Spoilers for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and preceding installments may be unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
It is 20XX. In a future Toronto ruled by the sinister GCorp, disaster strikes when Scott Pilgrim's bandmates from Sex Bob-Omb are suddenly kidnapped by the mysterious Metal Scott. With Toronto now under the dark clutches of three villainous factions - the Vegans, the Robots, and the Demons - it's up to Scott, his girlfriend Ramona Flowers, and a few former enemies to transcend space and time to rescue Scott's friends, put the band back together and save Canada (and maybe the world!).
EX builds upon the River City Ransom-inspired gameplay of its predecessor, ditching that game's linear level-by-level progression in favor of giving the player an open map of Toronto to freely explore, complete with hidden areas to find, side-quests to complete, and plenty of shops to buy stuff from. In addition to the food, snacks, and home media that were purchasable in the 2010 game, certain shops now stock equipment your character can wear, which come in two types: Accessories, which provide buffs to certain stats, and Badges, which add additional effects or upgrade your abilities in some way.
O'Malley also wrote and illustrated a mini-comic set directly before the game's events, titled Scott Pilgrim EX: Dawn of Metal Scott, which he published through his Instagram account
on February 13, 2026. A day later, on February 14, a demo for the game was released on Steam.
Previews: Announcement Trailer, Gameplay Sneak Peek, Character Reveal Trailer, Release Date Trailer, Gameplay Trailer, Demo Trailer, Launch Trailer
Enter tropes below (Costs a quarter):
- Aborted Arc: The ending of Takes Off, which the game continues off of, suggests that Gideon and Julie plan to continue to menace Scott and Ramona in the future. By the time the game takes place, however, Gideon and Julie have broken up, with the former making a genuine effort to reform, and seems to have abandoned his animosity toward Scott and Ramona, while the latter is focused on trying to accrue her own fortune before she and Gideon can get together again. It is worth mentioning though, that there are some clues that suggest some big event happened in between Takes Off and EX that involved Gideon and the Chaos Theater, and that might have resembled the big fight of Book 6 in some form.
- Adaptational Heroism: Following the lead of "Takes Off", all Exes have left their grudges behind. Gideon, who was the last ex who still wanted to cause mayhem at the end of the show, has reformed as well, and helps Scott and his friends with seemingly little prompting, whereas prior incarnations showcased him as firmly a villain who had no interest in changing his ways.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the comics, Simon Lee was introduced as a sinister high school crime lord before turning out to be a harmless dork who Scott beat the stuffing out of, with his more malicious self being the product of Gideon messing with Scott's memories. Here, Simon's videoworld counterpart really is a sinister high school crime lord, complete with mystical powers. This lines up with the game taking place after Takes Off, as Kim mentioned her kidnapping to Ramona in the anime.
- A Friend in Need: With Sex Bob-omb kidnapped and Metal Scott too strong for Scott or Ramona to take on alone, Ramona reaches out to her seven exes for help. Four of them answer the call directly, while the remaining three don't join due to reasons that are implied in the storynote . Nevertheless, all prove to be loyal allies throughout the adventure in some form or another.
- Alternate Self: Many of the early and mid-game bosses are timeline counterparts to the formerly evil exes and major members of the cast.
- Todd and Roxie's prehistoric counterparts are Saurotodd (a vegan tyrannosaur) and Primal Roxie (his tamer/trainer).
- Envy's counterpart in Casa Vania is Lady Envy, a haughty, implicitly vampiric swordswoman who serves as the castle's Baroness, and whose fashion sense and fighting style owe a debt to Bloodborne's Lady Maria.
- Simon Lee's videoworld counterpart is Super Simon Lee, a teenage crime lord with awesome psychic powers. Unlike his innocent comic self, this Simon genuinely is an evil creep who's kidnapped Kim.
- Matthew's counterpart is Big Band Matty, leader of the Big Time Band, which includes black and white styling and a Giant Demon Lounge Singer Chick.
- Lucas' counterpart is Steamtrain Luke, a Train Pirate with a functioning smokestack in his head for some reason.
- Subverted with the battle against Ken and Kyle Katayanagi. Bryan Lee O'Malley confirmed the twins you fight in the game are the real twins, clad in Phantom of the Opera getups, who are presenting a show in Casa Vania. They do merge into a new form called the Phantom Twin to battle the heroes though.
- Alpha Bitch: Gideona, one of the three GCorp executives, and the undisputed leader of Toronto's demon gangs. She's cutting, catty, and continually mean to her minions and her enemies alike. Given what Gideon's ending implies about the identities of her parents, she probably gets it from Julie.
