Says the guy who made 2 videos on it and blocked me for having a long winded comment that you responded to for no reason that you could've easily ignored.
Yeah it just wasn't the right time to bring back Sly, especially since the market wasn't there for an action platformer to thrive in. Now with the releases of Spyro, Crash, and Ratchet & Clank, now is around a good time to possibly bring back the franchise and start again.
I was so hyped for Sly 4, but when I found out that Penelope was evil in a stupid way and how lame the majority of Sly's ancestors and the villains were, I said no thanks. Also, Sly's ancestors seemed so cool, not only did they look different in the 4th game, but Sly was super disrespectful.
@@elmono6299asking for another sly game is like getting a wish from a genie, the 4th "game" *cough* I mean "fan fiction" and a terrible one at that ... Getting a retcon would be too good to ever be true :( but hey man, despite that I'm still hanging in there hopeful right next to you buddy . Let's hope we can both come back to this comment section one day and jump and cheer if it ever happens my fellow cooperstorian.
boy i smashed the shit out of the like button on this comment.... the way they wrote the characters in this game really pissed me off, i only enjoyed Murray
For some bizarre reason Sly Cooper games are really popular in Finland. I remember that Thieves in Time was the 6th best selling game of 2013 in here. I guess that is some kind of success at least
The reason was explained once in a stream by a Finnish Sly speedrunner named Remo Christian. He said that the Sly series has a very renowned and polished Finnish language dub with excellent voice actors. Other similar games do not have Finnish dubs, and many super famous AAA titles like the Halo franchise also have limited if any availability for Finnish dubs. People in Finland often have to learn English if they don’t know it already just to access the wider video game market. The solid Finnish language version available for all Sly games when other games don’t have a Finnish version is the reason why Sly is so popular in Finland. The same principle also applies to Norway with the Norwegian dub.
@@FreeBirdA-ts4zi this is true, expecially since sly is made for younger audiences and game being in native language helps a lot. It was nice to know what was happening in sly compared to sly 1
@@FreeBirdA-ts4zi This is also actually the reason why sly 1 wasnt as popular here, its the most diffrent honestly out of them, having the annoying 2 hit hp and not having finnish dub
@@jc1424 Even if Time Travel was still involved in the story, Sucker Punch would have still done something different with the series & the story. Like they wouldn't make Bentley's girlfriend the bad guy for example. Now that plot twist was just weird & stupid.
@@Asaylum117 I mean Sucker Punch did the same thing with Neyla/Carmelita. Bentley had to sit and reflect for a long time toward the end of Sly 3 after Dr. M got him worked up about being a sidekick. Evidently he fell for a sociopath and she took advantage of that. Which wasn't weird just reasonable. Cheaters cheat.
@@jc1424 it wasn’t reasonable, it was a bad decision on sanzarus part. She was never meant to betray the gang, the original cast of villains during production was suppose to feature a mole as the villain, not Penelope. Besides the cliffhanger ending this is why fans hate sly 4, their basically willing to give up on a good friend. After playing the game I was at least willing to see how Penelope could redeem herself give how she was still sending postcards to Bentley, her reason for the betrayal, and how this was also the same series that gave Panda King, a long termed villain who aided in the death of sly’s parents, a redemption arc.
There is a reason why franchises should've stayed ended. Sly 3 was the perfect ending for the series and Sucker Punch wanted to move on with something else. Same thing with the InFamous series, they moved on with that to work on Ghost of Tsushima. I just don't understand why people want a fourth installment of a game series that already planned on ending at the third installment. When they do get it, usally they're not gonna be done by the same developers. Jak and Daxter is another example.
I know im not a fan of sly cooper, since im more of a ratchet & clank guy. But i do know that sly cooper 3 ended on a cliffhanger and everyone thinks sly cooper 3 ended so well. If anything then i would just say into the nexus was the finale to ratchet & clank when that game ended on a cliffhanger
@@kasam0308 yeah sly 3 ended on a comfortable note even tho they said they wanted to move on to other games and ideas I really think sucker punch low key wanted to make a 4th game
Admittedly, I took a more aggressive tact with this video that I feel is probably necessary looking back. So to all those watching who may have took offense to my DILLIGAF attitude in this video, I apologize.
I am a big exception Sly 4 was my first game. Played it off PS Plus when I was 10. I loved it back then but if I go back I'd probably only enjoy it a little.
The leaked report said Sly 4 costed 9 million to make and needed 413K units sold to be considered break even PS3 version alone sold 580k and vita versions 270k according to vgchartz So no, the games did not 'flop', they made a good profit
@@Oeeshik the game was sold at $40 and the 9 million could've easily increased from that as the presentation was made in October 2009 but it was started in December 2008, every year of development for a game the budget always increases and that means more pay for the developers. You also have to consider marketing as well which they didn't factor into the assumed budget. Lastly the concepts were initially for the PS Vita and not the PlayStation 3, no wonder they'd list the budget so low as they thought they'd only had to make it on a handheld.
Despite its problems, I have to give permanent props to sly 4 for introducing me to the series as a kid. Without it, I don’t think I would’ve been as big of a fan of the series as I am now because I probably would’ve been oblivious to the series existence
I couldn't agree more with what you said in this video. The best we can hope for is the same treatment that Crash and Spyro got with their remakes. That would do a lot better for the series than a sequel to a game that sold horribly. You may actually get a new original Sly game after that, which I myself would love to see. Thanks for the great content. You know what they say; half as long, twice as bright.
I would appreciate the thevius racoonus remake/remaster . A whole open world with the levels more drawn out plans made players accessible like in later games. Expand the content
I feel like they could've done Penelope helping LeParadox should've made sense. Like, if LeParadox essentially put a gun to her head or to someone else's head, and she turns heel in a "I'm sorry, but it's you or me" kind of way. It would've made LeParadox into an actually evil character, one that players want to take down. Secondly, I feel that the ancestors should've had an escalating effect on Sly's game play, with his gear, abilities, and moveset reflect his time fighting alongside the ancestors. Ryuiichi's swordplay, Kid Cooper's guncane, Bob's destructive capabilities; instead, Sly just continues to be Sly, who is entertaining as a character, but he could be much more.
Tell me why I had the exact same convo about Thieves in Time with my friends in high school😂 I think only one of my other gaming friends played it, the rest didn’t know or care about it. Sad to see a franchise end this way
As I recall, Sucker Punch was already involved as consultants during this game's development, and Sly Cooper wasn't at all mature, other then robbers, guns, thieves, you name it. It was really just one of those saturday morning cartoons or a classic cartoony comic book collection that you nicely read during a sunday. Granted this game has depth to character, but I'm not going to be one of those youtubers who does a in depth analysis. Also your profile looks like the Joker from Batman, wearing a Jester themed attire. Mind if you tell me where this is from?😥
You're 1000% objectively right. I played the sly series and bully because I played them growing up. Some channels still constantly make content around those games. They cling onto the idea that these games will get a new sequel. But it's just not realistic. I understand them holding hope and it's admirable, but it's just not gonna happen.
Thieves in Time was the first Sly game I had played and will always hold a special place in my heart but I've recently played the previous entries and definitely see why Thieves in Time is a flop
I'm kind of sad that this series is dead. I was a latecomer to this and I liked it, and I need to get around to Thieves in Time. Maybe it could work as a cartoon in the nostalgia cycle?
I'm a die-hard Sly fan - actually doing Let's Plays of the original trilogy atm - and you conveyed my exact thoughts perfectly! Every point is spot on - new subscriber unlocked! :D Ultimately it was the wrong game at the wrong time. And the wrong developer, I would add. Sanzaru have their strengths, but not the ones the Sly series needed. I missed out on Thieves in Time when it originally came out as I defected to Xbox 360 and only played it a few years ago with a PSNow trial. Needless to say, I wish I'd left it alone and thank God it was free as it was beyond disappointing! Sly 5 was already dead in the water. Honour Among Thieves was a nice round off to the series and, as you said, gave closure. An original trilogy reboot/full remaster is far more likely now.
The chances for a Sly 5 are definitely VERY slim. But I honestly do believe that someday we might still get it, because who in their right mind would let this great series end with Sly being stuck in Anchient Egypt. I’ll MAYBE give up that hope when 2023 comes, because I usually think long awaited sequels come sometime before 10 years are up. Sly Cooper is just too much of a fun series to be ignored and ruined like this.
Thieves of time was alright. I played there's a couple things I want to complaint about. 1. We didn't get Clockwerck as a boss battle since he was around since BC. 2. The world is too big I don't mind it as much but put some mission in the game but better ones. 3. Fix the glitches man when I play the hacking minigames I kept on sending back to the being. 4. Yes, the jokes are just thrown in unlike the others were clever. 5.Some bosses are awful and retarded. 6. The is not a complement but I like the robot dragon mini boss fight when you play as Carmelita Fox.
I think a part of the reason Sly 4 didn't sell well isn't because people didn't care but as you said a few times, it's a niche game It always has been and honestly, probably always will be. All the games of its year you mentioned all have massive and well established player bases. Sly *never* had even remotely close to something like AC or such. Even it's highest selling game is nothing compared compared any of the others Being a small community by its definition and very nature means it's not gonna sell troves of discs and such A much bigger reason definitely is that he platformer rebirth happened some years later. It coming out *then* probably would have helped but it is what it is
I love the conclusion, very logical. The 20 year cycle is a very real thing, although there are things to add to that: - New people getting into old series. It is a thing. I am getting into old franchises all the time, and I am not a child. - Emulation. This is anecdotal, but about half of GAMERS who play older games emulate them. This ≠ sales.
Because, Sly Cooper is unfortunately not on the same level of popularity as Call of Duty and GTA5. Sometimes those kinds of overrated games overshadow great ones like Sly. Those types of games that are popular can sometimes be wolves in sleeps clothing.
The financial failure of Sly 4 is absolutely because of Sony's lack of marketing. Sanzaru created a few commercials that could have been used to advertise the game, but they were relegated to PlayStation's RUclips channel. The only people who would find these videos are people who were already invested in PlayStation games. These RUclips videos would be completely useless to any child who enjoys video games but doesn't keep up on gaming news. As a child I wanted Sly 2 because of Commercials on TV and advertisements in Magazines. That's the only reason I knew about that game's existence. Sly 4 failed because it didn't even try to advertise to new customers. While yes, children's magazines were no longer prominent in 2013, television still had an audience. Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon were still holding on, so any commercial on television would have reached potential customers. It's true that a large number of kids were playing modern military shooters, but that doesn't mean they only every played shooters. Some kids wouldn't even touch a Shooter to begin with. Children flocked to watch lighthearted entertainment like Adventure Time or Despicable Me, so the failure to advertise to these people is Sony's fault. No one was asking to show a Sly 4 trailer during the 2013 Superbowl's, but something along the lines of Sly 2's advertising would've been nice. It's not like Sly 4 was an outlier either. If Sony thought that a franchise wouldn't be a surefire hit, like Gravity Rush or The Puppeteer, they just released them to die without any assistance. Sony wanted to appeal to the largest demographic and ignored anything niche. A child who saw a commercial for a game about a time traveling Raccoon thief might've thought it looked fun. It's the job of advertising to make stuff look worth buying. In the end, though, there was virtually no advertising, and Sly 4 was sent out to die, which is typical for Sony.
