The Pause Screen: Scott Pilgrim

So earlier this week, Bryan Lee O'Malley's indie comic epic Scott Pilgrim concluded. "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life" started the series off in 2003, and over six volumes tells the story of how Scott falls in love with Ramona Flowers, only to find out in order to keep the woman of his dreams he must defeat her seven evil exes. The story is humorous as well as endearing, and is unlike pretty much anything else in comics today. Don't worry, this will try to be as spoiler free as possible.

Scott Pilgrim is likely more well known due to the upcoming Edgar Wright film "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" starring Michael Cera, named after the second book of the series (though the movie will go through the entire series). Alternately, the upcoming game may also have retro gamers in for a surprise, with its chiptune soundtrack done by Anamanaguchi and pixel art graphics done by Paul Robertson; with several gaming references and tributes made in game (including exit animations that look to resemble Mega Man, Mario, Kirby, and Toejam & Earl), the River City Ransom style gameplay should be addictive to play.

Just one of the game references shown in the upcoming game, "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game"
However, we're here to talk about how the comic relates to gaming, not vice-versa. So how does Scott Pilgrim relate? How about a plethora of references or spoofs? Take the band names, to begin with: Scott is the bassist of his band, "Sex Bob-Omb," after the well known bomb enemy from the Mario series. Likewise, a flashback hints at his high school band, titled "Sonic and Knuckles." He was in a band in college named after the game "Kid Chameleon." In the last book, Scott states he's always wanted to name a band "ShatterBand," a reference to the game Shatterhand. A rival band of Sex Bob-Omb early in the series is "Crash and the Boys," after Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge on NES, and another rival band is named "The Clash at Demonhead," named after the NES game of the same title. This is just band titles, guys.

Me too, Scott. Me too.
During his fights, Scott also makes gaming references. First off, during his first fight that interrupts the band's gig, there's a dance-style sequence that's VERY reminiscent to Space Channel 5. Scott and his foes also pull off fighting game moves, such as Shoryukens and Double Hurricane Kicks, while others pay homage to Chrono Trigger and Ninja Gaiden. Some fights include flavor text like "REVERSAL," "VS.," or "FIGHT!!" Upon defeating his rivals, Scott's enemies disappear and turn into coins, much like River City Ransom.

Other events may have victory text that's not necessary, such as "Scott Pilgrim wins his birthday!" As if this isn't enough, spoken lines pay tribute to games as well. Scott says to himself at one point "I GOTTA BELIEVE!!", the main slogan of PaRappa the Rapper, while Ramona says in another fight upon being grazed, "How appropriate. You fight like a cow." Her line is taken directly from The Secret of Monkey Island. Scott also mistakes evil ex-boyfriend twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi as "Randy and Andy Katamari." There's also smaller things, such as the drummer for a rival band being seen gaining skills through Konami's Drummania, or Scott wearing a Rock Band t-shirt, and later wearing a Mother 2 t-shirt, along with shirts showing Mario's mushroom or Dragonquest's slime.

If only growing up really worked this way
Mr. Pilgrim has also picked up items, like a Mithril Skateboard, which also displays its stat boosts, taking a page from RPG equipment. During and after fights he also levels up, complete with stat gains, and gains experience points from getting a job; while looking for one, however, he makes a reference to a Job Class System, a la Final Fantasy and some tactical RPGs. Upon the worst of things happening, a "Game Over screen," and later a "Continue? screen" appear; status bars revealing necessities like thirst, cash, or a "pee bar" show Scott's condition, and upon winning one battle the 23-year-old protagonist manages to get an "Achievement unlocked!"

At least he doesn't have a timer...
Think I'm done yet? Not hardly. Ramona travels from one destination to another through the Subspace Highway, marked by a door with a star on it, much like Super Mario Bros. 2's Subspace. The drummer of The Clash at Demonhead has a bionic arm, similar to Nathan Spencer of Bionic Commando fame. Evil ex Gideon Graves opens a club at one point, where the logo is his initials, "GGG", drawn in a way to form an upside down triforce. Many book titles resemble game title screens or logos, such as Bonk's Adventure, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Double Dragon. And, as if all of this wasn't enough, characters can be seen playing or talk about playing Tony Hawk, Bomberman, a Sega Genesis, a GBA SP, and a PSP, among MANY others.

