Sly Cooper is the main protagonist of the Sly Cooper video game series and hero of three platform games developed by Sucker Punch Productions for the Sony PlayStation 2. Sly is voiced by Kevin Miller. Sly is a raccoon who is descended from a long line of master thieves, and uses his skills and the help of his friends, Bentley and Murray, to pull off heists.

Characteristics[link]

Sly is a thief raccoon who is descended from a long line of master thieves coming from medieval Europe, feudal Japan, and the American Western frontier, tracing all the way back to Ancient Egypt as well as pirates. When Sly was eight years old, his father was killed 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. There he met Bentley, a genius turtle, and Murray, a comically self-confident and brawny hippopotamus.^[1]

Sly is extremely agile and decides to use his skills and enlists the help of his two allies Bentley and Murray to assist him in illegal activities or even when infiltrating and intercepting other convicts. Sly carries a cane which is a long-standing family heirloom he inherited, and he uses it in many of his maneuvers, also using it as a blunt weapon. Sly also has abilities such as walking on ropes, climbing pipes, and sneaking around in order to pickpocket guards for keys or loot. He is voiced by Kevin Miller.

Appearances[link]

Sly's first appearance is as the main character of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. The game starts out by telling his back-story. Sly breaks into detective Carmelita Fox's office and takes a case file about him. 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.

The second game, 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 Clockla. Sly then fights Clockla, 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. The gang then goes to find new members of the gang to help them in the heist of the Cooper vault.

Sly appeared along side 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 upcoming crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Sly will reappear in the fourth Sly game "Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time."

Reception[link]

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".^[2] 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".^[3] Sly won an award at the Game Developer's Conference for the best "Original Game Character of the Year" in 2002.^[4]

References[link]