
Sly can be seen as one small part in inching forward a grandiose change in video game heroes protagonists who toss out jokes and commentary almost incessantly. Sharing a lot in common (they're both thieves, naturally), the only thing that truly divides them is their bodies Sly is a raccoon in an interactive cartoon, Drake is a dude who murders people for treasure. Sly (along with the heroes of Ratchet & Clank and Daxter of Jak & Daxter) was a wise-cracking hero in the same vein that we see in a lot of game protagonists of today, perhaps most notably in Uncharted's Nathan Drake. Even so, its signature wit, cel-shaded comic book-like art style, and endearing heist planning gameplay hasn't aged a single day. There were no characters quite like the thieving raccoon of Sly Cooper when Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus snuck onto PlayStation 2 in 2002.