I'm definitely one of those hardcore-hardcore fans, it was a huge part of my childhood (id play the games every single day as a kid) and i still revisit 1-3 all the time throughout my life. I was excited asf when 4 came out but that was killed off p quickly. The gameplay/controls themselves is fun for the most part, but everything else about it is so off that it doesn't feel like Sly. It didn't feel nostalgic at all. I came out of it just feeling more bitter at the game than anything and I felt like if whatever next potential game wasn't in the hands of the OGs or other diehard fans, it's not gonna be worth playing most likely. The characters felt ruined, what felt like such a cool concept for a plot that Sly 3 cliffhanged on wasn't executed well- the ending was rushed as all hell, a lot of the ancestors' abilities just felt like "meh" aside from Kid Cooper, the art direction was oversexualized to a weird extent, they gave 0 voice lines to one of the best characters in the series despite showing him in several scenes, and the third axis shit i could completely do without I've beaten Sly 1-3 probably over 100 times throughout my life; I've beaten 4 once, and I got that game day 1. The series feels like it's p dead atp. Even despite 4 coming out at a shit time, if it came out today, people would still not like it. A trilogy remake is the best route atp and I'd honestly look forward to that even if Sanzaru theoretically handled it (I'd prefer anyone else though, I'm glad they can't lol)
A Sly remake like how they did Crash, but adding new graphics and new elements to the story and trilogy will make it fresh.... definitely a good idea to bring Sly back.
I think I might have a solution to the problem remastered all 4 games on one pack and add a bonus DLC Egyptian level to it that tells us how sly gets back. This way, they don’t have to trouble themselves making a new game and will satisfy the Fanbase. As much as I would love a new game, this is probably the best solution at this point.
That would take too long considering all the technical difficulties trying to make older titles designed around ancient hardware run with no problems on the PlayStation 5 natively Remember the PlayStation 4 library had several issues on PlayStation 5 because the system processed them 100 times faster then the way they were designed thus a solution took a while even with Mark Cerny involved, now imagine what will happen once they try that with native PlayStation 2 games or even PlayStation 3 ones
There is a select group of RUclipsrs I have admirably dubbed “The Sly Cynics”. I’m happy to report that after watching your lovely video you deserve to join their ranks. The name is actually one of endearment because I usually find these people to be quite intelligent, in my opinion at least. They are firm in their beliefs and are eloquent in expressing them. You sir have made excellent points and added something new to the conversation. I look forward to your future work.
Sketch City Savo and the youtuber who made this video have interacted, Iafter looking at his unlisted videos I found out TDX made a Sly 4 postive review, and J's Reviews, is a Good man, his videos are, mostly good in my opinion. Although those last two has nothing to do with this comment, but as for the first portion yeah because Savo and the youtuber who made this video litterly interacted in this videos comment section its gonna be very easy for him to join this Sly Cynics of thiers you know what i mean😥
It's sad that your childhood video game just gets forgotten after a major flop and it doesn't help around in 2014 fnaf was the new big thing and the funny thing is that there was a Sly Cooper movie/series that never came to be meanwhile in modern days the fnaf movie is being made it's sad but that's just reality
This... say what you want about the game but I don't think Sly 4 was advertised well at all. So many people Ive seen say they just didn't even know this game existed
At this point the only Sly related thing the series could benefit from is only a preservation effort of the PS2 games as digital downloads (preferably by a higher skilled team than the Sanzaru HD collection of 2010) Sly 5 then and even now didn't and probably won't ever happen mainly because the Egypt thing was reportedly going to be tackled via DLC which after TiT's poor sales effectively severed any chance of a conclusive ending... That already concluded nicely in the 3rd game sans the bloody time travel line. I suppose the question of Sly trilogy remakes would be on the table given Crash and Spyro's success, but really, what'd be the point? There are very few things I could really suggest to improve the original trilogy, at least not to the extent where the overall game design would need an overhaul, and in regards to retelling the story it'll either be the originals beat for beat or the original Sly trilogy put through the filter of Thieves in Time if handed off to a developer who only understands Sly on a surface level. I suppose they could use the hypothetical remakes to spring a potential 'new' Sly 4 in a Crash Bandicoot Its About Time way where they discreetly jettison the past under the rug for a new storyline, and while its potential could be interesting akin to the you tuber Savo's pitch video a while back, the question remains, who is the target audience? Its not quite accessible to older audiences who'd judge the book by its cover and assume is a kiddy platformer, it isn't gung go and full of energy like a Crash Bandicoot or Ratchet and Clank and neitheris it whimsical and charming akin to Spyro or Nintendo's body of platformers. Sly as a series has a lot of nuances in its DNA that I don't see many workman third party developers understanding assuming Sony wants to give them a shot. Suckerpunch understandably wanna move on to greener pastures and try new things, and at this rate other potential studios like Naughty Dog prefer to make snuff porn art house movies while Insomniac is slowly becoming the Resident MARVEL game maker people whatevers. Its a great series, and I respect Sly Cooper a lot for being something unique, but it was for all intents and purposes a series that came out in the right place at the right time, but its not 2002 anymore and for as much as the Platformer nostalgia is gonna be virile during the 2020s, eventually it'll fade and thereafter Sly Cooper as a franchise probably wouldn't perform any better now in its nostalgia period as it would've in the late 2000s. And even if it does get a shot in the arm, at best it only extends the series' bloodline just long enough to milk a few extra titles that ended succinctly with the third game. But who knows, I could (and hope) I'm completely wrong and Sly might just have a bright future ahead of him. But when it comes to optimism one can never be too careful.
Even as a huge Sly fan (Sly 3 is still my favorite video game to this day) I 100% agree with this video. And I also agree that a trilogy remake is very likely coming. Just look at the differences present now. Sly 4 was a new game from a not well-known dev studio who were different than the ones who made the original trilogy. It came years after the series had already ended. Platformers as a whole were not drawing in money. Even Ratchet and Clank, while moderately popular, weren't raking in the big bucks. Now look at things. Platformers are resurfacing as a popular genre again. Rift Apart was a greatly-advertised game for the PS5 that sold the console to many people and got its own stream showcases from Sony. Crash and Spyro both got insanely great-selling trilogy remakes followed up by a Crash racing game and proper Crash sequel that also sold well. Remakes in general are selling very well just because of people wanting to see what all the hubub was about back in the day. A Sly trilogy remake would be just a bringing back of three actually known games originally from a studio that has only increased in popularity over the years to the point where they're one of the biggest names under Sony's umbrella. I think the best course of action is to remake the trilogy and then be done with it personally. Sly 3 is a great ending and I don't know if a new game would sell as well as remakes afterwards.
I completely agree with your opinion, what would definitely be mind blowing is a remake of Sly Cooper and the Thievous Raccoonus, imagine the levels being more of an open world like Sly 2 and 3, with the graphics of Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, not to mention they would probably be able to add more to the lore of the franchise
not that it made much of a difference, but the only other factor would've been the sly collection we got on ps3 a couple years before 4. i never played sly growing up, not until the collection. so getting sly 4 a bit after was mega hype. im sure im not the only one. but clearly that still wasnt enough lol. but worth mentioning how they tried with that too first.
If I wanted to make a Sly 4 game that was based on the ending of Sly 3, you know the time machine and "insomnia" tropes they put in to ensure it's lasting legacy. I would have just had started out with Sly and Carmelita leaving as the island is burning. They both survived, and managed to get out. I have a theory that Carmelita and Sly were playing off each other when Sly was hit by Dr. M's blast. I mean how else would Sly leave his cane, bag, and the calling card behind before finally leaving. Unless the two separated, but even then Carmelita would have asked "Hey, Constable Cooper, where is your cane." Something to that effect, anyway. That or maybe have Sly and Carmelita work on a case together. It would defiantly show Sly's character growth throughout the years, as well as show off the dynamic duo he has with Carmelita. They are brought together by Dr. M, who had survived the cave in through sheer luck. With Sly's massive fortune. Dr. M plans to get his revenge on Sly, and the Cooper family. I would say, from there, Sly, Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, and a few others along the journey work together to stop Dr. M from creating Clockwork. It's so powerful with hatred that they have to use the time machine, after they knock it down the pieces. Maybe have a moment where Sly decides to either destroy the hate chip, thus disrupting time and warping it to a new reality. Or just let it happen. Maybe have an Easter egg in a secret ending where he, meaning the audience, can finally see Sly's father. Reading the Thieves Racconnus to Sly, as a youth. After all, the Cooper family would have most likely not exist if not for Clockwork going back in time. Maybe Dr. M's hate chip is the source of immortality, and any unfortunate soul who stays in there too long lose their physical being, rendering to nothing more than a mindless husk that demands revenge against the Coopers. What Sly Cooper Thieves in Time(I'm calling it that because it's not called Sly 4 Thieves in Time) did was make Sly and Carmelita horrible people, the beginning had an opening that wasn't the traditional "play it now to get the feeling of the controls then learn about what's going on," which is in the original trilogy, and a main villain that's basically a dumber version of Captain Ahab. I don't know, I'm not a scientist. I have no idea how this works. You were right about me though. When I heard there was going to be a new Sly game, I immediately bought it. There is a silver lining though. When the Ratchet and Clank movie failed, Sony decided to cancel Sly Cooper the movie. Which is honestly for the best. At the end of the day numbers do not lie.
When I heard Sly 4 was in the work I was excited but then they revealed it was a "We're going back in time" type story. Then all the excitment was gone. Let's be all honest for a moment, time traveling stories never work.
I didn't even know the hard numbers until today, but I've been of the mind that there were only 3 games in the series since 2016. And yes, I'm one of the exceptions that bought in 2013 at first release.
I've been saying this for years. I am a HUGE Sly fan (Just peep my channel) and have been ever since the OG on PS2 before the series had its huge evolution with Band Of Thieves. I met my best friend of 17 years through the series so to say I appreciate it would be an understatement, however growing up I've realized I don't want Sly 5. As you said before, nows the best time ever for Sly to make a resurgence with a remake trilogy for a myriad of reasons: 1. It'll give Sony a clear answer as to whether or not its profitable just like the Nsane Trilogy 2. It introduces the franchise for new fans and reintroduces it to old ones banking off their nostalgia 3. It can be another case study showing the industry that there are a place for narrative drive platformers (similar to how Psychonauts 2's impact) 4. It can improve on an outdate formula. Imagine Sly 1 expanded, fleshing out the fiendish five giving way to more interactions like the Klaw Gang in 2. Adding traveling mechanics between locations and replacing those garbage van missions with tight controls from place to place encouraging exploration. You can give Sly his move set from 2&3 while increasing his arsenal. Hell, you can even dive deeper into the ancestral line, the gangs backstory, and make references to characters that will later be introduced in sequels like Penelope and Guru. Imagine you start off the 1st game playing through the cookie jar hiest? Theres just so much room for quality in that regard rather than continuing from an ending nobody even wanted to begin with.
