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Ready Player One Movie Easter Eggs

I've seen a few articles that have a list of “all the Easter Eggs” but none of them are even close. This is an ongoing attempt at cataloging as many as possible. Nearly every scene taking place in the Oasis is 99% full of references, especially the opening scenes but some are too blurry to see or I just can't figure out who/what it is. Let me know if anyone finds anything I missed.

Opening Scene (lots of references to fill in here)

  • Song: Jump by Van Halen from 1984, 1984
  • In Wade's hideout there's a Nintendo lunchbox (haven't managed to catch the game)
  • There's also a crushed Carl's Jr cup
  • There's a bunch of stickers near these but I've only made out the GSS sticker so far
  • Entering the Oasis, we first see Minecraft World after the long shot of a bunch of worlds
  • Uncle Henry and Auntie Em's house from The Wizard of Oz, 1939, directed by Victor Flemming, is flying around in Hurricane Hang Gliding
  • Batman, from the 1989 movie of the same name, directed by Tim Burton, seen climbing on Mount Everest
  • Planet Ludis flashes by, a reference from the book which is otherwise almost completely absent from the movie
  • Wolfman, The Wolfman, 2010. I say this version because of what he's wearing
  • A girl in a white and (grey? blue?) striped dress changes into The Flash, DC Comics
  • Ray Harryhausen Cyclops from the 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 1958, directed by Nathan H. Juran
  • Borg? (off to the left of the cyclops)
  • BattleToads?
  • RoboCop from the movie of the same name, 1987, directed by Paul Verhoeven
  • Marvin the Martian from the Looney Tunes cartoons
  • World of Warcraft orc?
  • Sonic the Hedgehog from the Sega video games is lining up for the gate
  • Tracer from Overwatch video game from Blizzard
  • Grandma from Looney Tunes?
  • Possibly Nightwing from DC Comics
  • Hello Kitty, Badte-Maru, and Keroppi running along behind and to the left of Parzival
  • Parzival's holster is a Han Solo holster with a Thundercats logo on the buckle
  • Attikus from the video game Battleborn walking away from the camera POV
  • Protoss zealot on the left, all gold, Starcraft video game from Blizzard, walking with what looks like an IOI agent
  • There's a guy in all black with a black fedora and huge gold chain around his neck walking away from the camera - this is the first time we see him but he shows up a lot. who?
  • First zooming in on Planet Doom, there is a huge clash of two armies with giant scorpions coming from the left (Clash of the Titans?) and men mounted on ostriches coming from the right similar to the video game Joust
  • Aech's gun seems to be an MA5B Assault Rifle from HALO, the video game
  • Freddy Kruger, from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, first onscreen kill by Aech
  • Second kill by Aech is ???
  • Third kill by Aech almost looks like Man-Bat, DC Comics
  • Duke Nukem from the video game franchise
  • Some kind of Emoji-faced guy (the face keeps changing)
  • Zergling, Starcraft video game from Blizzard
  • Aech grabs an EM-1 Rail Gun from Eraser, 1996, directed by Chuck Russell
  • Scorpion?, Mortal Kombat from Midway Games, killed by Daito
  • Skeletons climbing the hill reminiscent of Harryhousen movies or Army of Darkness
  • Blob?, from Marvel Comics
  • Hydralisk, Starcraft
  • Vegeta?, Dragon Ball Z anime
  • Stars and Stripes Raynor from Starcraft Heroes of the Storm video game
  • The robot Raynor shoots (the mom in the bathrobe's avatar) almost looks like a modified Marquis from the Battleborn video game
  • Posters on the wall behind the girl: Donkey Kong Jr, Bangles album All Over the Place, one next to it and a few above the window I'm missing
  • A blue Carebear (can't see which)
  • Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies
  • Song: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears from Songs from the Big Chair, 1985
  • Donatello and Leonardo on the left, looks like the 2014 and 2016 movie versions of TMNT
  • World of Warcraft female orc?
  • Behind the orc, there's someone wearing normal clothes but has a silver mask and helmet on that looks very familiar but I haven't yet figured out why
  • Doc Brown, back from the future outfit, Back to the Future, 1985
  • Movie note: 1972 is the mint date on the quarter in focus on Halliday's right eye and is also Halliday's birthday. The quarters in the book were minted in 1984 but no reason is given for this date.
  • In the funeral scene, Halliday is wearing a Simon electronic game pin on his lapel
  • Halliday's funeral is a Star Trek themed funeral
  • Halliday's casket is a MkII photon torpedo from Star Trek II which is draped with a flag of the Federation of Planets similar to how Spock's casket appeared at the end of the same movie.
  • Halliday sits up in his casket to a creepy music bite - this seems to mimic Dracula sitting up in his coffin in the old Beli Lugosi Dracula movies but I can't find a reference

