Bayonetta: a Sega/Capcom tribute

Those of you who picked up Bayonetta at the weekend (a fair old few, I’d wager, based on its no.5 position in the all-formats charts) may have noticed that the game also doubles as a tribute to Japanese software giants Sega and Capcom. Have you picked up on any references, familiar music and visual motifs from old games by the two companies? Here’s a few that we spotted…

- In one line, the character references dating Claire, Sylvia, Trish and Ammy, all characters from Resident Evil 2, Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry and Okami, respectively. Hideki Kamiya, the game’s director, worked on all four.

- In the motorcycle section into the game, a remixed version of the After Burner theme plays in the background.

- One of the later levels, where Bayonetta is riding through the sky is a blatant homage to Space Harrier.

- The dead character at the beginning of the game is called Eggman, a Sonic reference.

- At the start, Rodin hits a character into the distance like a baseball, a reference to a move in Clover’s brawler God Hand.

- Rodin mentions strapping a chainsaw to Bayonetta’s arm, a callback to Platinum’s Wii title, MadWorld.

- Music from Fantasy Zone and OutRun also crops up throughout.

Add some more, if you think you’ve spotted them. I’m not old enough to catch them all…