The following is a list of trivia in Bully.
Movie Connections
- The costume that Jimmy Hopkins wears in the mission, Halloween, is the same costume worn on halloween by the main antagonist, Johnny Lawrence, leader of the Cobra Kais, who torments Daniel The Karate Kid.
- The Nerds passcode to the gate leading to the observatory (1138) refers to George Lucas' signature easter egg which appears in all of the films he has worked on, being a reference to his first film, THX-1138.
- The quote "I'm the daddy now." from Jimmy, may have been taken from the 1979 movie Scum.
- The clock tower is stopped at the same time as in the Back to the Future movies.
- Students make mention of the film Prom Night when discussing their own upcoming prom in Chapter 6.
- In an errand in Bullworth Town for Tobias Mason, he can be heard saying "Dude, where's my bike?" This is a reference to the movie Dude, Where's My Car?.
- Most of the cars in the game have the registration plate BDR 529, apparently drawing inspiration from the plate of the Bluesmobile in the film The Blues Brothers.
- The gates in Blue Skies Industrial Park which Russell rams during Busting In, Part I are very similar to the gates from Jurassic Park. The stronghold also resembles the stronghold in Mad Max II: Road Warrior.
- Fatty Johnson will sometimes greet fellow Nerds and students with "Hailing frequencies open", a reference to Star Trek
- Melvin O'Connor will sometimes say "'Tis only a flesh wound" when knocked out, a reference to the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- If Jimmy is knocked out during Prep Challenge, after respawning, Justin will sometimes say "Just like Rocky", a reference to the film series Rocky.
- The way the Nerds take their revenge on the Jocks in Chapter 4 is similar to the film "Revenge of the Nerds.".
- If the player is fighting Trent Northwick and decides to hide from him, Trent will say "Jimmy Hopkins, come out and plaay-aay!", a reference to the 1979 film The Warriors
- Vance Medici will sometimes say, "You're tearin' me apart" when knocked out, a line said by James Dean's character, Jim Stark, in the film Rebel Without a Cause and even maybe The Room.
- The ongoing rivalry between the Preppies and the Greasers is nearly identical to the rivalry between the Greasers and the Socs in the 1983 movie, The Outsiders.
- The character Lefty seems to be designed heavily off of the character Johnny Cade, also from The Outsiders.
- When the player knocks out Vance from the Greasers you can hear them saying the line "I could have been a contender" which is a reference to the movie On the Waterfront.
Video Gaming Connections
Rockstar Games
- The cars being worked on in the background of the Shop class are all cars from Rockstar's popular GTA franchise (Stallion and Regina).
- When in the courtyard next to Blue Skies Shipping, a static Yankee can be found. The Yankee is one of the oldest vehicles in the GTA series, and is featured in all of the 3D and HD Universe games. It also appeared in the Manhunt series.
- On very rare occasions, townspeople in New Coventry can be heard talking about someone named "Starkweather". This could be a reference to the main antagonist Lionel Starkweather in Manhunt.
- In Old Bullworth Vale, advertisements for Zip can be found, which is a clothing store from San Andreas.
- Two students, namely Lance and Vance are a likely reference to the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories & Grand Theft Auto: Vice City character Lance Vance.
- Several handling lines for vehicles in the GTA series can be found in the handling.cfg file. Presumably, they were left behind as a template for coding the handling lines of vehicles in Bully.
- Edgar, the leader of the Townies, has a tattoo reminiscient of the "Valkyr" logo from Max Payne, which was published by Rockstar.
Other
- Ray Hughes can be heard saying "They say that kids imitate characters from video games, but I have yet to become a mustached plumber", a reference to Mario from the Super Mario Bros. franchise. It also refers to the moral panic surrounding Bully before the game's release, where protesters claimed that children would imitate the game and school violence would skyrocket.
Comics Connections
- Ray Hughes references Wolverine, as one of his lines when he starts a fight is "Snkt! Let's go, bub!" Snkt is the sound effect of Wolverine's claws unsheathing. He also references Wolverine while fighting, often shouting "Berserker Barrage!"
- Ray also mentions the Avengers. When yelling for help from the prefects, he says "Avengers, assemble!"
- Ray also makes a reference to Garfield, saying that he loves Mondays.
Literature Connections
- Melvin threatens to go "snicker-snack with [his] vorpal sword" and calls people "foul bandersnatch" while fighting, both references to Lewis Caroll's Jabberwocky. The references are more apparent when he's hit in the groin, as he cries out "Right in my Jabberwocky!"
- Many Greasers quote The Outsiders. The lines "Do it for Johnny", "Johnny, a fire!", "I did it for Johnny" and "Stay gold, Ponyboy" are almost verbatim quotes. The rivalry between the Greasers and Preps also reference the rivalry in the same book. The mission featuring the all out fight between the two cliques, The Rumble, has the same name as the chapter featuring the brawl between the story's Greasers and Socs.
- Many parallels are drawn between Jimmy Hopkins and Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. For instance, both characters have been expelled from multiple schools. Jimmy also uses Holden's favourite insult, "phony", in the beginning cutscene. Also, the Lumberjack hat, which can be purchased at Worn In resembles the hat Holden is described to wear in the book.
- In the last mission Complete Mayhem, in the gym post-vandalism, in the fire around the middle a bull head on a stick can be seen. This is a likely reference to the mounted pig's head in the movie and William Golding novel Lord of the Flies.
- Ray Hughes, when conversing with other students, will sometimes say, "I love Mondays". This is a reference to the popular comic strip Garfield.
- Fatty screams "the horror, the horror" when given a swirlie, a verbatim reference to the dying words of Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.[1]
- Several characters make references to the novel Moby-Dick:
- When starting a fight, Ray sometimes quotes Ahab from , saying "To the last, I will grapple with thee!" He also quotes Ahab when knocked out, saying "From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee..."
- Fatty mutters an inverted version of this famous revenge line when knocked out.
- Pedro makes a verbatim reference to the novel's famous opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael."
Television Connections
- Sometimes when the Townie Omar Romero is knocked out, he will say "I'm coming Elizabeth.", which is a reference to 1970s sitcom, Sanford and Son.