Sly Cooper (character)

Sly Cooper is the title character of the Sly Cooper video game series, developed by Sucker Punch Productions and Sanzaru Games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita consoles. Sly is an anthropomorphic raccoon who is descended from a long line of master thieves and uses his skills, with the help of his long-time friends Bentley and Murray, to pull off heists.

Sly Cooper
Sly Cooper character
Sly Cooper, as he appears in Thieves in Time (2013)
First appearanceSly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (2002)
Last appearanceSly Cooper: Thieves in Time (2013)
Created bySucker Punch Productions
Designed byScott Steinberg
Voiced by
English
Japanese
In-universe information
SpeciesRaccoon
OccupationMaster Thief
WeaponCane

Conception and creation

Sly Cooper was illustrated by Scott Steinberg with art direction by Dev Madan. The first concept of Sly was to be a thief. Scott Steinberg made different designs such as a pillow or alien, each with their own different personality. The choice to make him a raccoon was settled when the development team found it humorous for a raccoon to wear a thief mask. During the design stage, different staff members of Sony gave different inputs leading Scott Steinberg to make multiple designs that filled an entire folder. Sony of America wanted him to be "cool", Sony of Japan wanted him to be "cute", and Sony of Europe wanted him to be "Dark" and "Edgy".[3] The original name for Sly was "J.T." which stood for "Jewel Thief", but was scrapped when Sucker Punch discovered it could be confused for Japan Tobacco.[4]

Voice portrayal
Kevin Miller has provided the voice of Sly Cooper in all video game appearances, since 2002

Kevin Miller has been the voice of Sly in all video game appearances to date, since 2002.[1] In the 2014 film trailer, Sly was voiced by Ian James Corlett.[2]

Characteristics

Sly is a 21-year-old gentleman thief raccoon, who is descended from a long line of master thieves who specialize in robbing criminals as opposed to innocent bystanders, thus making them vigilantes. The Cooper clan has ancestry coming from medieval Europe, feudal Japan, and the American frontier, tracing all the way back to Ancient Egypt, making him of multi-racial descent. When Sly was eight years old, his father and mother were murdered by a gang called the Fiendish Five. The gang stole the "Thievius Raccoonus", a book containing the Cooper family's thieving techniques and moves. Sly was sent to an orphanage where he met Bentley, a highly intelligent turtle, and Murray, a comically self-confident and brawny hippopotamus.[5]

Sly is extremely agile and uses his skills, as well as enlisting the help of his two allies Bentley and Murray, in crime or even when infiltrating and intercepting other convicts. Sly carries a hooked cane, a long-standing family heirloom that he inherited from his father, and uses it in many of his maneuvers, including as a blunt weapon. Sly also has the ability to walk on ropes, climb pipes and sneak in order to pickpocket guards for money, keys or loot. Another of his skills is using disguises to get across areas that are otherwise impossible to access. Sly is a competent fighter.

Appearances

In Sly Cooper series

Sly made his debut appearance in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. The game starts out by telling his backstory, including the history of his family, the death of his father, and the theft of his family book, the Thievius Raccoonus. Sly breaks into detective Carmelita Fox's office and takes a case file about the Fiendish Five, the gang responsible for Sly's childhood loss. Sly and his friends, Bentley and Murray, then set out on a journey to collect all of the stolen pages of the book. In the end, Sly defeats Clockwerk, the leader of the gang who killed his father and stole the book.

In the sequel, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, focuses on a new set of villains: the Klaww Gang. The gang is revealed to have stolen the pieces of Clockwerk. Sly and the gang then seek out the members of the Klaww Gang and steal back the parts. However, the real villain of the game is revealed to be Constable Neyla, who seems to be Sly's ally until she betrays them, and merges with the Clockwerk parts to become Clock-La (a portmanteau of "Clockwerk" and "Neyla"). Sly then fights Clock-La, and as Bentley goes to get the chip which lets Clockwerk live, the mouth closes down and cripples him.

The third game, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, takes place roughly a year after Sly 2. Sly's main enemy is now Dr. M, a mysterious mandrill scientist who attempts to claim the Cooper family vault for himself. Sly and Bentley recover Murray, who has been in hiding ever since Bentley's accident (which he blames on himself), and then go to find new members of the gang to help them in the heist of the Cooper Vault.

