkerbell, Pocahontas, Pumbaa, and the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse.
Genie: [as Pumbaa] Hakuna matata! [as himself] Whoa. Talk about an out-of-movie experience.
- Aladdin: The Genie Knows Jack Nicholson, so of course he also knows other Disney characters:
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Celia's teacher calls Anthony "Wreck-It Ralph" after he knocks over the school's trophy cases.
- Bedtime Stories:
- During one of Skeeter's bedtime stories, a costumed Buzz Lightyear appears.
- In another story, someone is given tickets to see The Lion King.
- One scene shows the kids watching The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
- In Bolt, Blake (one of the Los Angeles pigeons) cross references Pixar when he says, "Don't freak out. This is how you blew it with Nemo."
- A Bug's Life: Flik says the Toy Story quote "To infinity and beyond!" in one of the outtakes.
- Cars series:
- Cars:
- The biggest race sponsor is Dinoco, which is the brand of the gas station seen in Toy Story.
- During the end credits, Mack watches several car versions of previous Pixar films at a drive-in theater, specifically Toy Car Story, Monster Trucks, Inc., and A Bug's Life.
- A drive-in marquee appears at one point in Cars 2 mentioning a film titled The Incredimobiles.
- In Cars 3, a shelf in Sterling's office has Cinderella's carriage on it.
- Cars:
- Chicken Little:
- In the opening, while Buck Cluck tries to figure out a way to start the story, he uses a familiar sunrise before discarding it.
- The alien father wears a three-eyed Mickey Mouse watch.
- Classic Disney Shorts: At the beginning of Soup's On, as Donald is preparing dinner, he sings "Zippity-Doo-Dah".
- Finding Nemo: Buzz Lightyear appears as one of the toys in the dentist's waiting room, a boy can be seen reading a Mr. Incredible comic book, and Mike Wazowski makes a cameo in the end credits.
- Frozen: Rapunzel and Eugene are seen in the crowd entering the castle when the gates are opened.
- George of the Jungle: The film ends with Babies Ever After, and George holds his son up on Pride Rock just like Rafiki held Simba.
- In the sequel, George Jr. is seen reading a book with the Disney version of Tarzan.
- A Goofy Movie:
- Walt Disney is referred to by name twice.
- During the song "On the Open Road", Goofy's keychain has a Disney "D" logo decoration, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are hitchhiking on the side of the road, and the song contains the lyric "I've got no strings on me."
- The Great Mouse Detective: One of the toys in the toy shop resembles Dumbo.
- Hercules: Hercules' poses with a Nemean Skinning of Scar.
- Inside Out: When Joy and Sadness pass through Imagination Land, among the things that can be seen is a board game called "Find Me" which has a cartoon Nemo on it.
- Lilo & Stitch:
- The Lion King (1994): After taking over Pride Rock, Scar reduces Zazu to an imprisoned jester and forces the poor bird to sing for him. One of the songs Zazu chooses is "It's A Small World After All", from the Disneyland ride "It's a Small World".
Scar: No! No. Anything but That!!
- In The Lion King 1½, a myriad of other Disney characters appear near the end of the film at the cinema, specifically: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Belle, the Beast, Mrs. Potts and Chip; The Genie, Aladdin and Jasmine riding on Carpet; Hyacinth Hippo; Stitch; The Mad Hatter; Rabbit (from Winnie-the-Pooh); Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and The Lost Boys; Quasimodo and the gargoyles; Pocahontas; Dumbo; Terk; Mowgli and Baloo; Fauna, Flora and Merriweather; and Br'er Bear.
- In The Little Mermaid (1992), Mickey, Donald and Goofy can be seen during King Triton's concert hall entrance.
- Meet the Robinsons: In the baseball field where Goob is playing, a banner with Mowgli and Baloo is seen on a sign.
- Moana:
- While trying to get his shapeshifter powers back, Maui is briefly transformed into Sven.
- The Stinger has Tamatoa still toppled over, pleading the audience to help him up. After getting none, he states that they probably would help him if his name was Sebastian and he had a cool Jamacian accent.
- Onward:
- Triple Dent Gum, a Bland-Name Product version of Trident gum first seen in Inside Out, is sold at the gas station Ian and Barley visit.
- One particular location on the map used by the elf brothers is "The Brave Wilderness".
- Prep and Landing: Wayne watches Mickey's Christmas Carol on TV.
- The Santa Clause 2: During Scott and Robo-Santa's fight, the latter shouts, as an Actor Allusion, "You're a sad, strange little man!".
- Tarzan: The tea set in the Porters' campsite resembles Mrs. Potts and Chip.
- Toy Story series:
- Toy Story: Andy has several books in his room that have the titles of Pixar Shorts on them, such as "Red's Dream", "Tin Toy", and "Knick Knack".
- Toy Story 2: There are several A Bug's Life toys in Al's Toy Barn.
- Toy Story 3: One of the kids in the daycare looks like an older version of Boo from Monsters, Inc.. When she first appears, she is reenacting a scene from said film using a couple of toys, specifically the scene where Sully accidentally scares Boo (she even says "Boo! No, no, no! What's the matter?").
- There are several in Toy Story 4. For example, Bo's remote-controlled skunk vehicle runs on Buy n' Large batteries.
- There are several in WALLE. For instance, the robot mice that nibble around EVE in the trash room are called REM-E's, and during the mosaic section of the end credits, a big turtle, two smaller turtles, and an orange fish swim by.
- Zootopia:
- The movie has a character called Duke Weaselton, whose name is an obvious Shout-Out to the Duke of Weselton. Both are even voiced by the same actor. They also have similar roles in the story: being minor antagonists.
- Another Frozen reference, along with some Biting-the-Hand Humor comes in when Bogo berates Judy for being unsatisfied with her current job, telling her "Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid dreams magically come true! So LET IT GO."
