Same. I was devastated during the scene where Murray is holding Bentley in his arms after being crushed. I felt his pain. That's one thing I really like about the series. You not only get invested in them as characters, but you also (even more so IMO) get invested in them as a group of friends. Their dynamic was the real deal. You don't see that in a lot of media, especially nowadays.
Holy shit the moment his legt got crushed me and my sister were gasping, as he screamed "I.. I can't move my legs!!" and we looked at eachoother with shock
The arc about (The) Murray taking a vow of non-violence after Bentley was crippled is the most memorable in the series to me. Not only does it exceed any expectations about what a cartoon-style game can explore story-wise, it is also a great example of continuity because the trauma carries over to the third installment and Bentley still manages to hack his way through it. Unforgettable!
Let alone all the great character work they do with Bentley in sly 3. His whole jealousy of sly, worry that penelope prefers the able bodied main character, despite their common interests. Proving his heroism and worth in the group throughout the whole story, but especially Dead Men Tell No Tales The rest of the gang were always the heart of the series. I even like the expansion of the group, each reflecting core tenets of the main trio, and how they've grown as characters
One of my favorite details has to be that not only does Bentley’s gameplay in Sly 3 change because of his injury, but his personality develops as well. His neurosis is basically gone, allowing him to stare down villains and talk smack, which he does with Octavio, LeFuee, and even Muggshot. I mentioned this to my brother, and his response was “Yeah, now he has no reason to hold back.” I’m HERE for it!
Reading this gave me the image of Bentley and... I'd say Muggshot because he feels appropriate to this, having a conversation like: Bentley: "What can you even threaten me with? *Fixing* my kneecaps so you can break them again?" Muggshot:" Uuuh... I could smash yer elbows?" Bentley: "Go ahead. Give me a reason to invent arms stronger than yours."
Playing through Prague as Bentley was the most terrifying thing as a child. Really made me appreciate Sly and Murray when I got them back. Great video as always
The most baffling decision of the entire trilogy was removing clue bottles from Sly 3. It removes any and all reason to actually explore the levels, which is a problem when the game is about planning heists that use the level to your advantage.
Alongside what Dino said, it should probably come to no surprise that the worlds of Sly 3 is a lot more compact than 2's. Pretty much the largest is goes is China, and maybe the Caribbean if you want to count the sea charting section, and even then they're just barely the same width as 2!Paris. Unless they decided to carry over 1's mechanic of a changing Bottle amount, it was kind of necessary that they got left behind. Honestly, I'm more bummed Treasures were gone. They had a fair amount of formulas available to have a challenge room of sorts to win them, so I'm rather surprised they didn't opt to do so.
I agree that was weird from my perspective but if you look at sentiments around that time people were actually vocally disliking the clue bottles in Sly 2, so that's probably why they got the axe.
To be fair; they were pretty poorly handled in the 2nd game's more open ended level design anyways unlike in the 1st game's more linear design so it was a wise step to remove those.
I was conflicted. On one hand I missed breaking open those bottles. On the other I hated looking for the last few and even with a guide/video it's a tedious process.
I actually think the "cartoony-ness" and more lighthearted moments actually helped the more heavy ones land because they offer space to breath and laugh between more important and/or serious moments story-wise. It's the mix of the two that make Sly so good and special (and not more for kids than adults) contrary to what I think the video said, else that would just be exhausting, repetitive and less charismatic. This is also why "filler" episodes matter.
Man I love the Sly games and I'm glad you touched upon how great the ending of 3 was, it's probably why its remained my favorite of the 3 I know you only touched upon it briefly, but the overload of unskippable dialogue In a fast paced stealth action game is my biggest gripe with the trilogy for sure. Sly speedrunning is still very popular across the world but it was seen to have little to no potential in the early days because of the unskippable cutscenes. Imagine how much quicker the scene would have blossomed had Sucker Punch just chosen to add in that one feature.
Even casual players would rejoice from how much a skip feature would add to these games' replay value. Sly's my favorite PS2 mascot but I'm far more likely to boot up RaC 2 when I want that nostalgia hit.
Love the B-Mask cameo at the end, does deffo have a killer analysis for each game over three videos. Otherwise though, is good to see ya cover them too, even if it was in a very expedited way. This was your thoughts in your approach, having me understanding my tastes that much more, and I just appreciate that.
A probably unintentional but great piece of foreshadowing in 3 was his father's lasergrinding technique. When I first played the game I accidentally fell on top of lasers sometimes and mostly take damage but sometimes, I would grind on them for a second and then slide off. I just though "cool bug" at first but when it was revealed that it was Sly's father who invented that technique? I went bonkers and started thinking that Sly was working on the same technique but needed to understand something from his father to make it work. Making up many theories about Sly trying to come up with or copy the technique from memory. So many thoughts in my head just because of a bug :P
Is the collection really that bad? Yeah, it has some audio glitches and Ms. Ruby’s fight is busted, but aside from those, I didn’t really notice any other problems.
Tho I do agree that a more realistic game with adult rating can carry more serious subject matter, that in itself can be a restriction. When a mature gritty action game reveals a big earthshattering plot twist it comes expected. Of course there's something more to it when you're presented a simple premise with such a gritty theme. But when a all-ages platformer game reveals that one of their characters brutally backstabs you, it offers way more surprise and intrigue imo.
I usually roll my eyes at most overindulgent nostalgic retrospectives. But you brought some real perspective with depth to it in this video that i really appreciated. Great job unpacking the whole trilogy and keeping the video tight and to the point
I'm really glad you delved into why Sly 3 works super well thematically. As someone who always had that game as their favorite of the trilogy, it was always bothersome how people handwaved and ignored a lot of the finer details and aspects the story had on offer just cause "it wasn't like 1 or especially 2". I won't act like it's perfect - Dr. M's ordeal isn't quite as thought out for one example - but comparatively speaking it was a lot more cohesive and continuously had strong moments, whereas the other two games had quite a dull drag during their story (I'm still waiting for someone to defend Clock-La in a fair and understandable manner).