They can make sly 5 where sly has to some how communicate with Bentley in the present to know what to do to rebuild le paradoxes blimp to get to the present
Looking at the audience back in 2013 could be a main reason. Also Sly.was probably the least popular out of Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. I honestly feel if Sly Cooper 4 released around the time Crash and Spyro made a comeback in the late 2010's it might of done better. People were more open to non Nintendo platformers. But the again Crash and Spyro have mainstream appeal. Like Crash appeared in Uncharted 4 a game that sold like 16 million copies
I know this game was a total flop and why there isn’t a fifth installment of Sly Cooper but what still bothers me a lot to this day is Penelope escaping from prison and Sly now stranded in Ancient Egypt. If I were in the project of Sly Cooper I want to fix the problem of what shocked a lot of people. Redeeming Penelope and getting Sly Cooper home. The moment when we saw who she really is in Sly Cooper 4 I felt like I wish Carmelita punched Penelope in the face both breaking her glasses and giving her a black eye. In Sly Cooper 5 I want Penelope to redeem herself by trying to rejoin the team, be honest and win back Bentley’s heart because I believe Bentley and Penelope were so meant for each other ever since Sly Cooper 3 and Sly Cooper 4 just destroyed it. Like I said if I was in the project for Sly Cooper 5 I want Penelope to walk the path to redemption by rejoining the team, be honest and win back Bentley’s heart so they get back together again but since she escaped prison Sly, Bentley and Murray have to find a way to exonerate her. For the part of how will Sly come back home, Bentley would go back to the site where Le Paradox’s blimp disappeared and got destroyed and he finds the Time Machine Black Box recorder. He takes it to his lab where he analyzes the data to find out the last Input on the time machine prior to it’s disappearance and destruction taking Sly with it and when he finds that the last input is Ancient Egypt he’d be so relieved that he calls Murray, Carmelita and Dimitri. Murray gears up along with Carmelita , Bentley takes the black box recorder with him while Dimitri tries to find and Ancient Egyptian artifact for Bentley to sample and after that Dimitri gives Bentley the artifact before wishing them good luck. Bentley, Murray and Carmelita go inside Murray’s van, Bentley samples the artifact and they all head to Ancient Egypt where upon arrival they find Sly Cooper as when they find the remains of Le Paradox’s blimp they’re on the right track. With a little bit of luck on their side they successfully found Sly Cooper and out of the three, Carmelita would run to Sly and hug him plus she gives him and deep passionate kiss at the same time tearing up knowing that she’s sorry for not giving him a chance to hear him out. For Bentley and Murray they’re so glad to both have their friend and their leader back. After that Sly would tell them how did they find him and Bentley shows Sly the Time Machine Black Box recorder as proof. After that Sly, Carmelita, Bentley and Murray all head back to the van and go home. For Penelope she’s still working on her path to redeem herself but for Sly and his friends they’re still disgusted but as the story progresses Penelope is now on the good side.
Thieves in Time is not that bad. It's the Phantom Pain of the Sly franchise. It's the worse. It's not what we wanted. It's not that bad, tho. Sad to see sly go, but it is what it is. Time goes by, I guess.. I remember getting a PS3 just to play this... I miss my childhood lol
A lot of people played sly before online console gaming, & a lot of people bought an xbox 360 and played sly on ps2 so never touched sly 4. Single player games were dying, only the best survived. I and alot of people that grew up on sly had just become adults and didnt have time to play the newest COD and a single player game. If they released a sly 5 on steam, I like to think were old enough and have enough free time or even have kids we can put onto it. It might do well, they have to wait a few more years though.
not to mention these were games that people rented. sly 1-3 probably sold more copies to blockbuster than the public.. idk though.. Never played the 4th
I am glad you said Sly 4's writing is terrible. It really is. The amount of fat jokes they threw at Murray's way after the original trilogy avoided that for the most part is juvenile.
Another audience would be the stealth genre lovers, but that's also a niche audience, Assassin's Creed being so far from it's stealthy roots could tell you that.
So I love sly coper and will probably forever but while thieves in time was good and um happy bc it brouggt the franchise back, It wasn't as good from what i think is the art style, Ive played all games since release and there's a progressive theme: sly 1 was beautiful in it reminded me of comic books,sly 2: the art was darker to set the tone and sly 3: was brighter as for the cooper gang had a bright future. Now my biggest thung about it is this: games given to another company or usually if not aleays make ut different in a franchise losses itself when not handle by the parent company or years later like sly 4 was made 8yrs after where it wasnt in everybodies thouggts anymore. But i do love sly 4 bc it brings sly cooper into the light of media and people. Thank you
My big issue is it doesn't feel like a Sly game In a more lighthearted franchise like say Crash or Banjo Kazooie this would have worked far better It's an instance of a lot of good design but being a poor match for themes and characters. DMC Devil May Cry is an example I like to use of this. If it had been literally any other franchise or even it's own it might have been perfectly fine. But it wasn't. It was specifically made into the DMC franchise. So it has to be judged by those standards
It's not even a well written light-hearted game, if a game in general has many cutscenes and dialogue while trying to take itself seriously with no depth, nuance, proper theme(s), appropriate tone or notable plot and/or character development (not counting the terrible Murray "development" in TiT that was already done much better in sly 3) the story should be negatively scrutinized rather than games that don't really try to have the player care about what's going on with the story and characters.
@@TerrorOfTalos I can go along with that however I think again franchise has a large factor on it. Fresh franchise or even something that might have fit it better would have made a vast difference. The big issue is that the script (and to a large extent the design) does not mesh well with the moods and themes. Sly Cooper as a whole has always had this undertone of noir and crime drama that made things fit well together. TiT doesn't really do that. It's like a bad Spy Fox for consoles. And I stand by that claim regardless how bold it is
What bugs me about this is that Sly Cooper, while has some moments, was always lighthearted. Begining with Sly 1, the series has been lighthearted the most. Even when Sly Cooper has a lot of dark moments (Sly 4 included), it was still lighthearted to begin with.
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios The thing is it weaved the light-hearted aspects with engaging plot development and characters and the tone was fine tuned enough to take a talking raccoon, turtle and pink hippo seriously.
@@TerrorOfTalos Bingo Part of what I find makes the second game the best is that weaving of serious moments with touches of humor and, admittedly, drama. In the Sly series I've always found it does best by balancing the cartoon elements with noir crime drama elements. Silly violence with serious stakes Silly characters with serious plot Perhaps the best example is the relationship between Clockwork and the Cooper line, specifically Sly. Any time his name comes up all humor is gone. No jokes, no funny business. It's one of the only times where that element of cartoonishness is set aside. Funnily enough I find the rampant cartoonish nature makes the serious moments feel far more serious. Much like what would go on with Ratchet and Clank or even more popular titles like say FF10. Humor and light-heartedness would go hand in hand with the tense moments to bring peaks and valleys in the storytelling
I'm watching this in 2022 (greetings from the future) and now that the series is 20 years old, it has the potential to be considered 'retro' and nostalgic. Think about it, no one cared for Crash Bandicoot for years until 2016 when the series turned 20. Not only did the first 3 Crash games get a remake, but a sequel too. Same with Spyro (without the sequel). The market has changed over 10+ years, in 2013 people only wanted to play mature shooters. But diversity and nostalgia is more welcome now so a Sly remake could be profitable
I agree with you that they should remake the original trilogy and if the do they should have online mode for sly 3 cause of the 2 player modes and I know this will never happen but I would like to see sly on a different console then playstation
I liked Thieves In Time around when it was released. But when I went back to replay it last year, man oh man was it shit! Practically everything it did was done wrong. From the controls being too heavy and clumsy, to the art style being an off putting mixture of cel shading and high detail, to the dialogue. Practically anything that could’ve went wrong with a Sly Cooper game went wrong with TIT. The forced use of that God awful SixAxis was the biggest punch to the balls. Games of the PS3 era were better when Sixaxis was an optional feature. Any that forced you to use it at certain points typically suffered as a result. It also aged worse somehow than the original trilogy. The original trilogy still hold up well. TIT feels outdated and clunky. Sanzaru was absolutely not up to scratch to make a new Sly title. They quite possibly made it beyond saving.
To be honest i have been wanting a Full Trilogy Remake rather than a Sequel to Thieves In Time Mainly due to just how bad Sly Thieves In Time was and also despite being on a cliffhanger there is nothing to continue on from there onwards
Yeah, I've heard it said that while the Egypt story thread is the biggest thing they have going into a hypothetical fifth game, you can't do anything with it. You either have Sly in Egypt the entire game, therefore excluding the thing that made these games work up until now; the team dynamic with Sly, Murray, and Bentley. Or you have it end anticlimactically in one chapter or worse yet, the prologue. I joked about this to a friend of mine a few times, they just need to play the clip from The Simpsons that goes "I won't bore you with the details of our miraculous escape" and that might as well be Sly escaping from Egypt.
Tactical Bacon Productions The Egypt episode was originally planned to be DLC, but that was poor planning on Sanzaru’s part because the game didn’t do well enough for Sony to approve it.
im glad sanzaru wont have the chance to make another sly game after the way sly 4 turned out tbh. i adore the first three sly games and was pretty excited at the announcement of a fourth, until trailers and gameplay footage started being released..i became less and less optimistic until i finally played the game and was predictably disappointed. the characters are flat caricatures of who they used to be (i still cant believe what they did with carmelita and penelope), sly was slow and clunky, and like you said, LOTS of cringey dialogue. some of the lines in sly 4 made me physically recoil with embarrassment..so no sly 5 from sanzaru? totally fine by me. (nice video!)
YES! 100% yes. It was so sad to see how all the careful development and character arcs basically went in the bin. The ancestors too were wasted; pretty much all Sly clones, except Tennessee Kid Cooper. Could've done so much there!
2:30 thats basically my gut reaction when I hear people praise Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (the fact one of those fans is my own mother makes things a little akward if Star Wars ever comes up in conversation)
I think another reason it flopped was also the lack of relevancy. Using the Ratchet & Clank series, Insomniac Games kept the series relevant by releasing each game within a 5 year window. R&C - 2002 R&C 2 - 2003 R&C 3 - 2004 R - 2005 R&C F - 2007 R&C F2 - 2008 R&C F3 - 2009 R&C Nexus - 2013 R&C Re-imagine - 2016 R&C Rift Apart - 2021 And not to mention the bunch of spin-off games sprinkle between each main installment. Anyways, because of this, the R&C still has a large fanbase which despite Rift Apart having a 5 year gap, is one of the most anticipaited games of 2021 for the PS5. While the Sly Cooper series while 1-3 started out with each gaming being 1-2 years apart, Thieves In Time was release 8 years after the third game which along side your reasons didn't help it.
Oh absolutely, a friend of mine made the point that every year the game looks worse and worse. Because it's lack of conclusivity combined with the lack of sequel gives it less and less of a reason to exist with each passing moment.
I appreciate that you put your personal dislike of the game aside to explore more objective reasons as to why it did badly in sales. It easily could've just been mindless bashing of the game like many similar videos.
Yeah Sly Cooper 4 came out at the wrong time during the PS3 era where alot of Sony games struggled to sell even there popular franchise in that time like Uncharted, God Of War, Ratchet & Clank, Killzone. The PS3 era even though its my favorite it was the worst for Sony's games. If a Sly Cooper game came out during the PS4 or now on PS5 it would sell for sure no doubt. A Trilogy remake would be best. For Characters like Crash Bandicoot & Spyro The Dragon they were always legacy characters, they came out in the last era of where a mascot moved consoles. Even with Crash in the 2000's struggling was due to being passed off to random developers n short rushed games due to universal. And with activition keeping the franchise on silent throughout the years thr fantasy was always strong and Sony had to step in again to revive it. But Sly, Ratchet, Jak never had that legacy appeal like Crash & Spyro. But yeah a Sly remake will make money for sure now
@@TerrorOfTalos Well the insane trilogy blew up not just of nostalgic but cause Sony stepped in and funded thr project and marketed it as a PlayStation 1 year time exclusive but Crash 4 still made its budget back and profit with Sony not being involved. Thats why there's more Crash merch and a new game in development with mobile game. Its just Covid/Activition Allegations & Microsoft Buy out has put a bunch of projects on hold
@@omegament-entertainment It made profit but not close to N.sane profit and that's all Activision cares about I don't expect a similar budget crash game for a long while if ever.
