Thanks to being a game developed by two guys who are die-hard fans of STGs and anime alike, the game has references galore.
- The names of the Type-B and -C ships, Rybb and Decker, are a reference to Rybb & Deckers, a Finnish line of fruit juices.
- The first miniboss is similar to the Vic Viper from Gradius, and is even named the "Arc Adder". For its loop version, it brings all four Options as well.
- The second miniboss is based on the R-9A Arrowhead from R-Type, and it's named "Artypo", complete with its own Force Device.
- The buildings in the first stage retract into the ground, similarly to those in Tokyo-3.
- Likewise, after first returning to Erasure on stage 2-4, it states that the best thing for the pilot to do would be "to end it all and leave forever."
- The pre-boss warning screen displays esoteric tips on the power-ups they drop, similar to Radiant Silvergun's boss hints.
- Two of the tips you get for the stage 1-4 boss is "Touch the untouchable" and "Break the unbreakable".
- Keeping up with the Gurren Lagann references, one of the possible weapons the Zero Ranger mode can use is a huge drill. Grapefruit can also use a number of drill-themed attacks, including turning its lower body into a massive drill. If you use your drill against the final phase of the fight against Grapefruit, it will result in a massive clash, mirroring Simon's battle against Lordgenome.
- Additionally, the boss battle theme of the fight is called "Sky XXXX Days". A subtle nod to the opening theme of Gurren Lagann, "Sorairo Days", or in English, "Sky Blue Days", with the game subtly hinting in various ways that the XXXX means "Blue".
- The glowing green eyes of the ZeroRanger are nearly identical to those of Lazengann in Parallel Works 8.
- The Stage 1-3 boss, Big Zan, is basically just the Stage 0 boss from Cho Ren Sha68k, and its boss fight is preceded with the caption "It's showtime!", referring to the "Show Time" mode from CRS. The music that plays during its fight, "Impossible Orange", is a pastiche of "Impossible One" from that same game.
- Should you accept the powerup given to you by Erasure at the core of GREEN ORANGE, you will be allowed to play a version of the game that heavily takes its mechanics from the DonPachi series. This variation also features a commander known as Gofer Operator, referring to both the title of Gradius II: GOFER no Yabou and the "Operator" character from DoDonPachi Resurrection and DoDonPachi True Death.
- The whole Lotus-Eater Machine segment also bear a striking similarity to a similar segment near the finale of the original Battle Angel Alita manga, right down to the design of the boss.
- The last boss of 2-2 is a pretty clear nod to the Giant Warriors from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
- The mysterious monk fought at the end of the Boss Rush in stage 1-4 uses mechanics very similar to the Sans battle from Undertale. Becomes even more blatant after defeating the true final boss — on repeat playthroughs, the monk is replaced by a skeleton with a glowing blue eye and seems to have a knack for making skeleton-based puns.
- The salamander-type creature fought during the Boss Rush in stage 1-4 is a Visual Pun and reference to the game Salamander.
- The theme of the Final Boss, "Despair
", takes obvious cues from various themes from the Touhou Project, especially with the ever recognizable ZUNpets.- Despair's boss fight features a background consisting of a plane of stars that scrolls horizontally, similar to Marx's fight in Kirby Super Star: Milky Way Wishes. She even has a scream similar to Marx's when defeated.
- The boss of 2-4 has an attack using streams of hand-shaped bullets, similar to one used by Ms. Garra.
- On a repeat i.e. after successfully beating the True Final Boss playthrough, the boss at 1-4 will state This... cannot... continue. upon defeat.
- At the heart of GREEN ORANGE above Erasure, the Treasure logo can be seen.
- The whole Boss Rush at the end of 1-4 brings to mind a similar one from Kamui and the fight against Alltynex.
- The way the player character is animated during the True Final Boss brings to mind the main characters from Hellsinker.
- The Lock-On shot for Type-B resembles the radial lock-on shot seen in Soukyugurentai, while Type-C's Lock-On shot resembles the targeting reticle for the lock-on shot seen in the RAY Series. They additionally pack a heavy resemblance to one of the weapons found in Radiant Silvergun.
- Type-C's Charge Shot has the shot charge as a small orb in front of your ship that can block an indefinite amount of bullets, but bigger bullets take more time to be absorbed and will push you around, behaving much like the shield in Eschatos and Judgement Silversword.
- The True Final Boss fight sends you way into the past and leaves you with no weapons, similar to how Radiant Silvergun sends you to 100,000 BC for the final act and shuts off your weapons. Both have a crystalline being that was behind all the mess to begin with. This time however, you successfully alter the timeline for the good of mankind, just like how Ikaruga did.
- In stage 1-3 and 2-3, shooting the moon spawns a sprite that looks like the WonderWitch, similar to the recurring Easter Egg of finding WonderWitches in Eschatos. The achievement for doing this is called "Clair de Lune", referencing Eschatos's ending theme.
- White Vanilla / Light Mode's focus on speed-killing, extend mechanics, and use of a timer for segments are all traits of Eschatos that get borrowed for the mode.
- During the true ending, you see spoofs of various game logos and title screens, including those of Space Invaders Extreme and Ketsui.
- During the dual rematch with Arc Adder and Artypo in Stage 1-4 in the Great Oppressor timeline, the Boss Subtitles read "The boys are back in town!"
- Complete the game with a high score, and it will comment "Wow. Incredible!"
- The SE-Bonus system calls to mind the Special Bonuses from Einhänder.
