The Corruption Core uses Boss 2 as its boss music.

Like other bosses, both the Core and its Orbitals have their size decreased in the Celebrationmk10 seed, though only by 40% as opposed to the normal 50% decrease.
- Additionally, the Orbitals orbit 25% closer to the Core to accommodate
- This overrides FTW’s changes, meaning they don’t stack in Get Fixed Boi.

In Crimson worlds, this boss is replaced with the Crimson Core, a variant which uses a crimson color scheme, is encountered/fought in the (Underground) Crimson, inflicts Ichor instead of Cursed Flames, and has its own drops. Otherwise, it behaves identically.
In Drunk or Get Fixed Boi worlds, the Core is capable of spontaneously swapping between its Corruption and Crimson variants mid-fight. This phenomenon occurs at dawn, due to the world internally swapping what evil it counts as each dawn.
This also makes it impossible to fight both Cores at the same time, in any world.

If brought into the Underground Crimson (Or if the Crimson Core is brought to the Underground Corruption), the boss will not enrage.

- Gore Guanado (Core O' Punishment counterpart)
- Crim Iron (Cursed Carbine counterpart)
- Bloodlust (Defiled Needle counterpart)
- Tainted Trajectory (Orbital Staff counterpart)
- Shattered Shell (Shade Splinter counterpart)
*Also note that most drops - excluding these - can be shimmered between their Corrupt and Crimson variants. This includes the boss's Treasure bag, allowing access to all gear drops in Expert+*

The Corruption Core is heavily based on a boss fight from a small, private game I (BlockCrusader) made for a project. The boss was known as ‘The Gooze’ and was slime themed.
All of the Core’s attacks except for Night Bombs, Blast Chase, and Cursed Barrage are directly adapted from The Gooze.
The Gooze’s name and theme references Goozma, a scrapped boss idea from Calamity that has re-appeared in various fan-mods.

The Gooze was, in turn, heavily based on an old boss concept I made, known as Illuminus. The Illuminus concept pre-dates the Corruption Core by many years, being created before the announcement of 1.4.
Illuminus was inspired by Ethereal Umbra, a removed boss from the Spirit Mod. Ethereal Umbra is the source of the Core having orbiting minions that must be defeated before damaging the boss.
- In Get Fixed Boi, the boss’s name changes to Ethereal Umbra as a reference to this

Illuminus was Hallow-themed; the change of theme with the Core was made due to the introduction of Queen Slime and Empress of Light in 1.4.
The boss’s name, appearance and corruption theme was inspired by another old boss concept, also named The Corruption Core. Like Illuminus, it predates this Core by many years.

The Corruption Core only spawning Corrupt Orbitals in For The Worthy is a reference to an identical behavior exhibited for the majority of the Core’s development, where Corrupt Orbitals with altered stats were used in place of Cursed Orbitals, which were implemented afterwards.

Bomb Chase is internally called Blast Chase, as it originally used Shadow Blast projectiles instead of Night Bombs.

The Corruption Core has the same amount of total HP as The Destroyer in classic mode
Furthermore, this gives it the second to third largest health pool between itself and vanilla bosses, beaten only by the Moon Lord in all difficulties, Mechdusa (Get Fixed Boi), and The Destroyer in non-FTW Expert and Master modes.

Not counting its Orbitals, the Corruption Core is smaller than any vanilla boss

The Core O' Punishment's name parodies the Ball O' Hurt, since it can be considered an upgrade

The Cursed Carbine's flavor text - 'Musket 3.0?' - references the video "PSA: Dart Rifle" by CompanyEggs, where the Dart Rifle is labeled 'Musket 2.0' at one point in the video.

The Defiled Needle's naming and function was inspired by the 'Deadly Needles' attack used by the character Magalor from the Kirby series, particularly as it appears in the subgame 'Magalor Epilogue', featured in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe.

The Orbital Staff's flavor text - 'This staff is sponsored by: Team Corruption' - is a reference to the Shadow Wizard Money Gang meme. Its respective minion buff has the tooltip 'Weakest Corruption enjoyer', referencing the 'Strongest X fan vs. Weakest Y enjoyer' meme.

The Crim Iron's name references the song 'Big Iron'. Its flavor text - 'Swift ranger shot the outlaw The End' quotes a meme that is a 'speedrun' of the song.

Bloodlust's flavor text - 'There is only one thing you know for real' - references the song 'The Only Thing I Know For Real', the boss theme of Jetstream Sam from Metal Gear Rising Revengeance.

The Bestiary entry for the Corruption Core: “The primordial forces of darkness have incarnated themselves in the form of this malicious vortex of overloaded, animate Shadow Orbs. Whilst surrounded by subordinate Orbs, the Core is nigh untouchable.”
The entry heavily implies the Corruption Core is the Ancient Spirit of Darkness mentioned in the official lore pages
This mirrors the Terraria Wiki hypothesizing - based on her own bestiary entry - that the Empress of Light may be the Ancient Spirit of Light. It also reinforces the Corruption Core being the Corruption’s counterpart to the Empress

The Bestiary entry for the Corrupt Orbital: “A violent Shadow Orb possessed by ancient, dark souls. Channeling the power of the Core which wrought it into being, it protects its master with both defensive and offensive measures.”

The Bestiary entry for the Cursed Orbital: “A volatile variation of The Core's usual Orbitals. The Orb's unstable, cursed properties seem resultant of its overlord's desperation. Ironically, this makes Cursed Orbitals more fragile than normal Orbitals.”

The Bestiary entry for the Suspicious Looking Orb: “This Shadow Orb has inexplicably strayed from the chasms of the upper Corruption and has a particularly sinister glow. It beckons for its own destruction, but who knows how dire the consequences may be?”

The Corruption Core's unique despawn message with Boss Checklist is; "Having meted out its wrath, the Core inexplicably vanishes from sight"