- Later on, Weaselton is seen on the streets selling pirated movies, all based on fellow Disney movies, two of which are based on movies that weren't out yet, and one of which was cancelled.
- Aladdin: The Series contains several. For example, in one episode, Saleen the mermaid attempts to give Jasmine a new hairstyle and ends up giving her one resembling the hairstyle of Ariel ("She looks like any other princess under the sea.").
- Another episode had a gag where Genie shapeshifts into Baloo from TaleSpin and even talks like him using the phrase "little britches".
- Darkwing Duck: The statue that Drake Mallard pounds on to activate the chairs and send him and his allies to Darkwing Tower is of Basil from The Great Mouse Detective.
- In the first episode of DuckTales (1987), Scrooge McDuck tells a worker "there'll be no whistling while you work!"
- In the DuckTales (2017) episode "The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee", Gizmoduck fights a Mad Scientist named Dr. Atmoz Fear who looks and sounds a lot like Dr. Doofenshmirtz from one of Disney's other shows, Phineas and Ferb.
- Goof Troop:
- Several references to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
- In "Midnight Movie Madness", Goofy is against Max seeing a scary movie, saying that Max was scared of the Witch from Snow White.
- In "Date with Destiny", Max lies to his principal that Goofy is getting married and says "and we'll all live happily ever after like Snow White and Dopey and stuff."
- In "Calling All Goofs", Peg tells Pete to keep Goofy away from a surprise family reunion until noon, "even if you have to clean his clothes, shine his shoes, or take him to Disneyland!"
- Several references to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
- Kim Possible:
- In one episode, Dr. Drakken reacts to some good news by saying "It's a zip-a-dee-doo-dah day!", a reference to the Disney film Song of the South.
- The Cuddle Buddies toys that appear on the show are spoofs of The Wuzzles.
- Mickey Mouse (2013) has quite a handful of Disney references, mostly to the Disney Animated Canon. Just to name a few examples, Lady and the Tramp appear in "Third Wheel" and have their signature Spaghetti Kiss interrupted by Goofy, Donald bumps into Belle and the Beast during a dance in "The Adorable Couple", and "Wish Upon a Coin" features appearances from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- One episode of Phineas and Ferb is titled "Troy Story", a reference to Toy Story.
- In one of The Proud Family's earlier episodes, Oscar explains that an incident with a fish at a restaurant left him so scared of fish that he had to watch The Little Mermaid with his hands covering his eyes.
- Sofia the First features a bunch of them, but just to name a couple, King Roland's domain is part of the Tri-Kingdom Area, and in the episode "The Ghostly Gala", Dax sings about meeting his Uncle Walt and Uncle Roy (referring to none other than Walt and Roy Disney) and summons some familiar-looking dancing skeletons.
- The Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "Trial By Squire" ends with Star and Marco buying (among other things) gnomes resembling the ones from Gravity Falls. They then use the Catchphrase from Phineas and Ferb, "Yes, yes we are". The sloths that run the store might be a reference to the sloths running the DMV from Zootopia.
Marvel Entertainment
- Avengers: Age of Ultron: Ultron sings "I've Got No Strings" from Disney's Pinocchio in one scene. Age of Ultron was made around the time Disney purchased Marvel.
Disney Channel India
- In Bhaagam Bhaag, the main character, Sunny, owns a Simple Samosa backpack. Not only do both shows air on Disney Channel India, but they were both created by the same person (Sanjiv Waeerkar).
- The Simple Samosa episode "Banana Fontana" is about Samosa pretending to be a popstar named Banana Fontana, which is most likely derived from one of Disney's American series, Hannah Montana.
- One episode of The Amanda Show has Amanda reading fan mail. She starts the letter with "Dear Amanda...", to which the audience replies with "Thaaaaat's me!", referencing the "Dear Ashley" segments of All That which always began with Ashley starting off her letters with "Dear Ashley... thaaaaaat's me!" Amanda catches on to the reference and says "Wrong show, guys."
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: In the first season finale, Pakku tells one of his students that in a few years, they may be able to defeat a sea sponge. The creators of the series later admitted this is a reference to SpongeBob SquarePants.
- Big Time Rush:
- Patchy the Pirate cameos in "Big Time Beach Party".
- The titular group attempt to steal snacks from the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba! in "Big Time Cameo".
- An episode of Drake & Josh has Crazy Steve watching Dora the Explorer and wondering why she keeps on asking him questions.
- The Fairly OddParents:
- There are several references to SpongeBob SquarePants:
- A Running Gag in "Ruled Out" has Timmy's Dad saying "Pants are for squares" and "X is/are for squares, like pants."
- In "Wish Fixers", Cosmo gives Timmy cheese pants and calls him "Cheeseboy Squarepants".
- In "Something's Fishy", King Greg says that the merpeoples' diet consists of "crabs, starfish and the occasional underwater squirrel."
- In "App Trap", a student at Timmy's school has a familiar-looking pair of buck teeth, white shirt, red tie and brown pants.
- There are several references to SpongeBob SquarePants:
- In one episode of Fanboy and Chum Chum, Chum Chum's pirate name is "Chumbucket", which is the name of Plankton's restaurant in SpongeBob SquarePants.
- In Fred: The Movie, Fred's conversation with Judy is interrupted by Dora the Explorer.
- House of Anubis: When Patricia suggests getting the help of their "favorite comedy double act" to protest Victor's cameras, Amber suggests SpongeBob and Patrick.
- In one episode of Kenan & Kel, Kenan tries to learn the plot of the episode by reading some TV listings, but ends up finding a listing for fellow Nickelodeon show Rugrats.
- The Loud House:
- In "Left in the Dark", the kids are fighting over the TV remote and constantly switching channels. One of the programs that pops up on the TV for a split second features a yellow sponge and a pink starfish. These same characters, along with a green squid and a red crab, also appear on a poster in Lisa's kindergarten classroom in episodes featuring it, beginning with "Making The Grade".
