Each of the turtles is endowed with a Sashimono (feudal banner) throughout his quest, which corresponds with their environment:
- Leonardo's banner reads "kaze", or "Wind"
- Donatello's banner reads "Yama", or "Mountain"
- Raphael's banner reads "Hi", or "Fire"
- and Michelangelo banner reads "Hayashi", or "Forest".
The Turtles' encounter with Splinter's spirit in a campfire is a homage to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), where they had the same encounter.
When Raphael (Sean Astin) enters the cave, he says there's no pirate ship. this is a reference to Astin's movie The Goonies (1985), which featured a pirate ship full of treasure.
Leonardo's hunter outfit and the deer he struggles to hunt with a bow and arrow were taken from the TMNT Mirage comic "True Stories".
Michangelo's new outfit is the same outfit iron fist wears in the marvel comics. Both Michangelo and iron fist are voiced by Greg Cipes.