Inspiration and reference

The *Baldi's Basics* series contains a lot of **inspirations and references** to elements (e.g., educational computer games and computer technologies of the 1990s) gathered by mystman12.

## Video games

### *3D Dinosaur Adventure: Save the Dinosaurs*

* The characters having an inconsistent art style is inspired from *3D Dinosaur Adventure: Save the Dinosaur*'s art style.

### *Bailey's Book House*

* Baldi's face glitching out in the *Baldi's Basics Full Game Early Demo* ending is most likely a reference to the game *Bailey's Book House*, where a bug can happen that causes Bailey's face to disappear.[*citation needed*]

### *Donkey Kong Country*

* Arts and Crafters' screeching noise was created using a ROM corruption from *Donkey Kong Country 2*.
* The code **11211994**, which activates/deactivates the Chaos Mode, is a reference to the release date of *Donkey Kong Country* in the United States - November 21, 1994 (11/21/1994).
* The image used for the 99 death screen came from a *Donkey Kong Country* corruption.

### *Hungry Pumpkin*

* It's a Bully's "*Give me your gift...*" quote on *Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash* and Party Style of *Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered* is likely inspired by *Hungry Pumpkin*'s line "*Give me the (food name)*". *Hungry Pumpkin* was one of the mystman12's favorite memes and the voice in the game is very similar to the one from the original.
* In mystman12's livestream, It's a Bully's line, "*No, I don't want that.*" originally comes from *Hungry Pumpkin*.

### *Link: The Faces of Evil*

* One of Johnny's unused quotes says "*Come back when you're a little... MMM- Richer!*". This is a direct reference of the Morshu's quote in *Link: The Faces of Evil*. The similar quote is also used on one of the You Can Think Pad quotes in Glitch Style, but it consists of random letters.

### *Mission To McDonaldland*

* The video game *Mission To McDonaldland* gave mystman12 inspiration for future *Baldi's Basics* updates due to how low-budgeted its graphics looked.

### *Myst*

* The developer's username, mystman12, was derived from the game *Myst*.
* The code **09241993**, which activates/deactivates the Debug Mode, is a reference to the release date of *Myst* on macOS in the United States - September 24, 1993 (09/24/1993).
* The screen transitions in *Baldi's Basics Plus* and *Classic Remastered* are based on *Myst*'s screen transitions.

### *Sonic's Schoolhouse*

* The gameplay of *Baldi's Basics*, being a 3D game where the player cannot look up or down but can pan left and right and move forwards and backwards, is nearly identical to how movement and rotation work in *Sonic's Schoolhouse*. Likewise, the level design of *Baldi's Basics* does not have the player change elevation, just like in *Sonic's Schoolhouse*.
* The basic "white brick wall" and "wall with molding" textures are reminiscent of the white brick wall textures seen in the school in *Sonic's Schoolhouse*.
* The appreciation GIF image of Baldi giving a thumbs up when *Baldi's Basics Classic* was downloaded over hundred-thousand times is a direct reference to *Sonic's Schoolhouse*'s image screen when beating the level with all 10/10 correct answers.
* The doors' textures have the same exact size as the ones for *Sonic's Schoolhouse*.
* Baldi's Math Machine's main texture is inspired by the chalkboard with a math problem in *Sonic's Schoolhouse*.
* The number balloons bear some similarities to *Sonic's Schoolhouse*'s hopping number objects.
* The "*Elephant hit*" quote file heard in the `TestRoom` location on occasions is a reference to an unused audio clip of *Sonic's Schoolhouse*.
* Some of the sprites/textures implemented in *Baldi's Basics Plus* are very similar or replicas of *Sonic's Schoolhouse's* sprites/textures, such as the checkerboard "basic" floor or ceiling lamps.
* The title screen in the *Baldi's Basics* series looks very similar to the *Sonic's Schoolhouse* boxart.
* The code **10181996**, which activates/deactivates the Authentic Mode, is a reference to the release date of *Sonic's Schoolhouse* - October 18th, 1996 (10/18/1996).

### *Super Mario*

* Baldi's voice may have been inspired by the character Waluigi from the *Super Mario* franchise.
* `0th Prize`'s clothes may have been inspired by Mario's outfit, as both of them look similar. It could also be referencing an animation error in the *Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3* episode "Sneaky Lying Giant Koopas".

### *ToeJam & Earl*

* The procedurally generated levels of *Baldi's Basics Plus* are inspired by *ToeJam & Earl*'s procedurally generated levels.
* The presents in *Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash* and Party Style of *Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered* function like the ones in *ToeJam & Earl,* both of which give a random item.

## Computers and technology

### Microsoft

* The BSODA item, as well as its name and slogan, reference the Blue Screen of Death, an error screen displayed following a fatal system error in most versions of Microsoft Windows.
* The Gravity Chaos event and the Map in *Baldi's Basics Plus* are likely inspired by Windows 95's 3D Maze screensaver.

