Shout Out / Elite Beat Agents

• "Survivor" is a glorified Shout-Out to another blond-haired-buzzcut hero, complete with a freakish "end boss" looking similar to an Octobrain.
  • The mission also depicts battles against the zombies as an arcade-style Light Gun Game, which would easily remind you of Sega's House of the Dead.
• The titular agents are a parody of Men in Black. Both works also have a protagonist called Agent J.
• The Rhombulan aliens are a parody of the Romulans from Star Trek.

• One of the levels is called A Pug's Life.
• The Agents' roller coaster in the intro to the "Rock This Town" mission appears to be inspired by the real-life Big Apple Coaster in Las Vegas' New York-New York Hotel and Casino.
• The "Sk8er Boi" level is a reference to The Tuxedo, which is especially noticeable when Linda asks Jack "Hey, is your name James?". It also references Look Who's Talking, with a pregnant woman being driven to a hospital by a taxi driver whose name is James.
  • And it'll also remind gamers of another SEGA series, Crazy Taxi, with the frantic rush of dangerously racing a taxi to a destination.
• There are exactly two animals whom you will help throughout the game: a pug named Sam and a cat named Max.
• Two of the Elite Beat Divas' names together form the name of another Nintendo franchise, Star Fox, if you drop either of the last two letters in both of their names.
• Commander Kahn's shout of "Agents are GO!" is not just a tribute to Thunderbirds, but also a Call-Back to the title of the game's Japanese predecessor, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, as "go" is the English translation of the first word of that game's title, which is uttered frequently in it.
  • Also, Ken Ozu's last name is a corruption of Osu with respect to romanized spelling of Japanese.
• The multiplayer scenarios also have a few shout-outs as well:
  • "Universal Idol" is a parody of American Idol.
  • The start of "Battle of the Aces" features an Opening Scroll, like Flash Gordon and the start of Star Wars films. The two pilots duking it out in the scenario resemble animals, which might be yet another nod to Star Fox.

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