0:00:02.400,0:00:04.400 I hate references. 0:00:04.400,0:00:07.355 Remember when Wario was on SNL? 0:00:07.355,0:00:12.282 Or that time Rick and Morty showed up in Space Jam 2? That was so pathetic. 0:00:12.282,0:00:15.726 I will never forget this scene until the day I die. 0:00:15.726,0:00:20.480 These faceless corporations and billionaires [br]think they can co-op our relationships with 0:00:20.480,0:00:27.760 beloved fictional characters just to make us like [br]them. No, thank you. However, if done tactfully, 0:00:27.760,0:00:33.440 references can actually be pretty cool. A lot [br]of indie games like to do references and cameos, 0:00:33.440,0:00:38.560 but it’s usually to show appreciation for the [br]properties that inspire them. That’s why Meatboy’s 0:00:38.560,0:00:44.080 corpse can be found in Ori and the Blind Forest, [br]or why Chozo statues can be found in Guacamelee. 0:00:44.080,0:00:48.240 Turning our attention to Hollow Knight, it [br]is a bit more subdued in its references. 0:00:48.880,0:00:53.680 Very few things stand out as blatant Easter [br]eggs, which helps Hallownest feel more 0:00:53.680,0:00:58.400 believable. But the game isn’t completely [br]devoid of cheeky nods to other properties. 0:00:58.960,0:01:01.680 So in this video, we’re going to [br]poke around the world of Hollow 0:01:01.680,0:01:05.440 Knight to see if we can find some subtle [br]references to other games and media. 0:01:06.240,0:01:11.440 Metroid is a good place to start since that’s an [br]easy comparison to make. A big connection a lot 0:01:11.440,0:01:17.200 of people make is the jellyfish of the Fog Canyon [br]and the titular Metroid creatures. Metroids are 0:01:17.200,0:01:21.840 artificial lifeforms that suck the lifeforce [br]out of their victims. Whereas the jellyfish 0:01:21.840,0:01:27.600 of Hollow Knight are maybe artificial lifeforms [br]that kinda just explode. While they aren’t very 0:01:27.600,0:01:32.720 similar mechanically, it makes sense to consider [br]this a reference, seeing as jellyfish would be a 0:01:32.720,0:01:38.000 pretty weird thing to put in your bug game for no [br]reason, unless you were paying homage to Metroid. 0:01:38.000,0:01:42.560 The more blatant Metroid reference, I think, [br]is the Shade Beast where the Knight gets the 0:01:42.560,0:01:47.680 Shade Cloak ability. The way this creature is [br]positioned and how the Knight interacts with it 0:01:47.680,0:01:52.800 is very reminiscent of the Chozo statues from [br]Metroid. The Chozo are a race of bird people 0:01:52.800,0:01:57.440 who have apparently been to every single planet [br]in the universe. They always leave behind these 0:01:57.440,0:02:01.360 statues holding power ups that Samus can [br]use to help her progress through the world. 0:02:02.000,0:02:07.680 Next up is Castlevania. Most Castlevania [br]games end with a fight against Count Dracula, 0:02:07.680,0:02:13.680 one phase as his normal design, and a second phase [br]where he turns into a giant cookie monster or a 0:02:13.680,0:02:21.040 Final Fantasy boss or a 1993 Toyota Camry. Grimm [br]himself obviously takes inspiration from Dracula 0:02:21.040,0:02:26.080 in general, but the Grimm fight definitely has [br]some clear parallels to the phase one Dracula 0:02:26.080,0:02:31.200 fights of Castlevania. The pillar spikes are [br]very reminiscent of the fire pillars from 0:02:31.200,0:02:36.240 Castlevania 3. And the cape attack with the [br]bats is also similar to the fireball attack. 0:02:36.880,0:02:42.000 Another Hollow Knight boss, Galien, also appears [br]to draw from the fight with Dracula’s henchman, 0:02:42.000,0:02:47.040 Death. Both fights involve scythes flying [br]around the room. This one seems pretty vague, 0:02:47.040,0:02:51.120 so it might not be intentional. Also, [br]this boss was created by a backer, 0:02:51.120,0:02:55.840 so it could be that the backer was the one [br]making this reference, not Team Cherry. 