Honestly if you just removed Clock-La from the story I'd call Sly 2 damn near perfect. Neyla worked perfectly fine until that moment. Arpeggio is cut short unceremoniously for the proper big bird showing up. The only way you can make Clock-La a good story moment is by either going further in depth on Neyla in a backstory sense to justify why the hell she'd want to become immortal or by just having someone else become Clockwerk. It's a shame that Sly 2 stumbled the endgame but then the actual final section with Bentley getting crippled makes up for it.
@@coolpizzacook I'm not sure you're already aware of this but Neyla actually had a cut backstory with her being Rajan's daughter but it was cut for time, this had to be the reason why the clock-la betrayal felt like it came out of nowhere.
@@TerrorOfTalos I've heard. Even with being his daughter it still feels out of nowhere on why she'd want to go and become Clock-la. As well I believe that Neyla not being related to Rajan is better for her character. She just needed something to explain the triple cross at the end.
For what it's worth, I've always viewed Clock-La as more of a resurrection of the first game's villain with an extra step, with Neyla acting as a catalyst, who'd thought she'd just get to assume the control over his body and make herself immortal, but Clockwerk's original malicious persona started to seep through more and more, gradually drowning out her personality the more merged she became with his body.
I just find it hilarious that Bentley was actually more useful AFTER he was crippled, he was really fun to play in Sly 3, whereas I dreaded moments I had to play as him in Sly 2
The biggest thing I got from this video was a desire to play Infamous 1 and 2 again. Those games were fun as hell. I would love to see a video on those games someday.
Sony is being dumb not remaking InFamous and Resistance. InFamous with this new graphics and cpu power Both Empire City and New Marais would be epic plus Cole Powers OMG. Resistance since now Activision is Microsoft now Sony should invest in their own shooters Resistance or Killzone should come back maybe killzone have power possibilities to be against Battlefield
As someone that almost never cares about direct sequels to movies or games, I was compelled to buy all 3 of the original trilogy on release day. Amazing series.
When I was younger I would always remember this game I rented from Blockbusters as a bain where you could play as a Raccoon, Turtle and Hippo and I had the greatest time, but had no idea what the name was, years later I found out it was Sly 2 and after I re bought it, it must've been the only game I played for a year or so
The thing I miss most from the sly games is the heist mission set up. I loved seeing the prep phase briefing and then the full heist briefing about the plan with different characters doing different things. And the twists and turns that happen during. It worked because characters had so wildly different play styles. I miss that aspect of the Sly games.
I always wanted to see other animal platformers tackle the stealth genre like Sly Cooper did for example the Sonic the Hedgehog series in a spin off involving either Rouge the Bat or Espio
@@mrjacob0101 They could easily make another spiritual successor anti-hero/antagonist game with Metal Sonic as the main character considering he so consistently betrays Eggman yet because Shadow flopped so hard they won't.
@@PirateMacDougall Shadow actually didn't flop. It sold really well (better than any of the Sly games, sadly) but it was the awful critical reception that I think put a stop to more spin-offs.
@@WaddleDee105 Big rips, but shows exactly my point, there was an opportunity for a followup with a different possible anti-hero (Metal Sonic or another edgelord) yet they just won't even try.
Fantastic summary! Such an astute observation that the themes and mechanics had been pushed to their limit by the end - It really illustrates what a rich experience the series is. Though some of those limits could be considered self-made, and as you say, overhauling mechanics or shifting the story focus could still feel like a natural evolution - even introducing darker themes but just presenting in it's own cartoony way. All the same, I love how you reflected on the series almost needing to end to stay true to it's own message. A very comforting sentiment indeed. Thanks for the excellent video.
Remember when everybody was looking forward to Sly 5 after Thieves in Time ended on a cliffhanger? Then Sanzaru Games said "Nah, if it's getting a sequel, it won't be by us, enjoy Sonic Boom!"
To be fair Shitzaru Games was contracted only to create Sly TIT nothing else for the PSV forcing them to cut the ending since it would not fit on the cartridge anymore nor they had time to put it back in when they were reworking it for the PlayStation 3
I honestly expected an hour or so analysis of sly while you talk about each game separately just like you did with Jack trilogy but this was surprisingly more fun and engaging Excellent video .
here's my take: sly 1: has the ebst villain and story. sure its simple story but I like restoring the thievius racoonus being the main plot as well as well the secondary plot of sly avenging his murdered parents at the same time, as well as how learning about his family's history is tied to sly becoming a better thief and gaining new skills. sly 2: has the best....feel and structure, I guess you can say. All the villains are once again tied together, the heist set up where you plan the heist andthe fact each mission is tied to setting up the main heist in big and small ways was genius, which as the video said fixes the problem of some minigames feeling like filler. sly 3: has the best final level. THe cooper vault is an AMAZING final level that tests your skills to the brink, even gving you a new skill you NEVER USED or know about at the end, testing your improvisation. it loses a lot of points from being more thematic than have an actual strong plot, so the actual story of the cooper gain eventually leaving the thieving biz isn't as strong. It REALLY suffers from the fact for the first time in the series none of the villains are tied together and its main villain gets VERY little screentime and overall isn't an active figure in the story until the climax. Building a bigger group is interesting, but it kinda feels seperate to the core theme of the plot in my opinion. Sly 4: weakest game in the franchise. has some good bits in it, but also some not great bits. Its worst sins are fucking over Penelope because making her an out and out villain was apparently more interesting than, ynow, remembering her chracterisation in her previous appearance, aand its other sin was havng its final boss be not only a lazy "evil counterpart" to Sly but also have his fight be a fucking QTE minigame because making a proper boss fight with an evil sly wasn't feasible, APPARENTLY. Main reason I want a sly 5 is to rectify the mistakes of Sly 4.
Wow. That was a fair and condensed assessment of the series, and I didn't expect but welcome the comparison with inFAMOUS, a game that sure was rough around the edges but that I still really enjoyed. It makes me want to watch someone play them for the first time back to back and see how they react to the surprisingly adult themes and wacky comedy--I played the game when I was young and didn't speak English well enough to fully grasp everything that was going on.
I wonder if Sucker Punch will ever return to their cartoon inspired roots. Ghost of Tsushima has cemented them as a master of stylization. I truly wish to see what kind of heights they can reach.
