Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game/References

Just like the comic, there are a lot of references in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game.

Characters

Stage exits

• Kim Pine flies off on a Warp Star, a reference to the Kirby series. The star also looks like Starfy from the Starfy series.
• Scott Pilgrim teleports away in the fashion of the Mega Man games.
• Ramona Flowers goes into her Subspace Suitcase, a reference to Felix the Cat.
• Stephen Stills uses a Warp Pipe, a reference to Super Mario.
• Nega Scott's stage exit is a reference to Bass from Mega Man.
• Knives Chau, before leaving, does a "peace sign" (two fingers up) while a white glove appears over her head. This is obviously referencing Mario's victory pose in various games, most notably Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Odyssey.
• Wallace Wells's original stage exit (before editing it and delaying the DLC) was just a recolored version of Amy Rose's Tornado Attack from Sonic Battle. It was changed to an explosive wine bottle, which makes purple smoke, being just the usual ninja's style exit.

Moves

• All characters can do an aerial roll which is just like the Acro Circus move in River City Ransom. It might also count as a reference to various Sonic the Hedgehog games and in some ways, also the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade beat-em ups which were also co-op.
• All characters can also do the Grand Slam technique which is also found in River City Ransom.
• Every character has a plethora of moves that are tributes for beat'em ups or fighting games (primarily from the Street Fighter series.)
  • Scott Pilgrim's special is Ryu's Shinku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, a common move from the Street Fighter games. He also performs Ryu's Joudan Sokutogeri and Makoto's Hayate and Fukiage. All of these moves originate from the Street Fighter III series.
    • Makoto's Fukiage is also the same move Scott used when he "punched [Roxie] in the boob." In Volume 4 and in the movie.
  • Ramona Flowers has Chun-Li's Hazanshu along with her Kikosho. Also her jumping attack is Chun-Li's air medium kick and the last attack she performs while pounding on her enemy is the crouching roundhouse from the same fighter.
  • Nega Scott's moves are based on the Shadow Clone of the Lee Brothers from Double Dragon 2 as he can perform the Ryuubi Ranbuu Kyaku (aka the Cyclone Kick), the Bakuma Ryuujin Kyaku (the rising knee), and throw a fireball. It's also worth noting that he has an all black pallette so that he resembles the Shadow clone ever more.
  • Stephen Stills fights with mostly punches like Dudley and Balrog and he even performs Dudley's aerial elbow drop and a similar grabbing headbutt to the Buffalo Head. He and Wallace Wells have Vega's Rolling Crystal Flash and also have a move reminiscent to Zero's Giga Attack moves in the Mega Man X series.
  • Kim Pine and Knives Chau have Haggar and Eagle's Manchester Black from Final Fight and Street Fighter, respectively. They have their differences as Kim's grapple combo is done the same as Blaze's grab attack from Streets of Rage and Knives performs Ibuki's EX Kunai.
  • Matthew Patel uses Chun Li's Kikosho from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.
  • Todd Ingram can perform Blanka's Electric Thunder attack.
  • Envy Adams uses a powerful vertical kick similar to Serpent's Infernal Rapture, a move by Hazama from the BlazBlue series.
  • Kyle and Ken Katayanagi perform the Double Cyclone Kick from Double Dragon 3.
  • Super Gideon Graves uses Gill's axe kick and his Meteor Strike. He also has his own version of Akuma's Ashura Senku.
• All playable characters have an EX mode which allows them to do a multi-hit combo, which is a common trait in fighting games. Their glow is similar to the EX Specials from the Street Fighter III and Street Fighter IV series.
  • When in EX mode, the characters are capable of hitting a single enemy a total of 65 times, which is one more than the number of times Scott punched Matthew in the first volume just prior to defeating him.
• Nega Scott's headbutt attack appears to be based on the headbutt Scott uses to defeat Todd Ingram in Book 3
• Some taunts also appear similar to Dio Brando's infamous "ZA WARUDO" pose (leaning back, knees apart, crazed expression).

Taunts

• Scott's taunt is part of his dance routine from the fight with Matthew in Volume 1.