0:02:55.840,0:03:00.160 In fact, backer content is where the [br]most blatant references can be found. 0:03:00.160,0:03:05.360 Waldie in the Spirit’s Glade is an obvious nod to [br]the character Guts from the critically acclaimed 0:03:05.360,0:03:10.320 manga series, Berserk. And then, there’s [br]the super hidden area Shrine of Believers, 0:03:10.320,0:03:15.360 where backers were able to leave simple [br]messages. One message is literally just an 0:03:15.360,0:03:20.880 H. P. Lovecraft quote, except they replaced [br]the phrase “human mind” with “insect mind”. 0:03:20.880,0:03:25.440 Another message says “Good Luck Skeleton”, [br]which I think is a reference to the messages 0:03:25.440,0:03:29.840 people can leave in Dark Souls games. And [br]here’s another subtle Dark Souls reference. 0:03:30.400,0:03:34.720 A lot of people claim that Dark Souls had [br]a lot of influence over Hollow Knight. And 0:03:34.720,0:03:38.000 it’s undeniable that Hollow Knight [br]did draw a little from Dark Souls, 0:03:38.000,0:03:42.960 especially in terms of the respawn mechanic. But [br]outside of the backer content we just covered, 0:03:42.960,0:03:48.160 there really aren't any blatant references to Dark [br]Souls. You can make some broad comparisons of the 0:03:48.160,0:03:52.640 story between the two games. The main comparison [br]being that they are both stories about discarded 0:03:52.640,0:03:57.520 warriors who are tasked with fighting off a [br]curse by sacrificing themselves to prolong an 0:03:57.520,0:04:02.000 age of stagnation. So there’s sort of a [br]connection there, but I think Team Cherry 0:04:02.000,0:04:06.640 missed the opportunity to put the T-Posing guy [br]somewhere to really cater to Dark Souls fans. 0:04:07.200,0:04:11.280 A similar fantasy themed game that Team Cherry [br]actually does mention in their interviews 0:04:11.280,0:04:17.760 is Faxanadu. This old NES game is about a traveler [br]arriving at their home town at the base of World 0:04:17.760,0:04:22.640 Tree. The protagonist finds that an Evil One [br]has turned all the Dwarfs into monsters who 0:04:22.640,0:04:27.600 are now attacking the Elves, and they now have [br]to free the kingdom from the Evil One’s curse. 0:04:27.600,0:04:31.520 Team Cherry has stated explicitly that Hollow [br]Knight’s story parallels Faxanadu at the 0:04:31.520,0:04:36.560 beginning. There’s a wanderer arriving back to a [br]place they left long ago that is now under some 0:04:36.560,0:04:40.800 kind of affliction. So you could consider the [br]opening sequence where the Knight arrives in 0:04:40.800,0:04:47.040 Hallownest as a sort of homage to the opening of [br]Faxanadu. But I’ll admit, a character arriving at 0:04:47.040,0:04:52.720 a place is such a standard plot point, it’s hard [br]to call this an Easter egg or direct reference. 0:04:53.280,0:04:58.880 Another stretch I’ve seen people make regards [br]a certain charm known as Dashmaster. So many 0:04:58.880,0:05:02.560 people have pointed out that the Dashmaster [br]charm looks like Sans the Skeleton from the 0:05:02.560,0:05:09.040 hit Earthbound-inspired indie RPG Undertale, that [br]it’s honestly insane. The charm has a white face 0:05:09.040,0:05:15.360 with black eyes and blue on the sides, a design [br]first made famous by Sans Undertale himself. 0:05:15.360,0:05:18.850 Do I think this charm is an intentional [br]reference on Team Cherry’s part? 0:05:18.850,0:05:19.695 No. 0:05:20.248,0:05:25.317 But would it be so bad to just pretend [br]for a moment that it is intentional? 0:05:25.317,0:05:26.160 Yes. 0:05:26.160,0:05:31.840 One aspect of Hollow Knight I really love is how [br]Cornifer hums whenever the player is nearby. But 0:05:31.840,0:05:34.743 something about this tune sounds oddly familiar. 0:05:39.200,0:05:41.146 The main comparison I have seen a lot of people 0:05:41.146,0:05:47.600 make is to the Luigi’s Mansion theme. Now to avoid [br]a copyright strike from Nintendo, I can only play 0:05:47.600,0:05:52.160 the song for a few moments, but it should be [br]long enough for you to hear the similarities. 