I beat Scott Pilgrim vs. The World tonight in single-player for the first time tonight with Scott.  The last level is absolutely mad in the best way possible.  I also dug the references to the numerous old beat'em ups peppered throughout the game.  The River City Ransom references gave me a good chuckle, but this game is filled with a lot of riffs and references to old beat'em ups that I doubt most people would recognize unless they have memories of actually playing the games themselves.  There are little nods all over the place from Golden Axe to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and none of them ever feel overplayed or heavy-handed.  Jeff didn't seem to be a big fan of these in-jokes during the Quick Look, but I feel that the team behind this game definitely knows how to present an homage without it turning into a blatant rip-off.
 
Seriously, I never would have thought that one of my favorite games of the year would have been a movie tie-in game, much less a downloadable movie tie-in.

Yeah, I'm really diggin' all the in-game references as well (my favorite being its [spoiler] Mega Man 2 ending). For the most part, the homages aren't so much about simple name-dropping as they are alluding to the games with their own unique slant, and I think that's why it totally works for me. I also appreciate that they remembered they're making a game first and foremost, and didn't let issues of trying to stay absolutely loyal to the source material get in the way. In the end, it really does feel like the team created their own entity as opposed to just another game adaptation of a comicbook/movie. 
 
It'd be a fun idea if the GB community banded together to create a big ol' guide of homages for the game. It'd be great just to see how broad their scope really was, and to also point out all the little nuggets we missed out on during our own playthroughs.

The game is pretty great, I laughed at the Technodrome-esque part of the game. I've already replayed many of the levels (poor Matthew Patel gets killed in 4 punches now), and it's still wicked entertaining.