Miscellaneous

• Scott's victory pose is similar to the one he did when Ramona hugged him after the fight with Roxie. His face also resembles the "Awesome Smiley."
• The Evil Exes may be a reference to the Puchi Oguras from Densetsu no Stafy 2. The way they are lined up in the intro when they are shown (With the leader in the center and the rest to the left and right) is very similar to how the Puchi Oguras are lined up in the intro to Densetsu no Stafy 2, and you fight them in the worlds that match their number, much like the Puchi Oguras.

Introduction and Menu

• The false advertisement, "Winners don't eat meat!" is a parody of "Winners don't do drugs!" ads that were found in the English versions of many arcade games from the 80s and 90s (especially SNK games).
• During the party on the wall is a poster of Anamanaguchi's floating island.
• Opening texts and style is taken from Street Fighter Alpha 3.
• Main Menu graphic style is taken from Cloud Man's stage from Mega Man 7.
• Character selection screen is taken from Super Mario Bros. 2.
• The character status windows have a colored (different colors, or "flavors" for each character) checkerboard design with a white border, like in Earthbound.

World Map

• The World Map style is taken from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
• South of the "island" of Toronto there is a smaller island, with a airport runway on it. This is a reference to the real Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in downtown Toronto. There is a bridge connecting to the mainland, except the bridge does not exist in reality (it is currently a 120-m ferry ride) and the plan for building the bridge had been discussed for decades.
• The Rockit was changed to The Rocket; and Lee's Palace was changed to Leo's Place.
• Lee's Palace was displayed north of Casa Loma, it is south of it in reality, on Bloor Street east of Honest Ed's.
• The CN Tower and Rogers Centre is on the world map.
• Mario Warp Pipes are on the southern part of the map, below Stage 1.
• When Mr. Chau appears on the map, it is a nod to Super Mario Bros. 3 when the Hammer Bros. would appear on the map and Mario or Luigi would fight them if they went over the level they were on.
• There are banners on the streets for "The Wright Stuff", referring to a series of double bills in Toronto that director Edgar Wright screened while the Scott Pilgrim film was in production.

Subspace

• In every Subspace Highway (except for the final area), there are ? blocks (or "coin blocks") and bricks from the Super Mario Bros. series.
• Hidden Subspace Highways in Worlds 1 and 4 are a reference to the Rainbow Road tracks in the Mario Kart series.
• In the final Subspace Highway area, there are floating medusa heads from the Castlevania series.
• There is also red acid which drops from above, which may be a reference to either Mega Man 2, or Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the NES.
• In the Subspace Highway just before the fight against Matthew Patel, there's a ship floating in the background. It's Mega Man Volnutt's ship from Mega Man Legends.

World 1

• All of the recycle bins have the Triforce symbol from the The Legend of Zelda series.
• In the Mini-Marts shop, you can see an angry sun from Super Mario Bros. 3 in the background. There's also an energy drink called Red Moose which is an obvious parody of Red Bull.
• In the Shopping District, there are 3 garbage cans.The middle garbage can has a Triforce on it.
• The Flatirons Book store shares the same exact name of a book store found in River City Ransom.
• Lost at Sea, found in the book store is O'Malley's first graphic novel.
• There's a Blue Shell from the Mario Kart series, the rosary from the Castlevania series and a wishing machine from the movie, Big in Wallace's Mystery Shop.
• Wallace's Mystery Shop is a reference to the hidden shop in the tunnel area of River City Ransom which also sold extremely powerful but expensive items.
• One of the items Wallace's Mystery Shop sells is a speed upgrade called "Speedy the Porcupine" - an obvious nod to the Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Another item in the shop is called "Never-ending Fantasy" - a reference to the Final Fantasy series.
• The Bionic Arm sold in that shop is a reference to Bionic Commando.
• One of the albums in Shockwave Records is called Kupek, which is named after Bryan Lee O'Malley's old music label of the same name. It is also the name of a Moogle in Final Fantasy VI.
• Another album in Shockwave Records is called Smashing Turnips, a reference to the band Smashing Pumpkins.
• The posters in the window of No-Account video store are covers of Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 5. The store also has a Kirby box.
• Numerous stores in the Shopping District are based on real life venues in Toronto. Several include Dee's Tex Mex substituting for Sneaky Dee's, Delicious Cup designed like the chain Second Cup, Mini-Mart resembling the commonly found 7-11 chain and Shock Wave being modeled after two record stores in Toronto named Sonic Boom.
• House numbers and graffiti art are:
  • A _ _ (Entering your name in an arcade)
  • 25!
  • 3.14159 (Pi)
  • A crown.
  • The Ghosts from Pac-Man.
  • 1-Up Mushroom.
  • Mechafetus store (Paul Robertson's blog/site)
  • A "Continue?" on the upper wall before you go into Subspace.
  • Kupek.
  • The Ubisoft logo.
  • The name of the band in the place where you fight Matthew Patel, Crash and the Boys, is a reference to the NES game, Crash N’ the Boys: Street Challenge.