Liberty Island Race

  • Song: I Hate Myself for Loving You by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts from Up Your Alley, 1988
  • Max Rockatansky's Ford Falcon XB Interceptor GT from Mad Max, 1979 directed by George Miller
  • Batman 60s TV series customized Ford Lincoln Futura convertible from the 1960s Batman TV show
  • Daito is driving Speed Racer's Mach Five from the Mach Go! Go! Go! (Speed Racer) anime
  • Ryu from the Street Fighter video games
  • Red 1958 Plymouth Fury from Christine, 1983, directed by John Carpenter adapted from the book written by Stephen King
  • Possibly Lara Croft from Tomb Raider video games talking to possibly Dizzy Wallin from the Gears of War video games
  • In the Halliday scholars scene, there's two guys around a table of a bunch of comics but they're too blurry to make out
  • In the same scene, the camera goes past the next table and behind it, on a large light box or monitor, is a blown up page from a comic. I get the impression it was Morituri but again, not enough detail to tell
  • Movie note: Nolan is such a dick, his tie has “NS IOI” on it, his name and his company
  • Aech's truck is a modified Bigfoot 3 (the monster truck) from 1984
  • There's Something About Mary, 1998, directed by the Farrelly brothers
  • Parzival's car is the original (pre-future mods) Delorian time machine from Back to the Future (“with working Flux Capacitor”) but has KITT's “eye” on the front, mentioned in the book, only seen in the movie, from Knight Rider, the 1982 TV show
  • Art3mis' motorcycle is Kaneda's bike from AKIRA with Hello Kitty, Wonder Woman, The Greatest American Hero, “No IOI”, OASIS, Atari, Ms. Pac-Man stickers on it.
  • We see another Forumla One racecar but with a different paint scheme - this one almost reminds me of the car Alex Furlong drove at the beginning of Freejack, 1992, directed by Geoff Murphy
  • I've seen suggestions that the Formula One race cars are from Pole Position video games but the color schemes are similar but not the same from what I've been able to find
  • Highway signs for FDR Drive and Central Park flash by
  • The A-Team's van from the A-Team 1983 TV show
  • The semi that comes from a side street and blocks the race is The Porkchop Express, Jack Burton's rig from Big Trouble in Little China, 1986, directed by John Carpenter
  • Ratner's kosher dairy restaurant flashes by, open in real life from 1905 to 2004
  • A billboard with “Nolstalgia” is seen briefly on the side of a building after Art3mis slides under the Porkchop Express; while the font of the word is different, the N appears to be the same as the N in the logo of the Nostalgia by Veidt perfume in the Watchmen comic series
  • The dates on Parzival's Delorian's time circuit are: Oct 26, 1985; Feb 11, 2045; Nov 12 1955. The first and third dates are from times that Doc Brown punches into the time circuit when showing it to Marty in Back to the Future. The second date “…tells you where you are…” which is the present, in-movie date. Of note, the first date shows where you're going and the third shows where you were so the circuits are set to show that the Delorian last came from 1955 and is set to go to 1985.
  • National Video Center, NY office of a video production company
  • Movie marquee advertises the movie “Schwarzenegger Jack Slater III” which is the in-movie fictional hero in Last Action Hero, 1993, directed by John McTiernan
  • In Chinatown, we find the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park
  • Kong is hanging onto the top of the Empire State Building, classic scene from many of the older King Kong movies, while being buzzed by planes
  • Delta City sign, a billboard advertisement for the futuristic city to replace Detroit in Robocop
  • The Silvercup Studios sign - references are numerous
  • Acme Chemicals, Batman, 1989, directed by Tim Burton