@@TerrorOfTalos Well it was a profit regardless and will have to wait what Microsoft says with the deal happening but one thing for sure Crash is still profitable thats why its getting more attention than Spyro & Tony Hawk Edit: I think Activition messed up in not keeping the graphical look of the Insane Trilogy for Crash 4 and not having a next gen version at launch with a PlayStation marketing. The art style looks great for Crash 4 but the Insane Trilogy graphics wow 👏 😍 Ratchet & Clank level 👌
Exactly like people were interested in non Nintendo platformers by then so people who love whose games might be interested in buying another one from Sony
Legitimately all I want is a remaster of the first 3 games for modern consoles 4 I’ve never liked and I feel should’ve never been made because where the third game ended was perfect and it didn’t need more than that
The funny thing about sales and how much units sell, while 800,000 units is incredibly low compare to how most games sell. However to some companies (such as EA and Ubisoft), a game that over a million units, is considered very low and not a success. You have to admit that's a messed up math.
Honestly, I would have bought this game when it came out, but I didn't really have the money or the console to play it on. I love the series and wish I could play it on the PS4.
I was hoping you'd go into why you said it was a horrible game. Otherwise a good video with a bit too much repetition. Personally, I'm a Sly fan that didn't even know Sly 4 existed until like a year ago. No idea what it's like.
As far as pure raw gameplay, it's arguably the best out of the three open world games. It attempts to have a variety of platforming challenges, where two and three had a tendency to keep it basic.
Back in my childhood I was used to be hyped for sly 4 and thought to continuing sky’s story but it was already concluded to begin with so it was all for not.
I perfectly understand and agree with you on how bad Thieves in Time turned out! From the poor story writing and gameplay flaws, to turning Carmelita and Penelope’s design and character story into a NeckBeard’s dream come true: a couple of female characters with an overall sexualized appearance and spiteful and OOC personality/vendetta for an inexcusable reason. I STILL hate how the writers at Sanzaru wrote not just Carmelita and Penelope’s character story, but how they wrote Sly and Murray’s character story as well! Bentley turned out to be the only character in the game to be left the same, writing wise. Dimitri returned as well, but isn’t a playable character. Or has any speaking lines. But I’ll overlook that, because the Japanese voice actor who voiced Dimitri passed away during the TiT’s production/development. I think the staff at Sanzaru decided not to have Dimitri speak at all, in favor of respecting the Japanese voice actor’s passing. But then again, not sure if the game was released in other countries or not. My heart goes out to the creators at SuckerPunch Studios, who’s popular game franchise was straight up turned into a game that’s an equivalent of a NeckBeard’s cringy and morally incorrect fan fiction littered with OOC, poor story writing and numerous plot holes that were never corrected or fixed. I’ve read Sly Cooper fanfics that are MORE enjoyable than TiT!
Hmm, an interesting take. For me, I'll say it plain, I didn't like this one, it was a slog at points, and the main thrust of the game had so many holes that I couldn't get into it. The item based time travel...I'd seen it done before, but there it was Ducktales, and they were going to the points in history the items were made specifically, not just the items having some 'point in history' they were associated with. Anyway, from my personal, and highly subjective perspective, I can say the reason I think this didn't do well? One, Sanzaru has, had, and until they break it, will have a reputation as a bad developer. When porting, when given their own works, hell when working WITH tools given to them to build a game, they don't do so hot(The Sly Trilogy, Sly 4, and Spyro 3 in the Reignited Trilogy respectively for those examples). This studio, for all that they seem passionate in interviews, has never been one to produce quality products. The second reason, however, is the most damning. I'm a fan of this series, I owned a PS3, and followed releases from it, looking on the coming soon lists at gamestop. I found out about Sly 4 coming out, a month before it did so. There was little fanfare in my section of the net, and it just sort of happened, and that was that. It doesn't help that this is the one game in the set to have a non-ending, which was known almost as soon as it came out. On the subject of that ending, I wish I could find the interview, but an Ex-Sanzaru dev did a talk about a year+ ago that shined light on the teaser for 100% completion. Namely, that was not a teaser for a sequel. It was a teaser for DLC, one that was, according to him, almost 2/3rds done, before management decided it was sunk cost and pulled the plug. It wasn't massive or game changing, it wasn't fantastic. It was one open level in egypt, actually emptier than most of the rest of the game according to them, with a small city on one end, and a pyramid on the other, with the plot of being a timeloop that establishes Clockwerk's origin and hatred, while also being the origin of the Thevious Racoonous itself, as Sly's the one who encourages his ancestor to start writing stuff down, rather than passing things orally to his children. That, BTW, does not SAVE the game at all. It remains a bum bit of the series, from a design and lore perspective. There was no reason to pull the happy ending override here, other than to keep the titular racoon playable. Personally, I would have added on another decade to the timeline, and made it about the 20 or so aged children of Sly and Carmelita, with their own story to tell. Still about Sly's legacy, which as B-Mask pointed out in his fantastic retrospective, Legacy was the theme of the series as a whole, but now moving on to what the legacy looks like to the next generation.
It flopped because the story was concluded. Much of the audience that it was catering to didn't see it as something that was necessary to play. That's my take on it. I didn't feel like trying it until long after it's release.
Literally the only way Sly could have any relative success is if other platformers released games around the same time. The likes of another game for Crash and Spyro would give people the taste of platformers and MIGHT make them want more. Of course if they just made a brilliant game it might also be successful... For a Sly game. I'd love ANY more content with the series. Even if it's just a damn comic/graphic novel run. But the numbers don't lie, the interest just isn't there.
After the success of Rachet and Clank Rift apart, I think it is the perfect time to bring back sly. As long as the game has comparable graphics to rachet, I think it will attract enough people to have decent sales.
I do agree the best thing Sly could do right now is get a remake of 1. And have either 1) Make Sucker Punch do it again. It'll give them something else to do other than Ghost of Tsushima or going back to Infamous (unless they are working on a new ip and if that's the case) 2) Give the remake duty to Insomniac since from a gameplay platforming standpoint especially recently with Spiderman and Sunset Overdrive in particular they know how to make a very nimble and agile playing character. Especially since i think this will give them something else to do instead of them becoming the Spiderman and Ratchet rotating company which it looks like that might be the road we are heading. I would much rather Insomniac be in charge of the Ps2 mascot like Ratchet, Sly (and even Jak, btw can you do a Jak video of some sort) instead of letting them die. I thought using the dimension plot in rift apart would have been the best way to link all of their universes canonically together. But unfortunately currently right now the only connect the 3 have is via Playstation All Stars and Move Heroes isn't of a genuine dedicated game 😕
Why do all gringos overrate Sunset Overdrive? that garbage is a Ratchet and Clank rip-off. They have stopped making Ratchet games since 2013, they have only just returned to the franchise after almost 9 years of being forgotten.
I love Sly Cooper, but I do agree that the IP doesn’t have mainstream success, 2013 is where I was veering away from gaming for a while, but I did play GTA 5, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and even Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and I was revisiting other games like Star Fox, Thieves in Time I haven’t played yet, I wanted to play it, but all the hate that Thieves in Time was getting by J’s Reviews made me put it on indefinite hold.
I'm pretty cool with all the things said in this video; may not agree with all of it, but still cool with it. The one thing that rubbed me the wrong way was when you called out the people who believe the story was well-written/good. If you disagree with that, that's totally fine, but there's no reason you should call out people who do. It's their opinion. But this was a well-structured video, nonetheless.
Just so we're clear, I really don't care about Sly anymore, so do with that what you will.
Sad.
Similar stance I have with Sonic
@@yrooxrksvi7142
Sad.
L
Says the guy who made 2 videos on it and blocked me for having a long winded comment that you responded to for no reason that you could've easily ignored.
Yeah it just wasn't the right time to bring back Sly, especially since the market wasn't there for an action platformer to thrive in. Now with the releases of Spyro, Crash, and Ratchet & Clank, now is around a good time to possibly bring back the franchise and start again.
So did jak and dex fell in the same category
Hope that means remake or hard reboot.
I was so hyped for Sly 4, but when I found out that Penelope was evil in a stupid way and how lame the majority of Sly's ancestors and the villains were, I said no thanks. Also, Sly's ancestors seemed so cool, not only did they look different in the 4th game, but Sly was super disrespectful.
I always had the theory Ms Decibel was why she turned against them all. Makes enough sense in my head and from what we saw at least
I know that betrayal scene with Penelope was so cringey and extremely out of character. Really hope a future Sly game completely recons that game.
@@elmono6299asking for another sly game is like getting a wish from a genie, the 4th "game" *cough* I mean "fan fiction" and a terrible one at that ... Getting a retcon would be too good to ever be true :( but hey man, despite that I'm still hanging in there hopeful right next to you buddy . Let's hope we can both come back to this comment section one day and jump and cheer if it ever happens my fellow cooperstorian.
boy i smashed the shit out of the like button on this comment.... the way they wrote the characters in this game really pissed me off, i only enjoyed Murray
@@roonkolos I would also add Sly 2 spices to the mix to explain the aggresiveness
For some bizarre reason Sly Cooper games are really popular in Finland. I remember that Thieves in Time was the 6th best selling game of 2013 in here. I guess that is some kind of success at least
Ye
The reason was explained once in a stream by a Finnish Sly speedrunner named Remo Christian. He said that the Sly series has a very renowned and polished Finnish language dub with excellent voice actors. Other similar games do not have Finnish dubs, and many super famous AAA titles like the Halo franchise also have limited if any availability for Finnish dubs. People in Finland often have to learn English if they don’t know it already just to access the wider video game market. The solid Finnish language version available for all Sly games when other games don’t have a Finnish version is the reason why Sly is so popular in Finland. The same principle also applies to Norway with the Norwegian dub.
@@FreeBirdA-ts4zi this is true, expecially since sly is made for younger audiences and game being in native language helps a lot. It was nice to know what was happening in sly compared to sly 1
@@FreeBirdA-ts4zi This is also actually the reason why sly 1 wasnt as popular here, its the most diffrent honestly out of them, having the annoying 2 hit hp and not having finnish dub
I also get the feeling if Sucker Punch were making a 4th Sly Cooper game, chances are the story might have ended up in a different direction.
They wanted to do infamous
Not really, Sly 3 ended with Bentley making a time machine.
@@jc1424 Even if Time Travel was still involved in the story, Sucker Punch would have still done something different with the series & the story. Like they wouldn't make Bentley's girlfriend the bad guy for example. Now that plot twist was just weird & stupid.
@@Asaylum117 I mean Sucker Punch did the same thing with Neyla/Carmelita. Bentley had to sit and reflect for a long time toward the end of Sly 3 after Dr. M got him worked up about being a sidekick. Evidently he fell for a sociopath and she took advantage of that. Which wasn't weird just reasonable. Cheaters cheat.
