Babe wake up, new British PS2 analysis

I remember when they broke bently's legs as a kid I FREAKED. I was like "You can do that in this!?"

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!

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

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!

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 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.

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.

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

One of the most overlooked game trilogies ever.

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!

As always, huge props for prioritizing the orginal ps2 crispness over sorry of an excuse HD collection... also epic outro

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 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

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).

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

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.

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 like the fact he didn't mention anything about sly 4 like it didn't exist because it doesn't.

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.

Brit is back with more PS2 you love to see it

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

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.

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.

Sly forever my childhood just wish it comes back eventually

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

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!"

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.

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.

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.

Bentley breaking his legs matured me by at least 3 years in that moment

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

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.

Finally!! I've been waiting to hear your opinions on the sly games for years.

This was a wonderful watch! I Really appreciate the way you shift between critique and praise. That's some real nuance

Hell yeah, been looking forward to the day you talked about Sly.

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.

Sly was my childhood platforming series. It deserves so much more attention for what it managed to do.

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've never played these games but kinda feel compelled to now.

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 .

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.

This Trilogy is such a fucking jewel. I got my PS2 copies like treasure.

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.

The pacing of this video game retrospective is excellent.

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.

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

In some ways I kinda view Sly Cooper as the prototype version of Assassins Creed before that series went off the deep end.

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'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 love the sly Cooper series. Really hope we get atleast one more game from the series.

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

I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the series. Another fantastic video.

Haha yeah Carmelita becoming a giantess is so ridiculous haha like what if she stepped on you that'd be so stupid haha

NOW THIS IS AN ANALysis!

Yes, please. I’ve loved this series for so long and I can’t believe you put out a video on it. 😍🥰 thank you!

I've been waiting for this video for a long time! Fantastic work!

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.

This just right after I decided to play through the whole trilogy. Currently I am on Sly 2.

22:20 Writer’s barely disguised fetish.

how is this video only 7 months old? I swear I have childhood memories of it!

This series was like saturday morning cartoon playble tv show

Love the sly series. All of them are really fun.

I like how TGB didn't mention anything on Thieves in Time lmao.

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

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!

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.

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

sly Cooper is one of my favorite series next to jak and ratchet and clank 😁 the world and platforming is still my favorite.

That Sly 2 ending still hits hard in the feelings after all these years.

Great video, thank you. Sly is such a nostalgia , been wandering to jump back with it being on ps plus

so dude finally finished talking about the cartton platformers on the PS2. good for him.

You need at least 3 hours to describe how amazing these games are.

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.

Lovely video and analysis as always.

Now we need an Infamous trilogy video.

I love Sly! Great video as always.

Also Sly 2 - 3 open world gameplay was a bit like Assassin's Creed before that game came out.

"... because whats the alternative? More minigames and alternate forms of play to compliment sly?" Basically what Sanzaru did with Sly 4 lol

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 🤍

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!

Been waiting for this one!

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.

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

Excellent video as always

Great video, clicked it the moment I saw it pop up. Also love the b mask videos, have watched them through a few times even though that's like 4 hours lol

This was my childhood, thank you for this 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.

Wow just started playing this series for the first time lol.

Damn it, now I want to write screenplays for a cartoon series that’ll never be made

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 U, I VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS....

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.

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.

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