Scott Pilgrim EX is the beat 'em up comeback nobody expected to land this well. Fifteen years after the original vanished from digital storefronts, developer Tribute Games (founded by alumni of the first game) returns to Toronto's neon-lit streets with a title written by series creator Bryan Lee O'Malley and set within the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off anime continuity. What you get is a side-scrolling brawler that respects the source material, introduces smart new systems, and sounds absolutely incredible doing it.
How Does the Combat System Work?
The core combat loop is tight and satisfying. Light attacks chain into heavy finishers, grabs set up juggle opportunities, and every hit delivers that chunky cartoon-violence feedback the genre demands. The fundamentals are accessible enough for casual button-mashers, but the combo system rewards players who take the time to learn each character's rhythm.
Each playable character has a distinct enough moveset to justify experimenting across multiple runs. The undisputed highlight of the roster is Gideon Graves, making his debut as a fully playable main roster character. His dual katana moveset is an absolute joy to use, and the writing leans hard into the joke of the former villain now being under your control. Almost every time he speaks, it references his original role as the game's big bad, which makes for consistently entertaining commentary throughout a playthrough.
If you want the most immediately satisfying combat experience in Scott Pilgrim EX, start your first run with Gideon Graves. His dual katana moveset has exceptional range and the writing makes every stage more entertaining.
The Badge System
The badge system is the single biggest mechanical addition EX brings to the genre. Badges are equippable passive items that change how your character plays in ways ranging from subtle tweaks to dramatic playstyle shifts. Some add elemental effects to your strikes, others expand your magnetic range for picking up money, and certain badge combinations unlock effects that can fundamentally reshape your approach to a run.
This is not a deep RPG system, but for a beat 'em up it adds a genuinely engaging decision layer that the original game never attempted. Sitting at the character select screen and experimenting with badge loadouts before a stage feels rewarding in a way that is rare for the genre. The badge system is the primary source of meaningful character growth in EX and gives the game strong replay value, particularly for players who want to try every combination across every character.
Scott Pilgrim EX Guide: Badge System and Co-Op
The Leveling System
The coin-based economy from the original returns: scavenge currency from downed enemies, spend it at shops and restaurants for stat boosts, and unlock new badges along the way. That loop still works. The traditional leveling system, however, feels strangely hollow.
Levels accumulate at a baffling rate. Within 20 minutes of play, a character can already be sitting at level 30 or beyond, and individual level-ups carry very little weight. There is no meaningful power curve tied to the number climbing in the corner of the screen. It quickly fades into background noise.
The badge system compensates for this significantly, providing a far more tangible sense of character growth. But the vestigial leveling system still feels like a missed opportunity to give players a more satisfying long-term progression hook.
Don't rely on raw level numbers as a measure of your character's power in Scott Pilgrim EX. Focus your attention on badge loadouts and food upgrades for actual meaningful stat growth.
Enemy Factions Variety
EX features three distinct enemy factions: Vegans, Robots, and Demons. They offer solid visual diversity and fit the game's tonal range well. The problem is that behavioral distinctions between enemy types within each faction can feel limited, especially as the game progresses.
The back half of EX begins to recycle encounters in a way that dulls the edge of the otherwise excellent combat. A wider spread of enemy archetypes, particularly in the later stages, would have kept every encounter feeling fresh. This is one of the clearest areas where EX falls short of its own ambitions.
Alternate reality stages help mask some of the enemy repetition by placing familiar enemy types in dramatically different visual environments. Boss encounters in particular benefit from this dimensional variety.
Scott Pilgrim EX Co-op
The game supports up to four players in both local and online co-op, and multiplayer transforms the experience entirely. The chaos of four characters filling the screen while everyone scrambles for coins activates exactly the kind of arcade energy that classic brawlers like The Simpsons arcade game or the X-Men beat 'em up delivered in their prime.
Solo play is perfectly functional, but the game makes no effort to hide that co-op is where it truly shines. The brevity of a focused solo playthrough (which reaches the credits faster than most players expect) becomes much less of an issue when you are playing alongside friends and the chaos naturally extends each stage's entertainment value.
Scott Pilgrim EX nails the beat 'em up revival with punchy combat, game-changing badges, and co-op chaos that begs for friends. It's not perfect, as levels feel rushed and enemies repeat late-game, but the badge tinkering and Gideon Graves alone make it endlessly replayable. Grab your crew, experiment with wild loadouts, and relive the anime vibes in neon-soaked streets.