Long before the critical and commercial success of Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch Productions won the hearts of PlayStation 2 owners with the beloved Sly Cooper series. Following the antics of the titular master thief and his gang of lovable rogues, it's sometimes too easy to forget that the mascot platformer franchise was once as important to Sony as the now timeless Ratchet and Clank.
Since the anthropomorphic racoon's last adventure, an eight year hiatus has kept the franchise from the public spotlight. However from out of the shadows, rumors on the internet are suggesting that a 5th entry might finally bring Sly back to the present day. With that in mind, now is the perfect time for fans to reacquaint themselves with the Sly Cooper story so far.
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Debuting on the PS2 in 2002, the first entry in the Sly Cooper series introduced fans to a world both steeped in lore, and full of charming characters. Born into a long line of honorable master thieves, Sly's coming of age origin story sees the young raccoon embark on a quest to steal back his family's most precious artifact, the Thievius Raccoonus. Having become the closest of friends after finding each other in the same orphanage, Sly is accompanied throughout all of his quests by Bentley, the brains of the operation, and Murray, the Gang's muscle. Interpol's Inspector Carmelita Fox, Sly's crush, is never too far behind them either.
Picking up the trail of the villainous Fiendish Five in their iconic Cooper Gang Van, Sly and his surrogate family manage to take down four of the group during heist-style missions across the globe. Upon rebuilding the thieving handbook though, the trio discover a dark secret about the organization's leader. Having been fueled by a hatred for the Cooper lineage's success, Clockwerk had kept himself alive for centuries whilst stalking the famous master thieves. Spurred on by this, and the fact that the mechanized owl was the one who took his parent's lives, Sly finally ends Clockwerk's reign of terror in a jetpack supported confrontation; simultaneously restoring the book and the Cooper family's honor in the process.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Picking up the action two years after Clockwerk's defeat, Sly and his gang are pulled back into another globe trotting adventure after discovering that the owl's mechanical remnants have been stolen for nefarious purposes by the Klaww Gang. This time around, each member of the Cooper gang is on-hand to provide field support as they set off in pursuit of the parts, following a tip from the shadowy Constable Neyla.
Dispatching the Klaww Gang still proves to be a far more challenging proposition, despite the extra assistance; with Sly, Murray, and the framed Carmelita, all finding themselves incarcerated in Prague after being quickly betrayed by Neyla. Eventually Bentley is able to free the trio, yet their resurgent attempts to prevent Clockwerk from being rebuilt prove to be futile. As the organization's leader Arpeggio begins putting his masterplan into action, he too is betrayed by Neyla, who had been pretending to be his agent all along.
Possessing the reanimated owl and becoming Clock-La, it falls to Sly and Carmelita to team-up to cut her reign of terror short. Crash landing in Paris, the hybrid supervillain still ends up having the last laugh before Clockwerk's body disintegrates forever. That's because after destroying the bird's power source, Bentley's legs are seriously injured in the process. Orchestrating one final daring escape, the Cooper Gang are ultimately left to lick their wounds after their pyrrhic victory.
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
Far from being down and out, one year after the events of Paris, Sly and the now wheelchair-bound Bentley embark on a mission designed to cement the group's thieving legacy. Having learned that his family's fabled Cooper Vault, a Skull Island-esque repository for their historic heists is under attack from the antagonistic Dr. M, the pair determine that they need to reassemble the Cooper Gang before confronting the ape. Regrouping with Murray, the reconciled trio decide that a recruitment drive for new members is also needed before they can properly tackle the vault.
Recruiting the shaman-like Guru and the tech-savvy Penelope, the group is rounded out by the Panda King and Dimitri, who had both once historically opposed the Cooper Gang. Assisted by Carmelita when they arrive at the island, the assembled forces are able to gradually beat back Dr. M. Learning that the ape was once a miss-treated teammate to Sly's father, the founding members of the modern-day gang shrug off these assertions to put an end to his plans inside the vault.
In a last ditch attempt to seize the day, Dr. M tries to shoot Carmelita. Taking the bullet intended for her, Sly appears to suffer amnesia as a result of this. Pretending that he had always been her partner, the pair leave for Paris before starting a relationship. When Sly fails to return to the Cooper Gang, the remaining members agree to go their separate ways.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Developed by Sanzaru Games, the fourth installment in the franchise sees Sly, Bentley, and Murray drawn back together again following the shocking discovery that the Thievius Raccoonus has started to vanish. Utilizing the time travel technology Bentley had created with Penelope at the end of the third game, the Cooper Gang set off on a quest to unravel the conspiracy to remove Sly's family from the timeline.
After traveling across time whilst assisting various members of the Cooper lineage, the Gang eventually catches up with the mind behind the scheme, Cyrille La Paradox. Following the skunk back to an altered version of Paris, Sly is able to defeat the art thief before restoring the original timeline. Sending everyone home, the master thief is unable to escape himself however. Waking up instead in Ancient Egypt, where he remains trapped to this very day.
Sly 5 is rumored to be in development.