List of References

All mods in the Xyrinfe Shadow Project, much like many other game mods may have a few cultural references (and in-jokes) that some people may recognize. Some of these references may be minor, though some tend to make their way into the gameplay.

## References in Cibryll/RKS's own mods

### References in Lunar Shadow

#### **Castlevania**

* Castlevania gets the most references in this mod, starting from the mod's gameplay style. The basic premise is that the main character (The Belmonts/Serenity Horton) spends the game in a castle (Dracula's Castle/Lunar Soul Castle) on a quest to defeat it's master(Dracula/Aidan Flamberge) to save their world.
* Kim's confirmation that the Lunar Soul is a living being references how in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, it was established that it's true final boss Chaos was the source of Dracula's power and the living embodiment of his castle.
* Out of all the lines Kim could have referenced, she references the ending of Dracula's infamous speech from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night twice. The first is through an NPC in the Laboratory's Warp room and the second time is during the final boss's speech (which is all references, annoyingly enough).
* One of Serenity's abilities the Acidic Bubble is reference to one of Charlotte Aulin's spells from Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. The best part? Both of them have the exact same name.
* The final area in the Castle uses Vampire Killer as it's theme.

#### **Aeonian Legacy**

* The game's main villain (Aidan Flamberge) and his sister Alexis are based off of Aidan (formerly Ashen) and Alexis, two people who were associated with "Kim". The former in particular was an abusive ex-bodyfriend of "Kim" though "Kim", Aidan and Alexis were all sockpuppets (with "Kim" being an impersonation of RKS, one of Cibryll's girlfriends.) of Cibryll.
* Selena Daria van der Merwe, a character originating from Shane's Hope of Shané: Frost reappears here, still obsessed with rainbows as before.
* Ginny Anderson, a character from Shane's The Battle reappears in this game in a series of novels referencing the Harry Potter Series.
* One of the NPCs in the entrance expresses exasperation at nobody knowing what a Glorphian is. Glorphians were enemies who appeared in Dragon Riders and Hope of Shane: FROST.
* Two NPCs are actually main characters from Vion Ierra, an unreleased mod created by Shane (aka Cibryll).
* The Karjamian Domain gets a few references too. If Alexis dies, Serenity will mention something about a "purple car jam", a reference to one of it's main character Purple Karjam. It's antagonist Nega Lime Karjam is referenced during the fight with Cheriza du Blaze when she talks about the World of Crystal.

#### **Other**

* Two NPCs in the Myst Zone's maze are called Terra and Aqua, a reference to two of the main characters from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
* When Aidan gets into the Death Orb Mk: II (itself a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog's Death Egg), the mech references the Dalek's iconic catchphrase ("EXTERMINATE").
* Grialdyn's dying dialogue contains a reference to Chzo Mythos ("father why").
* Shori's pre-battle dialogue paraphrases Ballos's own pre-battle dialogue and her heterochromia is red and white like his.
* Before the final boss fight, Tranquility briefly references Earthbound with the line "You cannot grasp the true form of his plans for Newerth's future", a paraphrasing of "You cannot grasp the true form of Gigya's attack".
* The intro and the Kalifa costume are references to the anime One Piece.
* Several of the tiles reused from Curse of Il'andriel are a reference to the game La-Mulana which was one of Cibryll (aka Shane)'s favourite games.
* Xyz's name is a reference to the *Yu-Gi-Oh!* franchise, namely *Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL* which introduced Xyz Summoning. It's Limited Gear Works attack is a reference to the Unlimited Blade Works which originated in Fate/stay night.

### References in Selenic Shadow

#### **Undertale**

* This mod has several references to Undertale: Two of the game's battle themes (Megalovania and Spear of Justice) appear as musical tracks.
* The Chakram's weapon description and first boss Ichi references Sans' pre-battle dialogue (on Undertale's Genocide route), the latter even having Megalovania playing during his battle. Despite what one would assume, the next boss San doesn't reference Sans at all.