0:05:53.282,0:05:54.234 [Unknown music, probably nobody owns it, don't check ] 0:05:54.234,0:05:57.680 Pretty similar, right? However, the [br]hum actually appears to be inspired 0:05:57.680,0:06:01.666 by a theme from Super Ghouls and [br]Ghosts for the Super Nintendo. 0:06:01.666,0:06:10.616 [Spooky music] 0:06:10.616,0:06:18.809 [Cornifer humming some mad bars] 0:06:19.040,0:06:24.000 It’s not an exact match, but it sounds like a [br]legally distinct enough imitation of it anyway. 0:06:24.640,0:06:27.920 However, Team Cherry has denied [br]this reference when asked, so 0:06:27.920,0:06:30.240 who knows, it might just be a coincidence. 0:06:30.880,0:06:35.520 I’ve seen a few people claim that Midwife’s [br]design is actually a reference to No Face 0:06:35.520,0:06:40.720 from the classic Studio Ghibli film [br]Spirited Away. I dunno about this one. 0:06:40.720,0:06:45.520 I mean, I do see it, and both William Pellen [br]and Ari Gibson studied art and animation at 0:06:45.520,0:06:51.760 university. They even have statues of various [br]anime characters such as Lupin the 3rd, Batman 0:06:51.760,0:06:56.880 and that annoying ass cat from Digimon in their [br]office. So there’s no doubt they’ve seen Spirited 0:06:56.880,0:07:00.240 Away, as it’s one of the most critically [br]acclaimed animated movies of all time. 0:07:00.800,0:07:05.360 Their designs are pretty similar, but their [br]designs are also just black blobs with legs 0:07:05.360,0:07:08.480 and a mask for face, so it’s not the most unique. 0:07:08.480,0:07:13.600 Probably the most defining feature of Midwife [br]is that her mask splits in half, which No Face’s 0:07:13.600,0:07:19.040 mask doesn’t do. But it’s not impossible [br]that No Face is where her design came from. 0:07:19.040,0:07:23.680 We do see him knitting at some point, so maybe [br]he’s even an inspiration for the Weavers too. 0:07:24.400,0:07:31.200 Speaking of… anime, I think I should mention [br]Angel’s Egg, since Ari Gibson has explicitly 0:07:31.200,0:07:36.320 mentioned this movie before as an influence. [br]I’ve talked about this 1985 film a few times 0:07:36.320,0:07:41.120 on this channel, but I think it deserves more [br]attention. This is one of those “what the fuck 0:07:41.120,0:07:46.800 did I just watch?” kinda movies. It was directed [br]by Mamoru Oshii, of Ghost in the Shell fame, 0:07:46.800,0:07:50.800 and animated by him and Yoshitaka [br]Amano. The plot of the film, 0:07:51.360,0:07:56.480 if you could even call it that, is about an [br]unnamed girl living in a dilapidated wasteland, 0:07:56.480,0:08:01.360 carrying around this egg waiting for it to hatch. [br]She eventually meets a man who tries to convince 0:08:01.360,0:08:05.600 her that the egg is empty, and that she needs [br]to break the egg to truly know what’s inside. 0:08:06.320,0:08:09.360 The film is an inversion of the Noah’s Ark story, 0:08:09.360,0:08:13.680 so there is rain throughout a good portion of [br]the film. The characters visit an abandoned 0:08:13.680,0:08:18.000 city at one point that eventually becomes [br]submerged in the rain, and we see the bones 0:08:18.000,0:08:22.880 of several long dead creatures have now turned [br]into stone in the walls. All of these elements 0:08:22.880,0:08:28.400 show up in Hollow Knight, even including a [br]fountain as an important landmark in the city. 0:08:28.400,0:08:33.200 We can even see these influences from the earliest [br]art created for Hollow Knight, when it was still 0:08:33.200,0:08:38.880 forging its own identity. This image evokes the [br]rainy city and stone fossils pretty well. And 0:08:38.880,0:08:43.520 the original art for the Hollow Knight soundtrack [br]is so similar to the poster art for Angel’s Egg, 0:08:43.520,0:08:48.400 that I think it’s