- Ambiguous Situation: It isn't clear what happened to Gideon in the Bad Future the GCorp trio hail from, other than that he vanished. The identity of the kids' mother also goes unrevealed, though many hints are left behind to suggest it's actually Julienote .
- Amicable Exes: Aside from the obvious (Ramona's exes have gone from menacing her and Scott to fighting alongside them), at some point Gideon and Julie split up, since Julie wanted to make her own fortune and not coast on Gideon's billions. While Julie is as...ascerbic as ever, she does take the time to explain herself to Gideon where she won't to the other characters. In Gideon's ending, Julie succeeds in getting rich, and the two subsequently get back together.
- And That's Terrible: Gideon invokes this repeatedly. Given that while he's sincerely repentant he's still kind of evil, he's probably doing it for himself as much as the people he's castigating.Gideon to Lady Envy, who has turned Young Neil into Goth Neil, her vampire/zombie servant: Let the kid go! It's not cool to imprison people and bend them to your will! I know that now!
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- In Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game, you started off with a fairly limited moveset and had to level up to unlock things as basic as dash attacks, back attacks, and the ability to hit downed enemies. In EX, you have access to your full movelist right from the start, which is even cheekily justified in-universe by having all the characters start at level 16, which was the maximum level in the previous game.
- If you knock an enemy into a Bottomless Pit, the money they would have left behind when defeated will automatically be added to your total.
- Art Evolution: While the art style is heavily reminiscent of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game, the announcement trailer reveals that visually the game has shifted to be more accurate to Bryan Lee O'Malley's art style compared to the more Super-Deformed-esque visuals from the previous title that much closer resembled Paul B. Robertson's usual art style.
- Ascended Extra: Lisa Miller, last seen in a brief cameo in the final episode of Takes Off, is a fairly prominent member of the supporting cast in EX. Her high school self plays a key role in the videoworld, and she'll regularly comment on the game's events if spoken to in Toronto. Plus, as the true identity of Metal Scott, she's one of the most important characters in the game.
- The Atoner: Gideon, shockingly, is legitimately trying to turn over a new leaf and decides to help Scott and Ramona save their friends as part of that process.
- Batter Up!: One of the disposable level implements Scott is seen wielding in the announcement trailer is a metal baseball bat.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Initially, it seems as though Metal Scott and GCorp's executives are both out to get Scott, Ramona and company, but are acting at cross-purposes. Metal Scott turns out to have been covertly guiding the heroes on the right path, while the GCorp execs turn out to be Gideon's kids from the future, working to resurrect what turns out to be Godeon.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Part of the challenge of rescuing Sex Bob-omb from the parts of the timeline they've been scattered to is that most of them have been warped to serve the masters of the zone:
- Young Neil has been turned into a vampire/zombie called Goth Neil by Lady Envy.
- Kim has not been brainwashed, but she is being held hostage by Super Simon Lee.
- Knives has been enthralled by the rhythm of Big Band Matty's Big Time Band.
- Stephen has convinced himself that he's happy as a train pirate serving Steamtrain Luke, in large part because it offers him a feeling of freedom from his usual anxieties.
- Broad Strokes: While the game is effectively a sequel to Takes Off, as it continues almost all of the plot points left in the show, Bryan is reluctant of calling the game a "sequel" as he feels like it's conditioning the audience to do "homework" in order to play the game, and his intention was for anyone to come in and play, no matter what media of the franchise they consumed previously. This approach can be seen clearly in the prequel comic, Dawn of Metal Scott, where the recap simply retells the premise of the original Scott Pilgrim story, tells the audience to not worry about anything that happened in between, and establishes the setting of the new story which is: Scott is living happily with Ramona, and the Evil Exes stopped being evil (conveniently hiding the plot of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off). This serves to prime players for the actual game, which liberally combines aspects of all past incarnations of the story in order for players to get all references related to the world of Scott Pilgrim, while also working underneath to make sure the canon is accurate to the story left in Takes Off.
- Butt-Monkey: Jimmy. Poor, poor Jimmy. Without fail, whenever a riff rift opens up, he'll find himself sucked in and stranded everywhere from Casa Vania to the Vegan Police's jail to post-apocalyptic Toronto.
- The Cameo: Loads throughout Toronto, but among the playable characters, the otherwise absent Nega Scott (and a heretofore unseen Nega Ramona) appear as palettes for Scott and Ramona.
- Katie and Hazel from Bryan Lee O'Malley's other graphic novel Seconds (2014) appear a few screens before the Lady Envy fight.
- Young Neil's sister Steph bears a striking resemblance to Stephanie Ferguson from Bryan Lee O'Malley's first graphic novel Lost At Sea (2003).