World 2

• In stage 2, you have to destroy a car to get Lucas Lee out of it otherwise it will explode. This is a tribute to Street Fighter II and Final Fight in which a bonus stage was to destroy a car.
• The director of the Lucas Lee movie is modeled after the director of the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie, Edgar Wright (Edgar even uses one of the sprites of him as his former Twitter icon).
• The tune that plays when a door or chest is unlocked is similar to the tune in the Zelda series that plays when a puzzle is solved.
• The stars in this stage resemble the Super Star power-up from the Super Mario franchise.
• The Paparazzi strongly resemble Frank West from Dead Rising. They both have dark hair, black open jackets with white shirts
  • Additionally, both are photojournalists.

World 3

• After the player have been knocked into the back room, Todd Ingram engages in a Bass Battle with them. This is a reference to Red Octane's Guitar Hero series except that the color notes are in the wrong spots.
• The Clash at Demonhead arrives in a Limo-Knight Rider.
• Some of the tiles on the floor resemble Tetris shapes.
• A Lee can be seen playing a DS right after Leo's Shop.
• The musical interlude that plays before the battle with Envy and Lynette strongly resembles the warning tune that plays in Super Mario Bros. to let the player know that they're running out of time.
• Envy and Lynette attack each other in a similar that Bebop and Rocksteady do in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.
• Todd Ingram's attack in which his arm transforms into mismatch of vegetables is a reference to an attack performed by the character Tetsuo from the anime movie Akira after he loses his arm and begins to lose control of his psychic powers. The move is also reminiscent K9999's Hidden Super Desperation Move. K9999 is often considered a homage to the Tetsuo character and the movie Akira.
• Todd's death animation even resembles Tetsuo's complete mutation before he is sealed away.
• One of the vegetables Todd throws at you is the Super Mushroom powerup from the Super Mario series.
• Todd's telekinetic attack is the exact same telekinetic move done by Slick in River City Ransom EX.
• Todd's forcefield guard bears a close resemblance to an A.T. Field from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

World 4

• The entire stage is similar to the NES game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 where Scenes 2 to 4 take place in a vehicle that gets wrecked into an Asian-themed area.
• Roxie dies exactly the same way she did in the comics: she is sliced in half before exploding in a shower of big-eyed animals. This is a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog, where Dr. Eggman would capture animals and put them in his Badniks.
• Roxie teleports in a Naruto-ish manner, all while leaving a stump of wood to fool her opponent, a reference to the Body Replacement Technique from the series. It's actually a common fictional ninja trick and can even be seen performed in fighting games like Samurai Shodown.
• Roxie's katana can get whip-like properties like Ivy's sword in the Soulcalibur series. However, it is most likely a Castlevania reference since her last name is Richter, the name of the Belmont of Dracula X, Rondo of Blood, and Symphony of the Night. It also resembles fictional Bleach character Renji Abarai's sword.
• One of the Subspace zones is black and white with a moon-like ground. This is ripped directly from the fight between Roxie and Ramona from Volume 4.
• In the Frying Tengu, a screen shows karaoke for the chest-opening tune from the Legend Of Zelda series.
• The rolling iron balls in this stage and later levels are common hazards in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.
• The statues in this area (also found in Dragon's Den) resemble the statue transformation of the Tanooki powerup from Super Mario Bros. 3 but they could simply be typical Kshitigarbha statues.
• The last part of the Frying Tengu greatly resembles the Dojo stage from TMNT 2: The Arcade Game.
• The start of the stage in a subway is a clear reference to the second stage of Final Fight.
• The way the bus crashes into the restaurant is homage to Mission 4 of Super Double Dragon.
• Starting at the Tengu Garden section, turnips can pulled out of the ground and used as weapons, a reference to Super Mario Bros. 2.
• There is an aquarium on the wall of the Frying Tengu that contains all the fish in the dentist's aquarium from Finding Nemo, as well as Nemo and Marlin-sized clown fish.
• The fat ninja girls have slime creatures on their heads that greatly resemble the slime from the Dragon Quest series.