probably intentional. [br]So consider this a literal Easter egg. 0:08:49.040,0:08:53.200 Speaking of weird media that Team [br]Cherry might reference in Hollow Knight, 0:08:53.200,0:08:59.040 let’s talk about Dune. Dune is a series of science [br]fiction novels centered around political factions 0:08:59.040,0:09:04.720 vying for control of a desert planet rich with a [br]valuable mind-altering substance known as spice 0:09:04.720,0:09:09.760 melange. The original novel was [br]written in 1965 by Frank Herbert, 0:09:09.760,0:09:13.040 and is considered by many to be one of [br]the best works of science fiction ever. 0:09:13.920,0:09:18.480 Team Cherry read through the Dune books while [br]creating Hollow Knight, so naturally I started 0:09:18.480,0:09:23.200 reading through them myself to find any sort [br]of parallels. I just recently finished the 0:09:23.200,0:09:28.400 fourth book, God Emperor of Dune, and while there [br]aren’t any explicit references, there are a lot 0:09:28.400,0:09:33.760 of similarities between certain elements of Dune [br]and Hollow Knight that might be worth discussing. 0:09:33.760,0:09:38.880 For example, the spice in the Dune novels [br]can give people the ability of foresight, 0:09:38.880,0:09:43.680 the power to see possible futures depending [br]on the present. In Hollow Knight, the Pale 0:09:43.680,0:09:49.760 King also has a type of presence, although [br]the mechanics of it are left vague. In God 0:09:49.760,0:09:55.440 Emperor of Dune a giant wormman takes control of [br]the entire galaxy, and uses his power to force 0:09:55.440,0:10:01.200 all of civilization into a sort of stasis where [br]nothing really changes for thousands of years. 0:10:01.200,0:10:04.400 This is a little bit similar to what [br]happened to Hallownest after the Hollow 0:10:04.400,0:10:09.200 Knight was sealed away, although the details [br]behind why it happens in God Emperor of Dune 0:10:09.200,0:10:14.640 are a little different. I would explain it to you, [br]but we’d probably be here another hour if I did. 0:10:15.440,0:10:19.680 But there could be one explicit Hollow Knight [br]reference to Dune in that of the Pale King’s 0:10:19.680,0:10:25.440 Wyrm form, which is similar in design to Dune’s [br]sandworms, giant beasts that roam the desert 0:10:25.440,0:10:30.880 planet of Arrakis. In particular, the ingame Wyrm [br]looks a bit like H. R. Giger’s interpretation of 0:10:30.880,0:10:37.680 the sandworms. H. R. Giger is the man behind [br]the iconic Alien design from Alien, but before 0:10:37.680,0:10:44.480 that he did some concept art on an unreleased film [br]adaptation of Dune back in the 1970s. This is by 0:10:44.480,0:10:49.120 no means the most popular design for the sandworms [br]and I think it’s more likely that Team Cherry 0:10:49.120,0:10:53.760 didn’t actually reference it when designing their [br]game. But I figured it was worth pointing out. 0:10:53.760,0:10:58.000 There’s one final Easter egg I wanted [br]to mention. This is Dung Defender, 0:10:58.000,0:11:03.360 a character who spends his time wallowing in shit. [br]This might be a clever reference to James Corden. 0:11:03.920,0:11:08.240 As you can see, Hollow Knight is [br]pretty light on the blatant references, 0:11:08.240,0:11:12.240 since half the stuff I mentioned in [br]this video I’m not even very sure about, 0:11:12.240,0:11:17.120 but we can still find a few hints here and there. [br]There are probably a few other possible references 0:11:17.120,0:11:21.120 that I might have missed, so let me know in [br]the comments section how big of an idiot I am. 0:11:21.840,0:11:24.480 But all of this discussion does [br]raise an interesting question. 0:11:25.040,0:11:30.240 Are there any references to Hollow Knight in other [br]games? That sounds like a fantastic topic for 0:11:30.240,0:11:35.200 someone to make a video about. It would even be [br]a great video for me to link on screen right now.