Kratos: I fought in many contests.
Mimir: But this particular one... I heard you did battle with beasts, scoundrels, princesses, the undead, automatons, and history's greatest musician.
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.
Compare Company Cameo, where the company itself is what's being referenced. A subtrope is the Creator's Show Within a Show, where one of a creator's other works appears in one of their works. Contrast Continuity Nod and Mythology Gag. Doubles as intra-company Product Placement. Crossovers don't count, but a Crossover Punchline can. Compare Production Foreshadowing and Production Throwback. See Shout-Out for references to media not owned by the same company.
Example subpages:
Other 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: Alien Force: Gwen is voiced by Ashley Johnson and Kevin is voiced by Greg Cipes, referencing their roles as another teenage superhero couple, Terra and Beast Boy.
- Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: Ben and Gwen's cousin Sunny is a complete Expy of Blackfire, down to having a black-and-purple color scheme and being voiced by Gwen's voice actor, Ashley Johnson — in Teen Titans, Blackfire and Starfire had the same voice actor, Hynden Walch.
- Chowder has two references to The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
- At the end of "The Hot Date", Miss Bellum is initially revealed to be the police chief's blind date, before she realizes she mistook 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.
- "The Grim Adventures of the KND", as a Crossover between Kids Next Door and Grim Adventures, naturally takes the time to rope in several other Cartoon Network shows:
- Towards the beginning, there's a Crossover Punchline where Billy calls a group of kids to help him - but rather than the Kids Next Door, he calls Ed, Edd n Eddy.
- Billy later expresses disappointment that Sector V aren't The Powerpuff Girls.
- Fred Fredburger admits that he loves shows about monkeys, monkeys that go to camp, and shows about imaginary friends.
- The Creative Closing Credits feature artwork of crossovers between different Cartoon Network shows. This includes Ed, Edd, n Mandy, Evil Camp Carne, Class of Numbuh 3000, My Gym Partner's A Mandark, and Samurai Mac.
- 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 (1998), 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 (1998), 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.
- The plot of "Modern Primitives" is that Billy digs up and thaws out Fred Flintstone.
- 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!"
- A Ham Being from the I Am Weasel episode "The Magnificent Motorbikini" appears in "The Incredible Shrinking Mandy" as one of three giant beings who were growing infinitely in the Realm of the Infinite.
- 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).
- MAD:
- In the sketch The Social Netjerk, at one point main character Sean says it's his time... only for Mordecai and Rigby to appear and tell him to hurry up, "'cause in a few minutes it'll be our time". Indeed, at the time this episode originally aired, new episodes of MAD preceded new episodes of Regular Show.
- "Avenger Time" is a mashup of The Avengers and Cartoon Network's own Adventure Time. In Uatu the Watcher's appearance, he states that what he watches is mainly reruns of Mad, but occasionally throwing in some Adventure Time, which is suggested to be part of how the Avengers ended up there.
- OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes:
- In the 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". 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 (1998):
- Dexter had background cameos in several episodes. In addition, "Imaginary Fiend" featured a cameo by Dee Dee's imaginary friend, Koosie.
- Dexter and Dee Dee have a cameo in a concert the girls went to in one of the comic books by IDW Publishing. Dexter is there unwillingly, as he and Dee Dee are forcibly handcuffed together at the time.
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated had Derrick J. Wyatt as a character designer for its first season. One background character in Season 1 was modeled after Sari Sumdac of Transformers: Animated, which Wyatt had worked on before Mystery Incorporated.
- Steven Universe:
- "Say Uncle", in addition to being a crossover between the show 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.
- Unleash the Light:
- The skill that gives Garnet a 20% chance to One-Hit Kill small and medium-sized enemies is called "OK K.O."
- Samurai Friend Zone, one of the manga charms Lapis can equip, has Samurai Jack on the cover.
- 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 the episode "P.P.", Beast Boy mistakes the titular initials for the act of using the bathroom, just like the Warner siblings did in the Animaniacs episode "No Pain, No Painting", which was also made by WB.
- 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.