Good video but I couldn't possibly disagree with you more about the music. Peter McConnell's scores add a sense of cohesion to the different environment and locals that is, in my opinion, missing in the first game. I have a lot of love for the first one's soundtrack as well, but the motifs and leitmotifs in sly 2 and 3 add so much identity to each character, which in turn really helps add characterisation when the third game introduces a new member almost every chapter. The song Paris rooftops from the first level of 2 is, through it's theme, motifs and general vibe, one of the biggest piece of characterisation that sly cooper the character, and "sly" the game series have, seconded only by the art style and esthetic. You obviously don't have to enjoy the music, but personally, the music is one of the most important parts of sly to me, and it really is one of the reasons I truly love this series.
I agree about the island of mutants in 3. They definitely wanted to do a Dr. Moreau joke thing, but when your characters are already all animals, the parody is hard to make work, and it ended up being the wrong direction for what that level actually needed. That said, if they could give this series a major remastering, similar to what Capcom did with RE2, I think you could make Sly's gameplay more compelling without any loss of what make the original games so good.
I know this video is literally titled "Sly TRILOGY analysis," but I'm still admittedly a little disappointed you didn't get to mention Thieves in Time much. Regardless, great content as always, Charlie
Currently going through my yearly playthrough of all the four Sly Cooper games. Genuinely my favorite game series of all time, this really is my childhood.
Was happy for a second there because TheGamingBritShow is one of my favorites channels to watch. Then I realised this reply is a grass needing basement dwelling muppet bot.
Going through the series for the first time as an adult with no nostalgia, the attention and care put into this trilogy in both gameplay and story shone through wonderfully. Sure, it's cartoony nature ensures that even it's most serious heartfelt moments have an element of silliness to it, but I never doubted its sincerity. Above all, I will always appreciate the fact that it stayed true to itself; no switch to GTA lite with guns and swearing or a superpowered dark side; just a racoon thief and his friends from beginning to end.
You forgot to give attention to the (clearly) most important difference between the first game and its' sequels; I can't slightly move everybody's faces in binocucom cutscenes using the right and left sticks. lol
dang I really wish that T.V show that was suppose come after the movie got canned actually came to fruition. Sly Cooper always reminded me of Saturday morning cartoons I use to watch which is why I loved to play those games so much.
While I'm fine with not getting another Sly game, I do miss that cartoony mascot era and wish we could get another funny animal game like it. It'd make a nice change from publishers constantly trying to push graphical realism as their top priority.
I've waited so long for the TBGS analysis for Sly! Judging from how much you enjoyed the end of the original trilogy, I'd love to get your thoughts on Thieves in Time
I learned about this series when I played the Sly 3 Demo disk. It made me want to play the whole series from the start. The minigames were the hardest part for me when I was 10 though. Sly 1's submarine and crab minigame in the first level almost made me stop for good.
I did not expect a mini-inFamous review in a Sly Cooper retrospective. inFamous is a series that deserves a little more love. Let's start with a new game, it's been 8 years since Second Son.
when the funny talking animals from the 00s have more depth and are better written than characters from your state of the art, ray tracing survival horror game and your gameplay-less telltale visual novel that is literally all characters talking
They certainly have more depth than any characters in Ghost of Tsushima, kind of weird that you decided to insult indie games in your comment though when you could bring up triple a games which are usually way worse with their characters despite having 100 times the budget.
I finished this trilogy while halfway through Jak 2. It really was a good series to help my child brain understand the darker tones in jak 2 and 3 which mostly would've gone over my head at the time.
It would be nice if there's more 3d platformers that doesn't just rehash Banjo and Mario 64. I consider Sly, Jak, and Ratchet series as an evolution to 3d platformers, focusing on narrative and mixing other mechanics, rather than getting arbitrary trinkets in abstract environments. Hat in Time is the closest I got to that vibe, though making Hatgirl a bland silent protagonist makes it less engaging to me, hope for a sequel that gives her a voice like Jak 2
I agree that hat girl being a Silent protagonist is pretty stupid but she isn't bland in the slightest having many moment where her personality is showed off front and center.
As a kid a character who’s a thief was alien to me, I always assumed he was some kind of villain since at that point in my life i had only known super hero games where you beat up thieves
What a joy to come back home to from work. Charlie FINALLY doing Sly. Haven't finished watching it yet, but B-Mask did 3 (fantastic) hour long retrospectives. Need your personal brand of hype and cynicism for Sly, just as much as Ratchet. Cheers for the analysis
It worked exceptionally well as a trilogy, I was pretty dubious when the fourth game came out but I still enjoyed it for what it was. I just wished it hadn't ended so inconclusively in comparison to 3.
Yeah I agree that the 4th game has its problems, but the amount of salt I see for it online is really overboard. Despite its problems, Thieves in Time feels like a labor of love made by people that really cared about the series, even if they didn’t understand what made the other games exceptional
Story wise it's superfluous at *best.* Gameplay wise it's fine but there's a lot of odd changes that I don't care much for, now admittedly TiT did have a lot of passion behind it; however that alone isn't enough for a great product.
More amazing videos about my childhood favorites... Thank you... Having been occupied with adulthood, and having had my PS2 die from old age, I've been wanting to come back to games like Sly, R&C, and J&D. This offers some reprieve!
If you ask me, the Sly Cooper series still has some untapped potential waiting too be explored. All the developers would have too do is create a deeper story that takes place after the 4th game's ending with more nuanced characters by making a newer entry in the series slightly darker in tone while also maintaining elements of whimsy and light-heartedness so as too not veer too far into changing and alienating old fans. It should take inspiration from anime like Lupin the Third, which was originally the inspiration for Sly in the first place, and instead of just limiting the creativity by making it only be "family-friendly", the devs should push for a T rating in order for more mature themes to be explored within within that game.
Not a bad approach for the most part but I'd say just make another Sly 4 that retcons TIT, declaring it a what if scenario for the series. That way, whoever works on more sequels are put in better creative positions.
@@tabreezsiddique No developer is ever going to re-title their sequel the same as the last. They just move forward and try to course correct, that's it.