- Canon Character All Along: Metal Scott is revealed in the last shot of the ending to actually be Lisa Miller from an alternate universe.
- Carry a Big Stick: Hammers are a recurring usable stage implement. Notably, Hammers have a practical application where they can push switches much faster than regular attacks and are required at certain points to progress. Ramona's hammer also qualifies and she can perform these tasks without needing to grab a hammer from the floor.
- Cassandra Truth: In Dawn of Metal Scott, Scott rushes back to Stephen's house to tell his friends about his metal imposter after he's attacked, prefacing his statement with "You're never gonna believe what just happened to me!". Predictably, no one believes him.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Young Neil, who continues to be as much of a ditz as he was in Takes Off. Even when Lady Envy brainwashes him and turns him into her vampire/zombie servant Goth Neil, he remains an airheaded goofball. Wendy, a recurring Demon Hipster Chick, successfully dupes him into buying a dinosaur egg from her that is quite clearly a rock, and Goth Neil somehow gets it into his head that Lady Envy loves dinosaurs. She is baffled as to how he came to this conclusion.
- Central Theme: To paraphrase Ramona, "Change is what we get." The heroes (in particular the formerly evil exes) have changed and are continuing to change for the better, while the GCorp Executives are clinging to a destructive plan to their own detriment, and the final boss, Godeon is literally incapable of change on his own because he's a non-sentient machine.
- Scott and Ramona, both of whom had to overcome serious character flaws (Scott's self-centeredness and Ramona's preference for running from her problems) have settled into a good groove as a loving, healthy couple.
- Roxie, who let her heartbreak after Ramona dumped her fester, has successfully moved on and works up the courage to ask Hollie out after everything is said and done.
- Lucas, who spent years living a life where he cared about as little as possible, has found his passion again, to the point that he successfully relaunches his acting career with a film he's clearly enthusiastic about.
- Matthew, who puffed himself up to cover his anxieties about being the weakest Ex has found confidence and enjoys pushing himself in new ways, to the point that he joins Sex Bob-omb for their big show.
- The Katayanagis, who had previously united out of spite after Ramona pitted them against each other and viewed their robots as weapons, have come to love Robot-01 like a son, and have done a good job of raising him.
- Gideon, former archvillain and professional asshole, is sincerely trying to become a better man and make up for his crimes. He's still a bit evil and not the best at empathy, but he's working on it and mostly succeeding.
- Comically Small Bribe: After the heroes beat down a belligerent faction of the Vegan gang in medieval Toronto, Julie and Julienne get the gang to back off with the king's ransom of adding one vegan burger to the proposed menu of their fast food restaurant.
- Competitive Balance: Each of the playable characters are designed with their specific niches:
- Scott and Ramona are the Jack of All Stats, being largely balanced. Ramona in particular has slightly longer ranged attacks due to her hammer, which also allow her to hit switches without the need to find hammers for yourself.
- Robot-01 is the Zoner whose attacks are longer ranged.
- Lucas is the Mighty Glacier, with slower but larger attacks.
- Roxie specializes in aerial combat, being able to cancel her attacks into aerial combos.
- Matthew is the Puppeteer, summoning Demon Hipster Chicks and using his mystical powers to control the battlefield and keep enemies away from him.
- Gideon is the Lightning Bruiser, possessing huge, fast buttons that hit hard and bully enemies with their massive hitboxes.
- Continuity Nod:
- The three warring gangs introduced in the trailer as part of the game's premise draw their powers from the same sources that three of Ramona's Evil Exes did. The Vegans tap into the same powers Todd Ingram did, The Robots echo the Katayanagi twins' adventures in robotics, and The Demons share an origin with Matthew Patel's Demon Hipster Chicks.
- Ramona transforms into Super Ramona for her super attack, and Matthew maintains his evolved mystical powers, both of which hail from Takes Off, while Gideon can temporarily transform into his Super Gideon form from the 2010 game.
- Roxie's default assist character is Todd, nodding to the Odd Friendship the two formed towards the end of Takes Off.
- Gideon Graves' logo can be seen in the background of the trailer behind several characters in shadow.
- The now dilapidated Chaos Theatre returns as the penultimate stage and sports an Elevator Action Sequence prior to the Boss Battle just like it did in the 2010 game.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Several, including Metal Scott, the GCorp Executives, and Godeon:
- Metal Scott contrasts Nega Scott, as the good Mr. Pilgrim's sinister double:
- Metal Scott is made in Scott's image, while Nega Scott is Scott's worst traits personified.
