Memorable Melodies: Character Select from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game

Song: Character Select

Game: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game

Artist: Anamanaguchi

Most people have probably heard of Scott Pilgrim before. It is an amazing graphic novel series by Brian Lee O'malley, which got its start 12 years ago. Approximately six years ago there was even a halfway competent movie adaptation. The story follows 23 year old Scott Pilgrim as he pursues his love interest Romona Flowers. In order to "be with her" Scott must defeat her seven evil exes. It's heavily inspired by anime and video games, so it only makes sense that the series came full circle and was made into a video game as well.

The game itself falls into the classic brawler style. You pick from a few characters and beat the living crap out of enemies until you get to a boss. Then you beat the crap out of the boss. It's a little deeper than old school brawlers like Streets of Rage in that you can level up and increase your ability to beat down on thugs. 

The creator of the series was able to do all of the art, so everything is very close to the way it appears in the comics, but a little bit more pixelated. To go along with the pixel-art style a chiptune soundtrack was composed by the band Anamanguchi. If you've listened to my podcast I actually use an Anamanaguchi track as its theme song. This game was actually the way I was first introduced to the band, and I quickly fell in love.

I fell so much in love that this very song has been my ringtone and alarm since the game was released back in 2010. What's a bummer is that the character select music isn't actually on the game's official OST, but obviously that doesn't stop it from being ripped onto the Internet in extremely high quality. 

I'd tell you to run out and buy the game digitally, but it is no longer available for sale. In December of 2014 the licence expired, and Ubisoft decided it was too expensive to renew. It's a bummer, but licensing deals are expensive and they don't last forever. Hopefully someday this wonderful game will be put back on the market for new people to discover and enjoy.