It's safe to say that O'Malley is quite the fan of gaming, as well as music, as there's a few music references in the comics as well. I nailed quite a lot of references here, but I can honestly say I didn't get them all. Gamers will love this series, but it's not just made for gamers. The story is an amazing one, the conclusion leading me to re-read the series again to make some sense of some things I missed the first time through, and upon reading it I've only managed to hype myself up even more for the upcoming movie and video game. To anyone that appreciates the classics, I recommend this comic series to you.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hits theaters August 13th, while the game hits the Playstation Network August 10th and XBox Live Arcade August 25th!

Thoughts: Escapism

Video games are looked down upon by so many. Sure, it may have racked in more money than any other form of entertainment in the last several years, and the Wii has been seen in more homes than Blu-Ray players, but that doesn't mean games and gamers have lost the bad rap they get. It's viewed as a horrible waste of time as well as money, a terrible addiction, and, for people that refuse to put blame on parents that don't raise their children properly, a source for violent behavior.

What they're not seeing is the "good" side to video games. Video games aren't just a fun activity to some people. They're not just a hobby and they're not just a time waster to some of us. Some people use it as a job, some people use it as a teaching tool. But most importantly, some of us use video games to escape.

Just think: that could be YOU...

Work is stressful. Family and friends can be, too. But not everyone can just jump in a car and get away, or find a way to get rid of their everyday stress. That's where video games come in - sound like bullshit? It really isn't, and it's not as sad as you might think.

Think of all the places you can go without ever leaving; the Mushroom Kingdom, Azeroth, Liberty City, Hyrule, Robotropolis, Guardia, the Underworld, Kanto, Willamette Parkview Mall, Midgar, Dracula's Castle... That's just a few places. They're different from our dull, drab, boring every day lives, and that's why we visit them so often.

Ram riding?! What's NOT to love?!

Many people look at World of Warcraft players, for example, including other gamers, and degrade them as worthless addicts. Nerds without lives or friends. However, not only is this a terrible lie (as the MMO world they're in is much more social than nearly any game on any console), but many of those players find the vast world of Azeroth as an escape. Leaving their own world and all of its stress behind, they have many options that other games don't offer, such as fighting, making friends, fishing, learning professions such as mining and tailoring, making money, forming groups to take out large mobs or huge bosses, collecting pets, riding mounts, exploring, and more. It's no wonder why its players are so involved; there's TOO much to do NOT to.

It's the same reason why when a Zelda game is released people disappear. Everyone wants to play and explore and see what tools they can get or how many rupees they can collect, as well as smite evil and save the day. Zelda and Final Fantasy are two of the best examples of console or non-MMO games that people become addicted to. It's because the worlds become so vast it's easy to lose yourself in them; to feel as though you are a part of that world, and to help you forget about what troubles you in every day life.

Yeah, I can't wait...

As for me, I plan on getting lost in the far-away land of Toronto once Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is released. Being able to escape my ordinary life to fight alongside Scott, Ramona, Kim, and Steven Stills, to fight seven evil exes, to collect money and rock out... Between the beat-em-up style gameplay, the retro look and style of pixel art, the classic sounds of the chiptune songs (done by Anamanaguchi, at that), and the wonderful story of the Scott Pilgrim comics, I doubt I can hold out for the XBox Live Arcade release of the game.

Perhaps it's not the worlds one gets lost in, though. Some people relieve their stress by escaping to music. Be it the instrumental style of Rock Band, the dancing style of Dance Dance Revolution or Pump it Up, or the technical style of beatmania, many lose themselves in creating music, dancing to it, or going on a tour with their friends to become a world famous plastic band. Likewise, other people may run away to get lost in thought. Games like Tetris, Picross, Columns, Puzzle Fighter, and others can steal our time from us, too. This may be because we find ourselves focusing our thoughts on how to clear jewels or destroy lines of blocks as opposed to thinking about our problems.

Who knew dropping blocks could be so involving?

I can't say I condone getting so absorbed into a game that your problems don't get resolved. If you have money issues, playing a game until after the payment due date won't fix anything. Likewise, playing WoW or Mario Kart or Chrono Trigger to avoid a spouse will not only upset them further, but may get you into more trouble than its worth. But what many non-gamers, politicians, and jackasses (Bill O'Reilly, I'm looking at you) don't realize is that gaming is a hobby that helps people more than they realize. It's a stress reliever, a thinking tool, lately a form of exercise, and most overall a place to go when life kicks you in the balls so many times you want to give up. When things get you down, gamers, don't give up - the future of your favorite worlds depend on you.