@@jc1424 it wasn’t reasonable, it was a bad decision on sanzarus part. She was never meant to betray the gang, the original cast of villains during production was suppose to feature a mole as the villain, not Penelope. Besides the cliffhanger ending this is why fans hate sly 4, their basically willing to give up on a good friend. After playing the game I was at least willing to see how Penelope could redeem herself give how she was still sending postcards to Bentley, her reason for the betrayal, and how this was also the same series that gave Panda King, a long termed villain who aided in the death of sly’s parents, a redemption arc.
This is exactly it. Sly 4 was released in a time where video game realism was booming and people stepped away from cartoony platformers.
There is a reason why franchises should've stayed ended. Sly 3 was the perfect ending for the series and Sucker Punch wanted to move on with something else. Same thing with the InFamous series, they moved on with that to work on Ghost of Tsushima.
I just don't understand why people want a fourth installment of a game series that already planned on ending at the third installment. When they do get it, usally they're not gonna be done by the same developers. Jak and Daxter is another example.
I know im not a fan of sly cooper, since im more of a ratchet & clank guy. But i do know that sly cooper 3 ended on a cliffhanger and everyone thinks sly cooper 3 ended so well. If anything then i would just say into the nexus was the finale to ratchet & clank when that game ended on a cliffhanger
@@kasam0308 yeah sly 3 ended on a comfortable note even tho they said they wanted to move on to other games and ideas I really think sucker punch low key wanted to make a 4th game
Sly cooper was a great trilogy, of course fans are going to want more. The problem was none of knew that sanzaru was going to screw it up.
YEAH Jak & Daxter 4 New Frontier was a disappointment and wasted potential.
I like to think Sanzaru Games had a genuine heart for the franchise.
Admittedly, I took a more aggressive tact with this video that I feel is probably necessary looking back. So to all those watching who may have took offense to my DILLIGAF attitude in this video, I apologize.
Here's a thing why not create something like sly cooper that way sly cooper fans and people want a new game would probably buy it.
Sort of I meant
I am a big exception Sly 4 was my first game. Played it off PS Plus when I was 10. I loved it back then but if I go back I'd probably only enjoy it a little.
The leaked report said Sly 4 costed 9 million to make and needed 413K units sold to be considered break even
PS3 version alone sold 580k and vita versions 270k according to vgchartz
So no, the games did not 'flop', they made a good profit
@@Oeeshik the game was sold at $40 and the 9 million could've easily increased from that as the presentation was made in October 2009 but it was started in December 2008, every year of development for a game the budget always increases and that means more pay for the developers. You also have to consider marketing as well which they didn't factor into the assumed budget. Lastly the concepts were initially for the PS Vita and not the PlayStation 3, no wonder they'd list the budget so low as they thought they'd only had to make it on a handheld.
Despite its problems, I have to give permanent props to sly 4 for introducing me to the series as a kid. Without it, I don’t think I would’ve been as big of a fan of the series as I am now because I probably would’ve been oblivious to the series existence
I couldn't agree more with what you said in this video. The best we can hope for is the same treatment that Crash and Spyro got with their remakes. That would do a lot better for the series than a sequel to a game that sold horribly. You may actually get a new original Sly game after that, which I myself would love to see. Thanks for the great content. You know what they say; half as long, twice as bright.
I hope we get a faithful Sly reboot some day.
I would appreciate the thevius racoonus remake/remaster . A whole open world with the levels more drawn out plans made players accessible like in later games. Expand the content
Here from 2023, apparently Sony still prefers movie games over games like Sly. Things are definitely looking bleak now.
I feel like they could've done Penelope helping LeParadox should've made sense. Like, if LeParadox essentially put a gun to her head or to someone else's head, and she turns heel in a "I'm sorry, but it's you or me" kind of way. It would've made LeParadox into an actually evil character, one that players want to take down.
Secondly, I feel that the ancestors should've had an escalating effect on Sly's game play, with his gear, abilities, and moveset reflect his time fighting alongside the ancestors. Ryuiichi's swordplay, Kid Cooper's guncane, Bob's destructive capabilities; instead, Sly just continues to be Sly, who is entertaining as a character, but he could be much more.
Tell me why I had the exact same convo about Thieves in Time with my friends in high school😂 I think only one of my other gaming friends played it, the rest didn’t know or care about it. Sad to see a franchise end this way
It's funny, I myself knew exactly one person who also played Sly back in highschool. I wonder what ol' Momo is up to these days.
@@TBP He's on r/slycooper talking about why there should be another Sly Cooper
Because it's Not Canon (Not Sucker Punch, no Badass Dialouge, no mature Lessons, no deepth in Character), end Of the Story.
It must be. It’s like a bad parody of the Sly Cooper series.
As I recall, Sucker Punch was already involved as consultants during this game's development, and Sly Cooper wasn't at all mature, other then robbers, guns, thieves, you name it. It was really just one of those saturday morning cartoons or a classic cartoony comic book collection that you nicely read during a sunday. Granted this game has depth to character, but I'm not going to be one of those youtubers who does a in depth analysis. Also your profile looks like the Joker from Batman, wearing a Jester themed attire. Mind if you tell me where this is from?😥
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios Kefka, the Villian of Final Fantasy 6!
Delicashilous _ oh what a coicidence, I met a guy who was a fan of Final Fantasy a couple months back
A Sly game where you play as a son of Sly following in his footsteps would be interesting I guess.
How about a prequel with Sly's Dad
@@elharvey5032 I'd love that
@@andrewn.caldwell6218 There could be siblings where the daughter becomes a thieve but the older brother becomes a police officer.
You're 1000% objectively right. I played the sly series and bully because I played them growing up. Some channels still constantly make content around those games. They cling onto the idea that these games will get a new sequel. But it's just not realistic. I understand them holding hope and it's admirable, but it's just not gonna happen.
Thieves in Time was the first Sly game I had played and will always hold a special place in my heart but I've recently played the previous entries and definitely see why Thieves in Time is a flop
I'm kind of sad that this series is dead. I was a latecomer to this and I liked it, and I need to get around to Thieves in Time. Maybe it could work as a cartoon in the nostalgia cycle?
The only reason I still like sly cooper thieves in time because it started my gaming addiction that’s literally it.
That's a pretty big compliment...
I'm a die-hard Sly fan - actually doing Let's Plays of the original trilogy atm - and you conveyed my exact thoughts perfectly! Every point is spot on - new subscriber unlocked! :D
Ultimately it was the wrong game at the wrong time. And the wrong developer, I would add. Sanzaru have their strengths, but not the ones the Sly series needed.
I missed out on Thieves in Time when it originally came out as I defected to Xbox 360 and only played it a few years ago with a PSNow trial. Needless to say, I wish I'd left it alone and thank God it was free as it was beyond disappointing! Sly 5 was already dead in the water. Honour Among Thieves was a nice round off to the series and, as you said, gave closure.
An original trilogy reboot/full remaster is far more likely now.
The chances for a Sly 5 are definitely VERY slim. But I honestly do believe that someday we might still get it, because who in their right mind would let this great series end with Sly being stuck in Anchient Egypt. I’ll MAYBE give up that hope when 2023 comes, because I usually think long awaited sequels come sometime before 10 years are up. Sly Cooper is just too much of a fun series to be ignored and ruined like this.
Thieves of time was alright. I played there's a couple things I want to complaint about.
1. We didn't get Clockwerck as a boss battle since he was around since BC.
2. The world is too big I don't mind it as much but put some mission in the game but better ones.
3. Fix the glitches man when I play the hacking minigames I kept on sending back to the being.
4. Yes, the jokes are just thrown in unlike the others were clever.
5.Some bosses are awful and retarded.
6. The is not a complement but I like the robot dragon mini boss fight when you play as Carmelita Fox.
I think a part of the reason Sly 4 didn't sell well isn't because people didn't care but as you said a few times, it's a niche game
It always has been and honestly, probably always will be. All the games of its year you mentioned all have massive and well established player bases. Sly *never* had even remotely close to something like AC or such. Even it's highest selling game is nothing compared compared any of the others
Being a small community by its definition and very nature means it's not gonna sell troves of discs and such
A much bigger reason definitely is that he platformer rebirth happened some years later. It coming out *then* probably would have helped but it is what it is
Sly 4 and The Lost Frontier resulted in the fate of both series :O
It’s so heartbreaking I think! Two of my favourite video games ever have basically nothing left in the dust!
Sly 4 had flaws, but I wouldn't put it on the same level as Lost Frontier.
@@GamerSlyRatchet1 very true at least sly 4 was somewhat better than the lost frontier.
@@GamerSlyRatchet1 regardless of quality, they both were the last entry in each franchise
I love the conclusion, very logical. The 20 year cycle is a very real thing, although there are things to add to that:
- New people getting into old series. It is a thing. I am getting into old franchises all the time, and I am not a child.
- Emulation. This is anecdotal, but about half of GAMERS who play older games emulate them. This ≠ sales.
I heard PS3 games was more difficult to emulate like MGS4 compared to other platforms
@@gamer_god7312 It sort of depends on the game, and PS3 emulation is improving faster than anyone thought possible.
Interesting to hear about the popularity etc. Sly is extremely popular in Finland. Sly 4 was top 1 most sold game for months.
The marketing for this game was so trash I didn’t know it was coming out until literally a month before the release date
I didn't even know they was a sly 4 until I seen it at a GameStop a year ago
No discussion of how forgettable the game was? I can remember a LOT about the original trilogy, but Thieves In Time? I remember nothing.
“Sly 4 did not sell well”
Me: what is wrong with people 😡
Because, Sly Cooper is unfortunately not on the same level of popularity as Call of Duty and GTA5. Sometimes those kinds of overrated games overshadow great ones like Sly. Those types of games that are popular can sometimes be wolves in sleeps clothing.
I really hope they remake the original trilogy for the PS5.
Sly Cooper was my first videogame. Thanks dad for the good pick.
The financial failure of Sly 4 is absolutely because of Sony's lack of marketing. Sanzaru created a few commercials that could have been used to advertise the game, but they were relegated to PlayStation's RUclips channel. The only people who would find these videos are people who were already invested in PlayStation games. These RUclips videos would be completely useless to any child who enjoys video games but doesn't keep up on gaming news.
As a child I wanted Sly 2 because of Commercials on TV and advertisements in Magazines. That's the only reason I knew about that game's existence. Sly 4 failed because it didn't even try to advertise to new customers. While yes, children's magazines were no longer prominent in 2013, television still had an audience. Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon were still holding on, so any commercial on television would have reached potential customers. It's true that a large number of kids were playing modern military shooters, but that doesn't mean they only every played shooters. Some kids wouldn't even touch a Shooter to begin with. Children flocked to watch lighthearted entertainment like Adventure Time or Despicable Me, so the failure to advertise to these people is Sony's fault. No one was asking to show a Sly 4 trailer during the 2013 Superbowl's, but something along the lines of Sly 2's advertising would've been nice.
It's not like Sly 4 was an outlier either. If Sony thought that a franchise wouldn't be a surefire hit, like Gravity Rush or The Puppeteer, they just released them to die without any assistance. Sony wanted to appeal to the largest demographic and ignored anything niche. A child who saw a commercial for a game about a time traveling Raccoon thief might've thought it looked fun. It's the job of advertising to make stuff look worth buying. In the end, though, there was virtually no advertising, and Sly 4 was sent out to die, which is typical for Sony.
