Scott Pilgrim EX review

Normally, I’d be first in line to defend a beat-em-up’s honor on a gameplay level. Beat-em-ups tend to be severely misunderstood and disparaged in the wider gaming discourse, so I try to explain their depth whenever I cover one. Yet even as the #1 beat-em-up apologist, I can acknowledge that the masses tend to enjoy these games for very different reasons than I do.

For the average person, a beat-em-up won’t be a vehicle for mastering simple yet effective combat systems, a challenge to play and replay consistently for years. No, beat-em-ups serve as a different kind of vehicle for the general public: a roller-coaster. You mash some buttons, see some sights, and hopefully by the end of the ride, you enjoyed your time.  I can enjoy games on that level too. I’ve long considered the original Scott Pilgrim vs The World game to be one of the best roller-coaster beat-em-ups out there. You can critique its balancing, combat, and level design to death, yet I love it anyway. The original Scott Pilgrim game captured something special, desirable, and completely intangible: a vibe.

16 years later, Scott Pilgrim EX smashing into reality feels like a fever dream. How do you make a sequel to a vibe? I suppose polishing up the game part would be a good place to start, and that’s exactly what EX does. The original game flirted with mechanical depth and a River City Ransom-esque city structure. EX doubles, perhaps even triples down (I’m not a math person) on the combat mechanics and fully realizes the world of Scott Pilgrim into fully explorable game world. Logically, everything about EX makes it a bigger and better version of the original.

We’re not thinking logically here, though. We’re thinking about vibes. That being the case, I’m judging EX both on how it plays and arguably more importantly, how it vibes.

EX immediately shows you it means business with its tutorial. While in most games I’d immediately groan at the concept, I quickly became convinced it was a good idea. It dawned on me about 10 minutes into it, when the game was still introducing new mechanics. EX borrows from virtually the entire buffet of Capcom and SNK fighting mechanics: short hops, parries, reversal supers, assists, the list goes on and on.

All the extra depth actually matters, too; it isn’t depth just for the sake of it. While the average enemy will be weaker than you, they are often just as mechanically capable. Enemies can block, reverse, or simply break out of combos just like you can, so it becomes important to match your moves to the situation accordingly. Playing through EX often feels like a mini fighting game, just with way shorter matches and far more enemies.

While the more nuanced fighting tees EX up to be a more challenging game overall, you have plenty of options to dull the pain. Just like the original, EX takes (several) pages from River City Ransom, allowing you to buff up your stats and level up with food and equipment. You need to stay on top of these things to stay competitive throughout the game, as the waves of enemies will grow more intense and some of the bosses are no joke.

Gameplay purists will undoubtedly hate the RPG angle. It dilutes the kind of balancing that the excess of fighting mechanics implies. I ultimately didn’t mind it though, because by the endgame, stats alone won’t be enough to get you by. The items and stats add on a layer of strategy that you don’t get from other beat-em-ups, as mixing and matching your item effects with your assists unlocks potent strategies beyond the bounds of what these kinds of games are normally about. This angle makes EX feel distinct from the more traditional brawlers on the market.

As the game progresses, it throws more and more enemies and obstacles at you to the point that the screen frequently delves into pure chaos. The insanity can make the difficulty curve jump up considerably, until you realize that you can just easily create your own chaos. Several of the assists can be extremely powerful, either protecting you from damage or clearing out the screen. My personal shout-outs go to Young Neil, who single-handedly (if you don’t count how many of him fill the screen) saved me from several tough bosses. This is a game that tries to cheat you, but gives you just as many options to cheat right back.

Does the reliance on items and stats make the game feel a bit silly? Yes, but it feels appropriate because the game itself clearly wants to be silly. Everything about EX’s vibe screams fun. From the visuals, to the music, to all the wacky settings, EX feels noticeably happy and carefree. Unlike the original game, this sequel tells an original tale that devolves into mostly wacky nonsense from the get-go. Evil Robot Scotts and alternate dimension time travel versions of the Evil Exes are creating portals all over the town, and you need to beat them all up for increasingly contrived reasons. It all feels like an excuse to put you in bizarre scenarios like fighting giant dinosaurs, which works for me.

At least, it worked for me after some adjustment. I’d be lying if I said that my playthrough of EX didn’t consistently put a smile on my face. When I thought about it the day after, however, I did wonder: did it feel like Scott Pilgrim?

When I think about the original Scott Pilgrim game, it certainly had a lot of wacky funny things in it. Yet at the same time, just like the original story, it had a little angst to it. Some edge. Maybe a little moodiness. You could feel it in the loose retelling of the original story, the classic Anamanaguchi tracks like Another Winter, and even in some of the endings. In its own way, the game captured the same kind of teenage/young adult angst that the source material did. That subtle twinge of depth amidst the retro-fueled shenanigans was part of what makes the game stick with me to this day.

When I play Scott Pilgrim EX, however, I don’t feel any angst. I feel happiness, fun, and creativity. Anamanaguchi still rocks, but even their songs feel noticeably more upbeat this time around. I don’t feel the same kind of emotional depth in this game. But is that a problem?

Obviously, a lot of things can change in 16 years. I was a teenager, so I’m obviously not the same person I was back then. I suspect the same is true for everyone involved with making the game, including Scott Pilgrim’s creator. I already felt like this when I watched the Netflix show a while back, but it felt like things had changed a little. The show was still fun, but it was a little less heavy. And I wonder if maybe that’s intentional, or perhaps even the point.

As a teenager, I felt drawn to the bittersweet angst and drama. Deep down, we as humans tend to associate that kind of emotional turmoil with maturity. The older I get, however, I think it’s actually the opposite. Angst, drama, and heavy feelings are crutches for the immature. True maturity comes from peace, the willingness to enjoy your circumstances and have fun regardless of your problems. Maybe that wasn’t what anyone particularly set out to say with this follow-up, but that’s the vibe I picked up on regardless.

As a whole, Scott Pilgrim EX picks up exactly where a sequel to the original should. It may wrap itself in the iconography and retro-game stylings of the original, but it meaningfully follows up on it in every way. As a game, it improves the core of the combat while maintaining the RPG progression. It evolves the RPG mechanics by throwing some strategy in to support the numbers. Most importantly, it matures the vibe into one that’s all about chilling and enjoying whatever craziness comes your way. It’s exactly the kind of sequel I didn’t know I needed until I played it.