@@doclouis4236 Nah, not with TIT. It's such a creative dead end that no sequel can be made for that game without some heavy sacrifices that would essentially detract from the overall appeal of what makes a Sly Cooper game a Sly Cooper game.
Forget the back of the Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction box, Sly 2 and 3 captured the "You are playing a Pixar movie" experience as a video game years prior.
In terms of writing sure but when it comes to visuals and animation not so much lol. Also as great as Pixar movies can be story wise the most consistent aspect of them is how appealing the visuals and animation are.
Never played this series apart from the demo in ratchet 3 (I have a sly 1 copy though just haven't had motivation to play games casuall). Loved your analysis on the jak trilogy, ratchet quadrilogy + future series, resi 4, and god of war ascension. Will definitely watch this asap.
That end portion made me laugh. You think I haven't watched and rewatched the B mask analysis? 🤣 In any case, more sly cooper content will always make me happy, and this was great.
Saw the length of this, and at first, I was a little disappointed. After watching it, I was very impressed with how well you tied your analysis together. I definitely agree the most valuable part of the sly trilogy is its outstanding narrative and charm. Then B-mask gets title dropped and I remember I watched his entire sly series. 30 minutes was a great choice. B-mask already did the amazing heavy lifting. I love seeing youtubers respect each other's work like this.
That ending was so important. I know a lot of fans don't want to let go, but Sly ultimately completed its story when it needed to. Value is not in the amount of derivative sequels, but what a work has to say. If we truly want to see its style come back, then that spiritual successor is in our hands. I certainly don't think any concept could be as sublimely succinct as a raccoon thief, but I'm eager to see the possibilities.
Not gonna lie, I love this series more than Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter. It was definitely this love that made me appreciate MGS and Dues Ex. Nuff said.
You're right about the Saturday-morning cartoony anthomorphic aesthetic clashing with the more serious tones. It's a tradeoff where Nathan Drake can have more drama to take seriously but isn't exactly primed for fun platform adventuring. It's a shame because the animals as charcutiers for people is a great aesthetic.
I think there's a lot of middle ground to cover between Sly and The last of Us though. Something like One Piece or whatever that does have zombies, dragons and funny animals but also don't mind having the funny fat nice pirate (who's always eating a comically big chicken leg) cap a bad guy in the head in chapter 1, you know. I think there are many ways to make a game with compelling and unrealistic game design that still has an engaging and relatable narrative, but I guess it all depends on local ratings or standards for what sort of content you can do for who.
Interesting that Sly 3 has such interesting stuff with the characters, however I remember dropping the game because I was just very bored halfway trough because at one point there are barely any platform or stealth sections and the game just throws whatever at you in many consecutive missions.
I love the aspect that sly doesnt really know clockwork. We dont have to know WHY or HOW clockwork knows the cooper family or why he hates them, we just know that right NOW its sly's turn to deal with him before he finds another way to cheat death. I love this game.
Babe wake up, new British PS2 analysis
Shut up you zoomer fruit
Pound land version of B-masks British analysis
@@wile123456 bmask is the Poundland version of bmask, mate
PAL region at its finest
Friends, give your lives to Christ! God is real and he cares for you!
I remember when they broke bently's legs as a kid I FREAKED. I was like "You can do that in this!?"
Same. I was devastated during the scene where Murray is holding Bentley in his arms after being crushed. I felt his pain. That's one thing I really like about the series. You not only get invested in them as characters, but you also (even more so IMO) get invested in them as a group of friends. Their dynamic was the real deal. You don't see that in a lot of media, especially nowadays.
That was so heartbreaking. It was a bittersweet ending. Like, yeah they saved the world, but it came at a huge cost.
Holy shit the moment his legt got crushed me and my sister were gasping, as he screamed "I.. I can't move my legs!!" and we looked at eachoother with shock
I was nine years old when that scene happened and I cried. I thought Bentley looked dead in Murray's arms. These games are so important.
Lmao, same, i couldn't believe it xD
The arc about (The) Murray taking a vow of non-violence after Bentley was crippled is the most memorable in the series to me. Not only does it exceed any expectations about what a cartoon-style game can explore story-wise, it is also a great example of continuity because the trauma carries over to the third installment and Bentley still manages to hack his way through it. Unforgettable!
Let alone all the great character work they do with Bentley in sly 3. His whole jealousy of sly, worry that penelope prefers the able bodied main character, despite their common interests. Proving his heroism and worth in the group throughout the whole story, but especially Dead Men Tell No Tales
The rest of the gang were always the heart of the series. I even like the expansion of the group, each reflecting core tenets of the main trio, and how they've grown as characters
One of my favorite details has to be that not only does Bentley’s gameplay in Sly 3 change because of his injury, but his personality develops as well. His neurosis is basically gone, allowing him to stare down villains and talk smack, which he does with Octavio, LeFuee, and even Muggshot. I mentioned this to my brother, and his response was “Yeah, now he has no reason to hold back.” I’m HERE for it!
Reading this gave me the image of Bentley and... I'd say Muggshot because he feels appropriate to this, having a conversation like:
Bentley: "What can you even threaten me with? *Fixing* my kneecaps so you can break them again?"
Muggshot:" Uuuh... I could smash yer elbows?"
Bentley: "Go ahead. Give me a reason to invent arms stronger than yours."
@@goranisacson2502 "Your mother was a broken down tub of junk with more gentleman callers than THE OPERATOR"
What's he gonna do, breka my legs MORE?- Bentley, probably.
@@goranisacson2502 i can legitimately hear that in their voices...
Playing through Prague as Bentley was the most terrifying thing as a child. Really made me appreciate Sly and Murray when I got them back. Great video as always
The most baffling decision of the entire trilogy was removing clue bottles from Sly 3. It removes any and all reason to actually explore the levels, which is a problem when the game is about planning heists that use the level to your advantage.
i missed them too, but the omission is a lot more understandable when you learn they made the 3rd game in under a year. thats fucking crazy.
