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#Thievius raccoonus
bearpillowmonster · 5 months
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Ok, Sly Cooper.
Well, let me give you some expectations for this game and then see if they lived up.
One of the big three of the PS2 era; Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter. Jak & Daxter I've obviously held the highest but as time has gone on, my opinions have changed on Ratchet and Clank but what about Sly?
Back then, I looked up what was considered best of the series, hoping that it would make the strongest impression on me. So for Easter one year, I asked for Sly 2 and played through a little bit of it. I got to Dmitri for the first time and honestly every time that I've tried to go back to it, I get lost with what I'm trying to do, like I don't remember how to play and can't be bothered to restart it, there's just too many places to go.
While Bentley gives you his visual aid, it only lasts a second and you aren't directly looking at it so it can be difficult to navigate. That mixed with my amateur stealth game knowledge, I sat it out.
I saw a YouTube video of someone explaining why Sly is so important to them and why it was still worth checking out. I lodged it in the back of my brain and thought it best to visit the first of the series, maybe I was being too rash starting with the sequel, I mean it being more linear would be a good thing for me so I put it on the backlog. Then one day, I got a real hankering for it, like down bad for it. I started making OCs, looking for it on eBay (which I logged) and really can't say that I've wanted a game that bad since my KH:BBS rom stopped working and I bought 1.5, 2.5 remix where I just wasn't satisfied playing anything else until then but that's besides the point. I eventually broke down and got it. So is it worth all that trouble?
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Let's start with age. It has a remaster collection on PS3 but like the other big three of the PS2 era, they didn't port those over to PS4 or the PS store so you're kind of stuck with this one unless you buy a PS3. This is a game that was defining controls, you can tell what was a breakthrough by how they sell it in game too.
So the controls from time to time can seem a bit finnicky since it's PS2 era, but I imagine the remaster probably ironed out those issues since it runs on a different controller. Let me give you an example. Sly's tail has a blue sheen to it to indicate that he's following a track set up in game so that you can balance yourself better. You can break this track but it's easier to stay straight. It's not your masterful controlling doing this, it's the game. Press circle to latch onto stuff (small beams, ropes, etc.) The platforms can shake with momentum as you move on them, in water they start to sink but only where you're stepping. There were a lot of points where I was surprised to see the modern era take reference like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed, this game impressed me 21 years down the road.
I was thinking it was baby's first Splinter Cell but I was dead wrong, it's got variety. I like Splinter Cell, I'm not putting it down, I'm just stating the fact that some of these levels are quite different from the last, not just stealth. From environments like libraries and pirates ships to controlling a submarine to fight off crabs taking treasure chests and all that's within the first 'area'. Yeah, I said 'area'. I also said that this game was more linear. What I'm getting at is that there's a semi 'hub' or sorts where it's portals to levels inside of a level, you play those levels to grab whatever you may need to progress, it's cool and simple enough to keep track of when it's in bites but it's understandable how I could've gotten lost as a kid.
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These areas are split between the five different villains or bosses of the game (which are all great btw), starting with the "missions" back at HQ, just like I remember. But if you don't finish that current mission right away and save and exit then you may need a refresher. How many levels can there be? Who's to say, I mean like I said, variety. I think there are seven levels to the first mission but that crab level was the shortest one of the bunch. What do you value in a level? Do you get everything there is to collect?
There are these bottles with little messages inside that collecting enough throughout the level will net you a code from Bentley which can be used for a vault found in that same level. You can go, get them on your first run. Or get some and come back later. It's up to you but the rewards are actually quite beneficial. You see jump is X, and latching is Circle and attack is Square but what's Triangle? Well, you want a fast attack? A roll? You want abilities? Sure, you get new abilities and none of these hidden ones are mandatory but it's a good incentive to thoroughly explore the level. You use the shoulder buttons to scroll through your favorites.
So length can be varying but let's put it this way, it's set up with lives, you run out and you have to restart the level as there are checkpoints otherwise. It's not a bad compromise though because for one, it gives you excuse to get those missed collectibles and two, it saves the collectibles you've already gotten pretty much no matter what so it's not that bad. You can even finish the level and come back and still have the same progress on collecting, I've collected them all before but had to restart because I did them out of order and I did a speedrun of the level in what? A minute? First run was maybe ten. But you really only get a one hit allowance and die if you land in water. You can also pick up level ups and horseshoes which gain you an extra hit or collect a hundred coins for a horseshoe.
So is it worth it? Let me put it this way. I mentioned how I went through a lot to get this game and when it came, it was packaged really good but it was already scratched and the case was dented before they even put it in there and during the cutscene after the first boss, it got stuck and start skipping. I wasn't positive that I could get it to work again so I asked this question. "Now that I've had a taste, (a demo if you will) would I be willing to buy it again in order to play the rest?" And the answer was yes.
It just felt so good to jump with X and press circle to step onto something. With a little elbow grease and improved controls, this game is pretty golden. 4/5.
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Japanese Cover 'Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus' PlayStation 2
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saikonohero · 7 months
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"Run"
Honestly, I really pushed myself and my limits with this drawing, cause I never draw backgrounds. This time I HAD to make the exception, cause this is another tribute piece to "The Lines We Cross" by @whisker-biscuit
Ive planned to make one more piece of that nature, since Chapter 12 had one more scene I really liked, but we'll see.
I really overworked myself with this one and I think it was worth it. Hope you like it as much as I do!
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Can you clip the "Sly! You found my 'youre a bitch' degree!" bit from the Sly Cooper fandub if that's okqy? please and thank you
SnapCube's Real-Time Fandub | "Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus" (2018)
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playstationpark · 4 months
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Sneak Attack 'Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus' PlayStation 2
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stacheterpieces · 11 months
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A new Sly Cooper charm for a new year! It was about time I updated my old charm from 2020 lmfao
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maintitle · 2 days
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The hallmark of PS2 platformers was a game's ability to deny the reality of their subject matter so much that they'll replace alcohol with lemonade like a 4Kids edit, while also having main characters overtly call each other's mothers' sluts multiple times.
