Scott Pilgrim has had a lot of lives. Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series about a slacker bassist fighting his girlfriend’s evil exes became a cult classic movie, a beloved beat ’em up, and eventually a Netflix anime. Each version found a new crowd. Somehow the franchise kept growing with every format it touched.
For me, it started with Edgar Wright’s film. That movie has a specific kind of energy that’s hard to explain. It throws you into a world where video game logic and real life just coexist, and it works completely. That sent me to the comics, then to Ubisoft’s 2010 brawler. That game turned out to be one of the better licensed titles of that era.
So when Tribute Games announced Scott Pilgrim EX, it hit differently than most sequel announcements. The studio behind TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and Marvel Cosmic Invasion was taking it on. This wasn’t a cash grab built on a familiar name. O’Malley had a hand in the story. The question was whether it could live up to what came before. It does, and then some.
Toronto Has Completely Lost It
Scott Pilgrim EX picks up in a version of Toronto that has completely lost the plot. That is exactly the point. Three gangs have taken over the city. Demons, robots, and vegans have kidnapped most of Sex Bob-omb, leaving Scott and Ramona to track down their missing friends. It sounds absurd because it is, and the game never pretends otherwise.
What makes the story work is O’Malley writing it himself. It carries the same energy as the source material rather than feeling like a licensed imitation. The humour lands because it comes from the same place the comics did. There are fourth-wall breaks, callbacks to the film, and running jokes that reward anyone familiar with the franchise.
The former Evil Exes showing up as allies is one of the better twists the series has pulled off. It recontextualises characters who were basically punchlines in the original story and gives them actual personality. Lucas Lee gets some genuinely funny moments. It’s hard to believe he was ever just a boss fight.
Pacing holds up well through most of the run. The writing keeps things light enough that even the slower stretches don’t drag. Some plot threads get introduced and then dropped without resolution. It feels less like a deliberate choice and more like the campaign runs out of room before tying everything up cleanly. It’s a short story, but it’s a good one.
Seven Fighters and a Whole Lot of Fists
The brawling in Scott Pilgrim EX settles in fast. Light attacks, heavy attacks, and character-specific moves chain together in ways that feel good without asking too much up front. The roster goes seven characters deep. Each one plays differently enough that switching between them actually changes how you approach a fight.
Scott and Ramona are the familiar starting points. The returning Evil Exes are where things get interesting. Roxie covers ground quickly with diagonal strikes. Matthew Patel goes wide with crowd control. Lucas Lee is simply larger than everyone else, which changes his hitbox entirely and makes him feel like a different kind of brawler. Getting comfortable with one character and then picking up another is genuinely worth doing.
Co-op opens things up further. Four players can drop in at any point, even mid-stage. The screen turns into a very good kind of disaster. Playing alone holds up too, though later stages can get punishing if you haven’t kept your stats up through shopping and coin collecting.
Toronto Is Your Playground, For Better and Worse
Rather than moving through a set list of stages, Scott Pilgrim EX gives you an interconnected map of Toronto to explore at your own pace. It is a genuinely interesting structural choice that keeps the game from feeling predictable. New areas open as you progress, and the city branches in ways that encourage you to poke around rather than just push forward.
The downside is backtracking. You will cross the same neighbourhoods repeatedly. The traversal is quick, but it does start to wear after a while. It’s worth knowing going in rather than hitting it as a surprise three hours into your playthrough.
A City Worth Looking At
Tribute Games built something genuinely nice to look at here. The pixel art is detailed without being cluttered. The animation work gives every character a distinct personality before they even throw a punch. Toronto gets a surreal, colourful treatment that feels true to the comics while still being its own thing. The environments shift across time periods and dimensions, keeping the visual variety high throughout.
The Easter eggs scattered through the backgrounds are worth your attention. There are nods to other games tucked into almost every stage. Some of them are genuinely clever rather than just surface-level references. They sit in the background rather than demanding your attention, so they never slow the game down.
Performance held up cleanly throughout. No meaningful slowdown even when the screen filled up with enemies, assist attacks, and environmental effects all at once. For a game that can get very busy very quickly in co-op, that is worth noting.
The soundtrack by Anamanaguchi is one of the best things about the entire package. It shifts style to match each area rather than looping the same tracks. That means it never fades into the background the way game music often does after the first hour. The hits, the crowd reactions, the environmental sounds, all of it lines up with what is on screen. It feels considered rather than assembled.
Scott Pilgrim EX sounds and looks like a game made by people who genuinely cared about getting it right.
Scott Pilgrim EX Is the Follow-Up the Franchise Deserved
Tribute Games had a genuinely difficult job here. The 2010 original is the kind of game people hold onto tightly. Following it up meant either playing it too safe or swinging hard enough to risk losing what made it work. Scott Pilgrim EX manages to do neither. It takes the foundation, builds on it thoughtfully, and delivers something that stands on its own without needing the original as a crutch.
The open map structure is the biggest swing the game takes, and it mostly pays off. The backtracking is a genuine problem, but it does not undo what works. The roster is the best the franchise has had in a game. The writing is sharp. The presentation top to bottom is the kind of thing that makes you stop mid-stage just to take it in.
The campaign is short. You will probably want more when the credits roll, and that is both a compliment and a mild criticism. A few extra hours would not have gone unappreciated.
But what is here is good. It’s easy to recommend to someone who has never touched the franchise. It’s just as easy to recommend to someone who has followed Scott Pilgrim since the comics. It meets both audiences where they are without feeling watered down in either direction. Scott Pilgrim EX is a lot of fun. That should be enough, and here it genuinely is.
Scott Pilgrim EX
Summary
Tribute Games brought Scott Pilgrim back with a new story from O’Malley, seven playable characters including some familiar faces now fighting on the right side, and an open map of Toronto that swaps linear stage progression for something that lets you find your own way through. The brawling feels good fast, the roster is genuinely varied, the pixel art holds up beautifully, and the Anamanaguchi soundtrack never gets old, though the backtracking does start to wear and the campaign wraps up before every thread gets its due. If you have any connection to this franchise, or just want a beat ’em up that was clearly made by people who cared, Scott Pilgrim EX is worth your time.
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