- Bocchi the Rock!: In the tenth episode of season one:
- One of Bocchi's classmates resembles Yuno, the main character of Kirara's original Breakthrough Hit Hidamari Sketch in the background.
- Hiyori and Koharu Minagi from Slow Loop appear as keychains for Eliza in the same episode.
- Slow Loop itself had the Kessoku Band appear in the tenth episode of its anime as an Early-Bird Cameo prior to Bocchi's anime that would air months later. Both series creators are very good friends with each other in real life.
- 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.
- Kiniro Mosaic itself features a Yuyushiki magazine in the first season, whose anime adaptation also debuted the same year.
- Hidamari Sketch has a cameo from Mesousa, the rabbit character from Pani Poni Dash!. While Pani Poni is not a Kirara property, it was also animated by Studio Shaft.
- Laid-Back Camp has its main characters, Rin and Nadeshiko, appear in Mono from the same creator in cameo appearances. A crossover one-shot manga featured Rin getting into online bidding for a rare mug with one of the leads from Mono.
- 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.
- Idol Be Back: Kaos, the main character from Comic Girls appears in the background of the first chapter, given its from the same creator.
- Magic of Stella subtly references Kiniro Mosaic in both the manga and anime; Alice appears in a chapter while the girls discuss voice acting, while Aya appears in the background in one of the last episodes of the anime.
- While not exactly references, Laid-Back Camp author Afro and The Demon Girl Next Door author Izumo Ito have done special work for Puella Magi Madoka Magica as it is part of the Kirara family; the former doing a Homura-focused Multiverse manga story for Kirara itself and the latter doing in the fifth Madoka manga anthology that released mere days before the start of Ito's manga.
- 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."
- In one Crazy Courtney sketch where she goes to the movies, the Sniz & Fondue segment "Clubbed" can be heard as the movie.
- 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 makes a guest appearance in "Big Time Beach Party".
- The titular group attempt to steal snacks from the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba! in "Big Time Cameo".
- During the video letter segment of the Blue's Clues episode "Blue Wants to Play a Game", the girl in the video is wearing a dress with Angelica Pickles on it.
- Bubble Guppies: In Trick-or-Treat Mr. Grumpfish!", SpongeBob makes a cameo as a costume when Molly lists many different Halloween costume ideas in a song.
- In the Clarissa Explains It All episode "Babysitting", the Doug episode "Doug's Big Catch" can be heard on the television in one scene.
- In one episode of Danger Force, Ray wears a shirt of Rocky from PAW Patrol, which airs on Nickelodeon in the United States.
- In the intro for season 1 or 2 of Dora the Explorer, a picture of Dil Pickles from Rugrats (1991) can be seen behind a green chair.◊
- 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.
- References to Rugrats (1991):
- In "Spaced Out!", Cosmo finds a nickel and names it Phillip even though he identifies it as a girl. This is a reference to a scene in "Together at Last", where Lil finds a nickel in the couch while looking for Phil.
- "Channel Chasers" featured a parody of the show called Carpet Critters, with Klasky-Csupo providing the animation.
- There are several references to 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 the iCarly episode "iBattle Chip", when Carly finds Spencer tied up by Chip, Chuck's younger brother, she asks him, "Who did this to you?", and Spencer sarcastically tells her, "Dora the Explorer, who do you think?!".
- Kamp Koral: In "Painting with Squidward", the date the art contest starts is July 9th. This is also the date that fellow SpongeBob Spin-Off The Patrick Star Show premiered.
- 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 (1991).
- 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.
- In "Can't Lynn 'Em All", one of Leni's costume ideas for Lynn is a fairy costume that looks like a fairy from The Fairly OddParents!. In a form of Self-Deprecation, Lynn's reaction is: "Never gonna happen."
- In The Loud House Movie, during the "Life is Better Loud" sequence, the newspaper young Mr. Grouse is reading has headlines reading "Four armed turtles found in sewer", "Advice from Gary -- How to come out of your shell", and "Reptar XII crushes box office records". There's also a video store advertising Güd Burger and Are You Afraid of the Park?
