Shout Out / Quake

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In general

• One of the quit messages refers to the king of demons Asmodeus:
  "Um, Asmodeus dislikes his children trying to quit. Press Y to return to your tinkertoys."
• The Shotgun's death message is "[Player] chewed on [Attacker]'s boomstick". The weapon itself seems to be based around a Remington 870 but with a shorter barrel.
• The Double-Barreled Shotgun looks similar to the real-life Remington 1470. It could be also based on a Sawed-Off Shotgun.
• The boxes of Nailgun and Super Nailgun ammo have the Nine Inch Nails logo on them, which makes sense, since Trent Reznor composed the music for the game. Also a good description of the boxes' contents.
• The Pentagram of Protection is the game's equivalent to the Invulnerability Sphere.
  • The Armor counter reads "666" when it is in use.
• The Ring of Shadows powerup makes you invisible and hear eerie whispers.
• The Biosuit, especially the sleeveless variant worn by Enforcers, greatly resembles Doomguy's armour, while the Laser Rifle wielded by said Enforcers looks relatively similar to the Plasma Gun from that series.
• The Ogre is inspired by Leatherface. His grenade launcher is even shaped like a hammer which is the second main weapon that Leatherface uses.
• The Vore's alternate name is Shalrath, while the Scrag enemy was the Wizard.
• The 2021 Remaster includes a bevy of new achievements, several of which have names with their own internal and external references:
  • "Machinehead" ^DescriptionComplete "Dimension of the Machine" on Nightmare in single player. is a nod to the song with the same name from Bush's 1994 album Sixteen Stone.
  • "Nevermore" ^DescriptionFind the secret exit in The Realm of Black Magic. directly quotes The Raven from Edgar Allan Poe's eponymous poem.
  • "The Shambler Dance" ^DescriptionKill a Shambler before it can cast its lightning attack., named after the strategy of baiting out a Shambler's melee attack to prevent it from performing its deadlier, hitscan lighting attack.

Main game

• Many of the levels and enemies are designed as Shout Outs to H. P. Lovecraft's works.
  • The runes you collect often assault Ranger's brain, much like Lovecraft's creatures were set to do.
  • The Fiend is similar to the Ghast. Also from the Cthulhu Mythos is the Shambler.
  • The Final Boss is called Shub-Niggurath.
  • E2M4 is named "The Ebon Fortress".
  • E3M2 is named "The Vaults of Zin".
  • Secret Level E4M8 is called "The Nameless City".
• The Episode 1 boss is called Chthon. Fittingly, his name translates to "Earth" in ancient Greek and he's the Guardian of the Rune of Earth Magic.

Scourge of Armagon

• If you're squashed by the giant Boulder in "HIP1M3: The Lost Mine" of Scourge of Armagon, the death text reads "Player You've been Jones'ed!".
• Discovering and following an alternate path to a secret area in "HIP3M1: Tur Torment" displays the message "You're not supposed to be here!". Fittingly, the map was created by Richard "The Levelord" Gray, whose iconic level design on DN3D included messages like that. The achievement for locating this message in the 2021 remaster is even the phrase verbatim.
• Secret Level "HIPDM1: The Edge of Oblivion" was inspired by Roger Dean's artwork.
• The Mjolnir hammer is a reference to the Hammer of Thor.
• The sound of the Laser Cannon firing closely resembles the firing sound of most blasters from the Star Wars series, especially the Imperial E-11 blaster rifle.
• On some bookshelves, there is a book with the face on its cover. It looks just like the Necronomicon.
• The 2021 remastered edition has an achievement for completing the expansion in Nightmare in single-player: "Scourge Done Slick", referencing Quake Done Quick, a series of collaborative speedruns and machinimas done in the original Quake.

Dissolution of Eternity

• The monsters who guard the Trial of Fire in "R2M3: Elemental Fury II" on Dissolution of Eternity are named Hephaestus.
• The Wrath enemy (and, by proxy, the Overlord) is inspired by the Disciple of d'Sparil of Heretic, with a similar appearance, magic attack, levitation, and hazardous explosion when killed.

Dimensions of the Past

• The final level and its 2021 remastered edition's achievement "The Year Zero" ^DescriptionComplete Dimensions of the Past in single player., both reference Nine Inch Nails's fifth studio album.

In general

• The Super Shotgun appears to have been inspired by the NeoStead 2000👁 Image
  , despite the latter was put in production four years after the game's release.
• The Railgun leaves a corkscrewing trail through the air exactly like those in the film Eraser
• The only female enemy of the game is a rocket-launching female cyborg called Iron Maiden.
• Another enemy, a floating creature that uses hoverpads to float, is called Icarus.

Main game

• On the commentary for the Parasite in the manual^note The Id Vault entry in the 2023 remastered edition removes the reference.:
  "The Parasite makes Cujo look like Lassie on Prozac."
• The entire mission of the game is called "Operation Alien Overlord".
• The Rousing Speech in the manual ends with this fragment:
  "With confidence in you, and with the unbending determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.".
• In the original game^note The 2023 remastered edition went back to the standard sounds, swimming in the waters of the level "Main Gate", from the Jail unit, triggers the swimming sound from Duke Nukem 3D.
• The Big Gun was inspired by The Guns of Navarone, according to a design document found in the Id Vault in the 2023 remaster.

