Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (known as Sly Raccoon in PAL regions) is a 2002 stealth action video game created by Sucker Punch Productions and released by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the first game in the Sly Cooper series. The story follows Sly Cooper and his friends, Bentley the Turtle and Murray the Hippo, as they work to find lost pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, a book that lists stealing techniques passed down from Sly’s ancestors. Their goal is to recover these pages from a rival group called the Fiendish Five.
The game was recognized for its advanced graphics, especially its use of a special visual style that looks like hand-drawn animation while creating a dark, film noir atmosphere. However, some players felt the game was too short. It was followed by three sequels: Sly 2: Band of Thieves (2004), Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (2005), and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (2013). The first three games were remastered and released together as The Sly Collection for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on April 16, 2014. Sly Cooper was later digitally re-released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on June 11, 2024.
Gameplay
Sly Cooper is a video game where players control a character from a side view and use stealth actions. A review from Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine says the game combines fast-paced action with sneaking, like in the game Splinter Cell. Players guide Sly Cooper through different themed areas called the Fiendish Five's lairs and their sections. Sly must avoid guards and security systems while using his cane, a family treasure, to attack enemies. If Sly is hit once, he loses a life. Players are encouraged to hide, use the environment, or silently defeat enemies to avoid danger.
The game environment includes special areas with blue sparkles called "Sly's thief senses." These spots let players perform actions like walking along narrow ledges, climbing poles, or using the cane to swing to new places. If Sly is detected by guards or security systems, an alarm sounds. Players must either destroy the alarm, defeat enemies, or hide until the alarm stops. The game’s music changes based on the situation: it becomes louder and faster when Sly is in danger or attacking, and calms down when the threat is gone.
Each section of a lair has clue bottles. Collecting these allows Sly to open a safe containing pages from the Thievius Raccoonus, a book that teaches new moves, such as creating decoys or using explosive hats. Defeating bosses also gives new abilities, which are needed for later parts of the game. Coins are found throughout levels and can be earned by defeating enemies or breaking objects. Every 100 coins gives Sly a blue lucky horseshoe. Collecting two horseshoes turns them gold, letting Sly take extra hits or gain an extra life. If Sly loses a life, the current section restarts or begins at a checkpoint. If all lives are lost, players must restart the boss’s lair from the beginning.
The game includes minigames, such as driving challenges (based on a character named Murray), shooting challenges to protect Murray, and a hacking game with a cyber-tank. One boss battle includes a rhythm-based challenge similar to Dance Dance Revolution.
Players can revisit levels to collect more coins or find special moves. After completing a level and collecting all clues, players can try a "Master Sprint," a timed race to beat a set time. Completing all levels this way unlocks extra content, such as developer commentaries for each level.
Plot
Sly Cooper is a raccoon who looks like a human and is the last member of the Cooper Clan, a family known for being skilled thieves who steal from criminals. On his 8th birthday, Sly was supposed to receive an old book called the Thievius Raccoonus, which holds secrets about his family and helps them become great thieves. However, a group of criminals called the "Fiendish Five" attacked his home, killed his father, and stole pages from the Thievius Raccoonus before fleeing to start their own criminal businesses. Sly was raised in an orphanage, where he met two friends who became his lifelong partners: Bentley, a turtle who uses technology, and Murray, a hippopotamus who drives their escape vehicles. At age 16, the three left the orphanage together and began working as international thieves, calling themselves the "Cooper Gang." Sly vowed to find the Fiendish Five and recover the stolen pages of the Thievius Raccoonus to avenge his family.
Two years later, the Cooper Gang entered the headquarters of Interpol in Paris, France, to steal a police file about the Fiendish Five. During the mission, they were attacked by Inspector Carmelita Fox, an Interpol officer who wanted to stop them. The gang stole the file and escaped in their getaway van. They used the file to track the Fiendish Five to their hideouts worldwide. The Fiendish Five includes Sir Raleigh, a frog pirate in Wales who uses a storm machine to steal treasure; Muggshot, a bulldog gangster in Utah who controls a city for gambling; Mz. Ruby, an alligator mystic in Haiti who raises an army of the dead; and the Panda King, a panda in China who uses fireworks to harm villages. Sly defeats each member, takes back the stolen pages, and leaves them for Carmelita to arrest. Each member tells Sly where to find the next one, leading him to their leader, a mechanical owl named Clockwerk.
The Cooper Gang enters Clockwerk’s hidden base in a Russian volcano and finds Carmelita trapped there. Sly saves her, and they agree to work together temporarily to fight Clockwerk. During the battle, Clockwerk tells Sly that he was once a thief who became jealous of the Cooper Clan’s skills. He turned himself into a machine to live forever and killed Sly’s father to prove the Cooper Clan could not be great without the Thievius Raccoonus. Sly argues that the book was created by great thieves, not the other way around.