- Metal Scott is spiky, but maintains Scott's color scheme, while Nega Scott is literally a dark Scott with glowing red eyes.
- Metal Scott's fighting style has very little in common with Scott's, and he relies on forcefields, teleportation, and a spin-dash. Nega Scott possesses all of Scott's martial arts mastery and combines it with relentless rage.
- Metal Scott's allies include members of the Toronto robot gang and Metal Good Boy, an adorable robot puppy. Nega Scott fights alone in most continuities, with the exception of the 2010 game, where he had zombie servants.
- While both turn out to be more benevolent than they appear (barring the 2010 game for Nega Scott, who conquers the world and enslaves the cast in his ending and rejoices in ruining everything), their conflicts with the cast are resolved very differently. Metal Scott has been covertly guiding the heroes on their journey, and faces them to ensure that they're strong enough to defeat Godeon, which they prove by besting Metal Scott in a conventional fight. Nega Scott, meanwhile, can only be overcome by Scott accepting the worst parts of himself rather than trying to deny them through violence (or, in the movie's case, hitting it off with him and agreeing to get lunch).
- Their final fates differ too. Metal Scott, having guided the heroes to victory, watches over Toronto from afar and reveals that she's really an alternate Lisa Miller before noting that the reason she decided to disguise herself as Metal Scott is a story for another time. Nega Scott, meanwhile, is absorbed into Scott, definitively ending his story.
- The GCorp Executives contrast the League of Evil Exes, as a deadly alliance out to ruin Scott's day and who have deep ties to Gideon:
- The Executives consist of three villainous siblings, while the League are an association of unrelated (minus the Katayanagis) ne'er-do-wells out to make Ramona pay for dumping them.
- The Executives are quite young compared to Scott, Ramona and the Exes: Gordeon and Gideona are both adults, but just barely at 19 and 18, and Baby G is a toddler. The League, meanwhile, are Scott's contemporaries, and even Gideon, who was the oldest Ex in the comics at 31, seems to be based off of his younger Takes Off incarnation, who's around 24.
- The Executives' plot credibly threatens the world, and forces Scott and Ramona to join forces with their former enemies to stand a chance against them. The League's plot mostly threatens Scott and Ramona and occasionally risks collateral damage, and, in the comics, Scott defeats the vast majority of them on his own.
- The Executives cling to their evil plan because of how much they've invested into it, and it takes Godeon being destroyed for them to finally back down. The League, Particularly their Takes Off incarnations, get over themselves, accept that their relationships with Ramona are well and truly done, and ultimately ditch the plan to pursue their own happiness.
- Finally, Godeon contrasts the now reformed Gideon Graves as the story's Final Boss:
- Gideon is a skilled swordsman and can temporarily transform himself into a giant, muscled version of himself. Godeon favors laser canons and can transform his body into whatever grotesque form he wants.
- Gideon openly leads the League of Evil Exes, and even contacts Scott before their confrontation. Godeon's existence is only revealed at the climax of EX.
- Gideon may be a gleefully unapologetic bastard, but he has a fair bit of depth and is capable of changing: In the comics, he starts as an "asshole" and graduates to a "dick." In Takes Off, while he remains evil, he accepts that he was responsible for his relationship with Ramona failing due to his abuse, and works to be a genuinely good partner to Julie. In EX, he's pulled a full-blown redemption. Godeon, meanwhile is a decidedly Flat Character whose devotion to the GCorp kids is nothing more than his following his programmed directives.
- Metal Scott contrasts Nega Scott, as the good Mr. Pilgrim's sinister double:
- Demoted to Comic Relief: Stephen Stills was undoubtedly an important character in the original story and the original game, and while his role in "Takes Off" was reduced to being the "guy of the band", in this game his presence is justified purely for comedy purposes. This comes to a head when his quest reveals he wasn't even kidnapped or brainwashed. He simply decided to become a pirate because the band was too stressful for him. He spends the rest of the game being the butt monkey of the story.
- Demoted to Extra:
- The entire playable cast from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game besides Scott and Ramona have been reduced to supporting non-playable characters, with their playable slots instead filled by the bosses from the first game. Of the Exes, Todd and the Katayanagis remain unplayable and are relegated to assist slots. While their cross-time counterparts do serve as boss battles, their primary selves go unfought.
- In Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game, Subspaces served as hidden levels packed with money and goodies, but in this game they simply serve as a Fast Travel system between Stephen's house and other parts of Toronto.
- Design Preservation Villain:
- A number of the bosses are alternate timeline variations of the exes, due to the originals no longer having any interest in fighting Scott and Ramona. One of the bosses is a variant of Envy Adams as well, who is simply a non-hostile NPC in EX.
