Final Fantasy IV: The After Years allusions

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The following is list of allusions in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

Final Fantasy series[]

Many enemies and bosses from the Final Fantasy series appear as cameos in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years in the Depths.
The characters Biggs and Wedge serve as an allusion to both the original Final Fantasy IV and the series as a whole. In Final Fantasy IV, Biggs and Wedge appear as two unnamed soldiers. From Final Fantasy VI onwards the two have been recurring character names. The names originate from Star Wars.

Death Machine is an enemy exclusive to the PSP version. It appears as a rare enemy in the Lunarians' Challenge Dungeons, and alludes to the Warmech from the original Final Fantasy, reusing its sprite.
The Four Fiends from Final Fantasy are fought as bosses in the Depths of the True Moon: Lich, Marilith, Kraken and Tiamat.

The bosses King Behemoth, Astaroth, Iron Giant and Beelzebub appear as bosses in the Depths of the True Moon, reused from Final Fantasy II.

Cerberus, Ahriman, Echidna and Twinhead Dragon appear as bosses at the Depths of the True Moon, reused from Final Fantasy III.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years alludes to its predecessor in many ways, the plot mirroring the original.

The Red Wings of Baron stealing crystals from the other kingdoms of the world alludes to the original Final Fantasy IV. In both games Baron's king is being possessed by evil forces to carry out the thefts: King of Baron in Final Fantasy IV and Cecil Harvey in The After Years.
Yang Fang Leiden's ship is swallowed by the Leviathan like in Final Fantasy IV, and Yang and his daughter, Ursula ,are found in Kaipo by Rydia's party. They wake Ursula with the ladle and knock Yang with the frying pan, mirroring a similar event in Final Fantasy IV.
Kain Highwind is again lured to the side of darkness and betrays the party. Kain overcoming his dark side to become a Holy Dragoon alludes to Cecil abandoning the ways of the Dark Knight and becoming a Paladin in Final Fantasy IV.
In the ending the True Moon leaves the Earth's orbit. Final Fantasy IV ended on a similar note.
Like Final Fantasy IV, The After Years has a Developer's Office.
The Challenge Dungeons allude to the Lunar Ruins trials from Final Fantasy IV where each party member had their own trial, like every character with a chapter has their individual challenge in the Challenge Dungeon.
Orthros drops the Kitchen Knife, Sheila's kitchen utensil from Final Fantasy IV, which can be thrown to cause 9,999 damage.
Many dirty magazines can be obtained, alluding to Final Fantasy IV where the use of this joke item originates.

Mid is the grandson of Cid Pollendina, alluding to Mid Previa from Final Fantasy V, the grandson of Cid Previa, the Cid of that game.
Gilgamesh and Atomos bosses originate from Final Fantasy V. Omega is fought as an optional superboss alluding to the Omega of Final Fantasy V, the first game where Omega was an optional superboss. Omega's "counterpart" from Final Fantasy V also appears as an optional monster-in-a-box encounter mirroring the way it was fought in Final Fantasy V: Nova Dragon.
Excalipoor is dropped by Gilgamesh after he is defeated. Despite having no use, the Excalipoor has 99% Accuracy and cannot be sold. This alludes to Final Fantasy V where Gilgamesh was looking for the legendary sword Excalibur, but only ended up with a useless knockoff.

The bosses Ghost Train, Deathgaze, Ultima Weapon and Orthros fought in the Depths of the True Moon originate from Final Fantasy VI.
- Like in Final Fantasy VI, Ghost Train fights the party in a back attack.
- Deathgaze appears as a random encounter alluding to the way it is fought in Final Fantasy VI: randomly running into it while traveling the world map on the Falcon. Deathgaze in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years will eventually run away, but his HP will remain the same unless the player leaves the floor, again alluding to the way the battle panned out Final Fantasy VI.
- Ultima Weapon drops the sword named Ultima Weapon. This alludes to Final Fantasy VI where the recurring sword Ultima Weapon first appeared, said to be a counterpart to the beast with the same name.
- Orthros speaks during battle, referring to the party as "muscle man", alluding to the line Ultros said to Sabin in Final Fantasy VI. If Edward attacks him Orthros says "Your muscles...you have none."
The party travels around the world in the Falcon with the objective of rescuing the other party members. This alludes to Final Fantasy VI, when Celes, Setzer, Edgar and Sabin travel the world in an airship called the Falcon to find the others.

The To the Moon and Back achievement may allude to the 1997 song by Savage Garden called "To the Moon & Back".

The A History of Violence achievement alludes to the 2005 movie of the same name.

The Band ability Call Me Queen is likely a throwback to a popular memetic trend among the anime and video game developer community in the mid 1990s, being the trait of a series of attacks with whips regarding Caucasian/white female characters demanding their foes call them queen after their assault. This trend originated from the character Tira Misu of the anime series Sorcerer Hunters, whose character traits were laced with BDSM innuendo; later, it was parodied by Lina Inverse in the fantasy anime series Slayers, and became the Desperation Attack super of the whip fighter Sofia of the 3D fighting game series Battle Arena Toshinden.

The Moon Phase gameplay mechanic alludes to the real life superstition of there being a correlation between specific stages of the Earth's lunar cycle and behavior in animals, including humans, that cannot simply be explained by variation in light levels.