Look closely..
The character in the main menu looks exactly same
The Animated Adaptation for Gamers! has tons upon tons of Shout Outs to many games. Most of the games are Bland-Name Product variations for liability reasons, but it's still relatively obvious what is being parodied.
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General
- The Poster/Key Visual for the show mixes Tetris and Marble Madness.
- Keita's name is the same as the Japanese name of Nate Adams from Yo-kai Watch (though, with slightly different kanji).
- Karen’s name when written in Western format (Karen Tendō) is a play on the name of the Nintendo Company.
- The game Keita and Chiaki plays on their phones has a very reminiscent interface to Granblue Fantasy.
Opening credits
Of note: Keita is losing each of the games below.
- A PlayStation 4 loading screen and the Playstation buttons (X, Circle, Square, Triangle).
- Controllers for the Sega Genesis, Wii U, PlayStation, and early Nintendo/Super Nintendo, along with iPhone, Android Phone, and Playstation Vita systems fly by.
- A zombie-based horror game - given the dilapidated shack and HUD-less first-person view, it was likely trying to emulate Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
- An Affectionate Parody of Parodius. The two-toned blue squid is a reference to Squid Girl, who was voiced by Karen's seiyuu.
- Keita and Aguri play a game of Super Smash Bros. as themselves. She kicks his ass by wave dashing backwards and hitting him with a SMASH attack once his attack whiffs towards her. Also, as opposed to Aguri emulating Ike, Amano looked like he was based on Darkstalkers's Hsien-Ko (though Hsien-Ko isn't a Smash character, but that's neither here nor there).
- Chiaki gets a headshot on Keita in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (although most HUD elements have reversed placements from the original).
- A sidescrolling platformer that is Super Mario Bros. except the it is the main character in his school uniform instead.
- A Dating Sim in the mold of Tokimeki Memorial, with Karen Tendo. (In keeping with the Keita 'losing' each game, Tendo is saying she "just wants to be friends").
- A Rhythm game like pop'n music which uses colored versions of the main cast's faces.
- A very old-school RPG in the mold of Wizardry or Dragon Quest. Uehara appears as a dead ringer for Dragon Quest III Big Bad Zoma (except that Uehara's hands are mirrored from how Zoma's sprite has them).
- A Continue Screen from Street Fighter (specifically, Ken's from the original Street Fighter II).
- Tales of Phantasia was recreated with Karen as Mint, Keita as Cless, Aguri as Suzu, and Chiaki as Arche (although she uses her natural dark blue colors). Other fans has suggested it’s possibly Dragon Quest III, instead,
Episode 1
- Keita drops clones of games for his PZ4 of Blandname versions of Ace Combat (ASE COMBAT), Final Fantasy and other JRPGs (Legions Of Fantasy), Something looks like a Wii U baseball game, and an ecchi Dating Sim ("Golden Memories" — "wardrobe malfunctions" and "Jiggle Physics" included). There also two generically titled games ("Evil Element" and "Stoic Battler") that could be RPGs, Platformers, or Fighting games.
- Keita has posters of BlazBlue: Central Fiction (with its Japanese PS4 release date displayed in front of the poster) and Under Night In-Birth on the walls of his room.
- At the gaming club itself, Niina is playing Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, but most of the time is spent in a multi-player First-Person Shooter with a very strong resemblance to Counter-Strike. The club also has Xrd Rev 2 posters up on the walls.
- On the club room's the wall of trophies is a the Professional & Amateur Pinball Association '16
trophy, though altered to read "AAAA" instead of "PAPA." - Karen fantasises a screenshot of Mario and Bowser lookalikes conversing with each other in keigo style.
- The second half of the episode title is also the subtitle of Dragon Quest IV.
Episode 2
- Keita and Tasuku play a match of Persona 4: Arena Ultimax.
- Paradigm of Phantasia.
Episode 3
- The name of the episode's title is "Chiaki Hoshinomori and StreetPass Communication".
- Chiaki is playing on a Play Station Vita with the controls reversed.
- The game she's playing (Aegis VIII) uses the same font as YSVIII Lacrimosa Of Dana.
- At the end of the episode, the still shot of Chiaki shows her playing with a 3DS, specifically Street Pass, as mentioned in the episode title
- In the dub, Amano says that the jealous Aguri "looks like she's about to crawl out of a TV screen."