- In "Linc or Swim", Iroh, Miss Bitters, Grandpa Lou, Grandpa Phil and Miss Fowl can be seen in the senior citizen pool.
- In "Driving Ambition", an Imagine Spot about Lori and Bobby's future kids features a baby who resembles Tommy Pickles.
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide:
- In "Daydreams", Ned sees Cosmo and Wanda in his daydreams.
- In "Photo Day", Ned gives the tip to "Dress up as yourself, not someone you see on TV". At that point, a student in a SpongeBob costume is shown in the montage of kids taking their photos.
- In the Sam & Cat episode "#TextingCompetition", one of the things Cat says she wants to do with the speedboat is to "Look for SpongeBob's pineapple!"
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Truth or Square", there is a scene where Patchy the Pirate is out on the street, standing right in front of some street posts depicting Dora the Explorer and Aang.
- In the True Jackson, VP episode "Trapped In Paris", a Cutaway Gag shows Karl Gustav dancing with the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!.
- Zoey 101: In "Curse of PCA", Lafe asks Lola if she thinks he's silly, and Lola says back "No, SpongeBob's friend Patrick is silly."
- Animal Crossing has become Nintendo's biggest repository of these.
- Every installment has a collection of items from other games that you can decorate your house with, starting with the Super Mario Bros. set in the first game and expanding to include clothing in Wild World. The fortune cookies introduced in New Leaf exist specifically to reward players with these for walking around with the 3DS in their pocket, and the Welcome Amiibo update allows certain animal characters (such as Epona and Wolf Link) to be brought to life as villagers. The first game even includes functional replicas of the Nintendo Entertainment System that play B-tier games.
- Gulliver sometimes references other Nintendo franchises in his dialogue, typically sticking to ones with nautical or marine themes:
- In the first game, he starts telling a story about fighting a Deep Python at Pinnacle Rock — an enemy and location from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask — before remembering that that wasn't him. He will also mention leaving his goldfish behind in Toad Town and in Hyrule.
- If you help him New Leaf, he says that he's hasn't met such a noble skipper since Bobbery of Rogueport, referencing Admiral Bobbery from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
- Upon waking up in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, he may say "but, verily, it be the nature of dreams to end", quoting the Wind Fish in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Your character asks him what that's all about, and he says he heard a fish say it once.
- If you agree to help him find his communicator parts in New Horizons, he may gush that he hasn't gotten such a sweet reception since he washed up on Coralcola, the starting island from StarTropics. If you choose not to help him, Gulliver will say he hasn't gotten a cold shoulder as icy as this since he brushed with the Snomads, the villains from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
- Gullivarr can mention a couple of pirate characters from other Nintendo properties. During his half-conscious mumbling he may imagine fighting with the Multi-Armed and Dangerous Cortez from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. After agreeing to recover his communicator he may compare you to Captain Syrup, the pirate leader from the Wario Land games.
- In the second and third games, where he's an astronaut instead of sailor, he makes space- rather than sea-based references, and may ask the player if they've seen a space fox or a a bounty hunter who can roll into a ball.
- Unlike most fish, catching a squid in New Horizons can prompt one of a few different quips from your character. For example, they may say they had an "inkling" they would catch one or say it's "off the hook", referencing the Splatoon series, while another asks if squids don't actually "bloop", referring to Super Mario Bros.' Bloopers.
- If you have Blathers assess a Eusthenopteron fossil in New Horizons, he'll ponder what culture would be like if life had never left the ocean, such as if differences might be resolved through "some sort of ink-squirting contest of champions", again referencing Splatoon.
- Donkey Kong:
- Donkey Kong Country Returns: One level features Mr. Game and Watch in the background.
- In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Funky Kong's description of the Crash Guard is "Vehicle Trouble? It's dangerous to go alone — take one of these!" Cranky Kong had previously referenced the phrase in Returns.
- F-Zero:
- Mr. EAD is named after the internal Nintendo division that develops the games. His overall shape and moustache resemble those of Mario, and his belt buckle is a star resembling those found in the Super Mario games.
- Octoman is a somewhat humanoid version of the Octoroks from The Legend of Zelda games.
- James McCloud shares a name with the father of Fox from Star Fox. He also wears the StarFox uniform, and his vehicle is modeled after an Arwing.
- Kirby series:
- In Kirby Super Star, several Super Mario Bros. characters such as Birdo appear in the background of King Dedede's arena and the Megaton Punch minigame.
- Kirby's Dream Land 3: Several of the Heart Star missions involve characters from other Nintendo games. For example, one level has you reassembling R.O.B., and another level has you defeating several Metroids for Samus.
- Kirby & the Amazing Mirror: One of the copy abilities is the Smash ability, which gives Kirby his Super Smash Bros. moveset. The ability is acquired by defeating Master Hand, who appears as both a miniboss and as an actual boss alongside Crazy Hand.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: A portrait of Mario appears at one point in the game, and there are also two Chain Chomps that appear in Turtle Rock.
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening features several cameos from Super Mario Bros. characters. It also features Kirby as an enemy. The Switch version has a subtle Splatoon reference — if you examine the Blooper figurine after placing it, the message "Squids are all the rage with kids nowadays" will be displayed.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has several references to Super Mario Bros.. For example, Malon and Talon have brooches of Bowser's head, and portraits of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser can be found in the Castle Courtyard.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap includes Lakitus, an enemy from the Mario games.
- Pikmin:
- Pikmin 2: Several of the treasures are references to other Nintendo games, such as a tube of paint from Mario Paint and R.O.B.'s head.
- Hey Pikmin goes a step further by having some Amiibo-uncloked treasures simply be figurines of characters from the Mario, Animal Crossing and Splatoon franchises.