World 5

• The Subspace Highway found at the beginning is the River City highschool found in River City Ransom. Interestingly enough, the highschool in that NES game had the Dragon Twins which are based on the Lee Brothers of Double Dragon theme which is also what Kyle and Kevin are a reference to.
• Pac-Man getting chased by the Ghosts are magnets on the refrigerator door of the Halloween party.
• Billy "Big Bang" Blitz, the protagonist of the Clash at Demonhead, makes a cameo at the Halloween Party.
• The Tom enemies appear to be based on off Tom Guycot, the antagonist of the Clash at Demonhead.
• When the robot jumps through the window it says "Robot01 has joined the party!" It’s a reference to RPG games when a character joins the player’s party.
• The Super Fighting Robot's manner of fighting is a clear reference to Sigma's final form in Mega Man X5.
• The Super Fighting Robot could also be a reference to the theme of the Mega Man Ruby-Spears cartoon, "Super Fighting Robot (Mega Man)"
• The temple part of the level is a reference to Double Dragon, a brawler on the NES system.
• The Dragon's Den includes hanging lightbulbs and fire-breathing statues reminiscent of castle/airship objects found in Super Mario Bros. 3.
• The Dragon's Den is filled with Mega Man-esque spike-laden pits.
• The Dragon's Den is most likely named after an area in Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal Version.
• The info tag for Kyle and Ken just before the boss battle lists them as Kyle and Kevin, a possible reference to Double Dragon 3, where Billy is incorrectly called Bimmy. Perhaps by coincidence, the name switch is a flipped version of the one that happened when Street Fighter 2010 was localized for the US. Kevin (Japanese name for the hero) was now Ken.
• The boss room of Kyle and Ken contains old videogame consoles like the Atari 2600, the Intellivision, and an old arcade table.
• The carpet pattern on the floor within the stage's boss room is the same pattern as famously seen on a carpeted floor in Director Stanley Kubrick's classic horror movie The Shining.

World 6

• Mobile's Secret Home appears as the homes from Zelda II: the Adventure of Link, in which the wizard, or in this case the telekinetic, Mobile, would teach the hero new moves and abilities.
• At two points during this stage laughing elves will run across the screen and drop coins if you hit them. They are a reference to the Golden Axe series.
• The appearance of zombies may be a mockery of how much of a cliche'd enemy they have become in video games, especially in the modern era (Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, etc. Which are caused by viruses). These zombies are created by an unknown force, presumably negative energy used by Nega Scott.
• The wolverines in the stage occasionally use Beserker Barrage, one of Wolverine's techniques in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
• Early on in the stage, Nega Scott will appear to laugh at you, and disappear into the bushes. Two owls (or more, for additional players) will appear, and you will see a familiar looking tree on the back-left of the screen These are a reference to the NES game Duck Hunt.
• Nega Scott himself is based off of numerous times in movies and cartoons, in where the character would face a dark version of himself/herself, most notably Shadow Link from Zelda II.

