Scott Pilgrim vs. The World may be one of my favorite movies — it’s definitely in my TOP 5. My obsession with Scott Pilgrim started when a friend let me borrow his Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Vol I graphic novel. I read it so fast (it’s rather short) that I went out and purchased the entire collection.

This cemented Scott Pilgrim creator (writer and artist) Bryan Lee O’Malley as one of my top comic creators. Anytime he has released anything new I have picked it up — Lost at Sea, Seconds, Snotgirl (although I am currently behind on Snotgirl).

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World also happened to be my secret introduction into the world of Manga. It was sort of a North American “gateway drug” version of Manga, since Bryan Lee O’Malley is from Canada. In recent years I’ve gotten more into anime series — like the rest of America. I even started purchasing the first volume of some shows I’m watching — Spy X Family, Attack on Titan, One Piece, Jujitsu Kaisen, Naruto, Hunter X Hunter.

The manga versions are like collections of storyboards for their anime animators. This is what I love about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World — the film. Edgar Wright perfectly captured the essence of reading through six volumes of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and fit them all into one single film. I guess this is what’s happening now with the live action versions of One Piece, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and any other manga being shot in live action.

Scott Pilgrim in Games

In the world of video game suffixes “EX” stands for Extra. As in, “this is a brand new story set in the Scott Pilgrim universe.”

Scott Pilgrim EX isn’t the first Scott Pilgrim video game. Ubisoft developed and published Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game back in 2010, and later re-released it as a Complete Edition (2023). This first game was basically a retelling of the source material.

It made sense for the Scott Pilgrim story to be retold as a video game, since the world itself is very video game-inspired. Scott, the protagonist, must challenge seven evil exes (in seven evil boss fights) in order to date his dream girl, Ramona Flowers.

It’s kind of silly when you think about it, but aren’t most video game plots? A plumber must save a princess from a terrible turtle/dragon. A silly goose is stealing from the town and ruining the townspeoples’ day. It is daytime, collect some resources and start a fire before nightfall — or DIE!

Scott Pilgrim EX

What’s great about Scott Pilgrim EX is that we are now familiar with these characters and their backgrounds (from the novels, film, previous game, and anime). Scott Pilgrim EX is giving us a brand new story. The year is 20XX and three rival gangs — the VEGANS, the ROBOTS, and the DEMONS — have taken over Toronto. It’s now up to Scott Pilgrim to do something about it!

Time has passed and Scott and Ramona are still together. Scott must work together with friends and past enemies to save this alternate universe featuring bizarro versions of some familiar faces. There are also plenty of new characters to meet.

It’s sometimes nice to see a specific story get adapted into a video game. What I like more, and have been seeing lately, is a game studio taking an existing world and creating a new story for gamers. Some recent examples include Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Marvel’s Spider-Man series by Insomniac, Alien: Isolation, and any recent Star Wars games.

Having Scott Pilgrim’s creator Bryan Lee O’Malley onboard for Scott Pilgrim EX is also a plus. His tone, humor, and voice is definitely felt in the writing.

The Game vs EX: Separate Timelines

Retro Beat ‘em Ups, or punching games as we call them in our house, are a huge crowd pleaser for my wife and I. Anytime I come across a new co-op, side-scrolling Beat ‘em Up we must give it a shot.

We played through most of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition a few years ago, but got stuck. While playing Scott Pilgrim EX, it felt like a continuation of that first game, but jumping back into the original I realized how different the two games are — even with being classified as the same game genre.

Both of these titles feature retro arcade-style beat ‘em up gameplay, but they aren’t identical. First, the controls and moveset are not the same and neither are the character leveling systems.

Scott Pilgrim EX’s story follows more of a River City Girls progression. The entire map is accessible from the start, but points of interest change with each mission. This is how you end up exploring the entire map — along with some secret locations.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is closer to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge or Super Mario World, where you must travel from level-to-level on a world map.

My Favorite Thing

My favorite thing in Scott Pilgrim EX is the addition of new characters and the strange alternate versions of existing characters. There’s Metal Scott, which is basically a metal version of Scott Pilgrim. We get to see medieval and future versions of certain characters, like Young Neil and Julie Powers.

The one character that really sticks out and has been living in my brain since we faced him was Baby G. He also has the best song on the soundtrack. Did I mention that the soundtrack was created by American chiptune-based pop and rock greats, Anamanaguchi — who also did the soundtrack for the first game and the Scott Pilgrim anime.

Maybe it’s because we couldn’t beat Baby G for weeks and had to listen to his song over and over each night, but I can’t get enough of it. It’s my top video game track of the year. I even had it play to open an improv show the other night. The audience was into it, without even knowing what they were listening to.

There are three bosses in the “G” fam — don’t want to get too much into them because that may be “Spoiler Town.” I just want to say that Baby G is the star of this game for me.

Playing this game even got me to go back and re-read the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Series, also Bryan Lee O’Malley created this new minicomic for the new game Scott Pilgrim EX.

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*myVGBC was given a review code for Scott Pilgrim EX from the publisher.