Alongside what Dino said, it should probably come to no surprise that the worlds of Sly 3 is a lot more compact than 2's. Pretty much the largest is goes is China, and maybe the Caribbean if you want to count the sea charting section, and even then they're just barely the same width as 2!Paris. Unless they decided to carry over 1's mechanic of a changing Bottle amount, it was kind of necessary that they got left behind.
Honestly, I'm more bummed Treasures were gone. They had a fair amount of formulas available to have a challenge room of sorts to win them, so I'm rather surprised they didn't opt to do so.
I agree that was weird from my perspective but if you look at sentiments around that time people were actually vocally disliking the clue bottles in Sly 2, so that's probably why they got the axe.
To be fair; they were pretty poorly handled in the 2nd game's more open ended level design anyways unlike in the 1st game's more linear design so it was a wise step to remove those.
I was conflicted. On one hand I missed breaking open those bottles.
On the other I hated looking for the last few and even with a guide/video it's a tedious process.
I actually think the "cartoony-ness" and more lighthearted moments actually helped the more heavy ones land because they offer space to breath and laugh between more important and/or serious moments story-wise. It's the mix of the two that make Sly so good and special (and not more for kids than adults) contrary to what I think the video said, else that would just be exhausting, repetitive and less charismatic. This is also why "filler" episodes matter.
Man I love the Sly games and I'm glad you touched upon how great the ending of 3 was, it's probably why its remained my favorite of the 3
I know you only touched upon it briefly, but the overload of unskippable dialogue In a fast paced stealth action game is my biggest gripe with the trilogy for sure. Sly speedrunning is still very popular across the world but it was seen to have little to no potential in the early days because of the unskippable cutscenes. Imagine how much quicker the scene would have blossomed had Sucker Punch just chosen to add in that one feature.
Even casual players would rejoice from how much a skip feature would add to these games' replay value. Sly's my favorite PS2 mascot but I'm far more likely to boot up RaC 2 when I want that nostalgia hit.
Love the B-Mask cameo at the end, does deffo have a killer analysis for each game over three videos. Otherwise though, is good to see ya cover them too, even if it was in a very expedited way. This was your thoughts in your approach, having me understanding my tastes that much more, and I just appreciate that.
Interesting, the way Sucker punch transitioned from Sly to inFamous reminds me how Insomniac transitioned from Spyro to RaC.
What's RaC again? Thank you
@@SamSam563 Ratchet and Clank.
One of the most overlooked game trilogies ever.
A probably unintentional but great piece of foreshadowing in 3 was his father's lasergrinding technique. When I first played the game I accidentally fell on top of lasers sometimes and mostly take damage but sometimes, I would grind on them for a second and then slide off. I just though "cool bug" at first but when it was revealed that it was Sly's father who invented that technique? I went bonkers and started thinking that Sly was working on the same technique but needed to understand something from his father to make it work. Making up many theories about Sly trying to come up with or copy the technique from memory. So many thoughts in my head just because of a bug :P
As always, huge props for prioritizing the orginal ps2 crispness over sorry of an excuse HD collection...
also epic outro
Is the collection really that bad? Yeah, it has some audio glitches and Ms. Ruby’s fight is busted, but aside from those, I didn’t really notice any other problems.
Tho I do agree that a more realistic game with adult rating can carry more serious subject matter, that in itself can be a restriction. When a mature gritty action game reveals a big earthshattering plot twist it comes expected. Of course there's something more to it when you're presented a simple premise with such a gritty theme.
But when a all-ages platformer game reveals that one of their characters brutally backstabs you, it offers way more surprise and intrigue imo.
I like the fact he didn't mention anything about sly 4 like it didn't exist because it doesn't.
I usually roll my eyes at most overindulgent nostalgic retrospectives. But you brought some real perspective with depth to it in this video that i really appreciated. Great job unpacking the whole trilogy and keeping the video tight and to the point
I love how the trilogy ends off with all the boys getting with the girl by the end
Sly x Carmelita
Bentley wlx Penelope
Murray x The Team Van
Been looking forward to this! Sly was always my favorite of the "Big 3" of that era along with Ratchet and Jak. Love all 3 though!
I'm really glad you delved into why Sly 3 works super well thematically. As someone who always had that game as their favorite of the trilogy, it was always bothersome how people handwaved and ignored a lot of the finer details and aspects the story had on offer just cause "it wasn't like 1 or especially 2". I won't act like it's perfect - Dr. M's ordeal isn't quite as thought out for one example - but comparatively speaking it was a lot more cohesive and continuously had strong moments, whereas the other two games had quite a dull drag during their story (I'm still waiting for someone to defend Clock-La in a fair and understandable manner).
Honestly if you just removed Clock-La from the story I'd call Sly 2 damn near perfect. Neyla worked perfectly fine until that moment. Arpeggio is cut short unceremoniously for the proper big bird showing up.
The only way you can make Clock-La a good story moment is by either going further in depth on Neyla in a backstory sense to justify why the hell she'd want to become immortal or by just having someone else become Clockwerk. It's a shame that Sly 2 stumbled the endgame but then the actual final section with Bentley getting crippled makes up for it.
@@coolpizzacook I'm not sure you're already aware of this but Neyla actually had a cut backstory with her being Rajan's daughter but it was cut for time, this had to be the reason why the clock-la betrayal felt like it came out of nowhere.
@@TerrorOfTalos I've heard. Even with being his daughter it still feels out of nowhere on why she'd want to go and become Clock-la. As well I believe that Neyla not being related to Rajan is better for her character. She just needed something to explain the triple cross at the end.
@@coolpizzacook unfortunately many great titles have their endings fall short simply for the sake of exposition or trying to figure out what’s next
For what it's worth, I've always viewed Clock-La as more of a resurrection of the first game's villain with an extra step, with Neyla acting as a catalyst, who'd thought she'd just get to assume the control over his body and make herself immortal, but Clockwerk's original malicious persona started to seep through more and more, gradually drowning out her personality the more merged she became with his body.
Was kinda hoping you'd talk about which is your favorite of the trilogy but you do make a good case for why each is best at what it does.