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necroticdelay · 6 months
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i want you guys to know that i used a real picture of my friend for this, this actually happened to us
please reblog if you leave a like, it really helps!
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mast3r-rainb0w · 6 months
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The Sly Cooper Gang! (Sly, Bentley + The MURRAY!) by Mast3r-Rainb0w
I truly miss this legendary franchise I grew up with so dearly, and I hope one day it makes a proper comeback. Plus, I wanted to make some fanart for the main cast. The gang's all here! Enjoy!
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gears2gnomes · 10 months
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SGDQ 2023 - Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
“Only the best Jewelry for the thief.”
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ms-scarletwings · 3 months
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We gotta start accurately calling Sly Cooper a low fantasy universe at some point. It’s retrospectively wild how much supernatural shit is going on in front of your face that you don’t think about because it’s like… nothing to the characters that it’s happening to. People who have never played Sly Cooper have no clue how nonchalantly it grinds this rail between just “real world noire but furries” and straight up DC superpowers stuff.
• The surprising amount of undead, in hindsight
Black magic is just, you know, a thing…. and outside of when it’s the weapon of choice of the villain of the week, it’s not even really brought up. Tsao was building an army of honest to god vampires and Mz.Ruby has been fraternizing with homemade ghouls since she was a child. A second-game side quest involves descetrating a tomb, kidnapping a bunch of restless ghosts, and then unleashing them on the cops for a good prank. For Pete’s sake, Clockwerk, biggest bad of the franchise, is basically an eldritch machine possessed by the vengeful spirit of someone who became too petty and angry to die.
• There are people born with innate superpowers
So, there is no debate going on with the deal about Cooper abilities and this point, right? Sure, the Theivious Raccoonus has a lot of good pointers any thief worth their salt could gain from, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say somethings along the lines of gliding down lasers or turning invisible on command are a bit out of most readers’ capabilities. The 1st game’s humor in explaining off gameplay mechanics as in-universe phenomena had the unintended consequence of establishing that the Cooper clan members literally have a criminally inclined sort of spidey sense- literally hallucinating glowing auras and blue sparkles around anything both valuable and not nailed down. I think I also awkward appreciated the parallel to be spotted between the Cooper honer code and the self imposed limitations other media supers live by. That idea of “you have the gift of amazing power and you will choose to use it responsibly”, all the better here for the ways in which the clan’s premise subverts classic hero/villain dynamics.
• Ancient techniques of sorcery
run right alongside conventional weaponry
Some supers are born in this world, a lot of them are made. As if anyone with the time to practice and learn can just pick it up like karate. Religion has to be crazy in Sly Cooper considering there’s entire spiritualisms given demonstrable and epic power in what their followers are capable of. Murray literally can do some degree of magic from the third game and onward and there’s no telling what else he learned over the course of his Dreamtime training. Anyone with the wits and resources of the Contessa can figure out how to toy around with freaking mind controlling dark arts. Don’t get me started again on the whole “army of undead” thing which gets even weirder by the implication that the world does nothing to regulate these kind of abilities UP AND UNTIL the user starts to roleplay a cocky little warlord with their zombie friends. And Flame Fu is right there. A lot of what the panda king can do is closer to Bentley’s realm- very complicated and meticulous works of pyrotechnics, but Flame Fu is a whole something else that belongs in this discussion.
• Magical items and mythical beasts
The Mask of Dark Earth, the guru’s special stone, an entire kraken, a whole laundry list of things in The Contessa’s possession, an enormous swamp serpent, haunted trees, whatever the hell kind of ring Dimitri was wearing in the second game, a giant stone dragon statue that turns out to be AN ACTUAL FREAKING DRAGON in dormancy, a supercharged ancient bamboo forest, potentially the Cooper cane itself, and the not-to-be-overlooked every single piece of Clockwerk’s cursed body. I know I’m probably forgetting something because that was just off the cuff. It’s kind of wild that most of what we watch the Coopers focus on stealing can be stuff like museum paintings in a world where magic flying carpets are confirmed to exist. The hell. Why was I ever mocking the pirates in Bloodbath Bay for their paranoia and superstition?? Best part was always that basically none of it phased the resident smarty pants nerd character like it usually would anyone who fills that trope. Because of magic is just an accepted and normalized thing in the world, why WOULD Bentley talk about it any different than he would the history of lumberjacks or combustion physics? Instead of conflicting against his understanding of science, it just tacks onto it as more additional info, you know… the way it would if magic was just another set of rules to study and understand.
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"The music in Sunset Snake Eyes slaps."
Confessed by: Anonymous
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World Map 'Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus' PlayStation 2
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saikonohero · 7 months
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"Holy Shit!"
Another scene imagining from the great work of @whisker-biscuit "The Lines We Cross"!
This time two versions babyyyy, cause I didnt know which scene I liked the best. The laughing one or baby boy getting praised?? Both. Both it is. I just had to edit their faces, which was something I havent tried before on a drawing. I didnt like it at first, when I colored it, but after doing the lighting on this, it just hit that sweet spot.
Sorry for the spam on this, I should focus on some canon Sly fanart, but I still havent got through the first game. And my summer break will end soon, so I tried to draw as much as I could before I go to work again. Anyways, I hope you like it!
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howwwy · 1 month
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I don’t draw ma boy nearly enough so here I go.
Where are my sly cooper fans
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psylkii · 1 year
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did a redraw of an old mesa city guard piece. i’ve really been itchin to play sly cooper again 😫
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