- Splatoon:
- In the first game, 8-bit renderings of Bloopers, the squid enemies from the Mario games, can be found in several out-of-the-way locations; the Inklings' squid forms also strongly resemble Bloopers. The game also features renderings of Octoroks, the octopus enemies from The Legend of Zelda, after which the Octolings' octopus forms are designed.
- Splatoon 2 adds 8-bit renderings of Gunion, the octopus enemies from Super Mario Land, and the octopus from the titular Game & Watch game, after which the Octolings' octopus forms are designed. There are also 8-bit renderings of an Unira, the urchin enemies from Clu Clu Land, which appear in Starfish Mainstage as the series features urchin characters.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the various items you can get from making different brews of coffee at the Starbean Cafe represent different Nintendo series. For example, one such item is the Triforce, called the "Great Force" here.note
- The Mario Golf series has several. For example, the icon for the "Links" Club in the portable games is a Triforce; when you hit the ball into a flower patch in Toadstool Tour, Pikmin can be seen flying out; and the leaderboard in 64 features several character names from The Legend of Zelda and Star Fox.
- Super Mario RPG: Link and Samus show up in several hotels throughout the game.
- The Twilight Zone references Pat Lawlors previous pinball machines in two places:
- The Fast Lock mode is a Timed Mission where a radio steadily progresses back in time, playing sound clips from every one of his older titles in reverse order The Addams Family, Fun House, Whirlwind, Earthshaker!, and Banzai Run. Completing it (and thus starting multiball) will play the multiball music from the game the last quote played originated from.
- Hitting the clock enough times during "Clock Chaos" will play a clip of Rudy (from Funhouse) yelling, "Quit playing with the clock!"
- Red & Ted's Road Show similarly has a number of allusions to Lawlors other games:
- The Invaders from The Twilight Zone appear during several modes, most notably during the Seattle mode.
- Los Angeles' mode is nicknamed "Earthshaker!", and you get to hear Red imitate the Title Scream at the end of the mode.
- The Kansas City "Tornado" mode starts with a quote from Whirlwind.
- One non-Lawlor allusion: if you restart multiball but fail to get the jackpot, Red comments "You missed everything!"
- Judge Dredd has several references to "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (also designed by John Trudeau):
- Scoring a jackpot during the Traffic Jam mode in Supergame prompts the "MOVE YOUR CAR!" soundbite to play.
- The "Safe Cracker" mode is extremely similar to Lagoons "Move Your Car" mode as well, in both scoring and aesthetics (the player uses increasingly excessive means to accomplish their goal, alongside a cry of "MOVE YOUR CAR!"/"OPEN THAT SAFE!" upon each successful shot).
- Furthermore, upon activating the mode, the display shows the players character donning sunglasses and declaring "Ill be back!"
- Several of the arrested criminals are characters taken straight from "Lagoon".
- Junk Yard has a lot of them. Examples include:
- One sound effect is taken from Earthshaker!.
- During Crane Hurry-up, the voice saying "Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry!" sounds like one of the voices in Dr. Dude (used for the Gift of Gab, among other things).
- The Angel's voice is the same as the Candy 5000's from Safecracker, and both the Angel's portrait and the Devil's voice are in Whodunnit?
- The backglass indicates that the titular junkyard is located behind Tony's Palace.
- The Super Jackpot animation comes from The Getaway: High Speed II.
- And, most of all, the Time Machine. After collecting a certain piece of junk, shooting a target will start a mode from a previous Williams title. Modes include "Mamushka", "Move Your Car", "Saucer Attack", and, in early revisions, "Payback Time".
- No Good Gofers has a few other references to previous Pat Lawlor tables, all of which occur when you lose all your balls in multiball without scoring the jackpot.
- Doing it once prompts a reference to Whirlwind:
Bud: Now, head for the cellar!
- Doing it again instead prompts a reference to Earthshaker!:
Bud: Everybody, head underground now!
- Just like in Fun House, starting multiball back up again causes Buzz to say "Oh, no!"
- Doing it once prompts a reference to Whirlwind:
- One of the things Pin*Bot can say when you cheat in Jack*Bot is "Look, there's Rudy."
- Johnny Mnemonic:
- Shooting the outer loops several times in a row prompts Skull the Bone Head (from No Fear: Dangerous Sports) to appear and shout "Again!"
- Starting a Frenzy plays a voice clip of Rudy from Fun House saying "Frenzy?!" and laughing.
- Congo has several references to John Trudeau's Creature from the Black Lagoon during the "Satellite Transfer", including the hot dog vendor and the MOVE YOUR CAR! man.
- In Tales of the Arabian Nights, you can sometimes hear the callout "Move your carpet!" after a shot up the ramp.
- Creature from the Black Lagoon has two allusions to Mortal Kombat (by Midway games, which was acquired by Williams in 1988):
- In the game's Video Mode, when beating up the peeping tom, pressing both flipper buttons for the final blow decapitates him, prompting the announcer to yell "FATALITY!"
- A similar Easter Egg allows the player choke the snack bar attendant after yelling, "COME HERE!" The words "Choking Fatality" appears on the display.
- The Flintstones:
- The angry customer in "Joe's Diner" is the angry moviegoer ("MOVE YOUR CAR!") from Creature from the Black Lagoon.
- The "Bedrock Water Buffalos" mode is an updated version of the "Bad Impersonator" mode from Judge Dredd.
- In the back of Fun House (underneath the ramp) is a freeway sign reading "Kansas — Feel the Power." This is both a reference to Whirlwind and one of Pat Lawlor's Creator Thumbprints.
- The last award in Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure's Quick Multiball is "The Fish of Tayles" (alluding to Fish Tales, also by Mark Ritchie).
- In Indianapolis 500, the ending for "Wrong Turn" shows an Indy car stuck in a traffic jam, whereupon someone shouts, "Move your car!"