- With Gideon having been Promoted to Playable after his reform, Godeon serves as his replacement as the game's Final Boss. Similarly with Nega Scott having undergone a Split-Personality Merge with Scott, Metal Scott is present to fulfill his original role in the former's absence.
- Double-Meaning Title: The "EX" in the title isn't just a funny Street Fighter EX nod — it's also a cheeky reference to Ramona's evil exes, some of whom are Promoted to Playable, as well as the executives of GCorp that antagonize the cast. The latter being directly connected to the former through the same ex is an important plot point.
- Dramatic Irony: The GCorp executives spend the entire game attempting to resurrect a mechnaical doppelganger of their Disappeared Dad while being unaware of the fact that the present-day version of their father, Gideon, is one of the heroes working to stop their plans. Gideon himself doesn't pick up the siblings' relation to him until he's face-to-face with Godeon at the end of the game.
- Enfant Terrible: Baby G, one of the GCorp executives is a Brainy Baby and just as nasty as his siblings.
- Evil Running Good: Gordeon has taken control of the Vegan Police in the 1980s in the hopes of shutting them down so that his vegan gang can run wild.
- Fire-Forged Friends: While Scott and Ramona were at the very least at peace with the formerly evil exes prior to EX, the game sees them either strengthen or form their bonds with four of the seven. It's particularly notable in Matthew's case, since in his ending he joins Sex Bob-omb on stage.
- Foreshadowing: Both comedic and dramatic cases:
- Big Band Matty, Matthew's Evil Counterpart, leads an old-timey swing band that he desperately wants to be popular. In his ending, Matthew joins Sex Bob-omb on stage.
- Quite a bit when it comes to Metal Scott's benevolence and true identity:
- The game opens with Metal Scott attacking Sex Bob-omb and scattering both them and their instruments across time and space. Unlike the actively murderous GCorp executives, he doesn't actually directly harm the band. And Scott, Lisa Miller's eternal what-might-have-been is the one person Metal Scott doesn't outright abduct.
- Metal Scott tends to appear when the heroes need something to point them in the right direction, and their subsequent conflicts provide exactly that something. After their showdown in front of Burger Lord, he'll give the heroes a respectful nod and open the portal to medieval Toronto for them before flying off.
- During a return visit to the videoworld version of Kim and Scott's high school, Lisa is the one to provide the solution to a puzzle, a micro-scale version of what she's doing as Metal Scott.
- During Lisa's appearances in present day Toronto, she'll bring up her experience as an actor...and it would take a skilled actor to credibly play the evil robotic doppelganger of your old friend/unrequited crush in such a way that you accomplish your mission without giving away the game.
- Game-Breaking Bug: When you do the Super Tutorial as part of Quest 4, don't die, lest Digital Wallace disappears, resulting in there being no way to start the mandatory Super Tutorial again and thus getting a softlock.
- Good All Along: Metal Scott turns out to have abducted Sex Bob-omb to inspire the alliance between Scott, Ramona and the formerly evil Exes, and to ensure that the trials they'd go through to save their friends would make them strong enough to take on Godeon.
- Improbable Weapon User: Gordeon, one of the three GCorp executives. While his fellow execs pilot a hamburger-themed robot and wield powerful demonic magic respectively, Gordeon supplements his vegan powers and martial arts with...weaponized cereal that he fires out of his mouth at high speeds.
- Informed Attribute: While Roxie, Lucas, Matthew and Robot-01 were all Scott and Ramona's enemies before, only Gideon is explicitly noted to be "reformed" on the character selection screen. It's justified given that even the least evil version of Gideon seen previously was a former domestic abuser turned would-be terrorist (albeit a former domestic abuser who was genuinely working to be a good partner to Julie, who he happily collaborated with in his terroristic plotting).
- Kid from the Future: GCorp's executives turn out to be a trio of siblings who are strongly implied to be Gideon and Julie's kids, and who hope to resurrect Godeon by throwing Toronto into chaos to gather enough power for a dark ritual.
- Licked by the Dog: Quite literally, even. Metal Good Boy licks Metal Scott just before the heroes put together that he's been covertly guiding them on their quest.
- Mechanical Abomination: The Final Boss, Mecha-Gideon, AKA Mecha-Father, AKA Godeon. He's "born" from an evil turnip empowered by three jewels containing concentrated vegan, robotic, and demonic energy and his powers include energy projection, summoning robotic doppelgangers of the GCorp executives and shapeshifting. Given that Metal Scott was specifically guiding the heroes to be strong enough to defeat him, Godeon's likely responsible for the ruined Toronto that GCorp lords over.
