Scott Pilgrim EX Review

Scott Pilgrim EX’s gameplay is very similar to its predecessor, being a side-scrolling beat-em-up akin to classics like River City Ransom, Double Dragon, and Streets of Rage. Tribute Games has become known for these types of games, with previous releases such as TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. The game has an altered roster of playable characters, as the other members of Sex Bob-Omb have been kidnapped by Metal Scott, a mysterious robot that is definitely not a reference to Metal Sonic. Instead, some of Ramona Flowers’ evil exes join the fight as playable characters, those being Lucas Lee, Roxie Richter, Matthew Patel, and Gideon Graves. Scott and Ramona return, and you can also play as Robot-01, a robot originally created by the Katayanagi Twins to fight Scott.

The main difference in Scott Pilgrim EX’s structure is its open world. While the original game had a world map, it was structured as a series of separate levels. Scott Pilgrim EX’s levels are all connected as part of one world to traverse through. As you progress through the game, you find Riffs that allow you to open Riff Rifts, portals that take you to different areas in space and time where the missing band members and their instruments are. Riffs are played through a series of button combinations, similar to ocarina songs in the Nintendo 64 Zelda games. 

Scott Pilgrim EX really shines with its art style and music. Like its predecessor, Scott Pilgrim EX has a pixelated art style, with great character sprites and very detailed backgrounds. Pixel art is one of my favorite mediums of game aesthetics, and Scott Pilgrim EX does an incredible job with it. The soundtrack is also really good, with chiptune band Anamanaguchi returning from the first game to compose the music for EX. Some of my favorite tracks are One More Summer, Shopping District, Big Band Boss, and Epilogue 20XX. 

The story of Scott Pilgrim EX is fully original, taking place after the events of the Netflix anime, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. The year is 20XX, and Toronto is under fire from a large-scale gang war between the Vegans, Demons, and Robots. As mentioned before, the other members of Sex Bob-Omb (Young Neil, Kim Pine, Knives Chau, and Stephen Stills) have been kidnapped by Metal Scott right before their big show. It is later revealed that it was all orchestrated by mysterious time travelers from the future that are actually Gideon’s future children working to secure the future for G-Corp. 

Overall, I really liked Scott Pilgrim EX, and I am glad the franchise is getting more media such as the Netflix anime and this new game after the aforementioned years of dormancy. EX serves as a great sequel to the first game, full of references and homages to classic video games while being something entirely its own. The gameplay, music, and graphics are all excellent, and I recommend it to anyone who liked the previous game, is a fan of Scott Pilgrim, or generally likes beat-em-ups.