I just find it hilarious that Bentley was actually more useful AFTER he was crippled, he was really fun to play in Sly 3, whereas I dreaded moments I had to play as him in Sly 2
The biggest thing I got from this video was a desire to play Infamous 1 and 2 again. Those games were fun as hell. I would love to see a video on those games someday.
yep, been trying to get infamous 2 to work on rpcs3 and it's actually insane how good that game is
it deserves being played in full hd
I had quite a few gripes with 2(and the less said about 3 the better)but yeah,really could go for another run of the original again.
same i suddenly crave infamous again, but ill wait until i can get a constant 60 fps on rpcs3
Sony is being dumb not remaking InFamous and Resistance.
InFamous with this new graphics and cpu power Both Empire City and New Marais would be epic plus Cole Powers OMG.
Resistance since now Activision is Microsoft now Sony should invest in their own shooters Resistance or Killzone should come back maybe killzone have power possibilities to be against Battlefield
As someone that almost never cares about direct sequels to movies or games, I was compelled to buy all 3 of the original trilogy on release day. Amazing series.
When I was younger I would always remember this game I rented from Blockbusters as a bain where you could play as a Raccoon, Turtle and Hippo and I had the greatest time, but had no idea what the name was, years later I found out it was Sly 2 and after I re bought it, it must've been the only game I played for a year or so
The thing I miss most from the sly games is the heist mission set up. I loved seeing the prep phase briefing and then the full heist briefing about the plan with different characters doing different things. And the twists and turns that happen during. It worked because characters had so wildly different play styles. I miss that aspect of the Sly games.
I always wanted to see other animal platformers tackle the stealth genre like Sly Cooper did for example the Sonic the Hedgehog series in a spin off involving either Rouge the Bat or Espio
The fact that sega has refused to make any spin-offs not staring sonic ever since Chaotix shat the bed sucks ass.
@@vinnythewebsurfer You forgot.... one game... the edgiest of them all... On the PlayStation 2.... Shadow the Hedgehog...
@@mrjacob0101 They could easily make another spiritual successor anti-hero/antagonist game with Metal Sonic as the main character considering he so consistently betrays Eggman yet because Shadow flopped so hard they won't.
@@PirateMacDougall Shadow actually didn't flop. It sold really well (better than any of the Sly games, sadly) but it was the awful critical reception that I think put a stop to more spin-offs.
@@WaddleDee105 Big rips, but shows exactly my point, there was an opportunity for a followup with a different possible anti-hero (Metal Sonic or another edgelord) yet they just won't even try.
Fantastic summary! Such an astute observation that the themes and mechanics had been pushed to their limit by the end - It really illustrates what a rich experience the series is. Though some of those limits could be considered self-made, and as you say, overhauling mechanics or shifting the story focus could still feel like a natural evolution - even introducing darker themes but just presenting in it's own cartoony way. All the same, I love how you reflected on the series almost needing to end to stay true to it's own message. A very comforting sentiment indeed. Thanks for the excellent video.
Remember when everybody was looking forward to Sly 5 after Thieves in Time ended on a cliffhanger? Then Sanzaru Games said "Nah, if it's getting a sequel, it won't be by us, enjoy Sonic Boom!"
To be fair Shitzaru Games was contracted only to create Sly TIT nothing else for the PSV forcing them to cut the ending since it would not fit on the cartridge anymore nor they had time to put it back in when they were reworking it for the PlayStation 3
This was a wonderful watch! I Really appreciate the way you shift between critique and praise. That's some real nuance
Brit is back with more PS2 you love to see it
I honestly expected an hour or so analysis of sly while you talk about each game separately just like you did with Jack trilogy but this was surprisingly more fun and engaging
Excellent video .
here's my take:
sly 1: has the ebst villain and story. sure its simple story but I like restoring the thievius racoonus being the main plot as well as well the secondary plot of sly avenging his murdered parents at the same time, as well as how learning about his family's history is tied to sly becoming a better thief and gaining new skills.
sly 2: has the best....feel and structure, I guess you can say. All the villains are once again tied together, the heist set up where you plan the heist andthe fact each mission is tied to setting up the main heist in big and small ways was genius, which as the video said fixes the problem of some minigames feeling like filler.
sly 3: has the best final level. THe cooper vault is an AMAZING final level that tests your skills to the brink, even gving you a new skill you NEVER USED or know about at the end, testing your improvisation. it loses a lot of points from being more thematic than have an actual strong plot, so the actual story of the cooper gain eventually leaving the thieving biz isn't as strong. It REALLY suffers from the fact for the first time in the series none of the villains are tied together and its main villain gets VERY little screentime and overall isn't an active figure in the story until the climax. Building a bigger group is interesting, but it kinda feels seperate to the core theme of the plot in my opinion.
Sly 4: weakest game in the franchise. has some good bits in it, but also some not great bits. Its worst sins are fucking over Penelope because making her an out and out villain was apparently more interesting than, ynow, remembering her chracterisation in her previous appearance, aand its other sin was havng its final boss be not only a lazy "evil counterpart" to Sly but also have his fight be a fucking QTE minigame because making a proper boss fight with an evil sly wasn't feasible, APPARENTLY. Main reason I want a sly 5 is to rectify the mistakes of Sly 4.
Sly forever my childhood just wish it comes back eventually
Wow. That was a fair and condensed assessment of the series, and I didn't expect but welcome the comparison with inFAMOUS, a game that sure was rough around the edges but that I still really enjoyed. It makes me want to watch someone play them for the first time back to back and see how they react to the surprisingly adult themes and wacky comedy--I played the game when I was young and didn't speak English well enough to fully grasp everything that was going on.
I wonder if Sucker Punch will ever return to their cartoon inspired roots.
Ghost of Tsushima has cemented them as a master of stylization. I truly wish to see what kind of heights they can reach.
Good video but I couldn't possibly disagree with you more about the music. Peter McConnell's scores add a sense of cohesion to the different environment and locals that is, in my opinion, missing in the first game. I have a lot of love for the first one's soundtrack as well, but the motifs and leitmotifs in sly 2 and 3 add so much identity to each character, which in turn really helps add characterisation when the third game introduces a new member almost every chapter. The song Paris rooftops from the first level of 2 is, through it's theme, motifs and general vibe, one of the biggest piece of characterisation that sly cooper the character, and "sly" the game series have, seconded only by the art style and esthetic. You obviously don't have to enjoy the music, but personally, the music is one of the most important parts of sly to me, and it really is one of the reasons I truly love this series.
