Franchise: Guilty Gear

Potemkin was likely named after the Russian Battleship of the same name. Additionally, his attacks "Hammer Fall", "Heavenly Potemkin Buster", and "Giganter" are named after the bands Hammer Fall, Heavenly, and Gigantor, respectevely; his instant kill "Magnum Opera" is also a reference to Yngwie Malmsteen's album "Magnum Opus". Lastly, his original theme song "Burly Heart" sounds very similar to the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir".

Venom is named after the British thrash/black metal band Venom. Additionally, his attacks "Carcass Ride" and "Dark Angel" could be references to bands Carcass and Dark Angel, respectively. On a side note, his original theme "A Solicitude That Asks Nothing In Return" sounds similar to the song "Breed to Breathe" by the band Napalm Death.

Zappa is named after the self-taught composer and performer Frank Zappa. His attacked "Last Edguy" is also a reference to the band Edguy.

According to an interview, Daisuke Ishiwatari's design of Guilty Gear was inspired by the manga series Bastard!! by Kazushi Hagiwara. The game's style was chosen to appeal to fans of both video games and anime, though according to Ishiwatari, he didn't intend for it to become so popular with the anime crowd.

Arc System Works had temporarily lost the license to the Guilty Gear series to the game company Sammy. According to an interview with Daisuke Ishiwatari, it was confirmed that this only affected Guilty Gear XX's characters; They could make a new instalment using only core characters from the first two games. This also explains the existence of Guilty Gear 2: Overture, which only retains Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske, who were playable in the original game.

Paracelsus, the key-like weapon that A.B.A. wields, is voiced by Toshimichi Mori, the designer of BlazBlue.

Out of every character presently in the arcade version of Guilty Gear Xrd, Ky Kiske is the only character that retains his leitmotif from a previous game, "Holy Orders III", from Guilty Gear 2: Overture. It overrides the game's music in battle if Ky's ponytail is undone at any time during the match.

Jam Kuradoberi's name is likely a reference to Swedish pop/jazz group "Cloudberry Jam"(Kuraudoberii Jamu), who were far more popular in Japan than they were in Sweden.

Sol Badguy is partially based off of Freddie Mercury, former frontman for the rock band Queen. This includes his name as a nod to Mercury's nickname "Mr. Bad Guy," as well as his leitmotif in the games being called "Keep Yourself Alive," sharing its name with the first song from Queen's debut album. Sol's headband is also inscribed with the words "Rock You," a reference to Queen's song "We Will Rock You."

According to Sol's official bio, his main hobby is listening to Queen, and his favourite album is "Sheer Heart Attack." This may also tie in to his role as Daisuke Ishiwatari's alter ego, as Ishiwatari admits to being a fan of Queen.

Axl Low is named after Axl Rose, the frontman for rock band Guns N Roses.

Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske both have words inscribed on their belts. Sol's belt reads "FREE," while Ky's reads "HOPE." This is thought to be a reference to the lyrics in Iron Maiden's song "Revelations," which reads:

Chipp Zanuff is named after Chip Z'nuff, the bassist for the hard rock group Enuff Z'nuff.

Guilty Gear's main character, Sol Badguy, is considered to be series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari's alter ego. Ishiwatari even voiced the character up until Guilty Gear Xrd, where the character is voiced by Jouji Nakata.

The character Zato-ONE from Guilty Gear was replaced in Guilty Gear XX with a parasite named "Eddie." The character was killed off due to his voice actor, Kaneto Shiozawa, dying in 2000 from a severe concussion. Daisuke Ishiwatari wanted to keep Zato in the game out of respect, so they had Eddie take over Zato's corpse. Eddie is currently voiced by Takehito Koyasu, establishing him as a different character.

As of Xrd, Zato has been resurrected and is once again playable under his original "Zato-ONE" name, albeit still voiced by Koyasu.