Shout Out / VA-11 HALL-A

• One song that you can set up in the in-game jukebox is named "Believe in Me Who Believes in You".
• The "Fedora with perfume and a plum" is a reference to one drink served by Moe in the "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" episode of The Simpsons. Similarly, you can serve a "Flaming Moai" named after the Flaming Moe.
• Dorothy initially planned on calling herself Dolores Haze but she found it to be as subtle as a brick.
• Dorothy is a DFC model. "DFC" is a slang term used by 4chan and other imageboards that stands for "Delicious Flat Chest".
• The scrolling text that appears whenever Streaming-chan shows up is right from Nico Nico Douga.
  • One of the messages in the stream reads "Anime was a mistake". This is a reference to a misquote of Hayao Miyazaki from an interview where he criticized the anime industry.
  • Streaming-chan also claims that a fan-made a VR model of her in Niku Niku Dance
  • During a conversation with Streaming-chan, Jill tells the story of a Lilim on the verge of death who was a DRK-S0L model. Ironically, this particular Lilim wasn't connected to the Body Backup Drive all Lilim use, making him one of if not the only Lilim who won't respawn after death like a Dark Souls character.
• Gillian is named after the protagonist of Snatcher.
• A couple of Augmented Eye and Danger/u/ threads mention the hit anime Yooroo Yooree, with one poster commenting on her favorite character Shina Tsu.
• Art von Delay looks a lot like George Costanza and at one point even tells Jill that he seriously hopes she doesn't do something. His name is even taken from Art Vandelay, George's Go-to Alias and Jill even almost calls him that.
  • Jill comments that he looks like the kind of guy who would celebrate Festivus, the fictional holiday that George's father invented and makes his family celebrate.
  • When asked (jokingly) about whether or not her breasts are real Alma responds with: “They’re real, and they’re spectacular.”
• One of Jill's "distracted" thoughts when making a drink is wondering if the order was a rabbit.
• A few characters know Dana by the moniker "The Red Comet", apparently from a wrestling career she had in the past. To further drive the point home, when Jill asks her 'why red?', Dana answers "That way I was three times faster!". She's also known as "The Undefeated of the West". Dana loves her Gundam references.
  • The first thing the game asks you to save money for is a renewal on Jill's subscription to a porn site called "Shining Fingered".
  • Related to her wrestling career, at one point she reprimands Jill for a comment by telling her "now I have to break Gil's back, and make you humble", which is a clear reference to one of the Iron Sheik's famous promos... Poor Gillian.
• In one conversation, Dana says that she's "eternally seventeen years old".
• In the same conversation as above, she says "a cat is fine too".
• Both the name and the description of the Bad Touch are a reference to a song from the band Bloodhound Gang.
• Rad Corgi sports sunglasses, serves as second-in-command to a grizzled older mentor, and is sometimes called "J."
• One of the drinks is "Frothy Water".
• Virgilio is pretty much a whole-character reference to James Stephanie Sterling's character Virgilio Armandio from their Destructoid days. Although in his ending he is seen wearing glasses that line up more with Sterling's then-current appearance on The Jimquisition something that ties in nicely with Virgilio Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • A post in Streamer-Chan's chat also reads "Hey kids wanna die?", a reference to the period of Destructoid's podcast when Sterling hosted.
• Jamie is basically Adam Jensen in what appears to be Vaas' vest. His design is also reminiscent of Kano's from Mortal Kombat games.
  • The shop you can buy things at is called "JC Elton's," a clear shout-out to Deus Ex protagonist JC Denton. The shop logo is even a man wearing Sunglasses at Night.
• When given the opportunity to save away from Jill's apartment, the screen before is accompanied by a chime that's similar-sounding to Windows 95's startup chime, and the screen after is reminiscent of when it would tell you that "It is now safe to turn off your computer" when shutting down.
• The term boomer and the last names Stingray, Asagiri, Romanova and Yamazaki are all references to the cyberpunk anime Bubblegum Crisis
• Sei Asagiri is a personality-reversed expy of Rei Ayanami. The reference becomes more obvious after the Apollo Trust incident when she shares Rei's iconic eye bandage.
• At one point Jill rants about a real estate company Realty Nua, particularly how after several huge successes early in their life they basically started out-sourcing work to other companies while they themselves did little, and despite this, they are still regarded highly.
• Two separate characters, for reasons totally unrelated, rip off The Rock's catchphrases almost verbatim. When Dorothy enters the bar on Day 3, she says "Finally! The Dorothy has come back to Valhalla!" Also, when a character tries to give their name, Dana replies "It doesn't matter what your name is!" At least Dana was a former pro wrestler, so it kind of fits.
• Dana refers to a bear named Bosco.