I'm definitely one of those hardcore-hardcore fans, it was a huge part of my childhood (id play the games every single day as a kid) and i still revisit 1-3 all the time throughout my life. I was excited asf when 4 came out but that was killed off p quickly. The gameplay/controls themselves is fun for the most part, but everything else about it is so off that it doesn't feel like Sly. It didn't feel nostalgic at all. I came out of it just feeling more bitter at the game than anything and I felt like if whatever next potential game wasn't in the hands of the OGs or other diehard fans, it's not gonna be worth playing most likely.
The characters felt ruined, what felt like such a cool concept for a plot that Sly 3 cliffhanged on wasn't executed well- the ending was rushed as all hell, a lot of the ancestors' abilities just felt like "meh" aside from Kid Cooper, the art direction was oversexualized to a weird extent, they gave 0 voice lines to one of the best characters in the series despite showing him in several scenes, and the third axis shit i could completely do without
I've beaten Sly 1-3 probably over 100 times throughout my life; I've beaten 4 once, and I got that game day 1. The series feels like it's p dead atp. Even despite 4 coming out at a shit time, if it came out today, people would still not like it. A trilogy remake is the best route atp and I'd honestly look forward to that even if Sanzaru theoretically handled it (I'd prefer anyone else though, I'm glad they can't lol)
A Sly remake like how they did Crash, but adding new graphics and new elements to the story and trilogy will make it fresh.... definitely a good idea to bring Sly back.
Man I still wish sly was still around
I think I might have a solution to the problem remastered all 4 games on one pack and add a bonus DLC Egyptian level to it that tells us how sly gets back. This way, they don’t have to trouble themselves making a new game and will satisfy the Fanbase. As much as I would love a new game, this is probably the best solution at this point.
That would take too long considering all the technical difficulties trying to make older titles designed around ancient hardware run with no problems on the PlayStation 5 natively
Remember the PlayStation 4 library had several issues on PlayStation 5 because the system processed them 100 times faster then the way they were designed thus a solution took a while even with Mark Cerny involved, now imagine what will happen once they try that with native PlayStation 2 games or even PlayStation 3 ones
I rember playing the in store demo and thinking the controls felt heavy and slow and definatly effected my reaction on purchase.
There is a select group of RUclipsrs I have admirably dubbed “The Sly Cynics”. I’m happy to report that after watching your lovely video you deserve to join their ranks.
The name is actually one of endearment because I usually find these people to be quite intelligent, in my opinion at least. They are firm in their beliefs and are eloquent in expressing them.
You sir have made excellent points and added something new to the conversation. I look forward to your future work.
Sketch City Savo and the youtuber who made this video have interacted, Iafter looking at his unlisted videos I found out TDX made a Sly 4 postive review, and J's Reviews, is a Good man, his videos are, mostly good in my opinion. Although those last two has nothing to do with this comment, but as for the first portion yeah because Savo and the youtuber who made this video litterly interacted in this videos comment section its gonna be very easy for him to join this Sly Cynics of thiers you know what i mean😥
It's sad that your childhood video game just gets forgotten after a major flop and it doesn't help around in 2014 fnaf was the new big thing and the funny thing is that there was a Sly Cooper movie/series that never came to be meanwhile in modern days the fnaf movie is being made it's sad but that's just reality
...there is a fourth game ?
This... say what you want about the game but I don't think Sly 4 was advertised well at all. So many people Ive seen say they just didn't even know this game existed
@@justinarney3050 I'm pretty sure he's being snide. Plus, don't push that, I addressed that very point in the video.
At this point the only Sly related thing the series could benefit from is only a preservation effort of the PS2 games as digital downloads (preferably by a higher skilled team than the Sanzaru HD collection of 2010)
Sly 5 then and even now didn't and probably won't ever happen mainly because the Egypt thing was reportedly going to be tackled via DLC which after TiT's poor sales effectively severed any chance of a conclusive ending... That already concluded nicely in the 3rd game sans the bloody time travel line.
I suppose the question of Sly trilogy remakes would be on the table given Crash and Spyro's success, but really, what'd be the point?
There are very few things I could really suggest to improve the original trilogy, at least not to the extent where the overall game design would need an overhaul, and in regards to retelling the story it'll either be the originals beat for beat or the original Sly trilogy put through the filter of Thieves in Time if handed off to a developer who only understands Sly on a surface level.
I suppose they could use the hypothetical remakes to spring a potential 'new' Sly 4 in a Crash Bandicoot Its About Time way where they discreetly jettison the past under the rug for a new storyline, and while its potential could be interesting akin to the you tuber Savo's pitch video a while back, the question remains,
who is the target audience?
Its not quite accessible to older audiences who'd judge the book by its cover and assume is a kiddy platformer, it isn't gung go and full of energy like a Crash Bandicoot or Ratchet and Clank and neitheris it whimsical and charming akin to Spyro or Nintendo's body of platformers.
Sly as a series has a lot of nuances in its DNA that I don't see many workman third party developers understanding assuming Sony wants to give them a shot.
Suckerpunch understandably wanna move on to greener pastures and try new things, and at this rate other potential studios like Naughty Dog prefer to make snuff porn art house movies while Insomniac is slowly becoming the Resident MARVEL game maker people whatevers.
Its a great series, and I respect Sly Cooper a lot for being something unique, but it was for all intents and purposes a series that came out in the right place at the right time, but its not 2002 anymore and for as much as the Platformer nostalgia is gonna be virile during the 2020s, eventually it'll fade and thereafter Sly Cooper as a franchise probably wouldn't perform any better now in its nostalgia period as it would've in the late 2000s.
And even if it does get a shot in the arm, at best it only extends the series' bloodline just long enough to milk a few extra titles that ended succinctly with the third game.
But who knows, I could (and hope) I'm completely wrong and Sly might just have a bright future ahead of him. But when it comes to optimism one can never be too careful.
Even as a huge Sly fan (Sly 3 is still my favorite video game to this day) I 100% agree with this video. And I also agree that a trilogy remake is very likely coming. Just look at the differences present now. Sly 4 was a new game from a not well-known dev studio who were different than the ones who made the original trilogy. It came years after the series had already ended. Platformers as a whole were not drawing in money. Even Ratchet and Clank, while moderately popular, weren't raking in the big bucks.
Now look at things. Platformers are resurfacing as a popular genre again. Rift Apart was a greatly-advertised game for the PS5 that sold the console to many people and got its own stream showcases from Sony. Crash and Spyro both got insanely great-selling trilogy remakes followed up by a Crash racing game and proper Crash sequel that also sold well. Remakes in general are selling very well just because of people wanting to see what all the hubub was about back in the day. A Sly trilogy remake would be just a bringing back of three actually known games originally from a studio that has only increased in popularity over the years to the point where they're one of the biggest names under Sony's umbrella.
I think the best course of action is to remake the trilogy and then be done with it personally. Sly 3 is a great ending and I don't know if a new game would sell as well as remakes afterwards.
I completely agree with your opinion, what would definitely be mind blowing is a remake of Sly Cooper and the Thievous Raccoonus, imagine the levels being more of an open world like Sly 2 and 3, with the graphics of Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, not to mention they would probably be able to add more to the lore of the franchise
Sly cooper is no where near as popular as ratchet and clank and crash.
not that it made much of a difference, but the only other factor would've been the sly collection we got on ps3 a couple years before 4. i never played sly growing up, not until the collection. so getting sly 4 a bit after was mega hype. im sure im not the only one. but clearly that still wasnt enough lol. but worth mentioning how they tried with that too first.
If I wanted to make a Sly 4 game that was based on the ending of Sly 3, you know the time machine and "insomnia" tropes they put in to ensure it's lasting legacy. I would have just had started out with Sly and Carmelita leaving as the island is burning. They both survived, and managed to get out. I have a theory that Carmelita and Sly were playing off each other when Sly was hit by Dr. M's blast. I mean how else would Sly leave his cane, bag, and the calling card behind before finally leaving. Unless the two separated, but even then Carmelita would have asked "Hey, Constable Cooper, where is your cane." Something to that effect, anyway.
That or maybe have Sly and Carmelita work on a case together. It would defiantly show Sly's character growth throughout the years, as well as show off the dynamic duo he has with Carmelita. They are brought together by Dr. M, who had survived the cave in through sheer luck. With Sly's massive fortune. Dr. M plans to get his revenge on Sly, and the Cooper family. I would say, from there, Sly, Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, and a few others along the journey work together to stop Dr. M from creating Clockwork. It's so powerful with hatred that they have to use the time machine, after they knock it down the pieces. Maybe have a moment where Sly decides to either destroy the hate chip, thus disrupting time and warping it to a new reality. Or just let it happen. Maybe have an Easter egg in a secret ending where he, meaning the audience, can finally see Sly's father. Reading the Thieves Racconnus to Sly, as a youth. After all, the Cooper family would have most likely not exist if not for Clockwork going back in time. Maybe Dr. M's hate chip is the source of immortality, and any unfortunate soul who stays in there too long lose their physical being, rendering to nothing more than a mindless husk that demands revenge against the Coopers.
What Sly Cooper Thieves in Time(I'm calling it that because it's not called Sly 4 Thieves in Time) did was make Sly and Carmelita horrible people, the beginning had an opening that wasn't the traditional "play it now to get the feeling of the controls then learn about what's going on," which is in the original trilogy, and a main villain that's basically a dumber version of Captain Ahab.
I don't know, I'm not a scientist. I have no idea how this works.
You were right about me though. When I heard there was going to be a new Sly game, I immediately bought it. There is a silver lining though. When the Ratchet and Clank movie failed, Sony decided to cancel Sly Cooper the movie. Which is honestly for the best. At the end of the day numbers do not lie.
Do you think sly cooper tv series or movie(s) work at this current time?
When I heard Sly 4 was in the work I was excited but then they revealed it was a "We're going back in time" type story. Then all the excitment was gone. Let's be all honest for a moment, time traveling stories never work.
I didn't even know the hard numbers until today, but I've been of the mind that there were only 3 games in the series since 2016.
And yes, I'm one of the exceptions that bought in 2013 at first release.
I've been saying this for years. I am a HUGE Sly fan (Just peep my channel) and have been ever since the OG on PS2 before the series had its huge evolution with Band Of Thieves. I met my best friend of 17 years through the series so to say I appreciate it would be an understatement, however growing up I've realized I don't want Sly 5. As you said before, nows the best time ever for Sly to make a resurgence with a remake trilogy for a myriad of reasons:
1. It'll give Sony a clear answer as to whether or not its profitable just like the Nsane Trilogy
2. It introduces the franchise for new fans and reintroduces it to old ones banking off their nostalgia
3. It can be another case study showing the industry that there are a place for narrative drive platformers (similar to how Psychonauts 2's impact)
4. It can improve on an outdate formula. Imagine Sly 1 expanded, fleshing out the fiendish five giving way to more interactions like the Klaw Gang in 2. Adding traveling mechanics between locations and replacing those garbage van missions with tight controls from place to place encouraging exploration. You can give Sly his move set from 2&3 while increasing his arsenal. Hell, you can even dive deeper into the ancestral line, the gangs backstory, and make references to characters that will later be introduced in sequels like Penelope and Guru. Imagine you start off the 1st game playing through the cookie jar hiest? Theres just so much room for quality in that regard rather than continuing from an ending nobody even wanted to begin with.