Sly reappeared in the fourth main installment, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. The plot centers around not only Sly but also Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, and Sly's ancestors, as they team up together and travel through time to restore the Thievius Raccoonus from being destroyed by their new, time-traveling enemy, Cyrille Le Paradox and his henchmen. Despite some rather close calls (including a twist revealing that Penelope, Bentley's girlfriend, is working for Le Paradox), Sly ultimately manages to defeat all of Le Paradox's cohorts and restore the Thievius Raccoonus; however, in the final battle with Le Paradox aboard his blimp, with his time machine malfunctioning, Sly ends up being transported to Ancient Egypt as the blimp explodes, leaving him stranded in the ancient desert.

Other

Sly appeared alongside Bentley in PlayStation Move Heroes, along with Jak and Daxter from the Jak and Daxter franchise and Ratchet and Clank from the Ratchet & Clank franchise. He also appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, where his in-game rival is Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter from the Uncharted series. Sly's storyline begins outside the Cooper Van with Bentley alerting Sly to the fact the Thievius Raccoonus' last pages were ripped out. Sly sets out to find the culprit, and after arriving at the boss stage by parachuting in, he finds Drake with the pages trying to figure out what they mean. Sly lands and quickly taunts him about carelessly handling the pages, Nathan responds by challenging him to a fight. After defeating the boss of the game, Sly returns to Bentley and Murray with the pages, and Bentley promptly notices that they've been translated into ancient Mesopotamian, and the only translator that Bentley knows of is in Istanbul. After enhancing the Cooper van's performance, they set off for Turkey.

In 2009's Infamous, Sly Cooper's calling card can be found on Cole McGrath's backpack.[6] This same easter egg can be seen in Infamous's sequel Infamous 2.

In the 2014 video game Infamous Second Son, Sly Cooper makes an appearance as graffiti painted on a wall.[7] This is very appropriate since this game was created by Sly Cooper's creators Sucker Punch Productions.

In Ratchet & Clank film, Sly Cooper appears on Clank's database alongside Daxter from Jak & Daxter as he tries to find out what race Ratchet is.[8]

Sly is referenced in the 2020 PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games, Ghost of Tsushima and Astro's Playroom, respectively.[9]

Reception

GamesRadar listed Sly on their list of "The 25 best new characters of the decade", stating that "'Gentleman thief' is an archetype that’s woefully underrepresented in videogames".[10] They also listed him on their list of "The sexiest new characters of the decade", saying "Sly's the kind of character romance-novelists wish they could write".[11] Sly won an award at the Game Developer's Conference for the best "Original Game Character of the Year" in 2002.[12] In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 74th best hero in video games, calling him "the Danny Ocean of gaming."[13]

References
  1. "TheKevinMiller.com". TheKevinMiller.com. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  2. "10 Things You Didn't Know About Sly Cooper". Whatculture.com. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  3. Scott Steinberg (September 2005). "To Sketch a Thief". Nickelodeon Magazine. No. 114. p. 84.
  4. Rybicki, Joe (August 2002). "Sly Cooper". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 59. p. 104.
  5. Juan Castro (January 5, 2006). "The Origins of Sly Cooper - PS2 Feature at IGN". IGN. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  6. MattsGameplay (June 13, 2009). "inFAMOUS: Sly Cooper Symbol Easter Egg". YouTube. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  7. Benjamin Smith (September 14, 2017). "inFAMOUS Second Son™ Sly Cooper Reference". YouTube. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  8. JakTheLombax (August 9, 2016). "Ratchet and Clank Movie Easter Egg (Daxter, Dan, and Sly Cooper)". YouTube. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  9. "Every cameraman reference in Astro's Playroom". Gamepur. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  10. "The 25 best new characters of the decade". GamesRadar. December 29, 2009.
  11. "The sexiest new characters of the decade". GamesRadar. December 30, 2009. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011.
  12. "Game Developers Choice Online Awards Archive 3rd Annual GDCA". Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  13. "100 best heroes in video games". GamesRadar. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
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