- Money Is Experience Points: You can spend money on items and upgrades.
- Multiple Endings: While the primary ending is the same, each of the seven playable characters gets their own epilogue:
- Scott, after a long day of fighting bosses and solving puzzles, plays video games all night. He and Ramona remain happily together.
- Ramona lets herself relax for the first time in who knows how long. She and Scott remain happily together.
- Roxie works up the courage to ask Hollie out on a date. Hollie says she'll think about it.
- Lucas stars in a smash hit movie about his adventures, but he's still dateless. Everyone's rooting for him to find someone, though.
- Robot-01 is tucked into bed by the Katayanagis, who read him I, Robo while he thinks back on his adventure and feels grateful for having been on it.
- Matthew joins Sex Bob-omb on stage by popular demand and receives an 18-minute standing ovation.
- Gideon and Julie get back together after she makes a fortune of her own to match his. They're thinking of starting a family...
- Mythology Gag:
- When picked on the character select screen, Scott poses identically to how he does on the cover of Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour, the sixth book.
- Scott's assist call animation has him striking his iconic pose from the cover of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life.
- Rather than starting at level 1, each character starts at level 16, which was the maximum level you could reach in the 2010 game. This also provides justification for why you don't have to unlock moves anymore, as mentioned above under Anti-Frustration Features.
- The music track that plays in the Suburbs and Annex Alley, which are some of the first areas of the map you get to explore, is titled "One More Summer", directly paralleling "Another Winter" from the 2010 game's first level.
- If Gideon is the one to defeat Metal Scott the second time, he'll respond to Metal Scott departing with an indignant "I thought we had a fight going on!", a taunt he used on Scott in the film.
- One of Scott's alternate color palettes is based upon Nega Scott.
- Narrator All Along: The epilogue reveals that the game's narration was provided by Metal Scott, who is then revealed to be a future incarnation of Lisa Miller.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Over the course of the game, Julie goes from working at a burger restaurant to taking tickets at Casa Vania to traveling back in time to open a burger restaurant with her ancestor.
- Non-Linear Sequel: As BenDavid Grabinski confirmed that EX is set in the Takes Off continuity, the game is not canon to its predecessor, which was a loose adaptation of the comics.
- Not Me This Time: If Gideon is chosen as the player character for the initial battle with Metal Scott, he'll exclaim that he had nothing to do with the bot's creation. He's telling the truth.
- Power-Up Food: A clip from the game's official website shows that you can still buy take-out from stores using Canadian dollars you acquire from defeated enemies as in the previous game.
- Previously on…: Dawn of Metal Scott opens with a heavily truncated summary of the Scott Pilgrim series, which pokes fun at its varying adaptations.Scott met Ramona. Sparks flew. The two of them had to work together in order to defeat Ramona's Seven Evil Exes and their nefarious leader, Gideon Gordon Graves. Some other stuff happened in various media formats that may or may not be canon. That's all in the past. These days, Scott and Ramona are a happy couple, and the Exes have moved on from their unhealthy obsessions. I guess they all got therapy or whatever.
- Promoted to Playable: The Character Reveal trailer shows Lucas Lee and Roxie Richter, two of Ramona's exes (and bosses in the previous Scott Pilgrim game), will form "an unlikely team-up" and be playable alongside Scott and Ramona. The Release Date Trailer also adds Robot-01 and Matthew Patel to the lineup. The seventh member of the crew is, of all people, a sincerely reformed Gideon Graves.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Gordeon is arguably the least mature of the GCorp Executives despite being the oldest (keep in mind, the youngest executive is a literal toddler), behaving like a Jerk Jock still in high school by default and throwing loud tantrums when things don't go his way.
- Punny Name:
- Vegan enemies have vegetable-themed names.
- Demons have demon-themed names. A flying demon is named Aeriel.
- Put on a Bus: Scott and Ramona are the only characters from the previous game to retain their playable status here. Kim Pine, Stephen Stills and Knives Chau are instead kidnapped alongside the rest of Sex Bob-Omb, Wallace spends most of the game reading a walkthrough of ''EX'' in the future, and Nega Scott is completely absent.
- Reformed, but Not Tamed: Gideon is explicitly described as "reformed" on the character select screen, and he's both a loyal ally to Scott and Ramona and genuinely dedicated to being a better person. He's still kind of evil, as seen by his admiration for Tiketto's attempt to steal his ticket to the twins' show and resell it at an outrageous markup. Matthew, meanwhile, is more straightforwardly benevolent, but still summons demons to do his bidding while fighting alongside the heroes.
- Rule of Three: Three beacons are required before unlocking the final area and final boss fight.