- Medieval Madness is highly referential to the company's older works:
- Shooting ramps consecutively prompts Skull to appear. He's also one of the objects that can be fired from the catapult.
- One of only two game-opening lines that isn't spoken by the King of Payne is "It's a great day for jousting!", referencing the opening line of Indianapolis 500.
- Spiritual predecessor Attack from Mars gets several nods:
- The rioting peasants sometimes cry "They took our livestock and treasured historical monuments!"
- One possible intro dialogue for Trolls! is "Trolls rule!" "That's right! Rule the universe!" Rule The Universe is the Wizard Mode in Attack from Mars.
- Francois du Grimm is basically one giant Shout Out to the Frenchman from Attack From Mars; in addition to the two characters using the exact same voice, about half of the former's lines are Snowclones of the latter's.
- If you defeat the left Troll during the Trolls! mode, the right one can quip:
"Hey! What did I ever do to you?"
- Occasionally, whenever you shoot the Damsel ramp, you can hear "Toasty!" (on the second shot) and "Fatality!" (on the third shot). (Williams acquired Mortal Kombat developer Midway Games in 1988, and sound designer Dan Forden worked on both games.)
- Another Midway allusion: the jousting announcer can sometimes shout "BOOMSHAKALAKA!", just like in NBA Jam. (Again, Tim Kitzrow provided voice work for both games.)
- Monster Bash:
- The lane for the Creature from the Black Lagoon includes a translucent panel with a small Gill Man figure underneath it, similar to the "hologram" effect from the Creature from the Black Lagoon table.
- One of the locations that pops up upon shooting the scoop is "Phantom Haus", the name of a redemption game Williams had previously made.
- The stretch taxi seen on the backglass of Police Force is from Mark Ritchie's previous game, Taxi.
- No Fear: Dangerous Sports twice alludes to Steve Ritchie's earlier Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- Skull says "Get out!" when you shoot the tube saucer at certain times.
- No Fear's "Payback Time" is the same as T2's version.
Skull: "IT'S... PAYBACK TIME!"
- Revenge from Mars:
- Deplete the Big-O Martian's Life Meter in "Secret Weapon" and you're prompted to "FINISH HIM!"
- The "Drive-In Demolition" mode is a reference to the "Move Your Car" mode in Creature from the Black Lagoon.
- In Space Shuttle, the shuttle itself is named the "Defender," after Williams' popular video game.
- During the "Hat Magic" illusion in Theatre of Magic, the third item produced out of the hat is a telephone. The person on the other end yells "MOVE YOUR CAR!", from Creature from the Black Lagoon.
- World Cup Soccer has cameos from Raiden, the "Stay cool, daddy-o" guy, Admiral Biagie, and Rudy.
- Under the ramp in the upper-left corner of Whirlwind's playfield is a road sign reading "Visit the Fault", a reference to Pat Lawlor's Earthshaker!.
- Blend-S: In Episode 3, as Dino mentions anime girls with long, flowing hair, Shino of Kiniro Mosaic and Hifumi of New Game! appears in an eyecatch. These three series are all published by Hobunsha under the Manga Time Kirara brand.
- During the beach trip in the fifth episode of Comic Girls, Koyume ends up hanging out with Wakaba Girl's Wakaba Kohashi, Moeko Tokita, Mao Kurokawa and Nao Mashiba for a brief time. Wakaba Girl is another Manga Time Kirara series animated by Nexus.
- In episode 6b of Jewelpet: Magical Change, plush toys of Hello Kitty and My Melody are turned into giant monsters. Both characters, as well as the Jewelpet franchise, are creations of Sanrio.
- In Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, there are several references to fellow Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro. For example, there's a Totoro magnet on the refrigerator in Sosuke's house, and at one point Lisa sings a line from Totoro's opening song ("I'm happy as can be!").
- Pretty Cure:
- Nagisa Misumi's blanket on her bed is purple and has a print of rabbits on it, just like Usagi Tsukino, the lead heroine of another Magical Girl series by Toei.
- The Birthday Episode of Futari wa Pretty Cure MaX Heart features a sign with references to
Ojamajo Doremi, which was not only made by both Toei Animation and Bandai, but also held the same 8:30AM Sunday timeslot on TV Asahi.
- The Birthday Episode of Futari wa Pretty Cure MaX Heart features a sign with references to
- Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure had two references to Ojamajo Doremi:
- Batetemoda greets people by saying "Chiisu!", just like Hana-chan does in the Dokkan season.
- A poster for Majo Minarai wo Sagashite is shown when Hinata puts up flyers for the Eternal Tree festival.
- Nagisa Misumi's blanket on her bed is purple and has a print of rabbits on it, just like Usagi Tsukino, the lead heroine of another Magical Girl series by Toei.
- The festival episode of the first season of Ojamajo Doremi featured a plush Stonston as a prize. Like Ojamajo Doremi, Yume no Crayon Oukoku was a show with a toyline by BanDai that aired Sundays at 8:30AM on TV Asahi.
- Many episodes of Sailor Moon's first season reference previous timeslot occupant and fellow Toei/Bandai production Goldfish Warning!, mainly by showing the Gyoppi character on merchandise from shopping bags to underwear. Most notably, Usagi uses Wapiko's catchphrase, "Onaka no rappa ga pu!", in episodes 11 and 25.
- In an episode of Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, the leads of Akazukin Chacha and Hime-chan no Ribon make cameos. All three shows had the same production company, Gallop, and in fact were the three then-most resent shows Gallop had produced.
- The main character of the Flower Fairy animated series owns a plush toy of Kula from Mole's World. Both series were created by Taomee.
- Happy Heroes contains a few references to Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf which may count — Alpha Group Co., Ltd. owns the companies that produce both shows. For example, in one episode of Happy Heroes, Happy S. launches a monster so far that he ends up landing near Wolf Castle from Pleasant Goat.
- Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The Little Detective episode 1 features a wall painting of Fun Alliance. Both shows were created by Creative Power Entertaining.
- Felix the Cat: The Movie: The "Sly Like a Fox" musical number. Pannonia Film Studio actually did make a movie about foxes.
- In Home (2015), there's a joke where Oh is in a bathroom and tries to eat a urinal cake, thinking it's a mint. The earlier film Madagascar from the same company has Melman do the same thing.
- Cartoon Saloon:
- In Song of the Sea, Aisling from The Secret of Kells can be seen sitting on a bus full of children in Halloween costumes.
- In Wolfwalkers, Mebh pulls out the Eye of Colm Cille (also from The Secret of Kells) when she's rummaging through Robyn's things.
- Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: Starfire recognizes the Warner Bros. water tower as the home of the Warner Siblings. Both this film and Animaniacs, as you probably guessed already, were produced by Warner Bros..
Live-Action Films
- Practically every major movie produced by Columbia Pictures since 1989, when the Japanese electronics firm Sony acquired them and sister label TriStar Pictures, has had these, often going into full-blown product placement (before Sony, Columbia was owned by Coca-Cola, which also did the product placement stuff). Sony's logo now appears before the film label the movie is distributed by, just to drive it in. Video releases have often carried advertisements for other Sony products.
- Take Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle for example. Several references to Sony products appear throughout the film. For example, Spencer plays Street Fighter V on a PlayStation 4 and has posters of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and The Last Guardian in his room, both of which are PlayStation exclusives.
- The 1995 film had an ad for Sony's "Maximum Television
" sets before the film, with the spokesman pointing out that without a Sony TV and speaker setup, you weren't getting the full sound and picture.
- A lyric in the song "Who's Inside In" from Barney's Great Adventure makes a nod to another Universal film:
Maybe it's a cousin of E.T.'s?
- DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story has Fox Sports Net signage visible at times during both the dodgeball and cheerleading tournaments (though it's not clear why it's there for the dodgeball tournament, since ESPN-8 "The Ocho" is supposed to be the only one covering the event); Dodgeball was a 20th Century Fox film. Became Hilarious in Hindsight as Disney, owners of ESPN, got their hands on Dodgeball when they bought 20th Century Fox in 2019; this also included the Fox Sports regional networks, but they were sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group shortly after for competition reasons.
- The second Critters film has the second shape-shifting bounty hunter (identified as Lee) almost copy the likeness of Freddy Krueger before Charlie gets them back to copying the appearance of a nude woman from a magazine centerfold. Both Critters and A Nightmare on Elm Street are film series by New Line Cinema.
- Fraggle Rock: In "The Cavern of Lost Dreams", Sprocket tries his paw at making his own dog food and, at one point, imitates the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show, another Jim Henson series.
- Goosebumps: In The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, when Michael is six years old, his father reads him Clifford the Big Red Dog as a bedtime story. Both Clifford and Goosebumps are properties of Scholastic Inc.
- Both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune are produced by Sony, and Jeopardy! has made several references to Wheel. For example, "Before & After" is a recurring Jeopardy! category that references Wheel, and at one point, they featured a category called "Wheel of Jeopardy!" where the clue was given in the form of an unsolved Wheel of Fortune puzzle.
- In the Planet Ajay episode "Planet Badjay", Ajay's Evil Twin Badjay takes over the show, leaving Ajay on Badjay's spaceship. Ajay presses several buttons in the ship to see if any of them teleport him back to Planet Ajay; one of the buttons plays the drum beat hearc at the beginning of the theme song EastEnders. EastEnders is a series produced by The BBC, whose children's station CBBC aired Planet Ajay.
- In an episode of The Practice a witness claims that he knows what time a certain thing happened because he was watching Boston Public at the time. This caused a Continuity Snarl when The Practice and Boston Public had a crossover later on.
- Sesame Street:
- They have made several PBS Kids cross-references:
- Bert composes a letter to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in one skit. There was also an episode where Big Bird met Mister Rogers.
- Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop cameoed in one Around The Corner-era episode.
- One episode had a worm in a parade wear a Barney costume. He even hums "I Love You" when putting it on.
- They've also done one for another Sesame Workshop series: Right before Big Bird's Fairy Godperson left in the 2006 episode "Big Bird Wishes The Adults Were Kids", he gets a call on his wand phone, telling us that there are two kids who want to fly with dragons. He even repeats their Invocation word for word.
- They have made several PBS Kids cross-references:
- CBBC series Sorry, I've Got No Head references fellow BBC series Doctor Who in a few episodes.
- In the Mr Blobby VHS "Blobbyvision", Mr. Blobby rides in Noddy's car. Both Noel's House Party (where Mr. Blobby originated from) and Noddy's Toyland Adventures aired on BBC.
- In The Film of the Play version of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Laa-Laa and Po from Teletubbies make a cameo. This production aired on BBC, which also aired Teletubbies.
- The Noddy Shop:
- "Find Your Own Song" features a Kids' Show Mascot Parody named Robbie MacRhino, a spoof of the main character of fellow PBS Kids series Barney & Friends.
- "Kate Loves A Parade" mentions a location from Shining Time Station, also created by Rick Siggelkow.
- Odd Squad:
- There are two cross-references pertaining to Sinking Ship Entertainment.
- In "The Void", one of the things Omar learns in order to be similar to Opal, Orla and Oswald is how to speak Spanish. He does this by watching a short clip of Mac and Sammy communicating in Spanish from Playdate, which is produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment. Doubles as an Actor Allusion subversion, as Millie Davis played Molly in that show, but does not appear in "The Void."