Aech's workshop

  • Pee-wee's bike from Pee-wee's Big Adventure, 1985, directed by Tim Burton
  • Iron Giant from the movie of the same name, 1999, directed by Brad Bird
  • A Cylon Raider hanging above the door from Battlestar Galactica 1978 TV show
  • The Galactica from Battlestar Galactica 1978 TV show
  • Viper Mark II fighter jet from Battlestar Galactica 1978 TV show
  • Thunderfighter from the Buck Rodgers 1979 TV show
  • USS Sulaco from Aliens, 1986, directed by James Cameron
  • Valley Forge from Silent Running, 1972, directed by Douglas Trumbull
  • The TARDIS (anyone need the reference?)
  • Parzival mentions a Harkonnen dropship that can fold space from Dune. We don't see it so I have to assume its from the movie Dune, 1984, directed by David Lynch
  • Incipio, the planet, only mentioned here in the movie. In the book, it is the planet where all new avatars are created and first connect.
  • Arrakis, desert planet. The eponymous Dune planet of the novel and movie of the same name
  • Eagle-5, Lone Starr's RV spaceship from Spaceballs, 1987, directed by Mel Brooks
  • ED-209, Robocop, 1987, directed by Paul Verhoeven
  • The EVA pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968, directed by Stanley Kubrick
  • The Swordfish II from Cowboy Bepop TV anime series
  • A full size Viper starfighter from Battlestar Galactica 1978 TV show
  • Cameron's dad's 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986, directed by John Hughes
  • Goldeneye, a 1997 video game from Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 platform
  • Hot Pockets, a microwavable gut bomb
  • A quote from the movie Superman, 1978, directed by Richard Donner
  • Art3mis calls Parzival “McFly” before she disconnects, another reference to Back to the Future

Halliday Journals

  • Song: Faith by George Michael from the album of the same name, 1987
  • The second memory has a variety of items on the floor: a Batman action figure; Simon, the electronic game; Connect Four board game; an Atari 2600; a Marvin the Martian figure; a Merlin electronic game; various 2600 game cartrigdges
  • Galaga poster on the wall of the cafeteria
  • Halliday wearing a Space Invaders t-shirt
  • Parzival wears black Canvas Hightops sneakers
  • I can't find a reference for the sword on the back of Parzival's denim vest - possibly just a reference to his namesake knight?
  • Halliday says “Bill and Ted did it” referring to the main characters' time traveling adventures from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, 1989, directed by Stephen Herek
  • Wade is wearing a t-shirt with a map of Camelot printed on it, another reference to his avatar's namesake

Second Race

  • The Finish Line turns out to be a modified Bethesda Terrace with the Angel of the Waters statue and fountain located, in real life, at the northern end of Central Park
  • Anorak calls Parzival “padawan.” A padawan is a Jedi in training and is used throughout the Star Wars franchise but first heard in The Phantom Menace, 1999, directed by George Lucas
  • Sho is driving a black Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit, 1977, directed by Hal Needham

Board Meeting

  • When talking about “Pure O2,” IOI's advertising overlaid on a user's field of vision, we see a scene from Planet Doom again but the figures are too small to make out. It also seems to be the same scene that we saw before but I still need to do a better comparison of them

Shopping After the Race

  • Song: Stand on It by Bruce Springsteen, B-side of Glory Days, 1985
  • Street Fighter with a Ryu avatar example
  • Overwatch booth
  • HALO booth
  • Borderlands booth
  • Dungeons & Dragons booth
  • The Holy Hand Grenade from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975, directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
  • Zemeckis Cube: this one is a twofer: Robert Zemeckis wrote and directed Back to the Future and was involved in the story and directed the other two movies in that series. The Cube is a reference to the original Rubik's Cube, a 3D puzzle cube created by Ernő Rubik and released in 1980