#### **Aeonian Legacy**

* Phoenix Flower Dragons and Interstice Lamias are mentioned, which is a reference to their creator Bloom Seymour, the younger sister of Ariana Seymour and one of Cibryll's many sockpuppets.
* Hiranya's dialogue mentions that she was created by Mik Otnaryt, Retaksafla, Reverofiretp, Atir, Eknaid and Anaira which spelt backwards are "Kim Tyranto", Alfasketer, Pteriforever, "Rita", "Dianke" and "Ariana" (the latter three being Cibryll's sockpuppets) Those names were most likely added in as references, with AuroraDash and Alfasketer having served as Beta Testers for Lunar Shadow.
* The Hopey Tree gets referenced in Evan O Neil's dialogue, the Hopey Treebeing something that originated from the TV Tropes forums. "Shane" is one of many tropers "adopted" by HopelessInGuy.
* The Ringabel pun Evan mentions is a reference to King of Despair, a member of Vresun Ciraian Ruins along with Kim Tyranto. The pun in question references Ringabel, one of the main characters from Bravely Default (who has amnesia of his actual identity Alternis Dim)and the old phrase "rings a bell" an idiom for recalling something familiar.

### References in Apocalyptic Shadow

#### **Lunar Shadow**

* Serenity Horton, and her sister Ilina Horton make cameo appearances somewhere as statues.

#### **Aeonian Legacy**

* The mod was partially inspired by Apocalyptic Wind Tower, a RP game created by AuroraDash (creator of the Solar Shadow fan-games).
* In addition, one of the characters from that RP Sonia Routen would've making an appearance as a minor NPC.
* The Starflower is a minor item that would've appearing in a side quest; a similar thing had happened in Shane's Hope of Shané: Frost.
* Kim Ethnarch was based off of "Kim Tyranto" (actually Cibryll)'s mental state during the two years she had been absent from the internet.

## References in AuroraDash's games.

### References in Solar Shadow

* One of the rocks in the second area can give the text "Ask, sooner, mute stone or voiceless rock to speak", which references the classic book *The High King* by Lloyd Alexander, where it is a prophecy produced by a magic pig and hints to the location of the magic sword Dyrnwyn. Interestingly, this is not the only reference to that book in the Lunar Shadow Project expanded universe -- Dyrnwyn existed on Newerth as one of the legendary weapons of the Eight Heroes, although it is not known if it still exists in the present day.
* The Diabolical Ending was inspired by the game 7 minutes, developed by Tuuka Virtanen.

### References in Solar Shadow 2

* Genocide City is similarly named after an unused area in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
* During her entrapment in Ice Prison, Eron's dialogue references Cave Story with this line: " I pray for your victory."

### **Lunar Shadow**

* Two of the bad endings require you to turn left at the start of the game, allowing the main antagonist to continue their plans opposed, much like the beginning of Lunar Shadow.
* During the Magic School, the player can find a high ledge containing the final upgrade for the Kleure. A nearby note states that it can only be accessed by flight, much like some secrets in Lunar Shadow that could only be accessed with the Valkyrie Wings.
* If the player makes it to Eron during Bad Heart Mode, her dialogue changes to her Lunar Shadow dialogue instead: " I have nothing to say to you."

* Upon first meeting Andrea in Genocide City, Selena's dialogue includes the following:
	+ Selena: They were trying to find a way to turn humans into humans and monsters into monsters.
	+ Selena: Wait, no, that's not what I meant.

* This references some of her dialogue from the original Lunar Shadow:
	+ Selena: I hear Valkyrie used to be human, before she was poisoned and turned into a human.
	+ Selena: Er. Mecha. She used to be human before she was turned into a mecha. Sorry.

### References in Solar Shadow 4

* AuroraDash confirmed that the entire game was based off Rockit, and even included the original game with it.

### **References in Misery of Magic**

* Milo was originally intended to be a character in the Misery Project expanded universe, and his name "of Redwater" reflects that -- the Redwater foxes are generally reclusive and physically weak and like to practice inbreeding. Milo was never planned to appear in Misery of Magic, however, because that version of the character would have never left Earth.
* The sky in Nicotine City is green due to air pollution. This is also a Misery of Magic reference -- it mirrors what happened to the Domain of Magic, as Hunter Nix explains if you talk to him at the Remnant Verandah:
	+ Hunter: The sky used to be different, but it turned green because of climate change.
	+ Hunter: At least, I think that's what happened. Oh well, who cares~

Accordingly, the title screen and the background of World 4 of Solar Shadow 4 are visually similar to Misery of Magic's Nocturnal Heaven.

