List of references

Being that the game is comprised of a considerable amount of in-jokes and nods to music, most of them will be listed here if they already aren't on the character pages.

In General

 * One of the possible intros during Mirror Matches is a shadowy man brings out a wooden puppet, which then turns into the opponent. This is a reference to that of Toshikazu Hazamada, a character from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure who uses his stand Surface to duplicate the appearances of other people to do his bidding.
 * The ghoulish treasure keepers at the end of arcade mode bearing strong resemblances to real-life celebrities is inspired by the Japan-only racing game Metal Fangs, where a large majority of the cast were morbid cybernetic versions of musicians.
 * Additionally, the basis for each treasure keeper are Mike Patton (Patrick), Yukari Oshima (Carrie), Robert Z'Dar (Dario), Kazuhiro Yamaji (Jin), and Noddy Holder (Derrick).

Farmer

 * The origin of his 'Charlie Farmer' palette is during an episode of Always Sunny ('Frank's Pretty Woman'), Frank tells Charlie that he 'looks like a farmer' in a get-up meant to resemble a Texas millionaire.
 * His move 'I Crawled' is named after a song by Swans.
 * The name of his move 'Zip Zap Ball' is partially taken from the song 'Zip Zap Rap' by Devastatin' Dave.
 * His Zetsumei Ougi 'Lightning Man' is named after a song by Nitzer Ebb.

John the Janitor

 * His move Cleanness & Strike is based off of the special move Shyness & Strike, belonging to Bulleta/Baby Bonnie Hood of Darkstalkers.

Melvana

 * His name is a combination of The Melvins and Nirvana.

Melvana 2012

 * Hey Pizza Face! is a reference to a Beavis and Butt-Head episode ('Used Car') that begins and ends with the title characters throwing a slice of pizza at each other, saying the exact line.
 * The sounds he makes during Meteor Fists are imitations of similar noises made by the character Hiryu from Survival Arts.

Nimrod

 * His move Screw Hokuto Shinken! parodies Jagi from Hokuto no Ken's affinity for using shotguns.

Noob Saibot

 * The name of his move Rise of the Fall comes of a song of the name from Faith no More.
 * The name of his super move Happy Grey or Black comes of a song of the name from The Melvins.
 * The name of his zetsumei ougi Big Black comes from the band of the same name.

Pedro

 * His move Kototsuki You is based off of the move of the same name of the King of Fighters character Kyo Kusanagi.
 * The moves named This Boogie Is For Real and So Much Canned Heat In My Heels are lyrics from Jamiroquai's song 'Canned Heat'.
 * His super Kazama Explosion is based off of the Weapon Flipping Technique of the Samurai Shodown character Kazuki Kazama.
 * The name of his super Sol Invictus comes from an album of the same name from Faith no More.
 * His dialogue towards John ('I'm just hanging around for a new thrill, because I'm tired of the old ones') is lifted from the song 'Both Belong' by The Grays.

Rain

 * The character (both the White Kid and original Mortal Kombat versions) is a massive reference to the pop artist Prince, whereas the former takes the joke a bit farther.

Skang-Tsung

 * His winquote towards Pedro is a direct recital of an album name from Fishbone, 'Give A Monkey A Brain And He'll Swear He's The Center Of The Universe'.

Skweetis

 * His name is taken from a song by The Melvins of the same name.
 * His super 'Invincible Body' is taken from a minor henchman named Kujin from Hokuto no Ken 2, who demonstrates the same move to kill somebody in a skirmish. Shigeru Chiba, the voice actor for Kujin, is also the voice actor for Skweetis.

Suan Khi

 * One of his special moves is taken from Leona Heidern's move Moon Slasher.
 * One of his supers is a reference to the Batman Forever game, specifically the final fight with Riddler.

Thermia

 * A portion of her backstory alludes to the movie Snowpiercer.
 * Her zetsumei ougi is a reference to the character Kimberly from the game D2.

Truck

 * He shares the voice actor, some special moves and has a palette of that of Jagi from Hokuto no Ken.