Support NeoGAF

[funkystudent]

The the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC you get a gun with the old ME1 cool down ammo mechanic instead of the standard magazine based ammo setup they replaced it with in 2 onwards.


The series is all about references story stuff from previous games but I thought it was a great touch to bring the weird way guns worked in the first game back

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Is this a callback to Tetris???

I assume you're kidding, but for arguments sake, in Super Metroid you go back down the shaft and through the area where mother brain, the final boss of Metroid was, which is what that screenshot is.

 

[Lunar15]

Going to fight Red in Pokemon G/S was pretty mindblowing at the time.

 

[dancrane212]

Lots of great ones I enjoyed are already posted so I'll go with the

Spoiler

Temple of Time from Ocarina of Time

in Twilight Princess.

It's not a 100% reproduction but I thought it was a great moment in that game.

Spoiler

 

[Orochinagis]

The

Spoiler

Ishimura

on Dead Space 2, issac just shit his pants.

Returning to high charity in Halo 3

 

[Firebrand]

Final Fantasy XIV has an entire chain of 3 raid dungeons with associated storyline based on FFIII. Lots of arranged music from that game. Of course I hadn't actually played that game, but it was neat to go back to compare the music to the NES and DS versions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U1fY9LXnMk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbUJQO9CZhA

And in the Heavensward expansion there's a location called

Spoiler

Matoya's Cave

which plays that one tune that is one of my favorites from the franchise.

 

[Hydrus]

For me definitely Chapter 4 from MGS4l

This all the way!!! That was one of my favorites gaming moments ever!!! Had me smiling ear to ear.

 

[h0tp0ck3t]

Dead Space 2. I don't remember if it made sense story-wise, just that I almost jumped out of my seat in excitement when I

Spoiler

saw the Ishimura

again.

This is my vote too. storywise I believe

Spoiler

the Ishimura was being stripped for Marker research

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Castlevania Portrait of Ruin.

When you finally unlock Vampire Killer's true power you can summon a great skill called "Greatest Five" and this happens:

Those are: Leon, Trevor, Simon, Richter and Juste Belmont!

 

[Lanrutcon]

I assume you're kidding, but for arguments sake, in Super Metroid you go back down the shaft and through the area where mother brain, the final boss of Metroid was, which is what that screenshot is.

Meh. Could never get into Metroid. Never found the crouch key.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

Throwback Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2! That one really came out of nowhere, but it was such a delight to take a little diversion back to Mario 64. You can even see the spot of the wall blown out where Mario had launched into it from a cannon, back in the original game.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Chrono Cross

 

[dancrane212]

The

Spoiler

Ishimura

on Dead Space 2, issac just shit his pants.

The fact that you don't encounter any Necromorphs for the longest time in that section was such a great choice on Visceral's part. When you did finally begin combat it wasn't a big jump scare either, if I remember right, you could see a brute coming at you down a long corridor - going from trying to make out what was ahead eventually turning into realization of what was coming at you was a perfect way to end that silent tour.

What an amazing game...

 

[Halcyon]

Borderlands 2 has a bunch of references to BL1. My favorite being

 

[KDC720]

It's been mentioned a lot in this thread already, but

Spoiler

The Ishimura

in Dead Space 2 was handled flawlessly.

On a similar note, almost everytime you go to a mansion or mansion-esque setting in RE games, some classic puzzles and scares are almost always referenced. Lost in Nightmares from RE5 does it really well.

I thought the way Black Ops 1 used the characters from WaW was pretty neat too.

 

[djtiesto]

Wild Arms 5 had cameos from all of the characters from the past series, if you defeated some of the optional bosses they would give you alternate outfits for your characters.

Dragon Quest 3 has the whole world of DQ1 contained in it (2 does as well but it's much smaller in that game)... and of course the whole ending

Spoiler

where you are granted the name Loto/Erdrick

.

 

[Mknzy]

Suikoden II, and III, the constant references to places you had been in previous games, repeating characters from game to game, children of characters from previous games, it was incredible how well tied together those games were.

 

[Lijik]

idk about greatest but i loved these game as a kid so its definitely one of my favorites. The loose plot of Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is you're chasing the villain through time to stop him from rewriting history. Episode 3 in the game is set in the same planets you visit in Jazz Jackrabbit 1's first episode.

 

[Beth Cyra]

Castlevania Portrait of Ruin.

When you finally unlock Vampire Killer's true power you can summon a great skill called "Greatest Five" and this happens:

Those are: Leon, Trevor, Simon, Richter and Juste Belmont!

I love this.

They even made a 2D Leon Sprite, I was so happy to see it.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Chrono Cross

I can only assume this is a location in Chrono Trigger, but I don't recognize it at all. What is this supposed to be?

 

[AlStrong]

I liked the $20 bill reference in Gears 3 that was mentioned in Gears 1.

 

[FutureZombie]

I'm not a huge Kojima fan, but Snake wearing that mask at the beginning of MGS3 was fucking funny.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I can only assume this is a location in Chrono Trigger, but I don't recognize it at all. What is this supposed to be?

Leene's Square, the place where the events of Chrono Trigger started.

 

[TheDinoman]

Banjo Land in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts n' Bolts is probably the best I've ever experienced. A gargantuan museum consisting of elements from both Kazooie and Tooie with an amazing orchestrated mesh up of songs perfectly composed by Grant Kirkhope to create an epic feeling of nostalgia.

That's basically the only level I enjoyed roaming around in that game. All the other worlds are just either just flat empty nothingness or overly tight clusterfucks (LOGBOX...) but Banjoland was actually fun to look around for all the references to the previous games.