- Samus Is a Girl: Metal Scott turns out to be a disguised Lisa Miller, who adopted the identity to covertly guide the heroes on a path that would get them strong enough to defeat Godeon. Her outfit underneath the armor even resembles Samus' casual wear.
- Sequel Hook: EX closes with Metal Scott removing his head to reveal that "he" is really an elaborate disguise for a scarred, badass Lisa Miller, who notes that her story is one for "another time."
- Shout-Out:
- The game's title is an allusion to Street Fighter EX.
- Metroid:
- Upon their defeat, the Katayanagis merge back into the Phantom Twin and relinquish Young Neil's Game Goose to the heroes in the pose used by Chozo Statues that hold items in the classic Metroids.
- Metal Scott turns out to be a suit of Powered Armor for Lisa Miller, a blond warrior whose casual wear includes a blue top, shorts and boots, a la Samus' look in Metroid Fusion.
- Casa Vania is an obvious parody of Castlevania.
- Right before the fight with Gideona, she exclaims "What is a father? A miserable little pile of secrets. Enough talk!"
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Star Posts serve as the game's checkpoints.
- The game introduces Scott's brand new rival Metal Scott, a parody of Metal Sonic. His design is visually similar to Gemerl from Sonic Advance 3. And much like Metal Robotnik, Metal Scott is in fact an elaborate disguise for a pre-existing character.
- A Loop de Loop is seen in the opening moments of the trailer.
- The front page of Dawn of Metal Scott is a pastiche of the Sonic CD box art.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Green turtle shells appear as usable weapons.
- Turnips with faces can be plucked out of the ground and thrown at enemies.
- The rounded hills behind Toronto in the animated portion of the announcement trailer are based on the hills commonly seen in New Super Mario Bros..
- An angry sun appears in the background of a beach level seen in the announcement trailer.
- Colored blocks from Super Mario Bros. 3 appear throughout Toronto as background elements. A Ninja NPC can be found hiding behind a white block, referencing the now-famous "secret" trick from that game where you can drop into the background by holding down for 3 seconds while standing on a white block.
- The Badge system in this game is taken directly from the Paper Mario sub-series, right down to having some badges that do nothing but add cosmetic effects to your moves.
- Mega Man:
- The third fight against Metal Scott involves Metal Scott gaining a robot animal summon in Metal Good Boy and the ability to cast various attacks by changing the color of his armor, evoking Mega Man and Rush.
- Metal Scott's portion of the epilogue starts with the camera panning up to show them standing on top of a building in a similar fashion to the intro of Mega Man 2.
- The Rift Riffs are a direct homage to the music-themed progression systems featured in the The Legend of Zelda series. The quest to collect 5 instruments to proceed is also framed in a similar fashion to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
- In Dawn of Metal Scott, when Scott decides to give a nickname to his metal imposter, he does so using the Metal Slug font.
- Many of the early-to-mid-game bosses are alternate versions of the Evil Exes who pay tribute to pop culture in one way or another. Casa Vania's Twins (both decked out in Phantom masks), for instance, merge into a single boss wearing gear inspired by the famously-beloved-in-Winnipeg Phantom of the Paradise.
- One bit of post-game dialogue has Monique mentioning that her friends Matt and Jay might have a show at the Rivoli.
- Siblings in Crime: The three GCorp executives are revealed to be siblings.
- Sixth Ranger: In Matthew's ending, he apparently becomes Sex Bob-omb's newest member, joining Scott, Kim, Stephen, Knives, and Neil on stage by popular demand and winning an 18-minute standing ovation for his performance.
- Skewed Priorities: Repeatedly played for laughs. Early in the game, Gideon is aghast that GCorp have dumped a beach in the middle of the suburbs, not because they've torn the world asunder, but because it will cause the neighborhood's property taxes to skyrocket. Later, Stephen Stills is more worried about his landlord's reaction to Metal Scott setting his house on fire than the fact that Metal Scott has set his house on fire (though, to be fair, Sex Bob-omb are actively containing the blaze).
- Spiritual Antithesis: The game does this to stand out from every previous iteration of the Scott Pilgrim franchise. Most adaptations of the original comic's plot are about Scott coming to terms with himself as he wins over Ramona and defeats her evil exes (or the other way around in Takes Off's case). EX is explicitly a continuation of the Official Couple's adventures in a quest to save the world, which also explores the concept of space-time travel and the general theme of redemption amongst the exes.
- Stealth Mentor: Metal Scott turns out to have been covertly pushing the heroes to become stronger, so that they'll be able to take on the GCorp trio and Godeon and win.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Bombs are used to progress the story and open up secret areas.
