During the production of the game, the Insomniac Games employee and level designer, Dan Johnson, had passed away. Both this and the next game, Tools of Destruction, had his name in the credits for a memorial.

In the Dream level, there is a Titanium Bolt that must be obtained by shooting a giant floating crab at a certain point in the level to get warped to a different portion where the Bolt is. It's initially unclear that the player is supposed to shoot the crab specifically due to the hitbox for the warp going beyond the crab, which already floats and disappears out of frame in a loop. However, scoping in on the crab will cause the crosshair to turn red, indicating that it can be hit. Sitting and doing nothing while aiming at the crab for about a minute will cause a hint to appear on the bottom of the screen: "Attack its weak point for massive damage."

This Easter egg went undiscovered until 2022, and is a reference to an infamous gaff during Sony's press conference at E3 2006. During a demonstration of Genji: Days of the Blade, the spokesperson presenting the game claimed that its battles were based on actual battles that took place in ancient Japan, just as a "giant enemy crab" appeared in the demo soon after, with the spokesperson awkwardly commenting on the crab's weak point.

There may also be a second reference to the event when returning to Pokitaru after completing the Dream level, where a lone Scuttle Crab will now spawn in a new spot on the beach.