- "Slow Your Roll" has Opal, Omar and Orla come face-to-face with a creature known as a Madmelodia, which looks strikingly similar to the alien creature seen in Endlings, a show also produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment. This is yet another Actor Allusion subversion similar to aboveMichela Luci, who plays Orchid, also plays Tabby; however, she does not appear in the episode.
- Besides those, in "The O Games", the song that Odd Todd whistles as the 25-Centigurp Dash begins is the opening theme to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Both shows share the same production company, Fred Rogers Productions (known as The Fred Rogers Company at the time of this episode's airing, and Family Communications when MRN was airing).
- There are two cross-references pertaining to Sinking Ship Entertainment.
- The Halloween 2002 strip of Mr. Potato Head, which was co-created by Jim Davis, had Mr. Potato Head attempt to go trick-or-treating with his son Chip while dressed as Jim Davis' character Garfield.
- The Attract Mode for Sega Pinball's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein shows Sonic the Hedgehog alongside the company's logo. After a few iterations, Sonic appears with big scars, like Frankenstein's other Creatures.
- Similarly, Sonic appears as an astronaut during Apollo 13's attract mode.
- In addition, on Starship Troopers (also by Sega), Sonic can also appear as one of the Brain Bug's thoughts during the Match Sequence.
- One possible outcome in Cue Ball Wizard's "Where's the King?" Video Mode is Cactus Jack (from the Gottlieb table of the same name).
Cactus Jack: Surprise, tendafoot!
- The Candy Kodes in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory have a few references to other Jersey Jack Pinball games:
- One of them prints a message alluding to The Hobbit:
"Have you ever spelled dwarf in order during Orc Attack?"- Two others reference Dialed In!: "Crazy!" (accompanied by an appropriate soundbite from that game) and "When you are Dialed In, look to the moon."
- Two more reference Pirates of the Caribbean:
"Use random select to choose your character yarrr!"
"Have you found the 23rd character? Yarrr!" - One of the alternate dimensions in Rick and Morty is themed after Total Nuclear Annihilation (also made by Scott Danesi and Spooky Pinball), emulating its music, lighting, and rules.
- The official rule sheet
for Avengers: Infinity Quest describes Trophy Mania as "the super duper mega extreme wizard mode", alluding to the name of the final wizard mode in the older Stern game The Simpsons Pinball Party.
- Back when Ring of Honor and Full Impact Pro were "sister promotions", the "Crazy Homeless Person" who interfered on the behalf of Jimmy Jacobs and The Age Of The Fall in ROH was Milo Beasley, a longstanding bum/minion of FIP who had previously "served" indie legend CM Punk. The only member of the FIP Age Of The Fall that was respectively recognized in ROH was Radiant Rain, on account of her and Lacey working as The Minnesota/International Home Wrecking crew in ROH's other former sister promotion, SHIMMER.
- Hero Factory: One of the online games has "S-L-I-Z-E-R-S" as an access code, with Slizer being the name of a previous LEGO toyline.
- Capcom likes doing this with their games. For example, in God Hand, one of the mini-bosses is wielding Nevan the electric guitar from Devil May Cry, one of the names of the chihuahua in the dog race minigame is Amaterasu, and the Mad Midget Five miniboss is a reference to Viewtiful Joe.
- The Roblox game Mad Games includes a mini-game based off of the Roblox game The Mad Murderer. Both games were made by the group Mad Studios.
- Alan's hardboiled detective novels in Alan Wake are heavily based on Remedy's earlier Max Payne. Quantum Break also has a number of references to Alan Wake, although Control upgrades it to a full-on Shared Universe.
- In Zuma's Revenge, one of the boards exclusive to Blitz Mode takes place in a garden where zombies from Plants vs. Zombies occasionally appear; both games are published by PopCap Games.
- Falcom does this in Tokyo Xanadu with their Show Within a Show Magical Girl Alisa, which features Rean and Alisa, two main characters from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. The costumes they wear in the anime are also references to their DLC costumes from the second Cold Steel game.
- Digimon, being a male counterpart to Tamagotchi, was practically contractually obligated to make at least one Tamagotchi reference since its inception. Both franchises are from Bandai.
- Tamagotchi character Oyajitchi serves as the inspiration for Digimon character Nanimon's appearance.
- Wizardmon's staff and Belphemon's Sleep Mode clock are both modeled after Tamagotchi devices.
- Chibi-Robo!: Bandai-Namco co-produced this game. You can receive a Tamagotchi toy (another Bandai property) as an item for completing Captain Plankbeard's sidequests and can interact with it.
- In Puyo Puyo Tetris from Sega, it's possible to purchase an alternate appearance for tetrominoes that turns them into Sonic heads. And in the sequel, Sonic himself becomes a Guest Fighter in the first post-launch update.
- Since Innersloth and PuffballsUnited produces both the Henry Stickmin Series and Among Us, the two games often reference each other.
- From Stickmin: Completing the Mission has a sidequest that has you find crewmate plushies hidden throughout the many routes in the game. A poster depicting the Imposter also appears in Mission, and one of the fails is a direct Among Us reference, to name a few.
- From Among Us: There are multiple pets, hats and costumes lifted directly from the various entries in the Stickmin series, among other things. The fourth map is even themed after the airship belonging to the recurring Toppat Clan.
- One episode of Let's Go! Tamagotchi has Chamametchi transforming into a superhero with a costume based on Cure Dream from Yes! Pretty Cure 5, another Bandai series.
- In the 3-2-1 Penguins! episode "Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-Turn", Michelle says that she and Jason stopped at Burger Bell on their way to the cottage. Burger Bell first appeared in one of the Silly Songs in VeggieTales, from Big Idea who also created 3-2-1 Penguins!.
- Arthur:
- In the episode "Attack of the Turbo Tibbles", while D.W. goes to get her mother to help fix the Mary Moo Cow tape they were watching earlier, Tommy and Timmy switch through the television channels to find something to watch. One of the shows they find is a parody of The Busy World of Richard Scarry where Huckle and Lowly are bats sleeping on a ceiling. Both The Busy World of Richard Scarry and Arthur were produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment, known as Cinar back when the episode originally aired.