- Suddenly Voiced: Robot-01 is fully capable of speech in EX, having no dialogue in the original comic or Takes Off (albeit it's implied in the latter that he has a way to communicate with Ken and Kyle).
- Teens Are Monsters: Two of the three GCorp Executives, Gordeon and Gideona, are teens at 19 and 18 respectively. Aside from executing an Evil Plan to revive Godeon, Gordeon has taken control of the Vegan Police in the 1980s specifically to shut them down so that his gang can thrive, while Gideona casually berates and belittles her demon hordes and came up with the plot to resurrect Godeon in the first place. On top of this, they're deeply unpleasant people.
- Terrible Trio: The GCorp Executives, Gordeon, Gideona, and Baby G.
- Gordeon is the oldest, at 19, but he's content to follow his sister's plan. He's a vegan meathead and the vegan gang's leader, and he's prone to pitching fits when things don't go his way.
- Gideona is the middle child, at 18, and the mastermind behind GCorp's overall plot. She commands a demonic horde, in part because it fits her aesthetic. She's as catty and mean as she is brilliant.
- Baby G is the youngest child, at just 2.3. He commands a robot army, and likes drums, hamburgers and trying to impale his opponents with his robot hamburger's spiked bottom.
- The Bus Came Back:
- All characters who dissapeared in "Takes Off" come back here in some form. Sandra and Monique are working in the beach as lifeguards. Jason Kim appears in the neighborhood next to a subspace highway door to give some tips. Joseph is seen in Downtown reading a book to give the player tips, and also plays an important part in Stephen Stills' story. Lynette is also at Downtown, providing tips to the players. Scott's brother Lawrence also makes ana appearance in Casa Vania. Scott's parents also make a cameo although it's harder to find them. Knive's parents also make a return as background fans in an arena near the movie studio. Tamara returns inside the record store in Downtown. Jimmy also appears in different timelines after being sucked through the Riff Rifts against his will. Young Neil's sister, Stephanie, who makes small cameos on the original book, also appears here in different stages dropping trivia about Young Neil. Even Simon Lee returns through a Riff Rift that leads to Benvie Tech in the past. Finally Lisa, who was a very important character in the original story, returns here in different areas as you advance through the game and also as the true identity of Metal Scott.
- Nega Scott also makes a spiritual return in the game, both as a palette swap for Scott (sporting his canon dark colors and red eyes this time), and also as a shadow optional boss inside Casa Vania (although this one is more of a shadow version of all characters rather than THE Nega-Scott himself).
- This also extends to specific locations. After dissapearing in "Takes Off", both Casa Loma and Honest Ed's make a return (although in Lawyer Friendly variations like in the original game). "The Happy Avocado", the vegan restaurant where Scott and Stephen worked, also makes a return. And also The Chaos Theathre is back, although abandoned after a big fight that happened before
- Took a Level in Kindness: The case for both major and minor characters:
- Among the playable cast Matthew and Gideon have become steadfast allies to Scott and Ramona, and Gideon in particular is actively trying to be a better person than he was.
- Among the wider ensemble, Lynette Guycott was previously a cold, cheating jerk who punched the highlights out of Knives' hair. Here she offers solid gameplay advice, her prehistoric counterpart will be pleased if you can overcome her challenges, and her future self runs a store in the post-apocalyptic ruins of Toronto.
- Joseph, infamous in the comics for being even bitchier than Julie, is grouchy but not nakedly hostile to the heroes here.
- Unreliable Narrator: Played for Laughs. The narration at the start of the game claims that the Toronto of 20XX is in turmoil due to the three gangs controlling it while the game shows various enemies peacefully hanging out with ordinary Torontonians.
- Violation of Common Sense: GCorp allows bombs on their beaches, but explosions are strictly forbidden.
- Villains Out Shopping: In some cases, quite literally. Goons who aren't in combat have idle animations showing them hanging out with each other, and in more peaceful parts of the map, members of all three gangs can be seen getting along amicably with ordinary Torontonians.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Implied, and in plural. The GCorp trio want to revive Godeon, his directive is to "crush the enemies" of GCorp and one of Godeon's attacks summons a robotic duplicate of what appears to be a younger Gideona who proudly fights beside her "father", suggesting that the kids long for their dad's approval and love, despite Gideona herself insisting that they don't need him.
- Wham Shot: The last shot of the ending reveals that Metal Scott is in fact an elaborate armored disguise worn by an alternate Lisa Miller, who's picked up a few badass-looking scars and become a superb martial artist and mech pilot.
We are all connected by fate. Make the most of it!