Tribute Games’ Scott Pilgrim EX feels like a homecoming. On one level, that’s literal: some of the studio’s members (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Marvel Cosmic Invasion) cut their teeth with 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, and now they’ve come back to their old (and, given the gameplay, literal) stomping grounds. Also back are New York pixel rockers Anamanaguchi, whose soundtracks to the game and the 2023 Science Saru anime Scott Pilgrim Takes Off have shaped the feel of Scott Pilgrim as much as creator Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comicscraft, director Edgar Wright and company’s filmcraft or the Saru crew’s masterfully animated styling.
On another level, it’s metaphorical. 22 years on, and the hyperreal Toronto where Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers fought for their love and tried to get it together stands as a setting that’s always a delight to revisit, filled with deeply lovable characters. As creator O’Malley said in an interview with AIPT’s own David Brooke for the series’ 20th anniversary, “As long as I keep getting to make cool stuff with talented people, these characters are fun to do it with.”
Part of what makes Scott Pilgrim’s cast so endearing, and part of why they’ve proven so enduring, is their dynamism and flexibility. EX proves itself a prime example of this. Some time after the broad events of Scott Pilgrim, Toronto has fallen into chaos. As EX’s animated intro puts it, “The city has been taken over by three rival gangs” – Vegans; who, in Pilgrimland, wield fantastic psychic powers so long as they don’t consume any animal products, Robots, and Demons. In other words, it’s Tuesday. Yes, the city is being menaced by the literal legions of Hell, the inheritors of Skynet’s dark designs, and the profoundly obnoxious representatives of a diet, but the world only spins forward, and band practice waits for no one.
Sex Bob-omb, the band Scott Pilgrim (bass) and friends Kim Pine (drums), Stephen Stills (vocals and lead guitar), Knives Chau (keyboard), and Young Neil (chiptunes) play in, have a show, and they intend to kick ass. Or, that was the plan until Metal Scott (think Metal Sonic) broke in, beat the stuffing out of Scott, swiped his bass and kidnapped his bandmates. When Ramona Flowers arrives to rescue her beloved, she realizes that even together, the two won’t be able to save their friends alone. They’ll need help from the former league of evil exes, including, among others, former movie star and skater Lucas Lee, ninja Roxie Richter, mystical warrior/Broadway star Matthew Patel, and combat android Robot-01. United by fate, the unlikely alliance ventures into Toronto. It’s good to see them again, and thanks to the art team at Tribute, they’re expressive, colorful, and lovable.
EX is a fairly quick game; my solo playthrough on Normal, occasionally dropping to Easy for certain bosses, took about seven hours when factoring in secret hunting and KOs, but it is a dense one. While the playable cast all have the same basic movement and combat toolkits, the ways they use those tools vary quite dramatically, and are further differentiated by their unique moves. Ramona, for instance, specializes in mid-range combat and has a teleport that’s handy for getting out of a furball and into an advantageous position. Matthew, by contrast, uses his mystical powers to keep his opponents on the ropes and himself out of the line of fire, either by letting him attack from comparatively long range or by summoning a Demon Hipster Chick to distract and damage his foes.
Tribute Games
In addition to the cast’s unique abilities, EX’s combat includes an extensive set of technical tools, which run the gamut from the easy – namely, a rotating selection of assist characters who can be called in to provide aid – to the expert, including moves that exploit attack priority and invincibility frames. Unlike 2010’s Scott Pilgrim, where advanced combat abilities were unlocked by leveling up characters, EX gives everyone their full toolkit from the jump. Improving a character’s stats by equipping items, finding power ups, or partaking in the culinary and popular culture of Toronto strengthens them, but it’s a matter of tuning what they have more than gaining abilities that they did not have before. To speak personally, I am not skilled enough with beat-em-ups or fighting games to get the hang of advanced techniques like i-frame manipulation, but EX offers enough tools, and with them tutorials on how to use them, that the advanced combat is a welcome option, rather than a grating necessity. I enjoyed EX’s action, and I’d enjoy both going back and learning its advanced maneuvers myself and seeing what an expert could do with this system.
It is worth noting that there are mid-game and late-game difficulty spikes to be aware of, and at its most frustrating, some of that difficulty is down to certain bosses and gauntlets being balanced for multiplayer rather than solo play. Hopping between difficulty levels and back again is simple, but it’s something to keep in mind, as is the fact that one boss in the late mid-game is hair-tearingly difficult to take on alone, even on easy. Beware of clones, they will ruin your day.
Tribute Games
EX’s density extends to its world. Toronto as a game map is made up of individual screens varying in physical length and content. While many of the screens are besieged by the assorted gangs, there are reliably peaceful districts, and the action screens will vary in how busy they are. Quieter moments provide an opportunity to admire the game’s humor, which is reliably, wonderfully specific, whether in terms of its Canadian setting, the idiosyncrasies of popular culture or the foibles of Scott Pilgrim’s cast. Scott, for instance, is continually disappointed in Metal Scott’s evil, because he thinks Metal Scott is cool. It’s consistently a hoot. As with EX’s gameplay, Its world is one that rewards repeat visits, especially with Anamanaguchi’s excellent score, which captures more of a hangout vibe compared to their beloved, famously kinetic work on the 2010 game.
Tribute, O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski (a key contributor to Takes Off) apply similar care to EX’s narrative and character work. While simple and low-key compared to other Scott Pilgrim projects, EX’sdialogue and event scenes are consistently charming and characterful and the story is a coherent, thoughtful progression from where preceding Scott Pilgrim stories leave off. Changing for the better isn’t as simple as declaring “I will change for the better!” It takes work, building dedication until it becomes a process, like Modern Baseball says, it’s enough that the reward for waking up is “to wake up.” For Scott, that means being there for his bandmates. For Ramona, that means standing alongside Scott in the face of adversity. For the formerly evil exes, it means stepping up when their friend needs their help. The villains, like the exes back in their evil days and Scott and Ramona at their worst, are caught in a bad loop, clinging to an unhealthy world view to the point that it damages the world around them. It’s compelling stuff, and gives the pummeling some flavor.
Tribute Games
To borrow O’Malley’s own words, Scott Pilgrim EX is a cool game made by talented people, one that was a blast of a game and a lot of fun as a Scott Pilgrim work. I plan to share it with my pals.
Scott Pilgrim EX is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. This review was conducted using the Switch 2 version of the game.
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