- In the The Casagrandes episode "Fast Feud", the mock ice cream bars that the vendor that Jim Sparkletooth exposed was selling looked very similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, complete with varying colored bands like the Turtles' signature colors. Nickelodeon acquired the rights to Ninja Turtles in late 2009.
- In "Skatey Cat", another Casagrandes epsiode, Casey, Sameer, and Nikki leap over a cabbage stand during their shopping spree, knocking over a few cabbages and causing a nearby employee to shriek, "MY CABBAGES!!!!"
- 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.
- The website for the ill-fated NickMom block would sometimes reference Nickelodeon shows:
- This post about hotels mentions that kids find them cool because Dora the Explorer is on a different channel than usual.
- This post about family vacation destinations shows a carnival with Dora the Explorer being present as a toddler's idea of an ideal vacation.
- In this comic, a kid watches SpongeBob SquarePants before going to school.
- This article about things toddlers shout to ruin school plays features a GIF of Patrick Star for entry number 5.
- The ninth entry on this list of usernames toddlers would use on Twitter is DoraSuperFan1. In addition, the picture for the article is a mockup of an account with this name and what they would post.
- This article about school supplies uses an image of a SpongeBob backpack.
- This article about Thanksgiving suggests that kids would be bored of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and would prefer to watch Team Umizoomi.
- This story mentions Bubble Guppies-themed bandages.
- This comic on compliments includes "Your face looks like SpongeBob" as one example.
- This article describing an ideal vacation spot for kids says that all the jumbotrons would play SpongeBob.
- 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!.
- Victorious: In "Tori Goes Platinum," the paparazzi thinks Sikowitz is the voice of Plankton. Sikowitz goes along with it and says "Karen, I must have the secret formula for the Krabby Patty!"
- Wonder Pets!: In "Save the Mouse!", Ming-Ming sees a blue cuckoo come out of a cuckoo clock and asks if it has a cousin named Pablo.
- Zoey101: 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. On other occasions, he may mention upon waking up that "this sure is a fuzzy pickle," referencing the Photo Man's catchphrase from EarthBound, "Say 'Fuzzy Pickles!'"
- 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 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 one of the bands from 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.
- Chibi-Robo! Zip-Lash features a Nintendo reference for how the game is available on the Nintendo 3DS. The description for the banana peel in the trash mentions Telly having a nightmare about a giant gorilla driving near him in a go-kart and throwing a huge banana peel at him. That's almost certainly gotta be Donkey Kong as he would show up in a Mario Kart race.
- 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.
- In Earthbound Beginnings the Non Player Character directly talk about playing Mario.
- 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.
- James McCloud shares a name with the father of Fox from Star Fox. He also wears the Star Fox uniform, and his vehicle, the Little Wyvern, is modeled after an Arwing.
- Zoda shares his name with the alien antagonist of StarTropics.
- 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. The Great Cave Offensive mode is filled with similar references in the treasures collected, ranging from the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda, to the Falchion sword from Fire Emblem.
- 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: According to the Japanese instruction booklet, the boss Manhandla a giant Piranha Plant from Super Mario Bros. This is removed from localized manuals.
- 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. enemies such as Bloopers, Cheep-Cheeps, Goombas and Pokeys, and includes a number of characters based on those of the other series. 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 and Bob-ombs, two enemies from the Mario games. Also, the egg-shaped containers unveiling the figurines Link gets in Carlov's gallery have the shape and appearance of Yoshi's eggs.
- 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-unlocked treasures simply be figurines of characters from the Mario, Animal Crossing and Splatoon franchises.
- Pikmin Bloom: Linking a Nintendo account will give the player a blue decor Pikmin wearing a Mario hat.
- In the animated short "Occupational Hazards", a red Pikmin comes out of a green pipe with some gold coins while wearing lint resembling Mario's hat, nose and moustache, then hops out replicating the plumber's iconic jump, complete with the first seven notes of some very familiar overworld music.
- Pilotwings:
- Pilotwings 64 features Crescent Island, a full 3D recreation of StarTropics' C-Island.