The Reckoning

• A crashed drop pod in the "Outer Compound" level of The Reckoning contains the name Rampage, for the biggest game Xatrix Entertainment did up to that point^note After the rename to Grey Matter Interactive, they also did Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Call of Duty: United Offensive.
• A new device introduced by the expansion is the Trap, a device placed on the ground that sucks enemies into it.
• At the end of the "Industrial Facility" level, at the exit that leads to the "Refinery" level, there's a secret invulnerability that can only be accessed through rocket jumping and will vanish as the player reaches for it with the message "No prize for you Rocketman".
• Multiplayer level XDM3 is called "Reservoir Stroggs".

Ground Zero

• The pack introduces an improved version of the Icarus with extra health and a Power Shield called Daedalus.
• The Tesla item is named after Nikola Tesla.
• The Mid-Boss is an improved version of the Hornet with the added capability to summon Flyers. Its name? The Carrier.^note Unlike its namesake, though, it still retains the offensive capabilities of the Hornet and even improves on it, especially in the 2023 remastered edition.
• Multiplayer map RDM5 is named "Stone Hinge", a pun on the landmark Stonehenge.
• Multiplayer map RDM8 is named "Styx and Stones", a pun combining both River Styx and the idiom "Sticks and stones"👁 Image
  .
• Multiplayer map RDM11 is named "Dish It Out", after the "dish it out or take it"👁 Image
  idiom.
• Multiplayer map RDM12 is named "Fall from Grace", after the namesake idiom👁 Image
  .
• Multiplayer-only item Doppelganger creates a stationary decoy like the Holoduke.
• The Plasma Beam has an M60-like shroud over the barrel, much like the Plasma Rifle in Doom (1993). In function, it's essentially the Thunderbolt from Quake I, firing a continuous Hitscan beam.

2023 Remaster/Call of the Machine

• Among the multiplayer insignias, several refer to other id, Microsoft and Nightdive games, such as Age of Empires I ("Ageless"), Blood ("Caleb"), System Shock 2 ("Citadel Station") and SkiFree ("Memento Mori"), and many others. One multiplayer insignia in particular, "Grasp of Oblivion", is a reference to Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion, which has been teased👁 Image
  by Nightdive's Kaiser as the studio's next remaster.

In general

• The Grenade Launcher icon is modelled after the M67 frag grenade.
• Anarki's voice lines:
  "I feel the Need for Speed. Road trip on the cyber-highway!"
• Angel, when killed by a Railgun, drops this one:
  "Ever get the feeling you're being watched?"
• Biker seems to be modelled after "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, being a big belly, goated bald man with a jacket, resembling Austin's look during the Attitude Era.
• Bitterman's face bears a resemblance to the face of Bruce Willis.
• Bones' voice lines:
  "Into the valley of death rode the six hundred!"
  "This <player>'s Bad to the bone👁 Image
  ?"
  "I'm dead Jim."
  "It is a good day to die."
  "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
  "Is my brother Skully still hangin' around in the training level?"
• Daemia has been described as a mix of Boba Fett and Philip Marlowe.
  • Some of her chatlines:
  "I'm a pinball wizard, <player>."
  "Caramba! I've just enrolled in the WILE E. School of Stupidity."
• Mynx's bio states that she is a cross between Barb Wire and Trinity.
• Tank Jr has these chatlines:
  "You just stepped on the highway to hell, <player>."
  • After he dies because of falling damage:
  "Them Knievel boys ain't got nothin' on me."
• One of Doom's lines when killing someone with the gauntlet is "Groovy!" (also counts as a Mythology Gag to the Doom comic)

Main game

• The second level from Tier 5, "Grim Dungeons", has a statue of Jesus with His crown of thorns. It's not present in Live, but you can still hear humming from the original version where it used to be.
• The second level from Tier 6 is called "The Longest Yard".
• The fourth level from Tier 6, "Apocalypse Void", has Murray in one of the sides of one of the platforms.
• "Apocalypse Void" also features the Dust Puppy on the underside of the main platform. The egg is also present on "The Bouncy Map". It's absent in Live, though.
• The final single-player level, "The Very End of You", is named after a line from "We're In This Together" by Nine Inch Nails.

Team Arena

• One of the bots' voice taunts is "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Console ports (Revolution, Arena Arcade...)

• The map "The House Of Decay" from Team Arena was rechristened as "Blue Monday" in both the Dreamcast version and Live.
• The achievement for knocking down enemies in Quake Arena Arcade is called "This Is Stroggos!"
• The description for the map "Gantry" in the campaign of Quake Arena Arcade is "In space, everyone can hear you scream."