## Products, food, and drinks

### Kirkland Signature protein bar

* The Energy Flavored Zesty Bar's sprite is a dithered version of a Kirkland Signature protein bar.

### Libman Precision Angle Broom

* Gotta Sweep's design is based on Libman Precision Angle Broom. The previous design was almost same as the original, but the bristles' color was changed in the current one to avoid legal issues.

### WD-40

* WD-NoSquee's name and design are inspired by WD-40. It is even internally called `Wd40`. (`WD-3D` in *Classic* and *Birthday Bash*)

## Social media

### PilotRedSun

* It's a Bully's "*I'm gonna take your candy...*" line is a direct reference to PilotRedSun's "preschool bully" video.
* Although unconfirmed, Playtime's appearance, even the eyes and hair, has a very similar style to PilotRedSun's.
* Gotta Sweep's design was originally supposed to be `0th Prize`'s, which mystman12 tried to draw with a similar style to PilotRedSun's.

## Cartoons/Animation

### *Family Guy*

* After entering a room with a shrink machine in Baldi's Basement before completing NULL Style, there is a white outlined Baldi in the book room. His pose resembles Peter Griffin's recurring "hurt/death pose" meme in the animated sitcom *Family Guy*.

### *Homestar Runner*

* One of the chalkboards in *Baldi's Basics Classic*/*Birthday Bash* says "*Look! A HomestarRunner Reference!*".
* The name of "Runner Star Home", a music track used for the Kickstarter promotion video, is also a reference to the series.
* The voice of Gotta Sweep, in addition to Joe's voice, is inspired by the "Powered By The Cheat" version of Bubs, a character in the webseries.

### *The Amazing World of Gumball*

* Principal of the Thing's whistle is inspired by Banana Joe's whistle in one scene from the episode "The Banana".
* Both *The Amazing World of Gumball* and *Baldi's Basics* share an approach of making characters from different styles, such as drawn or 3D characters.
* Arts and Crafters' design was based on Sussie from this cartoon.

### *Two More Eggs*

* *Two More Eggs*' *CGI Palz* series was a big inspiration for the *Baldi's Basics* series.

### Warner Bros.

* The Portal Poster's slapping sound, number balloon's popping sound, all sound effects from field trips, and the Shrink machine's noise originated from sound libraries used in cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. These sounds have also been used in many other cartoons as well.

## Music

### Nursery rhymes

* A-Tisket, A-Tasket seems to be a combination of some nursery rhymes, "Ring a Ring o' Roses", "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", and "It's Raining, It's Pouring". The name "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" is directly coming from one of the nursery rhymes used on this track.
	+ Additionally, Party Time is vaguely based on the "Happy Birthday to You" song.
* A part of the 99 soundtrack appears to be a parody of "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

## References

1. ↑ "*There’s an old game I’ve seen footage of called 3D Dinosaur: Save the Dinosaurs, where you have to wander around a 3D map finding dinosaurs or something. Anyways, that game has a graphics style similar to Baldi’s Basics in a lot of ways. For example, it’s incredibly inconsistent. You’ve got wall and floor textures that vary from solid colors to photo realistic. There are billboarding, photo-realistic bugs and dinosaurs, but then cartoony portraits of dinosaurs on the wall. The inconsistency in graphics style and the low quality of it all makes the game just feel off and unsettling, at least to me,*" - How Baldi's Basics taps into the real horror of '90s edutainment
2. ↑ "*As for the audio, that came from a ROM corruption of Donkey Kong Country 2 I made. I probably still have the corruption saved somewhere but I'd probably have to do a lot of digging to find it.*" - mystman12. June 24, 2023. Instagram
3. ↑ "*Thank you for changing my life.*" - mystman12. September 9, 2023. Twitter
4. ↑ "*The 1st game in this is exactly the sort of #BaldisBasics inspiration I needed! Sometimes I forget how bad cheap licensed games really were. Vids like this keep me from losing sight of the sort of hilariously bad/unintentionally terrifying things Baldi's Basics Plus needs in it.*" - mystman12. October 2, 2020. Twitter
5. ↑ "*Now that I think about it I remember now that the idea for Arts and Crafters was inspired by Sussie from the Amazing World of Gumball.*" - mystman12. June 24, 2023. Instagram
6. ↑ "*Y'know I don't think I've mentioned it much, but it should go without saying that CGI Palz was a very big inspiration for Baldi's Basics. Two More Eggs was great, but the CGI Palz shorts in particular lined up with my sense of humor perfectly!*" - mystman12. July 28, 2023. Twitter
7. ↑ "*If the similarities to Baldi's Basics aren't already obvious enough: https://youtube.com/watch?v=doEzLV… The Brothers Chaps were making crusty edutainment parodies well before anyone else did lol.*" - mystman12. July 28, 2023. Twitter