World 7

• The fight in the elevator is a tribute to the Streets of Rage series which is known for its elevator fights.
• Street Fighter moveset: One of Gideon's cross-room dashes is taken frame-for-frame from Gill's moveset from Street Fighter III. His belly flop-like move references Zangief's.
• Super Gideon Graves will occasionally flash between different colors to indicate invincibility a la Super Mario Bros.'s Starman powerup.
• Being sucked into Gideon, traversing through him while a spirit form of him watches you, and fighting him in a cloudy area are all references to the final boss of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
• While inside of Gideon, the blood drops that fall from the top of the screen are a reference to the similar acid drops in the last stage of Mega Man 2.
• The Techno Base level appears to be styled after the Technodrome from the TMNT Brawlers by Konami. It even has similar robot enemies and a girl clone generator that is based on the Foot Soldier factory in TMNT 3 for the NES.
• "Techno Base" is the name of one of the last Zones in Sonic Advance 2.
• An E-tank (from various games in the Mega Man and Metroid series) can be purchased in the Techno Base shop. It also sells a pill from Dr. Mario.
• Super Gideon Graves will also have one wing on his back when he uses some of his attacks, similar to Sephiroth of Final Fantasy VII.
• Gigadeon Graves' symbiosis with the other evil exes is a reference to Kefka from Final Fantasy VI. His "second form" is very similar to the first boss of Altered Beast except that he throws red skulls instead of Devil heads.
• After you beat the final form of Gideon Graves, it appears that he was a robot fought in a holographic simulation, and after the program breaks down, it is revealed that the player is in a lab, and Gideon is at a terminal controlling everything. He then jumps out, and then starts bowing down at the player's feet. This is a reference to Mega Man 2's ending, which is nearly identical.
• Super Gideon Graves resembles the final boss of Crash Mind Over Mutant and has the same body slam attack.

Mr. Chau

• His stage resembles the secret Australia stage from Street Fighter Alpha 2.

Endings

• Upon defeating an evil ex, a stylized "KO!" partnered with a flashing background is shown, a clear reference to Street Fighter games when you finish off opponents off with a Super Combo/Art or an Ultra Combo.
• After Gideon is defeated, his hideout crumbles and is replaced by a raised flag just like in Super Mario World when you defeat a Koopaling.
• In Stephen Stills's ending, there are 65,536 people in the crowd at Sex Bob-omb's gig. 65,536 is the highest number of values a 16-bit integer can hold.
• Wallace Wells's ending is a parody of the "Bad Ending" in Streets of Rage.
• The music played in the ending credits is a medley of the music played throughout the game. The early Sonic games did the same thing for the credit sequences.
• In the ending credits, Knives is labeled a Ronin Ronin Revolution expert. Obvious reference to Dance Dance Revolution.
• In the ending credits, an infobox for the Super Fighting Robot states that it's a prototype of the Kazinga K, a reference to the anime Mazinger Z.
• Also in the ending credits, the two Asian enemies are named Sammo and Donnie. They are named after Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen who are Hong Kong movie stars that have been in several martial arts movies such as Kill Zone and Dragon Tiger Gate.

Music

• Skate or Live is a reference to the Electronic Arts game, Skate or Die!
• Rox 300 appears be a reference to Max 300, a song featured in DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix, known for being the hardest track in the game.
• Shrine Bros is an obvious reference to the popular Mario Bros. series.
• Twin Dragons is a reference to the Double Dragon series of games which also stars twins, as is the achievement/trophy the player wins after defeating the twins in the game.
• Technoman appears to be a reference to the Mega Man series.
• The music playing on the pause screen is a reference to Battletoads, in which similar music plays on its pause screen.

Cheats

• The cheat code that activates the Survival Horror mode, has the initials DURDURDURRR, similar to a zombie moaning.
• One of the cheat codes turns coins into little animals (like Roxie), another reference to the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
  • It is also the cheat code for level select in Sonic 3, Up-Up-Down-Down-Up-Up-Up-Up, entered just after the Sega logo fades.
• The cheat code for blood on the Xbox versions (both the original and the Complete Edition) is A,B,A,X,A,B,B. This is the exact cheat code to enable blood on the Sega Genesis port of Mortal Kombat. It should be noted that the original code had C in place of X due to the controller buttons.
• The cheat code to convert life to money is a variation of the Konami Code, which was Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A (for PlayStation, it's Circle-X), minus the press of the Start button.
• The cheat that allows two players to pick the same character is pretty similar to a cheat in the SNES version of Street Fighter 2 that allows both players to play as the same character (Press Down, R, Up, L, Y, B at the character select screen).