Wallace Wells's ending is a parody of the "Bad Ending" in Streets of Rage.

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 Mazinga Z.

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.

The cheat code for blood on the Xbox 360 is A,B,A,X,A,B,B. This is a reference to the Sega Genesis port of Mortal Kombat, as it's the same code to enable blood in Mortal Kombat.

The cheat code for for turning all coins into small animals is up-up-down-down-up-up-up-up. This is a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, since it's the same cheat code for Level Select.

The character select screen is a reference to Super Mario Bros. 2's character select screen.

Much of the game's soundtrack makes reference to other games. These include:

• 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 from DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix, known for being the hardest track in the game.
• The music playing on the pause screen is a reference to Battletoads, in which similar music plays on its pause screen.
• Shrine Bros. is a reference to Mario Bros.
• 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.

Each character's stage exit animation is a reference to other popular games and cartoons.

• Scott Pilgrim teleports away in the fashion of the Mega Man games.
• Ramona Flowers crawls into her Subspace Suitcase, a reference to Felix the Cat.
• Kim Pine flies off on a Warp Star, a reference to the Kirby series.
• Stephen Stills uses a Warp Pipe, a reference to Super Mario Bros.
• Negascott teleports away in the same fashion as Bass from Mega Man.

Each character has their own ending, however, Ramona's ending is the true ending, as shown in the original comic series and movie.

A cheat code to convert life to money is, while holding LT+RT(L2+R2), press "Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A (O X)". This is a reference to the famous Konami Code.

Near the end of the first level the name Kupek is spray painted on a wall. The author of the Scott Pilgrim comics, Bryan Lee O'Malley, records music under the name Kupek.

Scott's sprites were used in a short after-credits scene in the movie, released two months before the game.

During the Halloween Party level, an NPC will appear that bears a striking resemblance to Billy "Big Bang" Blitz from the game Clash at Demonhead. Tom, a palette-swap of one of the enemies in the game, is based on Tom Guycot, who is also from Clash at Demonhead, and serves as one of the game's villains. Additionally, in the original "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" graphic novel series, Envy Adam's band "The Clash at Demonhead" is named after the game.

The covers of volumes 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the Scott Pilgrim comic books can be found as posters in the No-Account Video store located within the first level of the game.