At the start of Bayonetta, a funeral is held for a notorious criminal known as "Eggman the Destroyer". This, to a Western audience, seems like a very obvious reference to Sonic the Hedgehog's main antagonist Dr. Eggman, as Bayonetta was published by Sega. However, series creator Hideki Kamiya claimed that he randomly chose the name Eggman and was not aware that there existed a popular Sega character with the name, choosing to leave it as is in the hopes that fans would "get a kick out of that".

During any cutscene where Bayonetta has a lollipop, if you hold down a specific button before the candy head of the lollipop first appears, you will gain the effect of a specific lollipop item available in the game's stores, and this is reflected in the cutscene by changing which lollipop flavor is shown:

• A for Green Herb lollipop (recover health)
• B for Bloody Rose lollipop (temporary damage boost)
• X for Purple Butterfly lollipop (recover magic)
• Y for Yellow Moon lollipop (gain armor)

It is pertinent that you press and hold the desired button before the candy part of the lollipop is actually seen in the cutscene to ensure the trick works. For example, in Chapter IV: The Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude, when Bayonetta walks into the colosseum, you can see that she is holding a lollipop, but you can only see the stick at first, meaning there's still time to perform the trick. If performed correctly, the lollipop head will be revealed as the one you have chosen. You can also skip the cutscene while still holding the button in order to keep the effect. Unlike normally using a lollipop item, performing this trick does not remove points from your score in a chapter.

Going off of the colors of each lollipop that are used for each face button, they match up with the Xbox 360 controller's color scheme, possibly being a remnant of Platinum Games primarily developing Bayonetta for the Xbox 360. This feature would not be carried over into subsequent Bayonetta games.

According to Platinum Games artist Yong-Hee Cho, Bayonetta's director Hideki Kamiya requested concept art of Bayonetta in Princess Peach's costume for the Wii U version. In addition, Kamiya also requested Cho to design a Mario Charm for Peach's costume and a Luigi Charm for Daisy's costume, and pulled Bayonetta's long black locks in favor of flowing fabric.

Cho also goes on to talk about the concept for the Link and Samus Aran costumes, with the second costume being based on the NES original. According to Cho, it was actually Nintendo who pushed for Bayonetta to show a bit more skin while dressed in her Link costume.

Additionally, Bayonetta in her Samus Aran costume was at one point given the ability to form into a Morph Ball like how Samus does in the Metroid series, but the idea was scrapped and instead was later implemented in the game's sequel, Bayonetta 2.

One of Bayonetta's attacks is a reference to Akira from Virtua Fighter, where she performs his Tetsuzankou (Bodycheck) and says his signature victory quote "Juunen hayaindayo!" ("You're 10 years too early!").

Bayonetta's development team's name, Team Little Angels, is a shout out to the development team of Devil May Cry, Team Little Devils, a lot of whose former members are now working at Platinum Games.

Bayonetta has a few references to Viewtiful Joe, which was also directed by Hideki Kamiya. These references include a grave belonging to "Red Hot" Joe (referring to Viewtiful Joe himself), a street sign for Movie Land (the setting of the Viewtiful Joe series), and when riding an angel in lava Bayonetta shouts "Dancing a go-go, baby!" (which is a reference to Joe's catchphrase "Henshin a go-go, baby!").

On the title card for Spoiler:"Lost Chapter: Angel Slayer", Bayonetta is posed in a manner similar to Trish from the Devil May Cry logo. This is very likely an homage to the Devil May Cry series.

Of the many Infernal Demons that can be summoned by Bayonetta during a Climax Attack, the Little Devils are an obscure reference to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, more specifically Guido Mista's Sex Pistols. Director Hideki Kamiya has mentioned during a commentary that, much like Sex Pistols, each of the five devils have their own personality, and have a number written on their foreheads, with the #4 missing as it may be considered very unlucky by Zero, the King of the Little Devils.

Sapientia's legs have angelic text on them that, when translated, reads "SEGA Mark lll" which is the original Japanese version of the Sega Master System. Upon further inspection, the writing on Sapientia's head translates to "SG-1000000", which is a theoretical follow-up to the SG-1000 (Sega Game 1000) made up by Hideki Kamiya, the game's director.

In many parts of the game, a language is written or spoken that may sound like gibberish, but is actually a language known as Enochian; a forgotten language said to be the language of angels. An Enochian chant is used to summon Infernal Demons and torture attacks by Bayonetta, as well as being spoken by the Angels themselves.

Bayonetta's Lt. Col. Kilgore weapons are a reference to the character of the same name from the movie Apocalypse Now. Bayonetta's alternate costume for the weapon is designed after Kilgore's appearance in the movie matching his hat, sunglasses, and yellow scarf.

The song that is played for the Lt Col Kilgore Golden LP is Flight of the Valkyries, which was also played during a battle scene in Apocalypse Now.

Jeanne's All 4 One pistols reference elements from The Three Musketeers story. The four pistols are named after the characters D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. "Tous pour un, un pour tous" are written on the pistols, which translates to "All for one, and one for all" which is the motto of the Three Musketeers.

If Bayonetta shoots idly at a wall, she will start writing her initials and hearts with the bullets.

The weapon Shuraba was intended to have an animation where the sword's pulsing heart would show on the hilt of the sword when the weapon was fully charged. During development, the developers forgot to put the animation on the weapon, so the animation does not appear in the game, but the code still exists.

Bayonetta's watch contains the numbers "14111219." These numbers represent her birthday, December 19, 1411. Today she would be around 600 years old.

Jeanne's watch has the numbers "141216," which would make her birthday January 6, 1412.

There is an unlockable sword in the game called Pillow Talk. It is the same sword that Ushiwakamaru uses in Okami, and the name "Pillow Talk" is the name of the ending theme of Devil May Cry.

Bayonetta's Bracelet of Time shares attributes with Devil May Cry's Bangle of Time and Viewtiful Joe's V Watch. All three items look similar and freeze time. Additionally, the description for Bracelet of Time and Bangle of time reference Dante's parents as the creators, so they might be the same item. Hideki Kamiya was also the director of all three games so this similarity may be intentional

There are two characters named Enzo appearing in Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. Both characters support Bayonetta and Dante as an informant. There is proof that both Enzos are the same person.

In the Bayonetta art book, there is a picture of Enzo playing poker with someone while Bayonetta and Rodan are in the background. Enzo's opponent is shown to have lost a sword, two handguns, and a red coat. These are all trademarks relating to Dante. This not only shows that the Enzo that helped Dante was the same Enzo that helped Bayonetta, but successfully connects the Bayonetta series to the Devil May Cry series.

The accessory Immortal Marionette bears a striking resemblance to the Marionette enemies from the original Devil May Cry. Hideki Kamiya was the director for both Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, so the resemblance is probably intentional.

One of Rodin's many lines upon entering the shop is, "No matter how much you ask, I'm not puttin' a chainsaw on your arm." This is most likely a reference to Jack Cayman from Madworld and Anarchy Reigns. All games were developed by Platinum Games.