- Another Cinar reference happens in "Jenna's Bedtime Blues": When Jenna tries to get her mind off bedwetting, one of the programs she turns on features puppets that look similar to some of the puppets in Wimzie's House.
- The show also loved making references to Teletubbies, which also aired on its' American (PBS Kids) and Canadian (TV Ontario) broadcasters. In fact, there were at least three different parodies of Teletubbies that appeared throught its' run!
- Mary Moo Cow is a spoof of fellow PBS Kids show Barney & Friends, right down to her theme song being sung To the Tune of a well-known kids' song.
- "The Contest" has two examples of this trope:
- "Andy And Company", the Arthur expy the story contest is for, resembles The Little Lulu Show in its' artstyle. The DW clone also dresses like the titular character.
- During Muffy's story, Muffy wears a costume that resembles Dipsy, causing Buster to call her "the fifth Teletubby".
- FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman: One of the phrases Ruff uses at the end of the Season 4 intro, after Chet the mouse destroys the set for the intro, is "You know, I bet Arthur doesn't have to deal with stuff like this". Both shows air on PBS Kids and are produced by WGBH Boston.
- One episode of The Flintstones has Fred and Wilma going on a picnic. Their picnic basket is stolen by fellow Hanna-Barbera character Yogi Bear.
- In the first episode of Freakazoid!, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot show up and sing a song called "Freakzoid and Friends" to the tune of the Animaniacs theme song.
- Another episode had Wakko and the Brain argue over which of their cartoon is Steven Spielberg's favorite. They go to Steven himself to ask who simply says, "Who are you people?".
- In Inspector Gadget, there are several references to Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats; to name just a few examples, Penny is shown to have a Riff-Raff stuffed animal in "The Incredible Shrinking Gadget", and a person attending a costume party in "Ghost Catchers" is dressed up as Heathcliff. Both shows were produced by DiC Entertainment.
- An episode of Littlest Pet Shop (2012) has Blythe Baxter dressed as a cowgirl riding Applejack for Halloween. Doubles as an Actor Allusion, since Ashleigh Ball voiced both characters.
- A few of the Looney Tunes shorts reference Casablanca, such as (to name one example) Bugs Bunny humming "As Time Goes By" in the 1944 short Hare Force. Both Looney Tunes and Casablanca were produced by Warner Bros..
- Martha Speaks: In "Martha's Chair", Mrs. Demson sees a chair resembling Martha's favorite chair on Antiques Roadshow, which airs on PBS just like Martha Speaks.
- Muppet Babies (1984): In "The Daily Muppet", Oscar the Grouch, from fellow Jim Henson series Sesame Street, makes a cameo during the episode's song, "The Daily Muppet".
- Oggy and the Cockroaches: One episode has Oggy and the cockroaches falling into acid and being turned into slime. They then enter a washing machine, which turns them into clothing, animals, and the aliens from Space Goofs, both of which are produced by Gaumont.
- Ready Jet Go!: In "Mindy's Weather Report", Sunspot flips through the channels on Face 9000. One of the programs he flips to is Dinosaur Train, another PBS Kids show created by Craig Bartlett, complete with a second of the Dinosaur Train theme song playing.
- A Corneil and Bernie episode "Who Said That?" featured cameos of Nelson the Elephant from 64 Zoo Lane and the title character from Pablo The Little Red Fox. These shows are produced by Millimages.
- Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is briefly mentioned in the special, only to be described as part of another story. In fact, he's from another story produced by Rankin/Bass.
- In the Sid the Science Kid episode "Sid's Amazing Lungs", Gerald pretends to be a baby and says "I'm the baby, gotta love me!" This is one of the Catch Phrases of Baby Sinclair from Dinosaurs, another Jim Henson series.
- The Simpsons: One episode is titled "Them, Robot", a reference to the similarly 20th Century Fox-produced film I, Robot.
- Spiral Zone: In one episode, Tank gives a hospitalized girl a Pound Puppies doll. Tonka Toys had the license to both franchises at the time.
- Sidekick: In "Master XOX Ray Vision", after Eric puts on the special contact lenses, it intially causes him to see his friends Trevor, Kitty and Vana as Scaredy, Dave and Sally, respectively.
- Spliced: In "Same Difference", one clip in Smarty-Smarts and Joe's montage shows the both of them watching Grossology, which was created by the same people, and by extension the same company (Nelvana, in this case).
- On Grojband, Corey Riffin's beanie is decorated with the same skull that is seen on the shirt of Duncan from Total Drama. Grojband creator Todd Kauffman worked on Total Drama, and both series were produced by Fresh TV.
- Animaniacs:
- One of the lyrics in "I Am The Very Model Of A Cartoon Individual" mentions several other Warner Brothers cartoon characters: Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck and Babs and Buster Bunny.
- In "Potty Emergency", a poster of Gossamer from Looney Tunes is seen outside the movie theater. In the coloring book adapting the same episode, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are seen as posters.
- In the episode "Take My Siblings, Please", Wakko sings the theme to Tiny Toon Adventures, which is also a Warner Brothers cartoon.
- The cast of Tiny Toon Adventures show up in "The Big Wrap Party Tonight".
- The following company cross references occur in the reboot:
- In "Suspended Animation", the Warners accidentally bump into Batman, causing him to emit the Wilhem Scream. Warner Brothers owns the rights to make movies and TV shows based on Batman.
- In "Sufferegate City", many WB cartoon characters such as the Looney Tunes and Babs and Buster appear to march for cartoons to have the right to vote.
- The Mask: One episode features spoofs of Animaniacs called The Goofalotatots. Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd animated both Animaniacs and The Mask.