Episode 4
- In the end title card, Karen is holding a PlayStation 4 Controller
Episode 5
- Keita's "Bad End" in his dating sim is possibly a nod to the infamous end of School Days.
- Two kids in the background are playing with 3DSs together.
- In the English dub, Uehara suggests that Amano "rock that Social Link."
Episode 6
- Aguri has a Heroic BSoD and starts repeating a spell of Resurrection from the first two Dragon Quest games. The subtitles change this to the Konami Code.
- Keita has a poster of Under Night In-Birth in his bedroom.
- Chiaki wishes Keita would go on a ride in helicopter from Capcom. Given the usual fate of helicopters in Capcom games, this is also a fairly creative Cool and Unusual Punishment.
Episode 7
- The episode opens with a load of a 16-bit RPG save game.
- When Keita & Karen play darts, Keita ends up with a dart in his knee.
- Keita, Karen & Chiaki play a bland name version of Mario Kart at the arcade.
- On the bus home Keita & Karen start a conversation about the latest Fire Tactics game.
- The location Around 1 is based on the famous arcade Round 1.
- In the English dub, Amano says Uehara used him as his cardboard box, then calls him a snake to hammer the reference home.
Episode 8
- Chiaki's sister, who is the Student Council President at her school, has other girls in the student council who look suspiciously like the girls from Student Council's Discretion. This is also a Mythology Gag to the fact that in the novels, Konoha’s student council is the generation five years after the same one featured in said series.
- One of the games on sale on the rack behind Konoha is Final Fantasy XV. Interestingly, it uses its North American cover art instead of the Japanese one.
- The game Keita initially recommends to Eiichi is CLANNAD.
- The board game the five play in the second half of the episode uses the classic Game of Life with a few twists, like marrying fellow players instead of an NPC — even if that player is already married to a different player, mixing it with a 'couples' game.
- In Hoshinomori's daze caused by finding out that Amano is both her favorite fan, and her online gaming buddy (and, by all accounts, her soulmate) during The Stinger, all she could say to her sister is a dejected Nyoron.
- In the ending photo, Chiaki in a bikini is playing a game that resembles SOUND VOLTEX.
Episode 9
Episode 10
- When Keita calls Karen early into the episode while at a park, Keita spots a black boxer wearing blue gloves and sporting a fine mustache, a dead ringer to Dudley. In the English dub, he asks Tendou on the phone if she’s been punched out, making it a double reference.
- "Space Ocean" is a Bland-Name Product of Star Ocean
- The endcard showcases Karen with a PlayStation VR headset over her forehead.
Episode 11
- On the phone call for the double date, Karen is holding a Steiff Teddy Bear. Steiff is an old (1890s) brand of expensive stuffed animals, appropriate for an ojou like Tendo.
Episode 12
- Eichii's over-the-top sequence at the start parodies Shōnen action series centered around games, like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Beyblade, or Cardfight!! Vanguard. Some background events during the prologue also parody The Prince of Tennis, Case Closed, and even the poster◊ for 3 Idiots.
- When Chiaki describes a "Gilla Formars" game in which fish and cockroaches fight on Mars, an image is shown that has Karen dressed up like the Squid Girl. Also an Actor Allusion, as it’s the same voice actress.
- After Keita briefly convinces Aguri to associate paid DLC with romantic moments with Tasuku, the English dub has her say, “Shut up and take my money already!”
- The endcard depicts Karen with a Nintendo Switch with light blue and red joycons.
Novel only
- Karen father’s stage name as an actor takes the given name of Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and the surname of prolific game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.
- At the beginning of Volume 6, a mock trial is held by the Game Club to determine Keita’s guilt or innocence regarding his Accidental Almost Kiss with Aguri at the end of the double date, with Karen as the plaintiff/prosecutor, Eiichi as the defense attorney, and Niina & Gakuto both as the judges. This comes about because Eiichi has been playing Ace Attorney and is emulating the protagonists of that series, with Karen’s internal narration commenting on when the triumphant music would kick in. At the end, she takes a cue from the games’ Idiosyncratic Episode Naming and dubs their trial Eiichi Misumi: Ace Attorney - Otobuki High School’s Game Club Episode 1: Dumbest Turnabout Ever.
