Sly Cooper

Sly Cooper is a platforming series from Sucker Punch that debuted in 2002 with Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus on PlayStation 2, introducing the raccoon thief Sly, heir to a famous line of master burglars, who together with his partners Bentley and Murray sets out to recover his family's stolen book of tricks. From the start the series has been defined by a mix of stealthy platform action, heist-style infiltration of guarded locations planned out through Bentley's blueprints and bird's-eye building overviews, and comic-book-styled visuals paired with a strong sense of humour.

The sequel, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, abandoned linear levels in favour of larger missions across freer maps and deeper cooperation between characters, with Murray contributing brute strength and Bentley his technical inventions, while Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves added fully playable sections for Bentley and Murray as well as new partners and closed out the original PlayStation 2 trilogy. After years away, the series returned with the remastered compilation The Sly Collection for PlayStation 3, followed by Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, developed by Sanzaru Games for PlayStation 3 and Vita with cross-platform play between the two, which sent Sly and his crew travelling through time in search of his ancestors.

Thanks to its distinctive blend of stealth mechanics, humour and striking visuals, Sly Cooper earned a firm place among PlayStation platformers alongside brands such as Ratchet & Clank and Jak and Daxter, and it is still fondly remembered as one of the most enjoyable games of the PlayStation 2 generation. Critics and players alike particularly loved its comic-book- and film-noir-inspired visual style, which set it apart from the brighter, more colourful platformers of its rivals.