Meeting with I-R0k

  • Movie note: Sorrento's password, “B055man69” or “bossman69” is leet speak. What a douche.
  • As Sorrento's avatar steps through the portal, we see a crashed Martian ship from War of the Worlds, 1953, directed by Byron Haskin, based on the novel of the same name, 1897, written by H.G. Wells. The noise it's making is also from that movie
  • Sorrento's avatar seems to be built on Superman down to the curl of hair on his forehead
  • Perseus' shield from Clash of the Titans, 1981, directed by Desmond Davis
  • I-R0k says “I knew him well, Sorrento” after picking up the Steampunk Pirate King's skull which is a (mangled) reference to the quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1
  • The box holding the Orb of Osuvox is the box Gizmo came in from Gremlins, 1984, directed by Joe Dante
  • The Orb of Osuvox is a icosahedron similar to a 20-sided dice popular in role playing games
  • I-R0k refers to the old Tootsie Pop commercial with the owl

Wade's hideout

  • Numerous articles from real newspapers and magazines - not sure if there's anything interesting in them
  • A taped piece of paper amoung the articles of the layout of sectors of the OASIS with some notes
  • Nintendo Light Gun on the wall
  • Next to Karen Underwood's obituary is a paper with notes about what might be the opening car race? Notes say: Set in New York - Ghostbusters - Big (crossed out) - Mad Max - Cannonball Run - Escape from New York (highlighted) - King Kong - See No Evil - Back to the Future (maybe?)

Back to the Halliday Journals

  • Song: One Way or Another by Blondie from Parallel Lines, 1978
  • Batman from Batman: Arkham Knight PC game from Rocksteady Studios, 2015
  • Beetlejuice from the movie of the same name, 1988, directed by Tim Burton
  • The Emoji-faced guy that was killed on Planet Doom is back
  • Injustice Supergirl
  • Robot from I,Robot?
  • Goro from Mortal Kombat video game franchise
  • Laura Croft from the Tomb Raider video games
  • Batgirl
  • Chestburster alien from Alien, 1979, directed by Ridley Scott
  • Clark Kent, secret identity of Superman; it's a reference to the dubious premise that he takes off the Superman suit and puts on glasses and no one recognizes him
  • Miko from Battleborn video games
  • Appears to be Billy Idol's album Don't Stop from 1981 next to Halliday's computer
  • All computers appear to be from Dell
  • Movie note: they talk about Karen/Kira like they just met her but in the book, she was a really close friend of theirs since high school
  • “Kira's the rosebud at the center of his story” is a reference to Citizen Kane, 1941, directed by Orsen Welles
  • Movie note: make note of the quarter, it pops up again, but this method of obtaining it is different than how Parzeval got it in the book
  • Movie note: The Distracted Globe, in the book, hosts The Great and Powerful Og's birthday bash

