Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley talks about “one more go” with the new game

It’s been a busy few years for Scott Pilgrim. After the live-action film and the conclusion of the comics in 2010, the series has slowly been coming back to life. First, in 2021 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game It has been re-released on modern consoles after years of being inaccessible. Two years later came the biggest surprise: Scott Pilgrim takes offa Netflix anime series that remixed the story with an alternate take of Scott’s battle with seven evil exes. This was followed by Giant box set To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the comic, now the series is back with a game called Scott Pilgrim x.

according to Scott Pilgrim Creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, there was no big plan for the series to return. Instead, each project flowed naturally from the last. “We just happened to be doing the show, and Universal was like, ‘What else do you want to do?’” he explains. Around the same time, O’Malley was talking to the team at Tribute Games about the possibility of doing another game, so the choice was easy. “We always wanted to do another go at this.”

on the surface, Scott Pilgrim x Similar to its predecessor. It is a side-scrolling game Streets of Rage or Ransom River City Its events take place in the pixel city of Toronto. But instead of retelling the original Scott Pilgrimwhich follows the titular slacker as he battles his new girlfriend Ramona and the seven former villains, the previous The story builds from Take offwhich largely shifted Scott to the background to focus on the rest of the cast. “Where the show ended gave us room to play with exes and rearrange the cast,” O’Malley explains. The new game follows Scott and a group of playable characters as they attempt to rescue Scott’s bandmates. This involves fighting rival gangs – robots, demons and vegetarians – as well as traveling through time and space.

For fans of the series, one of the most exciting parts of the anime was how it brought together the same creative team from the live-action film: Take off The same cast appeared, director Edgar Wright served as producer, and O’Malley was writer and director alongside Ben David Grabinski. metric Until the appearance.

the previous It does something similar. the first Scott Pilgrim The game was developed by Ubisoft, and most members of the original team went on to found Tribute Games, which made a name for itself with beat ’em up games like TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and The marvel of cosmic conquest. the previous Also included Great new soundtrack from chiptune rock band Anamanaguchiart by Paul Robertson, and while O’Malley was only partially involved in the original game, here he says he’s more involved in the day-to-day production. He says it’s this element of collaboration that made returning to Scott Pilgrim so rewarding.

“It was such a warm and life-affirming thing to do this show with all these people,” O’Malley says. Take off. “It’s the same in the game. I’ve known these people since we were younger, like 17 years or something, and we’ve all grown up and see the world in different ways. When you’re doing comics, you’re completely alone, and pretty much in your head all day. But over the course of my career, I’ve met a lot of people, worked with a lot of interesting people, and it’s always great to be able to revisit those relationships in the future.”

While Tribute was developing the game, O’Malley focused primarily on the story, which is more expansive compared to its predecessor. He even drew a little comic featuring a new character – Metal Scott — which was his first time drawing a Scott Pilgrim comic since 2010. “I take what they want to do and try to turn it into a story that makes sense for Scott Pilgrim every step of the way,” he says of his role in the previous. “I feel like I’m a catcher in a sports analogy. People are throwing things at me and I’m trying to figure out what works.”

One of his goals in the match, and his last Scott Pilgrim projects, is welcoming newcomers. The story of Scott Pilgrim has now been around for two decades in various forms across comics, games, films, and television. This can make it look intimidating from the outside. “I want everything I do to be accessible,” O’Malley explains. “Maybe it’s because I grew up with comics. They’ll always tell you who the characters are, and you’ll be able to catch on pretty quickly. That’s the spirit these days for me.” Scott Pilgrim. It should make sense to believers, but it should also be a clean entry point for anyone.

It is not clear if or how Scott Pilgrim may continue to evolve in the future after its release the previous. But for O’Malley, after years of working in new formats and collaborating with old friends, he’s looking forward to returning to his roots. “I really want to get back into comics, because I miss having all the power. It’s been really fun collaborating with so many talented people, but at the end of the day I miss the time when I just did storyboards and no one really told me what to do. So I hope I get back to that soon,” he says.

_{Scott Pilgrim x Releases March 3 on Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.}