Finally!! I've been waiting to hear your opinions on the sly games for years.
I agree about the island of mutants in 3. They definitely wanted to do a Dr. Moreau joke thing, but when your characters are already all animals, the parody is hard to make work, and it ended up being the wrong direction for what that level actually needed.
That said, if they could give this series a major remastering, similar to what Capcom did with RE2, I think you could make Sly's gameplay more compelling without any loss of what make the original games so good.
I know this video is literally titled "Sly TRILOGY analysis," but I'm still admittedly a little disappointed you didn't get to mention Thieves in Time much. Regardless, great content as always, Charlie
Currently going through my yearly playthrough of all the four Sly Cooper games. Genuinely my favorite game series of all time, this really is my childhood.
Was happy for a second there because TheGamingBritShow is one of my favorites channels to watch. Then I realised this reply is a grass needing basement dwelling muppet bot.
NOW THIS IS AN ANALysis!
Hell yeah, been looking forward to the day you talked about Sly.
Going through the series for the first time as an adult with no nostalgia, the attention and care put into this trilogy in both gameplay and story shone through wonderfully. Sure, it's cartoony nature ensures that even it's most serious heartfelt moments have an element of silliness to it, but I never doubted its sincerity.
Above all, I will always appreciate the fact that it stayed true to itself; no switch to GTA lite with guns and swearing or a superpowered dark side; just a racoon thief and his friends from beginning to end.
Sly was my childhood platforming series. It deserves so much more attention for what it managed to do.
You forgot to give attention to the (clearly) most important difference between the first game and its' sequels; I can't slightly move everybody's faces in binocucom cutscenes using the right and left sticks.
lol
dang I really wish that T.V show that was suppose come after the movie got canned actually came to fruition. Sly Cooper always reminded me of Saturday morning cartoons I use to watch which is why I loved to play those games so much.
While I'm fine with not getting another Sly game, I do miss that cartoony mascot era and wish we could get another funny animal game like it. It'd make a nice change from publishers constantly trying to push graphical realism as their top priority.
I've waited so long for the TBGS analysis for Sly! Judging from how much you enjoyed the end of the original trilogy, I'd love to get your thoughts on Thieves in Time
I've never played these games but kinda feel compelled to now.
You won't regret it
I learned about this series when I played the Sly 3 Demo disk.
It made me want to play the whole series from the start. The minigames were the hardest part for me when I was 10 though. Sly 1's submarine and crab minigame in the first level almost made me stop for good.
Bentley breaking his legs matured me by at least 3 years in that moment
I did not expect a mini-inFamous review in a Sly Cooper retrospective. inFamous is a series that deserves a little more love. Let's start with a new game, it's been 8 years since Second Son.
I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the series. Another fantastic video.
The pacing of this video game retrospective is excellent.
when the funny talking animals from the 00s have more depth and are better written than characters from your state of the art, ray tracing survival horror game and your gameplay-less telltale visual novel that is literally all characters talking
The virtues of being underestimated.
They certainly have more depth than any characters in Ghost of Tsushima, kind of weird that you decided to insult indie games in your comment though when you could bring up triple a games which are usually way worse with their characters despite having 100 times the budget.
@@dudestep TLOU2 and GoW Remake are not indie games.
for context, GoW1 and 2 are 20h games of which 15h are cutscenes
I finished this trilogy while halfway through Jak 2. It really was a good series to help my child brain understand the darker tones in jak 2 and 3 which mostly would've gone over my head at the time.
In some ways I kinda view Sly Cooper as the prototype version of Assassins Creed before that series went off the deep end.
This Trilogy is such a fucking jewel. I got my PS2 copies like treasure.
I love the sly Cooper series. Really hope we get atleast one more game from the series.
At least a movie
It would be nice if there's more 3d platformers that doesn't just rehash Banjo and Mario 64. I consider Sly, Jak, and Ratchet series as an evolution to 3d platformers, focusing on narrative and mixing other mechanics, rather than getting arbitrary trinkets in abstract environments. Hat in Time is the closest I got to that vibe, though making Hatgirl a bland silent protagonist makes it less engaging to me, hope for a sequel that gives her a voice like Jak 2
Well there's Psychonauts 2 at least
I agree that hat girl being a Silent protagonist is pretty stupid but she isn't bland in the slightest having many moment where her personality is showed off front and center.
@@Twisted_Paradox1 eh maybe I was too critical
As a kid a character who’s a thief was alien to me, I always assumed he was some kind of villain since at that point in my life i had only known super hero games where you beat up thieves
Great video, thank you. Sly is such a nostalgia , been wandering to jump back with it being on ps plus
Haha yeah Carmelita becoming a giantess is so ridiculous haha like what if she stepped on you that'd be so stupid haha
Yeah I remember playing Sly 3 again a few years ago and when I got to that part I immediately thought to myself “this is someone’s fetish, isn’t it.”
What a joy to come back home to from work. Charlie FINALLY doing Sly. Haven't finished watching it yet, but B-Mask did 3 (fantastic) hour long retrospectives. Need your personal brand of hype and cynicism for Sly, just as much as Ratchet. Cheers for the analysis
I like how TGB didn't mention anything on Thieves in Time lmao.
As he should.
how is this video only 7 months old? I swear I have childhood memories of it!
It worked exceptionally well as a trilogy, I was pretty dubious when the fourth game came out but I still enjoyed it for what it was. I just wished it hadn't ended so inconclusively in comparison to 3.
Yeah I agree that the 4th game has its problems, but the amount of salt I see for it online is really overboard. Despite its problems, Thieves in Time feels like a labor of love made by people that really cared about the series, even if they didn’t understand what made the other games exceptional
Story wise it's superfluous at *best.* Gameplay wise it's fine but there's a lot of odd changes that I don't care much for, now admittedly TiT did have a lot of passion behind it; however that alone isn't enough for a great product.
There is no such thing as a sly 4 you are definitly in the wrong timeline
This just right after I decided to play through the whole trilogy. Currently I am on Sly 2.