Aech's Basement

  • Cocktails & Dreams neon sign from the bar in Cocktails, 1988, directed by Roger Donaldson
  • “Save Ferris” sticker from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986, directed by John Hughes
  • Some kind of racing track near the stairs - the orange color of the track makes me think it's Hot Wheels
  • There's a table version of a video game at the forward edge of Aech's den's platform but I can't see what game it is
  • Lava Lamp on the shelf holding the stereo equipment
  • The blue lit, padded bar seems to be familiar
  • Stack of magazines on the floor but it doesn't look like the Starlog logo - the one clear cover we see has a floppy disk on it
  • Emulator II sampling syth from E-mu Systems, popular in the 1980s
  • Poster of Beastmaster on the wall next to the mirror
  • Parzival is first wearing what kind of looks like Prince's Purple Rain outfit (but with white pants)
  • Poster of Wil Wheaton that looks just like the Mayor Goldie Wilson poster - maybe a campaign poster for his position on the Oasis Player Board (need to look up reference)
  • Poster of Mad Max below Wil
  • Poster of Big Trouble in Little China closer to the bar
  • Parzival switches to Michael Jackson's red leather outfit from Thriller and does a couple steps of the zombie dance from the video
  • Space Invaders stickers on the post
  • Red/pink Mattel hoverboard from Back to the Future II and III
  • “Re-Elect Mayor 'Goldie' Wilson” poster from Back to the Future
  • Parzival switches to the outfit Duran Duran's Simon le Bon wore in their Rio photoshoot
  • Parzival settles on the suit Buckaroo Banzai wears in the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, 1984, directed by W.D. Richter
  • Poster on the wall of The Fly, 1986, directed by David Cronenberg
  • Movie note: the stairs seem to be an homage to the entrance to Aech's Lair from the book since we've already seen the main entrance is on the ground floor

Distracted Globe

  • Song: Blue Monday by New Order
  • Lambda Class T-4a Imperial Shuttle from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back and others
  • UD-4 Cheyenne Dropship from Aliens
  • The Serenity space ship from the Firefly TV show and movie
  • The bartender is wearing a Devo hat
  • Harley Quinn Arkhamverse version
  • A Deadite hanging out in one of the booths
  • Song: Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees
  • Music and dancing a reference to either Saturday Night Fever, 1977 or Staying Alive, 1983 - I need to watch both to see which the dancing comes from
  • Tracer from Overwatch again
  • Blastoise? Pokemon
  • Joker and Harley Quinn
  • Ate3mis' rifle is an Armat M41A Pulse rifle from Aliens, 1986, directed by James Cameron
  • When Parzival throws the Zemeckis Cube, a riff from Back to the Future plays

Interview with Nolan Sorrento

  • Possible reference to MadBalls toys by Chromy
  • Defender was a video arcade game from Williams Electronics, 1981
  • The Millennium Falcon from … does this one really need to be explained?
  • John Hughes directed many of the 80s teen adventure movies
  • A reference to the schools on Ludis, again, a major plot in the books, barely in the movie
  • Ridgemont refers to Fast Times at Ridgemont High directed by Amy Heckerling, 1982
  • Faber is the college from National Lampoon's Animal House directed by John Landis, 1978
  • Shermer High School is the high school in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986 and The Breakfast Club, 1985, both directed by John Hughes
  • TAB soda, the first diet soda produced by the Coca-Cola Company in 1963 and discontinued in 2020
  • Robotron:2084 was a video arcade game from Williams Electronics, 1982
  • Duran Duran the band from the 80s

Back to the Journal and the Shining

  • Movie box: The Fly, 1986, directed by David Cronenberg, adapted from the short story, 1957, written by George Langelaan and the movie, 1958, directed by Kurt Neumann (both of the same name)
  • Movie box: Say Anything, 1989, written and directed by Cameron Crowe
  • Movie box: The Shining, 1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick, adapted from a Stephen King novel of the same name
  • Movie box: Firestarter, 1984, directed by Mark L. Lester
  • The next scenes happen in a recreation of the Overlook Hotel scenes from The Shining
  • When they enter, the eerie organ music from the movie theme is playing
  • Movie note: the group picture on the wall in the hall have Halliday and Karen in it instead of Jack Torrance as seen at the end of the movie

On the Run

  • The patches on Helen's jacket: Battlestar Galactica, Wonder Woman, ThunderCats, The Last Starfighter, Dead Kennedys, Rocky Horror Picture Show,

End scenes

Strap in, this one will be long…

  • Atari 2600 from Atari, released in 1977, probably one of the most popular home video game consoles in the 80s
  • The spell to activate the orb is from Excalibur, 1981
  • The creature face on the back of Aech's van is from the D&D module The Tomb of Horrors. This module plays a bigger part in the book but nice to have a reference to it in the movie.

TO BE CONTINUED …

start.txt · Last modified: 2023/04/05 02:29 by wknopes