• The jukebox's start-up shows that it was made by the "KeereeJoe Group".
• Get Streaming-chan drunk in her first appearance and she'll declare that she's feeling "palms sweaty, knees weak, arms spaghetti."
• The VA-11 HALL-A universe is filled with video games such as YIIK: The Final Remaster, Hatsoonay Meeko: Project (R)emaster, Sting's;Face: Remastered, Water Pro-Wrestling G, and Dang It, Roun Paul.
  • In fact: Yiik A Postmodern RPG (pronounce Y-2-K and centering around a paranormal Alternate History version of the titular event) gets namedropped quite a bit (being from the same publisher as VA-11 Hall-A probably helped). It apparently hit Cult Classic status before the 2070s leading to it getting a LOT of ports, you can buy a figurine of main character Alex from the JC Elton's ('His beard grows in real-time!') and a group cosplaying as characters from the game end up in the bar on Mega-Christmas Eve (they got lost on the way to a fan convention).
• At one point, Dorothy enters the bar yelling NOBODY EXPECTS THE DOROTHINQUISITION!
• When talking about relationships, Deal starts rambling off the names of Betty's exes, which sound familiar to a number of girls mentioned by Lou Bega in a mambo... or five.
• When Alma complains that Jill doesn't say "Hello" anymore when she walks in, she re-enters the bar hoping for Jill to properly greet her. Jill instead sarcastically quotes a modified stanza from The Raven.
• One of the shop items is named Joker Cyclone - makes one wonder how many are own by Shoutaro and Phillip.
  • In one conversation, Jill says that even if there's no God or Buddha, you can always trust the Boss.
  • One of the background TV images in the bar is Kamen Rider 1 in his iconic transformation pose.
  • Stella mentions the existence small unit of White Knights led by a man named "Jack", a Five-Man Band all dressed like Henshin Heroes, in "gawdy" colors alá Super Sentai and Power Rangers.
• When asked if she speaks French, Jill replies "Mon aéroglisseur est plein d'anguilles."
• The red jacket-wearing biker Mario bears a striking resemblance to Shotaro Kaneda, additionally, one of the songs in the jukebox is titled "Good for Health, Bad for Education".
• Ingram is named for the Ingram Smartgun, a staple weapon in Shadowrun, which is itself named after the real-life creator of the MAC-10. It's also shared with the last name of Policenauts protagonist Johnathan Ingram.
• Jamie talks about a bounty hunter called Jet James Black
• Dana refers to Alma as "Armitage", which could be a reference to the character from Snow Crash, Jake Armitage from Shadowrun, the military hacker turned mastermind from Neuromancer or the real life hacking tool of the same name.
  • Since Alma is the third of five siblings, it could also be a reference to Armitage III.
• Sometimes in the game, the television in the background says I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR.
• Kiririn Light is a reference to the real-life beer brand Kirin, and also the artist of the game.
• *Kira* Miki's songs named Shine Spark and Sunshine Stone are references to attack moves from Getter Robo, namely the "Shine Spark" and the "Stoner Sunshine".
• An idol duo that *Kira* Miki has met are named b-LINK (made up of Suzu and Aina) who are mentioned to have doll-like appearances, dressing in Victorian faction, a reference to 80s idol duo Wink (consisting of Shachiko Suzuki and Shoko Aida).
• Jill smokes Placebo brand cigarettes.
• After Jill invites Dana for drinks at her apartment, Dana expresses concern that too much beer eventually leads to somebody being thrown through the Spanish Announcers' Table.
• Multiple shout-outs reference Metal Gear, starting with the title itself; "Cyberpunk Bartending Action" is a nod to Metal Gear Solid's tagline, "Tactical Espionage Action".
  • One of the first news articles is about the show "Cyborgs in Heels", directed by Quinton Hayter. It is apparently about a "cyborg in high-heels fighting terrorism," which the article insists has never been done before. Jill comments that the actor playing the cyborg in heels doesn't care about the rules of nature.
  • After the shit hits the fan regarding the White Knights and the streets become too dangerous to walk alone, Dana escorts Jill back to her apartment, where they have a non-barside conversation that is rendered in the iconic style of Metal Gear Solid's codec conversations.
  • Nacho Tumbleweed Jr is a very blatant Expy of the Big Boss. He wears a near-identical eyepatch, calls his subordinate dogs "soldiers," and he founded CIRA to create "Heaven" for them. He also hates the Seifer Toy Company, whose name is a nod to CIPHER.
  • Reading one of the conversations on Danger/U/ will have an anon comment that the romance being discussed is "like one of my Japanese animes!", much like the infamous line from Otacon.
• At one point, *Kira* Miki says she isn't sure if she's the Lilim Jill is looking for.

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