Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, after being stranded on old consoles for years, was finally re-released last week. I’m eager to jump back in, but more than just playing it again, I’ve listened again to the game’s perfect pop-rock soundtrack.
The tunes for Scott Pilgrim were created by pop rock band Anamanaguchi. They are no strangers to digital tunes; in addition to their work on Scott Pilgrim, they have done songs with Hatsune Miku and played in Minecraft concerts. Their roots also extend to the pop rock sound that dominated the early years, and man, does it ever get through in Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game.
One of the most memorable songs in the game is the theme of the first stage, “Another Winter.” It’s chiptune-meets-rock perfection. The thrusting guitars and drums with which the song kicks off, with call-and-response melodies and a surprisingly melancholic tune, don’t quite make a normal video game song. It sounds more like an already established pop-rock hit that got digitized, turning the lyrics into blips and beeps instead of human vocals. It is awesome.
Other songs delve deeper into what you’d expect from a retro-infused beat ’em up. “Maki Ya” sounds like it could fit in one Double dragon or Streets of Ragealthough it still has Anamanaguchi’s own flair. There is a lyricism in the melodies, as if you can almost hear words being sung, which makes this soundtrack feel more like a concert than ambient sound. You hit heads and hit guys with Ramona’s hammer on the show.
However, ‘Another Winter’ is really the song that captures all of this at once. In a recent PlayStation blog, the band talked about its work on the soundtrack and how it feels about the songs a decade later Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game launched for the first time. Drummer Luke Silas pointed to “Another Winter” and the song “Just Like In The Movies”, which has a similar pop-rock anthem feel to songs that were representative of the band’s work at the time. “We expanded a lot, but at that point I think most people thought we were pretty exciting and fun, like those levels,” said Silas.
Songwriter and guitarist Peter Berkman drew attention to the tension of the 7th and 9th chords used in “Another Winter” as “piles of complicated feelings,” which is common throughout Anamanaguchi’s music. There is a longing for the song among the otherwise cheerful tunes that remind me of it Saosin’s “Mookie’s Last Christmas” or Underoath’s “Reinventing Your Exit.”
It’s been ten years since I played Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, and I’m curious if the emotions I had about it back then still hold. We don’t lack solid new beat ’em ups like River City Girls and Streets of Rage 4, so whether Scott can still fight with the best of them is exciting to find out. But I really enjoyed immersing myself back into the nostalgic soundscape of this soundtrack. It’s the driving, melancholic tune that makes me want to walk through a park full of snow and think about life, you know?