Kid icarus uprising loves these. One of the secret rooms is eight bit, 3d pit remarks on the nostalgia.

Also a really good example. After playing 3D Classics Kid Icarus after finishing Uprising, I did appreciate how Sakurai and his team managed to perfectly capture the charm of certain enemies like the Reapers and the Eggplant Wizard and make them work in 3D, as well as the orchestrated remixes of the Dungeon theme and the Reaper theme.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Karma for all the lives that bat took from all sorts of players back in DKCR.

 

[Icefire1424]

Metal Gear Solid 4 - return to Shadow Moses. As someone who's played Metal Gear since the beginning, heading back to Alaska was pretty damned creepy, and very well done.

 

[Fisico]

Baten Kaitos Origins
It's a prequel so that's pretty normal, but the way the plot and dialogs were written were so good and it was done so well that when everything finally click in your head about what's happening in this game, what happened in the past and what will in the future everything fit so well together and it's just a huge mind blown like you rarely ever have one

The moment when this track play is probably one of the biggest moment though

 

[SoulUnison]

Metal Gear Solid 4 - return to Shadow Moses. As someone who's played Metal Gear since the beginning, heading back to Alaska was pretty damned creepy, and very well done.

If only that hadn't had that one or two Gekkos hiding in the snowstorm before you get to the base, possibly sending you into an alert phase and ruining the "Best is Yet to Come" callback.

 

[RecRoulette]

Had to give it to Sega for putting this exchange in Sonic Generations.

Classic Tails: "Dr. Robotnik!"
Classic Eggman: "Nobody calls me that anymore."

Edit: Classic Eggman showing up in general was pretty awesome, too bad it was followed by one of the worst final bosses I've ever played.

 

[Lightning Count]

I have a fondness for ME2 when Liara says, "Remember when used to rub Gel on everything."

In Yakuza 5, there is a sidestory

Spoiler

where Kiryu saves a girl with a dog who's being picked on by a gang of thugs. This is explicitly a reference to how Kiryu met his adopted daughter, Haruka from Yakuza 1

Yes and

Spoiler

the girl he saves in Yakuza 5 is also called Haruka

 

[StrongBelwas]

 

[ponpo]

deep fukkn lore

 

[Reebot]

What's that a callback too?

My guess is you're meaning the Spencer mansion, but the layout is totally different.

 

[Lightning Count]

In Shenmue II

Spoiler

if you listen to every conversation on tapes you got from the wiretapper, the last one is Guizhang, he's Joy's cousin. Joy describes Ryo over the phone without saying his name and Guizhang comments on how that sounds like someone he knows.

 

[TM94]

San Andreas had Claude and Catalina appear for a few cut-scenes.

 

[Admodieus]

It's been mentioned a lot in this thread already, but

Spoiler

The Ishimura

in Dead Space 2 was handled flawlessly.

Oh man, a hundred times this. You knew something was coming, and you still didn't expect it.

 

[Lightning Count]

GTA V -

Spoiler

Johnny Klebitz, Clay and Terry from The Lost and Damped all appear in Trevor's opening mission for his Sandy Shores campaign. He kills them all.

 

[Anth0ny]

Kanto in GSC, no question.

 

[StrongBelwas]

What's that a callback too?

My guess is you're meaning the Spencer mansion, but the layout is totally different.

the layout is different, still think its clearly a call back to the Spencer mansion. I didn't think a call back needed to be exactly the same as something else, but this is definitely a refernece/nod at that.

Been a while since I played it but I believe Sebastian even comments about how he feels like he's been here before.

 

[maxcriden]

Karma for all the lives that bat took from all sorts of players back in DKCR.

Hey he's just in adorable suspended animation there.... 😁

 

[Elitist1945]

Wolfenstein: The New Order had

Spoiler

Wolfenstein 3D in it

lol

 

[Hypron]

MGS4 Ocelot vs Snake. The music.

Not just the music, Ocelot's fighting style changes based on which stage of the fight you're in. The MGS2->MGS3 stage transition is just awesome.

 

[paragonpro]

Is this a callback to Tetris???

No, its where you kill mother brain in the first metroid

 

[SatanicNemesis2K]

Does this count? Monkey Island 2 reusing Monkey Island background art.

Also I know this is a little backwards. But recently playing Policenauts, it blew my mind when Meryl from Metal Gear Solid (which was released after Policenauts) showed up.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

it was a callback to which game ?
TP's excalibur was much better, good callback to ALTTP

I loved how it showed the gradual transition from the temple in OoT to the secluded grove in LttP, amazing nod to fans of both games.

Spoiler

Yes, different timelines, but still indicative of a similar change

 

[Jay Shadow]

In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night when you

Spoiler

fight the other 3 main characters from Castlevania III

Spoiler

 

[N.Domixis]

Crash bandicoot 2 had a secret warp room were you end up on one of the crash bandicoot 1 warp room islands and you can see one of the islands in the background. As a kid I thought there had to be a place to the area.

 

[Morts]

Can't be said enough, but the callback sequence in Dead Space 2 was executed perfectly.

Spoiler

From the reveal of the Ishimura from the tram, to seeing all the white plastic covering the mess you made in the last game... Amazing.

 

[El Odio]

Karma for all the lives that bat took from all sorts of players back in DKCR.

Building on that I really enjoyed how every level in the final world was essentially a huge callback to the respective world from Returns. Really neat idea.

 

[Theodoricos]

If the trip to

Spoiler

Iwatodai

in Persona 4 counts as a callback, then that's my choice. Absolutely love that part of the game, and it's a neat detail that they reuse old tracks too.

The Alchera DLC in Mass Effect 2 as well, though it feels wrong to label it as a "callback".