I was so looking forward to this, thank you for talking about Sly, those are my fav games ever! I'm so excited to watch!
Love the sly series. All of them are really fun.
Sly 3 has my favorite story. Sly 2 has my favorite two levels. I feel like Canada was just the best. Sly 1 probably has some of the most charm.
Really appreciate the B mask cameo at the end. Now we just have to wait and see which one of you rips apart Thieves in Time first
so dude finally finished talking about the cartton platformers on the PS2. good for him.
Thank you.
You need at least 3 hours to describe how amazing these games are.
Nah.
That Sly 2 ending still hits hard in the feelings after all these years.
22:20 Writer’s barely disguised fetish.
sly Cooper is one of my favorite series next to jak and ratchet and clank 😁 the world and platforming is still my favorite.
only played the First Ratchet Emulated
will get to the other titles eventually
The first Jak game is a classic. The sequels are watered down GTA with random difficulty spikes.
@@mariokarter13 🤡
More amazing videos about my childhood favorites... Thank you... Having been occupied with adulthood, and having had my PS2 die from old age, I've been wanting to come back to games like Sly, R&C, and J&D. This offers some reprieve!
If you ask me, the Sly Cooper series still has some untapped potential waiting too be explored.
All the developers would have too do is create a deeper story that takes place after the 4th game's ending with more nuanced characters by making a newer entry in the series slightly darker in tone while also maintaining elements of whimsy and light-heartedness so as too not veer too far into changing and alienating old fans.
It should take inspiration from anime like Lupin the Third, which was originally the inspiration for Sly in the first place, and instead of just limiting the creativity by making it only be "family-friendly", the devs should push for a T rating in order for more mature themes to be explored within within that game.
Not a bad approach for the most part but I'd say just make another Sly 4 that retcons TIT, declaring it a what if scenario for the series. That way, whoever works on more sequels are put in better creative positions.
@@tabreezsiddique I'd say a theoretical Sly 5 would be a good jumping off point for more sequels if it would be successful in sales.
@@doclouis4236 Only after making another Sly 4, which would hopefully avoid all the issues TIT suffered from.
@@tabreezsiddique No developer is ever going to re-title their sequel the same as the last. They just move forward and try to course correct, that's it.
@@doclouis4236 Nah, not with TIT. It's such a creative dead end that no sequel can be made for that game without some heavy sacrifices that would essentially detract from the overall appeal of what makes a Sly Cooper game a Sly Cooper game.
"... because whats the alternative? More minigames and alternate forms of play to compliment sly?" Basically what Sanzaru did with Sly 4 lol
Pretty much proving the point.
I’d argue Sly 3 was already that.
I have been smiling and laughing this entire video! Sly is one of my favorite video games characters and the memories with this series were awesome 🤍
I've been waiting for this video for a long time! Fantastic work!
This series was like saturday morning cartoon playble tv show
This was my childhood, thank you for this video
Now we need an Infamous trilogy video.
Forget the back of the Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction box, Sly 2 and 3 captured the "You are playing a Pixar movie" experience as a video game years prior.
In terms of writing sure but when it comes to visuals and animation not so much lol. Also as great as Pixar movies can be story wise the most consistent aspect of them is how appealing the visuals and animation are.
Never played this series apart from the demo in ratchet 3 (I have a sly 1 copy though just haven't had motivation to play games casuall).
Loved your analysis on the jak trilogy, ratchet quadrilogy + future series, resi 4, and god of war ascension. Will definitely watch this asap.
That end portion made me laugh. You think I haven't watched and rewatched the B mask analysis? 🤣 In any case, more sly cooper content will always make me happy, and this was great.
I recently bought sly 3 at a convention, so this vid definitely has perfect timing.
Saw the length of this, and at first, I was a little disappointed. After watching it, I was very impressed with how well you tied your analysis together. I definitely agree the most valuable part of the sly trilogy is its outstanding narrative and charm.
Then B-mask gets title dropped and I remember I watched his entire sly series. 30 minutes was a great choice. B-mask already did the amazing heavy lifting. I love seeing youtubers respect each other's work like this.
That ending was so important. I know a lot of fans don't want to let go, but Sly ultimately completed its story when it needed to. Value is not in the amount of derivative sequels, but what a work has to say. If we truly want to see its style come back, then that spiritual successor is in our hands. I certainly don't think any concept could be as sublimely succinct as a raccoon thief, but I'm eager to see the possibilities.
Also Sly 2 - 3 open world gameplay was a bit like Assassin's Creed before that game came out.
dude idk why so many people (myself included) have been replaying the Sly trilogy recently
God I love seeing more youtubers making videos about this franchise right now
Not gonna lie, I love this series more than Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter. It was definitely this love that made me appreciate MGS and Dues Ex. Nuff said.
You're right about the Saturday-morning cartoony anthomorphic aesthetic clashing with the more serious tones. It's a tradeoff where Nathan Drake can have more drama to take seriously but isn't exactly primed for fun platform adventuring. It's a shame because the animals as charcutiers for people is a great aesthetic.
I think there's a lot of middle ground to cover between Sly and The last of Us though. Something like One Piece or whatever that does have zombies, dragons and funny animals but also don't mind having the funny fat nice pirate (who's always eating a comically big chicken leg) cap a bad guy in the head in chapter 1, you know. I think there are many ways to make a game with compelling and unrealistic game design that still has an engaging and relatable narrative, but I guess it all depends on local ratings or standards for what sort of content you can do for who.
@@Kriss_ch. Hell, there also Usagi Yojimbo and the way it can fit so many types of stories even with it's "Funny Animal" covering.
Lovely video and analysis as always.
Interesting that Sly 3 has such interesting stuff with the characters, however I remember dropping the game because I was just very bored halfway trough because at one point there are barely any platform or stealth sections and the game just throws whatever at you in many consecutive missions.
I love Sly! Great video as always.
I love the aspect that sly doesnt really know clockwork. We dont have to know WHY or HOW clockwork knows the cooper family or why he hates them, we just know that right NOW its sly's turn to deal with him before he finds another way to cheat death. I love this game.