After Clockwerk is defeated, Carmelita tries to arrest Sly but lets him run for ten seconds. Instead of escaping, Sly kisses her and then runs away with his friends. Carmelita is surprised but then realizes Sly has locked her to a rail and vows to catch him. Sly, Bentley, and Murray return to their hideout and continue their crimes with the complete Thievius Raccoonus. After the story ends, one of Clockwerk’s eyes opens briefly.
Development and release
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus was the second game created by Sucker Punch Productions. It followed Rocket: Robot on Wheels (1999), which was made for the Nintendo 64. Sly Cooper was created shortly after Rocket was finished and took three years to develop.
Sucker Punch used a program called Autodesk Maya to design the game’s art. Brian Flemming from Sucker Punch described the art style as "toon-shading." This style combined detailed background images with simpler, cartoon-like character designs, similar to those in animated movies. The team wanted Sly and his world to look like they were drawn by an artist, almost like they could be part of a flat graphic. To keep the game running smoothly, the team had at least one engineer focus only on improving the game’s performance throughout development. The art team gathered hundreds of photos and drawings of places that looked like the game’s worlds to create the backgrounds. The characters went through up to six or eight major design changes before the final versions were decided.
The music for the game was written by Ashif Hakik. He was inspired by the game’s artwork and said the music was influenced by the locations in the game, as well as the work of other composers like Yoko Kanno (from Cowboy Bebop), Henry Mancini, and Carl Stalling. He explained that the music system they used made them think about how each level’s gameplay would shape the music written for it.
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus was released in North America on September 24, 2002. It was later released in Australia and Europe as Sly Raccoon on January 16, 2003, and January 17, 2003, respectively.
The game was remastered along with its first two sequels and released as The Sly Collection for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on April 16, 2014. The original PlayStation 2 version of the game was digitally re-released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on June 11, 2024. This version included new features like trophies, save states, and options to change how the game was rendered.
Reception
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus received "generally favorable" reviews, according to Metacritic, a website that collects and summarizes game reviews. Many reviewers praised the game’s unique visual style. GameSpot said the game has a strong sense of style, visible in its animation and the creative use of a technique called "cel-shading," which gives the game a hand-drawn look. Reviewers also appreciated how easy the game was to learn. IGN noted that Sly Cooper, the main character, moves quickly and precisely, even though his long arms and legs and his cane make him appear large. Many reviewers liked how smoothly the game transitions between gameplay, cutscenes, and other features. The game was also praised for being enjoyable for both adults and children.
Some reviewers mentioned that the game was too short. GameSpot said the game ends before players can fully enjoy all the different levels and activities. However, the game’s developers, Sucker Punch Productions, explained that players could unlock extra content, such as bonus commentary from the game’s creators. 1Up.com said the extra content made the game longer and enjoyable for players who wanted to spend more time with it. Some reviewers also said the game was too easy, but others noted that the difficulty increased gradually as players progressed through the levels. A few reviewers reported issues with the game’s frame rate slowing down in later levels and problems with the camera angle.
For its "Best and Worst of 2002" awards, GameSpot nominated the game for "Best Game No One Played on PlayStation 2" and "Best Platformer." IGN named Sly Cooper the runner-up for "Best Platformer" in its "Best of 2002" list and nominated it for "Special Achievements for Graphics." In 2003, GameSpy ranked it 22nd in its "25 Most Underrated Games of All Time." In 2008, IGN ranked the game 21st in its "Top 25 PS2 Games." At the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the game won "Outstanding Achievement in Animation" and "Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction" and was nominated for "Console Platform Action/Adventure Game of the Year."
The game sold over 400,000 copies within a year of its release and was later republished as part of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Greatest Hits line in 2003. By July 2006, it had sold 800,000 copies and earned $21 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 78th highest-selling game for the sixth generation of video game consoles.
Sequels and other appearances
The game has led to three follow-up games: Sly 2: Band of Thieves (2004), Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (2005), and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (2013). The character Sly Cooper and the item Thievius Raccoonus won "Best New Character" and was nominated for "Excellence in Visual Arts" at the 2003 Game Developers Conference (GDC) for the year 2002. The character Sly Cooper is now considered a mascot for the PlayStation systems, along with Ratchet & Clank and Jak and Daxter. This has resulted in teamwork between the development teams for all three series: Sucker Punch Productions, Insomniac Games, and Naughty Dog.