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Undertale is certainly a labor of love from Toby Fox. Besides the awesome soundtrack, the game is chock-full of influences and references to many other iconic video games. Some are quite easy to spot, and some require a little digging to uncover. But to help you enjoy and appreciate Undertale‘s experience even more, here’s a breakdown of some of the coolest ones that I’ve discovered.

Warning: massive spoilers below.

Breath of Fire

Aaron, the muscle-bound flex-aholic horse monster, quotes Dir.HR from Breath of Fire II during battle.

BoFII image credit: this tweet by Toby Fox

Chrono Trigger

Undyne’s fight has a similar vibe to the fight with Magus, including save point text about the wind howling (Magus says this as his child self, Janus, when you meet him in Zeal).

The CORE is likely inspired by the Ocean Palace, both visually and how the background music plays uninterrupted through battles.

EarthBound

To anyone who’s played both Undertale and EarthBound, it should be obvious that Toby Fox was heavily influenced by the latter game, even directly stating this in an interview. I’m sure there are many small references that I missed, but here are some of the more easy-to-recognize ones.

When you first meet him in Snowdin, Monster Kid innocently points out that you must also be a kid because you’re wearing a striped shirt. This assumption that anyone wearing a striped shirt is also a child is a clear nod to the heroes of the Mother series. The shirt designs are also quite similar across the games, as seen below.

Continuing the fashion references, there is a small symbol on Papyrus’ shirt that is pretty much identical to the Starman symbol.

Image credit: Reddit user pobels

And here’s a list of some other non-visual cues from EarthBound:

The track that plays, with matching text, after you’ve killed all monsters in an area is called But Nobody Came. This is the same message you see in EarthBound when enemies fail to call for backup.

The River Person will sometimes say: “Tra la la. Remember to take a break every-so-often…”, which is like how Ness’ father will tell you to take a break when you call him.

In both games, you can find a burger in a trash can (and still eat it).

Calling for help during the fight with Omega Flowey is a lot like when Paula uses her Pray ability to reach out for help in the final fight against Gigyas.

Both games have an epilogue where you can walk around previous areas and talk to everyone after you save the world.

Final Fantasy

Mettaton’s grand musical number greatly resembles the famous opera scene from Final Fantasy VI.

When fighting Undyne, she can say a quote that’s nearly word-for-word what Garland says in the first Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy image credit: Final Fantasy Wiki Italia

The Legend of Zelda

Muffet’s spider croissant is suspiciously similar to the Power Bracelet design.

Image credit: Reddit user show_me_yo_moves

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

There’s a possible influence from Ace Attorney during Papyrus’ “date”. The music has a vibe like the Turnabout Sisters’ Theme, and you can inspect him in a similar method to conducting investigations.

Shin Megami Tensei

One of Undertale‘s key gameplay pillars revolves around befriending monsters instead of just killing them mercilessly. Toby Fox has even said that he was always interested in how the Shin Megami Tensei series lets you talk with monsters to avoid conflict, and thus we have the Pacifist route.

Image credit: Youtuber TheShadowofX

Touhou Project

The bullet hell battle system is definitely inspired by games like the Touhou Project. But besides the gameplay influences, the music is also paid homage to, as heard in the climactic battle against Omega Flowey at the end of the Neutral route.

I’m sure that there are many more references that I’ve missed — Undertale is just a wealth of nods to gaming history, especially JRPGs. So if you’ve got a neat gaming-related reference or Easter egg not mentioned here, let me know in the comments below.

Helpful sources:

The Undertale Wikia

Frisk’s sprites and Ness’ sprites

Possible References and Inspirations in Undertale

Chrono Trigger screenshots from Youtuber StoneMonkWisdom











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