They can make sly 5 where sly has to some how communicate with Bentley in the present to know what to do to rebuild le paradoxes blimp to get to the present
Well my way to communicate with them is sly finds a ancestor and he finds out he has the book and writes something that Bentley and Murray will know
@@SEPCoopEntertainment that is what I was trying to get at you can play as sly and slytankhemn
Looking at the audience back in 2013 could be a main reason.
Also Sly.was probably the least popular out of Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank.
I honestly feel if Sly Cooper 4 released around the time Crash and Spyro made a comeback in the late 2010's it might of done better.
People were more open to non Nintendo platformers. But the again Crash and Spyro have mainstream appeal. Like Crash appeared in Uncharted 4 a game that sold like 16 million copies
I know this game was a total flop and why there isn’t a fifth installment of Sly Cooper but what still bothers me a lot to this day is Penelope escaping from prison and Sly now stranded in Ancient Egypt. If I were in the project of Sly Cooper I want to fix the problem of what shocked a lot of people. Redeeming Penelope and getting Sly Cooper home. The moment when we saw who she really is in Sly Cooper 4 I felt like I wish Carmelita punched Penelope in the face both breaking her glasses and giving her a black eye. In Sly Cooper 5 I want Penelope to redeem herself by trying to rejoin the team, be honest and win back Bentley’s heart because I believe Bentley and Penelope were so meant for each other ever since Sly Cooper 3 and Sly Cooper 4 just destroyed it. Like I said if I was in the project for Sly Cooper 5 I want Penelope to walk the path to redemption by rejoining the team, be honest and win back Bentley’s heart so they get back together again but since she escaped prison Sly, Bentley and Murray have to find a way to exonerate her. For the part of how will Sly come back home, Bentley would go back to the site where Le Paradox’s blimp disappeared and got destroyed and he finds the Time Machine Black Box recorder. He takes it to his lab where he analyzes the data to find out the last Input on the time machine prior to it’s disappearance and destruction taking Sly with it and when he finds that the last input is Ancient Egypt he’d be so relieved that he calls Murray, Carmelita and Dimitri. Murray gears up along with Carmelita , Bentley takes the black box recorder with him while Dimitri tries to find and Ancient Egyptian artifact for Bentley to sample and after that Dimitri gives Bentley the artifact before wishing them good luck. Bentley, Murray and Carmelita go inside Murray’s van, Bentley samples the artifact and they all head to Ancient Egypt where upon arrival they find Sly Cooper as when they find the remains of Le Paradox’s blimp they’re on the right track. With a little bit of luck on their side they successfully found Sly Cooper and out of the three, Carmelita would run to Sly and hug him plus she gives him and deep passionate kiss at the same time tearing up knowing that she’s sorry for not giving him a chance to hear him out. For Bentley and Murray they’re so glad to both have their friend and their leader back. After that Sly would tell them how did they find him and Bentley shows Sly the Time Machine Black Box recorder as proof. After that Sly, Carmelita, Bentley and Murray all head back to the van and go home. For Penelope she’s still working on her path to redeem herself but for Sly and his friends they’re still disgusted but as the story progresses Penelope is now on the good side.
Thieves in Time is not that bad. It's the Phantom Pain of the Sly franchise. It's the worse. It's not what we wanted. It's not that bad, tho.
Sad to see sly go, but it is what it is. Time goes by, I guess..
I remember getting a PS3 just to play this... I miss my childhood lol
A lot of people played sly before online console gaming, & a lot of people bought an xbox 360 and played sly on ps2 so never touched sly 4. Single player games were dying, only the best survived. I and alot of people that grew up on sly had just become adults and didnt have time to play the newest COD and a single player game. If they released a sly 5 on steam, I like to think were old enough and have enough free time or even have kids we can put onto it. It might do well, they have to wait a few more years though.
not to mention these were games that people rented. sly 1-3 probably sold more copies to blockbuster than the public.. idk though.. Never played the 4th
I am glad you said Sly 4's writing is terrible. It really is. The amount of fat jokes they threw at Murray's way after the original trilogy avoided that for the most part is juvenile.
Another audience would be the stealth genre lovers, but that's also a niche audience, Assassin's Creed being so far from it's stealthy roots could tell you that.
So
I love sly coper and will probably forever but while thieves in time was good and um happy bc it brouggt the franchise back,
It wasn't as good from what i think is the art style,
Ive played all games since release and there's a progressive theme: sly 1 was beautiful in it reminded me of comic books,sly 2: the art was darker to set the tone and sly 3: was brighter as for the cooper gang had a bright future.
Now my biggest thung about it is this: games given to another company or usually if not aleays make ut different in a franchise losses itself when not handle by the parent company or years later like sly 4 was made 8yrs after where it wasnt in everybodies thouggts anymore.
But i do love sly 4 bc it brings sly cooper into the light of media and people.
Thank you
My big issue is it doesn't feel like a Sly game
In a more lighthearted franchise like say Crash or Banjo Kazooie this would have worked far better
It's an instance of a lot of good design but being a poor match for themes and characters.
DMC Devil May Cry is an example I like to use of this. If it had been literally any other franchise or even it's own it might have been perfectly fine.
But it wasn't. It was specifically made into the DMC franchise. So it has to be judged by those standards
It's not even a well written light-hearted game, if a game in general has many cutscenes and dialogue while trying to take itself seriously with no depth, nuance, proper theme(s), appropriate tone or notable plot and/or character development (not counting the terrible Murray "development" in TiT that was already done much better in sly 3) the story should be negatively scrutinized rather than games that don't really try to have the player care about what's going on with the story and characters.
@@TerrorOfTalos I can go along with that however I think again franchise has a large factor on it.
Fresh franchise or even something that might have fit it better would have made a vast difference. The big issue is that the script (and to a large extent the design) does not mesh well with the moods and themes.
Sly Cooper as a whole has always had this undertone of noir and crime drama that made things fit well together. TiT doesn't really do that. It's like a bad Spy Fox for consoles.
And I stand by that claim regardless how bold it is
What bugs me about this is that Sly Cooper, while has some moments, was always lighthearted. Begining with Sly 1, the series has been lighthearted the most. Even when Sly Cooper has a lot of dark moments (Sly 4 included), it was still lighthearted to begin with.
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios The thing is it weaved the light-hearted aspects with engaging plot development and characters and the tone was fine tuned enough to take a talking raccoon, turtle and pink hippo seriously.
@@TerrorOfTalos Bingo
Part of what I find makes the second game the best is that weaving of serious moments with touches of humor and, admittedly, drama.
In the Sly series I've always found it does best by balancing the cartoon elements with noir crime drama elements.
Silly violence with serious stakes
Silly characters with serious plot
Perhaps the best example is the relationship between Clockwork and the Cooper line, specifically Sly.
Any time his name comes up all humor is gone. No jokes, no funny business. It's one of the only times where that element of cartoonishness is set aside.
Funnily enough I find the rampant cartoonish nature makes the serious moments feel far more serious. Much like what would go on with Ratchet and Clank or even more popular titles like say FF10. Humor and light-heartedness would go hand in hand with the tense moments to bring peaks and valleys in the storytelling
I'm watching this in 2022 (greetings from the future) and now that the series is 20 years old, it has the potential to be considered 'retro' and nostalgic. Think about it, no one cared for Crash Bandicoot for years until 2016 when the series turned 20. Not only did the first 3 Crash games get a remake, but a sequel too. Same with Spyro (without the sequel). The market has changed over 10+ years, in 2013 people only wanted to play mature shooters. But diversity and nostalgia is more welcome now so a Sly remake could be profitable
I agree with you that they should remake the original trilogy and if the do they should have online mode for sly 3 cause of the 2 player modes and I know this will never happen but I would like to see sly on a different console then playstation
I liked Thieves In Time around when it was released. But when I went back to replay it last year, man oh man was it shit! Practically everything it did was done wrong. From the controls being too heavy and clumsy, to the art style being an off putting mixture of cel shading and high detail, to the dialogue. Practically anything that could’ve went wrong with a Sly Cooper game went wrong with TIT. The forced use of that God awful SixAxis was the biggest punch to the balls. Games of the PS3 era were better when Sixaxis was an optional feature. Any that forced you to use it at certain points typically suffered as a result. It also aged worse somehow than the original trilogy. The original trilogy still hold up well. TIT feels outdated and clunky. Sanzaru was absolutely not up to scratch to make a new Sly title. They quite possibly made it beyond saving.
To be honest i have been wanting a Full Trilogy Remake rather than a Sequel to Thieves In Time
Mainly due to just how bad Sly Thieves In Time was and also despite being on a cliffhanger there is nothing to continue on from there onwards
Yeah, I've heard it said that while the Egypt story thread is the biggest thing they have going into a hypothetical fifth game, you can't do anything with it. You either have Sly in Egypt the entire game, therefore excluding the thing that made these games work up until now; the team dynamic with Sly, Murray, and Bentley. Or you have it end anticlimactically in one chapter or worse yet, the prologue.
I joked about this to a friend of mine a few times, they just need to play the clip from The Simpsons that goes "I won't bore you with the details of our miraculous escape" and that might as well be Sly escaping from Egypt.
Tactical Bacon Productions
The Egypt episode was originally planned to be DLC, but that was poor planning on Sanzaru’s part because the game didn’t do well enough for Sony to approve it.
im glad sanzaru wont have the chance to make another sly game after the way sly 4 turned out tbh. i adore the first three sly games and was pretty excited at the announcement of a fourth, until trailers and gameplay footage started being released..i became less and less optimistic until i finally played the game and was predictably disappointed. the characters are flat caricatures of who they used to be (i still cant believe what they did with carmelita and penelope), sly was slow and clunky, and like you said, LOTS of cringey dialogue. some of the lines in sly 4 made me physically recoil with embarrassment..so no sly 5 from sanzaru? totally fine by me. (nice video!)
Although im not a sly cooper fan
But Coming from a ratchet & clank fan
this is one of those biased and toxic comments
@@kasam0308 nah man this is just my personal experience and opinion on the game, to each their own.
Cass K oh ok then
YES! 100% yes. It was so sad to see how all the careful development and character arcs basically went in the bin. The ancestors too were wasted; pretty much all Sly clones, except Tennessee Kid Cooper. Could've done so much there!
Pixie Poison too wasted, you basically said the complete opposite of a 100% reply
I would call it one of my favorite franchises, i also think sly 3 is the best and i want a sly 5 just give us an ending
😥 it's the 20th anniversary
2:30 thats basically my gut reaction when I hear people praise Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (the fact one of those fans is my own mother makes things a little akward if Star Wars ever comes up in conversation)
I think another reason it flopped was also the lack of relevancy. Using the Ratchet & Clank series, Insomniac Games kept the series relevant by releasing each game within a 5 year window.
R&C - 2002
R&C 2 - 2003
R&C 3 - 2004
R - 2005
R&C F - 2007
R&C F2 - 2008
R&C F3 - 2009
R&C Nexus - 2013
R&C Re-imagine - 2016
R&C Rift Apart - 2021
And not to mention the bunch of spin-off games sprinkle between each main installment. Anyways, because of this, the R&C still has a large fanbase which despite Rift Apart having a 5 year gap, is one of the most anticipaited games of 2021 for the PS5. While the Sly Cooper series while 1-3 started out with each gaming being 1-2 years apart, Thieves In Time was release 8 years after the third game which along side your reasons didn't help it.
