Ness's name is a play on SNES, and this game was released on the SNES
Although the game is set in a fictional modern-day type universe, numerous pop culture references appear.
- Numerous references to the Beatles (see the entry above)
- References to classic glam rock band T. Rex. One of Ness's weapons is called the T. Rex bat, and one of Jeff's weapons is called the Zip Gun, a reference to their album title Bolan's Zip Gun.
- The Casey Bat is a reference to the classic American folk tale, Casey At The Bat. In the story, the title character struck out. Reflecting the legend, the bat is horribly inaccurate.
- A snake being an enemy early in the game is a reference to the Biblical book of Genesis, in which a snake tempts Adam and Eve.
In the original Japanese version of the game, Ness is naked in Magicant. The American version edited this so that he appeared to have his pajamas on.
Mr. Saturn from this game appeared as a treasure in Kirby Super Star (another HAL Laboratories game), and as a weapon in the Super Smash Bros. series.
The developers added an anti-piracy measure that not only made the game very difficult, but also impossible to beat. In the pirated version, enemy encounters are more frequent than normal, which was intended as a deterrent. If a player still manages to get past them, the game will freeze near the climax and delete the saved file once the console has been reset.