Quake Live

• Domination is present as a gamemode. It still involves teams taking control of points scattered across a map and high score limits.
  • Another UT addition is the Instagib mode.
• The achievement for winning a Clan Arena round by using the gauntlet is called "Punch-Out!!". Its icon is even a pair of boxing gloves.
• The achievement for accumulating 50 Humiliation^note Kills done with the Gauntlet medals is called "Fight Club". The icon of the achievement is even that of a soap, mirroring the movie's posters.

• The opening dropship cutscene seems inspired by Aliens. Rhino Squad sits down in a similar formation facing one another and is sent on a similarly dangerous mission.
• The Blaster can fire either single, extremely weak shots or more powerful charged shots like the Plasma Pistol or the Dispersion Pistol.
  • Whenever you draw the weapon, the sound it makes is similar to the Glock-18.
• An upgrade for the Rocket Launcher allows it to direct missiles by using a laser and another allows it to fire up to three rockets at the same time.
• The ultimate upgrade for the Nailgun lets you use a scope to make the nails home in on enemies, similar to the Needler from Halo.
• The grunt may be a reference to Bane, as he uses an experimental steroid to greatly increase his strength and stamina.
• The four ships transporting the EMP Bomb in Operation: Advantage is called War, Pestilence, Famine and Death.
• The appearance of post-Stroggification Kane bears a striking resemblance to Alex Murphy/RoboCop. As with Alex Murphy, Kane is separated from his backup, captured, and brutally dismembered on a limb-by-limb basis. Unlike with Alex, Kane's captors themselves turn Kane into a cyborg.
• In one of the control rooms aboard the Hannibal there is a holographic table displaying a tactical scheme of a battlefield. Three SMC squads are visible on the scheme, named Badger, Mushroom, and Snake.
• There's a multiplayer map called "Death Before Dishonor", named after the Bushido code of the Samurai.
• A later patch for multiplayer gave server admins the option to have the players buy the weapons instead of picking them.

H. P. Lovecraft

• The map "Ruins of Sarnath" is named after the Lovecraft story title "The Doom That Came To Sarnath".
• The ruler of the Elder World dimension is called Cthalha.
• The first Lore Scroll for the Dimension of the Doomed ("Commander at Slipgate, Lore Scrolls part 1") contains a mention towards Col. Montell Rice. Rice Montell is the grand nephew of Warren Rice, from The Dunwich Horror.
• The first Lore Scroll for the Realm of Black Magic ("The Wolf that Leads the Flock, Lore Scrolls part 1") contains a mention towards Pastor Paul Philips, a relative of Ward Philips from Call of Cthulhu.
• The first Lore Scroll for the Netherworld ("Music in the Darkness, Lore Scrolls part 1") contains a mention towards Samantha Dyer, the great-granddaughter of William Dyer from At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time.
• The first Lore Scroll for the Elder World ("In Search of Mu, Lore Scrolls part 1") contains a mention towards Emma Johansen, granddaughter of Gustaf Johansen, from Call of Cthulhu.

Medals and achievements

• The medal for fragging someone while your health is low is called "Die Hard".
• There are awards for getting the first frag, for killing 5 enemies without dying, and for a headshot with the Railgun called "First Blood", "Killing Spree" and "Headshot".
  • The achievement for getting 100 "Killing Spree" medals is called "Rampage". There are also awards called "Dominating"^note 50 "Rage" medals, "Unstoppable"^note 10 "Frenzy" medals and "Godlike"^note 5 "Rampage" medals. The achievement order👁 Image
    even reflects this reference.

Weapons, weapon skins and paintjobs

• Gauntlet:
  • The Organ Grinder skin shares its name with the community-run "Organ Grinder" Quake/AFPS tournament👁 Image
    .
• Machinegun:
  • The Quake IV skin for the starting Machinegun is called Citizen Kane.
• Super Shotgun:
  • Two paintjobs have the names "Ebony" and "Ivory".
  • The Doom II skin is called the Boomstick.

Champions

• Anarki:
  • One of his frag taunts is "Cowabunga!"
• Clutch:
  • He's a mining robot turned warrior with a god complex and the ability to execute ground (and air) dodges, making him an expy of Xan Kriegor.
  • He can also dash mid-air.
  • His "Drillbit" unlockable costume brings to mind Raptor.
  • One of his quotes is "This really grinds my gears".
• Nyx:
  • She has similar looks, background, and sassy attitude of Nova Terra(minus the hairdo), with both even being referred to as “Ghost”.
  • Her "Cehma" costume brings up Vela to mind.
  • One of her Ghostwalk activation lines is "Phase Shift".
• Ranger:
  • One of his Assist voice lines is "I've got no time to bleed".
• Sorlag:
  • Her "Sorg Spawn" accessory in the "Vanity" category has her, a lizard, carrying an egg on her back.
• Visor:
  • His Vanity accessory "Tentacles" turns him into Brainiac.
  • His Vanity accessories "Iron Mask" and "Scavenger" bring Predator to mind.
  • He also has an armour accessory that gives him Bane's Venom Tubes.