R&C A41 - 2011
R&C Q - 2012
This could also be why Sly never got his movie/TV show
I think SuckerPunch should reboot/remake the series kinda like Insomniac did for Ratchet & Clank. It could sell nowadays.
3:21 my biggest gripe with sly 4. The story was nicely over but they broke it open and left it like it.
Oh absolutely, a friend of mine made the point that every year the game looks worse and worse. Because it's lack of conclusivity combined with the lack of sequel gives it less and less of a reason to exist with each passing moment.
I love sly 4 despite it's flaws it's many many flaws
"Riddle me this batman " that part had me laughing , had to drop a like
I really hope they make a remake of the trilogy
I wish we didn't have to depend on the mainstream "gamer" audience for what does good and what doesn't.
I appreciate that you put your personal dislike of the game aside to explore more objective reasons as to why it did badly in sales. It easily could've just been mindless bashing of the game like many similar videos.
Yeah Sly Cooper 4 came out at the wrong time during the PS3 era where alot of Sony games struggled to sell even there popular franchise in that time like Uncharted, God Of War, Ratchet & Clank, Killzone. The PS3 era even though its my favorite it was the worst for Sony's games. If a Sly Cooper game came out during the PS4 or now on PS5 it would sell for sure no doubt. A Trilogy remake would be best. For Characters like Crash Bandicoot & Spyro The Dragon they were always legacy characters, they came out in the last era of where a mascot moved consoles. Even with Crash in the 2000's struggling was due to being passed off to random developers n short rushed games due to universal. And with activition keeping the franchise on silent throughout the years thr fantasy was always strong and Sony had to step in again to revive it. But Sly, Ratchet, Jak never had that legacy appeal like Crash & Spyro. But yeah a Sly remake will make money for sure now
Legacy appeal being mostly nostalgia, notice how crash 4 sold way less than N.sane?
@@TerrorOfTalos Well the insane trilogy blew up not just of nostalgic but cause Sony stepped in and funded thr project and marketed it as a PlayStation 1 year time exclusive but Crash 4 still made its budget back and profit with Sony not being involved. Thats why there's more Crash merch and a new game in development with mobile game. Its just Covid/Activition Allegations & Microsoft Buy out has put a bunch of projects on hold
@@omegament-entertainment It made profit but not close to N.sane profit and that's all Activision cares about I don't expect a similar budget crash game for a long while if ever.
@@TerrorOfTalos Well it was a profit regardless and will have to wait what Microsoft says with the deal happening but one thing for sure Crash is still profitable thats why its getting more attention than Spyro & Tony Hawk
Edit: I think Activition messed up in not keeping the graphical look of the Insane Trilogy for Crash 4 and not having a next gen version at launch with a PlayStation marketing. The art style looks great for Crash 4 but the Insane Trilogy graphics wow 👏 😍 Ratchet & Clank level 👌
Sounds like it'd be a better idea for the devs to remake the trilogy, then make a new version of Sly 4.
The real question is y won’t they remaster the original trilogy or at least put them on ps store
Give it time
If it came out around when Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash N. Sane Trilogy, it probably would have done a lot better during that revival period.
Exactly like people were interested in non Nintendo platformers by then so people who love whose games might be interested in buying another one from Sony
Legitimately all I want is a remaster of the first 3 games for modern consoles
4 I’ve never liked and I feel should’ve never been made because where the third game ended was perfect and it didn’t need more than that
The funny thing about sales and how much units sell, while 800,000 units is incredibly low compare to how most games sell. However to some companies (such as EA and Ubisoft), a game that over a million units, is considered very low and not a success. You have to admit that's a messed up math.
Honestly, I would have bought this game when it came out, but I didn't really have the money or the console to play it on. I love the series and wish I could play it on the PS4.
you can, its on ps now
I was hoping you'd go into why you said it was a horrible game. Otherwise a good video with a bit too much repetition.
Personally, I'm a Sly fan that didn't even know Sly 4 existed until like a year ago. No idea what it's like.
I did go to detail at one point, but I cut that part of the video because I felt it was too mean spirited and got away from the point of the video.
@@TBP That's fair. Just curious: is there any part of the game that holds up? I'm still debating whether I should try the game, given the chance.
As far as pure raw gameplay, it's arguably the best out of the three open world games. It attempts to have a variety of platforming challenges, where two and three had a tendency to keep it basic.
Back in my childhood I was used to be hyped for sly 4 and thought to continuing sky’s story but it was already concluded to begin with so it was all for not.
I didn't get to play the sly games till later on in life but I fucking enjoyed them just like I did spyro or crash
I think it would be pretty neat if they did a soft reboot of the series, going over the first game's story in the style of 2 and 3.
I perfectly understand and agree with you on how bad Thieves in Time turned out!
From the poor story writing and gameplay flaws, to turning Carmelita and Penelope’s design and character story into a NeckBeard’s dream come true: a couple of female characters with an overall sexualized appearance and spiteful and OOC personality/vendetta for an inexcusable reason.
I STILL hate how the writers at Sanzaru wrote not just Carmelita and Penelope’s character story, but how they wrote Sly and Murray’s character story as well! Bentley turned out to be the only character in the game to be left the same, writing wise.
Dimitri returned as well, but isn’t a playable character. Or has any speaking lines. But I’ll overlook that, because the Japanese voice actor who voiced Dimitri passed away during the TiT’s production/development.
I think the staff at Sanzaru decided not to have Dimitri speak at all, in favor of respecting the Japanese voice actor’s passing. But then again, not sure if the game was released in other countries or not.
My heart goes out to the creators at SuckerPunch Studios, who’s popular game franchise was straight up turned into a game that’s an equivalent of a NeckBeard’s cringy and morally incorrect fan fiction littered with OOC, poor story writing and numerous plot holes that were never corrected or fixed.
I’ve read Sly Cooper fanfics that are MORE enjoyable than TiT!
Hmm, an interesting take. For me, I'll say it plain, I didn't like this one, it was a slog at points, and the main thrust of the game had so many holes that I couldn't get into it. The item based time travel...I'd seen it done before, but there it was Ducktales, and they were going to the points in history the items were made specifically, not just the items having some 'point in history' they were associated with.
Anyway, from my personal, and highly subjective perspective, I can say the reason I think this didn't do well? One, Sanzaru has, had, and until they break it, will have a reputation as a bad developer. When porting, when given their own works, hell when working WITH tools given to them to build a game, they don't do so hot(The Sly Trilogy, Sly 4, and Spyro 3 in the Reignited Trilogy respectively for those examples). This studio, for all that they seem passionate in interviews, has never been one to produce quality products.
The second reason, however, is the most damning. I'm a fan of this series, I owned a PS3, and followed releases from it, looking on the coming soon lists at gamestop. I found out about Sly 4 coming out, a month before it did so. There was little fanfare in my section of the net, and it just sort of happened, and that was that. It doesn't help that this is the one game in the set to have a non-ending, which was known almost as soon as it came out.
On the subject of that ending, I wish I could find the interview, but an Ex-Sanzaru dev did a talk about a year+ ago that shined light on the teaser for 100% completion. Namely, that was not a teaser for a sequel. It was a teaser for DLC, one that was, according to him, almost 2/3rds done, before management decided it was sunk cost and pulled the plug.
It wasn't massive or game changing, it wasn't fantastic. It was one open level in egypt, actually emptier than most of the rest of the game according to them, with a small city on one end, and a pyramid on the other, with the plot of being a timeloop that establishes Clockwerk's origin and hatred, while also being the origin of the Thevious Racoonous itself, as Sly's the one who encourages his ancestor to start writing stuff down, rather than passing things orally to his children.
That, BTW, does not SAVE the game at all. It remains a bum bit of the series, from a design and lore perspective. There was no reason to pull the happy ending override here, other than to keep the titular racoon playable. Personally, I would have added on another decade to the timeline, and made it about the 20 or so aged children of Sly and Carmelita, with their own story to tell. Still about Sly's legacy, which as B-Mask pointed out in his fantastic retrospective, Legacy was the theme of the series as a whole, but now moving on to what the legacy looks like to the next generation.
It flopped because the story was concluded. Much of the audience that it was catering to didn't see it as something that was necessary to play. That's my take on it. I didn't feel like trying it until long after it's release.
Literally the only way Sly could have any relative success is if other platformers released games around the same time. The likes of another game for Crash and Spyro would give people the taste of platformers and MIGHT make them want more. Of course if they just made a brilliant game it might also be successful... For a Sly game. I'd love ANY more content with the series. Even if it's just a damn comic/graphic novel run. But the numbers don't lie, the interest just isn't there.
After the success of Rachet and Clank Rift apart, I think it is the perfect time to bring back sly. As long as the game has comparable graphics to rachet, I think it will attract enough people to have decent sales.
Then sly 5 gets shot down
@@isauldron4337 my dissapointment is immeasurable
The writing in sly 4 was so disappointing
3:30 what about Bentley’s line about the time machine? If Sucker Punch didn’t want any more games why would they include such obvious sequel bait?
You do realise sucker punch didn’t make thieves in time
@@mrpopo5097 I do but my point is if they really wanted Sly 3 to be the definitive end they wouldn’t have included that line
When you realise the animations in sly one are better than sly 4
24:10 I am curious if they do go the route of the Sly remake how would you feel if they did all 4 games?
I do agree the best thing Sly could do right now is get a remake of 1. And have either
1) Make Sucker Punch do it again. It'll give them something else to do other than Ghost of Tsushima or going back to Infamous (unless they are working on a new ip and if that's the case)
2) Give the remake duty to Insomniac since from a gameplay platforming standpoint especially recently with Spiderman and Sunset Overdrive in particular they know how to make a very nimble and agile playing character. Especially since i think this will give them something else to do instead of them becoming the Spiderman and Ratchet rotating company which it looks like that might be the road we are heading. I would much rather Insomniac be in charge of the Ps2 mascot like Ratchet, Sly (and even Jak, btw can you do a Jak video of some sort) instead of letting them die. I thought using the dimension plot in rift apart would have been the best way to link all of their universes canonically together. But unfortunately currently right now the only connect the 3 have is via Playstation All Stars and Move Heroes isn't of a genuine dedicated game 😕
Remake duties usually go to Bluepoint Games
Why do all gringos overrate Sunset Overdrive?
that garbage is a Ratchet and Clank rip-off.
They have stopped making Ratchet games since 2013, they have only just returned to the franchise after almost 9 years of being forgotten.
Ironically thieves in time is what got me into the series as a kid
I love Sly Cooper, but I do agree that the IP doesn’t have mainstream success, 2013 is where I was veering away from gaming for a while, but I did play GTA 5, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and even Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and I was revisiting other games like Star Fox, Thieves in Time I haven’t played yet, I wanted to play it, but all the hate that Thieves in Time was getting by J’s Reviews made me put it on indefinite hold.
I still had fun playing it
I'm pretty cool with all the things said in this video; may not agree with all of it, but still cool with it. The one thing that rubbed me the wrong way was when you called out the people who believe the story was well-written/good. If you disagree with that, that's totally fine, but there's no reason you should call out people who do. It's their opinion. But this was a well-structured video, nonetheless.