## References in King (2.0)'s Mods/Games

### References in Gun

#### **Final Fantasy**

* The "Hardtype" name for the harder paths seen in Gun v3 and onward is a reference to how the original Final Fantasy IV was labelled "Hardtype" due to it being more difficult than the US version/"Easytype" version.
* The name of the SuperWeapon and it's status as a tough post-game boss references a recurring superboss from the series: Omega.

#### **Kirby**

* The Taboo Zone visually references Kirby's Dream Land 3 with it's background. It also used both Hyper Zone themes in Gun v1/v2, with Hyper Zone 1 being used for the level itself and Hyper Zone 2 as the Taboo's battle theme.
* The Taboo themselves are a reference to the Dark Matter in that both of them are cycloptic beings who intend to spread their evil influence and possess others. The fight with Taboo-Ga is a homage to Zero, the final boss of Kirby's Dreamland 3.
* The Mechanto Arena and Mechanto Arena X both reference how in Kirby Super Star Ultra and every main game after, there's a boss rush mode where you have to fight either all the main story bosses or the optional bosses with a "Soul" boss at the end. Much like said modes, the boss arenas even have their own unique boss themes.

#### **Lunar Shadow**

* The wardrobe system seen in Gun is an improved version of the one seen in Lunar Shadow. Instead of multiple doors, it simply used a singular door with multiple prompts to change costume. That was to the case until it was realized that the system didn't work with Cave Story's Yes/No text boxes, meaning that LS's wardrobe system had to be used with some improvements (i.e a logo above each door showing the appearance of each costume)

* Healing Save Points were actually implemented in a test version of Gun v3 to replace the Healing Box/Save Point combo in Gun v1/v2. Their healing property was removed when it was pointed out that they made the mod far too easy. In Lunar Shadow (and some of Shane's mods), the Save Points also healed the player though they were far more spread out.

**Shin Megami Tensei**

* The main character Gunnoid-0's design is heavily inspired by the Demifiend (the main character of Shin Megami Tensei III: Lucifer's Call).
* Ending 02 is a reference to the True Demon Ending from Shin Megami Tensei III: Lucifer's Call.

#### **Aeonian Legacy**

* The mod itself takes place in the Dragon Riders universe with humans being referred to as Surfacians much like in Dragon Riders Continuity Epsilon.
* One of the characters Sur derives his name from Surfacian when during a playtest, Wayne had thought that Sur was an actual character due to Taboo-Me's post boss dialogue being written incorrectly. As a result of this, King (2.0) decided to make Sur an actual character whose purpose was to add to the Taboo Zone's lore.
* One of the EX bosses is based off the idea of having "Rose Gold" bosses for a potential Lunar Shadow RPG.

#### **Other**

* Ending 04: Anticharged Suicide is a reference to one glitch during Gun v1's development, it was found that placing #34 as the Event number of the bed instead of #19 causes it to kill you when you interact with it.
* The basic premise of Gun (you play as a robot and collect Keycards to open doors in colour themed sectors) is actually a re-imagining of Mechanto Sector, a game idea that King (2.0) created as part of the Games Design course he took in college.
* The bosses War Machine, Diamond Dogs and Big Boy are all named after lyrics from the songs 99 Red Balloons [Nena], Diamond Dogs [David Bowie] and I'm Not in Love [10CC] Their stages prior to Gun v3 and onwards even used said themes for the stages before being changed.
* The mod itself references colour theory in that the Training Sector stages are all primary colours, the Deep Sector stages are all secondary colours and the Deeper Sector stages are all tertiary colours. This is further reinforced with most of the costumes referencing colour in photography in some way (i.e Monochrome, Sepia, Monocolour, Inverted).
* The entire premise of Gun was reused from a college project King (2.0) created called Mechanto Sector. Much like that game, it's sectors are named after colours and has "Inverted" levels, a bonus level with a pink colour scheme (Taboo Zone/Chaos Realm), and main character is a robot who has multiple weapons. One of the unlockable characters was the main character from that project.
* One of the optional late-game areas after defeating a late game boss is called The Longest Shortcut, referencing a level in Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc.

## Images

**Story Elements** Castle Master • Elements • Taint of the Hortons • Timelines

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