It may have been released ten years ago, but the lively, tightly designed, and expressive gameplay of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game hasn’t faltered. Now in a unified Complete Edition, its original release was something of a surprising lynchpin in the Scott Pilgrim trinity, a licensed video game that courted both the fanbase of its media and the nostalgic beat’em up culture it fastens together with aplomb. Diving into its treasures a full decade later feels almost as fresh as ever, and Nintendo Switch fans of the genre should snap it up as soon as possible.
Scott Pilgrim is a pugilistic and somewhat daft young Torontonian seeking to court the grounded, seen-it-all Ramona Flowers, a multicolor-haired young jet-setter whose seven exes must be bested prior to winning her heart. What at first seems to be a regressive romance is actually an opportunity for the titular hero to grow and get over himself, face his demons, and merrily stomp a few heads along the way. This pop-culture-strewn basis is explored with surprisingly sensitive detail in the comic, processed mostly for laughs and wonderful visual gags in the film, and played to a sterling tee in the video game itself. It’s the kind of recursive concept that somehow works well as an adaptation but also stands as singular as its brethren media.
Beyond amplifying fans of the property, though, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game pays generous homage to its inspirations – especially River City Ransom, to which it presents a later-gen love letter. Everything from the purchasable meals and items which grant stat upgrades to characters to the hidden mystery shop under the overpass is all-in on RCR, and conversant (mostly) older gamers wouldn’t have it any other way. The gameplay is a bit more advanced, but its parries, special moves, and experience levels present a level of freedom and agency to how players approach each scrap.
Scott Pilgrim is also visually gorgeous, with large vivid sprites and colorful, detailed animated backdrops. Level backgrounds are packed with references both sly and obvious, and imaginative scenarios like battling through a film set (complete with Edgar Wright cameo) or bashing open piggy banks in bonus stages somehow retain their luster, even on expectedly grindy retreads. The fighting system is that sweet spot of simple to learn and hard to master, with harder difficulty levels bringing significant challenges that work best in multiplayer but are negotiable when flying solo – just expect to grind out some upgrades and abilities first.
This Complete Edition of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game brings almost all DLC and updates that fans of the original would expect, including bonus Scott Pilgrim characters and an online multiplayer mode. The characters are welcome additions while also not being drastically different from one another, but testing the online mode on Switch proved uneven overall, with Nintendo’s netcode possibly bottlenecking the consistent smoothness of the experience. It’s the sort of thing that’s nice to have for lonely would-be couch-players but isn’t a perfect substitute for a group of friends and a few extra controllers in the same room.
Player patience with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game’s flow will certainly vary, and genre fans will get the most bang from their buck. Still, the basic brawling system has a bit more spice than most other games of this type, and the higher difficulty levels are smartly tuned with more aggressive enemy AI in lieu of presenting simple HP sponges. Each of the seven stages has its own secrets and surprises, though it all still amounts to pummeling rooms full of enemies until players are allowed to move forward, rinse, and repeat.
None of that lessens the shine on one of the finer pound-for-pound beat’em ups of the past ten years, though. The moment the wonderful and relentless Anamanaguchi soundtrack kicks off and Paul Robertson’s iconic graphics pop up on the screen, old fans and new will immediately pay attention. The best word to describe Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game would be “enthusiastic,” as most every corner of its surreal cartoon rendition of Toronto has a well-designed video game brawl to engage in or a cute detail to spot. Replaying old levels to grind and returning to shops for incremental upgrades keeps Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition from feeling purely linear, but it remains a focused and feisty beat’em up that successfully weathers the test of time.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition is out now on Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch. A Nintendo Switch digital code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.