- Splatoon:
- The N-ZAP series of weapons are direct send-ups to the Nintendo Zapper, and each variant's name contains another reference to Nintendo history of The '80s:
- The N-ZAP '85 references the year that the Zapper was first released.
- The N-ZAP '89 is a nod to the Zapper being given an orange-and-white redesign in response to a law mandating that all toy guns look drastically different from real guns.
- The N-ZAP '83 references the year of the Nintendo Entertainment System's release.
- 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 game also features renderings of Octoroks, the octopus enemies from The Legend of Zelda, in reference to the Octolings' octopus forms.
- Splatoon 2 adds 8-bit renderings of Gunion, the octopus enemies from Super Mario Land, and the octopus from the titular Game & Watch game. 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.
- Splatoon 3:
- The fourth boss is a full-on homage to the Phantamanta fight of Super Mario Sunshine, from the mechanics of the fight to the colors of their goo trail.
- Much like the N-ZAPs, The S-BLAST series of weapons are based on the SNES' Super Scope accessory, and each variant's name references a bit of '90s Nintendo history:
- The S-BLAST '92 references the year of the Super Scope's release.
- The S-BLAST '91 references the console's 1991 release in North America, and likewise has the light-gray-and-purple highlights of the North American SNES.
- Many locker decorations introduced in June 2023 are renamed copies of a few old Nintendo machines: the Play & Observe, Intended Entertainment System, Supreme Ness, eight-squared game system, see-through Game Youth, and cubic gaming system.
- The N-ZAP series of weapons are direct send-ups to the Nintendo Zapper, and each variant's name contains another reference to Nintendo history of The '80s:
- 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.
- In Paper Mario: The Origami King, the player can obtain a mask of Samus at Shogun Studios. When Mario tries it on for the first time, Bobby comments it would probably look good on "some other M".
- Super Mario RPG has a few Nintendo references:
- Link can be found sleeping at the Rose Town inn at a certain point in the game.
- A toy of Samus can be found in Booster's toybox at the top of Booster Tower. After you get the fifth Star Piece, you can find the real deal bounty hunter in the Mushroom Castle guest room's bed; if talked to, she'll say she's getting some rest before taking on Mother Brain.
- The "Hino Mart" store contains figurines of F-Zero's Blue Falcon and Fire Stingray alongside an Arwing from Star Fox atop the crates in the back.
- Super Mario Maker 2's story mode has levels designed by people using the names Agent 1, Agent 2, Celebrity MC, and Celebrity DJ. If that weren't enough, their descriptions are written in-character as Callie, Marie, Pearl, and Marina, respectively.
- Almost every WarioWare game features a stage with 9-Volt, sometimes along with his friend 18-Volt and his mother 5-Volt, who are all Nintendo fans. To reflect this, all of their microgames are based around Nintendo and their products, ranging from their earliest titles (such as breaking barrels in Donkey Kong), to their more contemporary releases. A good amount of Nintendo's non-video game output also appears in their microgames, such as Hanafuda cards, the Ultra Hand, the Ultra Machine, and the Custom Gunman. Viewing the Volts' microgame descriptions will also tell you the year the product featured in the microgame released.
- Twilight Zone references Pat Lawlor's 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, FunHouse (1990), 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 (1990)) yelling, "Quit playing with the clock!"
- Red & Ted's Road Show similarly has a number of allusions to Lawlor’s other games:
- The Invaders from 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 Lagoon’s "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 player’s character donning sunglasses and declaring "I’ll 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 also in WHO dunnit (1995).
- The backglass indicates that the titular junkyard is located behind Tony's Palace, the setting of WHO dunnit (1995).
- 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!
Buzz: You're in the wrong game, idiot! - Doing it again instead prompts a reference to Earthshaker!:
Bud: Everybody, head underground now!
Buzz: Now you're REALLY in the wrong game! - Just like in FunHouse (1990), starting multiball back up again causes Buzz to say "Oh, no!"
- Outside of Multiball, getting no ramps or orbits during Cart Attack prompts Buzz to say "You missed everything!"
- 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 FunHouse (1990) 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 FunHouse (1990) (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!.