History Trivia / SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Early designs of Sly were more chunky and his clothes varied, with one [[https://www.slycoopernet.com/uploads/7/6/6/2/7662758/voodooapproach.jpg wearing less clothing]] and another [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TZnLYqOvEu0/hqdefault.jpg having a turtle neck]]. He was also much younger at one point in development. His original name was going to be JT, but this was changed early in development. Sly originally had a Jersey-style voice before becoming a more classic suave-voiced thief. Also, Sly's personality was originally a bit more conceited and egotistical, which can be found in some DummiedOut dialog text in early demos.
** Sly originally had a cane with multiple unique functions. At least some of these functions included creating a sort of water cone that could reveal a hidden maze by spraying it, freezing crabs to make them crust over and die, and freezing fish into blocks of ice to create walkways.
** Carmelita Fox originally had a different, less revealing design that was only found in very early demos of the first game. Her voice was more Hispanic-accented than the final, and her name was originally Chase Montoya Fox. She was also going to shoot bullets or small missile-like rockets, but it was changed to a shock pistol to ensure an E rating.
** Bentley's voice was more stereotypically nerdy than the final.
** Murray was going to be [[WordOfGay bi-curious]], but it was scrapped because he reminded the testers of Barney the Dinosaur. Regardless, it would have been inappropriate for a kids' game at that time, though some elements of this behavior appear in the [[VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime fourth game]].
*** Another early concept for Murray was a ''Rambo''-esque character with machine guns and have levels where he rescues Sly from capture. The only remainder of this idea is the two hover blaster levels in the final game.
*** Also, according to some audio dialogue in an early E3 preview alpha build (from what would become "Murray's Big Gamble"), Murray was originally more stereotypically dimwitted.
** In some concept art, there were two meerkat-like characters named Zig and Zag. In early versions of the game, mainly in demos, one of them is seen in treasure chests that act as checkpoints. In a podcast with [[WordOfSaintPaul Kevin Miller]], he stated they were news reporters.
** Originally, the Fiendish Five were somewhat different:
*** Muggshot was originally a cowboy-inspired bulldog instead of a gangster.
*** The Panda King was more Han-inspired than sumo wrestling and Kung-Fu inspired.
*** Clockwerk originally started out as a thousand-year-old stone gargoyle before becoming a mechanical owl.
** The original currency consisted of both coins and dancing cash bundles. The cash bundles were removed for localization reasons. Also, Sly's face was going to be on the currency; this was scrapped due to it not feeling like you're stealing from others if Sly iconography was on everything, and thus only the last stage has Sly's face on the currency.
** Originally, triggering an alarm in the game was going to have you not progress until you smash the alarm; this only appears in the first few levels. Also, you would have a time limit to smash the alarm before a bomb goes off; this was replaced by the traps being fatal when you trigger them in the final.
** Originally, Sly's eyes were always meant to be seen, even in the dark, but it wasn't implemented due to technical issues. However, this made it into the sequels.
** The game originally had other Thievius Raccoonus page abilities that were planned (such as "Teleportation"), but they were never implemented.
** Originally, the game's power-ups were going to correlate to the Fiendish Five gang members, which was possibly scrapped when they changed the members' level and character themes. This is evident in the first level, which was going to have the Panda King instead of Sir Raleigh. Sly would learn the Ninja Spire Jump from the Panda King's section of the Thievius Raccoonus instead of the turret addition to the Cooper Gang's van, which would be more fitting for a GadgeteerGenius like Raleigh.
** Sir Raleigh's level was initially going to be completely underwater, with the Cooper Gang needing a submarine-like watercraft to get around. Also, the level "Into the Machine" was going to have a mini-boss fight with an octopus but it was cut out.
** Raleigh's boss fight was much different in concept art, with him using a mechanical crab with razor blade claws.
** Muggshot's location was originally a junkyard in Texas (fitting with his scrapped cowboy persona), but this was scrapped due to the level having too much visual clutter, making the level nearly unplayable according to playtesters.
** In the final stage, Clockwerk's death ray was originally a giant mechanical lighthouse. Other ideas included a series of windmills and a volcano tube.
** [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/92n0ai/sly_1_concept_art_by_hokyo_lim/ An early concept for the Cooper Van]] would have had it transform into an RV as a secret hideout for when you visit different stages. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/95tysm/vehicle_designs_for_sly_1_by_hokyo_lim/ At one point]] the characters would have driven other vehicles, such as a snowmobile and a normal car, showing that the Cooper Van was not yet conceived.
** Similar to [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash]] and [[Franchise/SpyroTheDragon Spyro]], Sly would have been redesigned for a younger audience in Japan, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/96av5u/evolution_of_sly_early_sly_cooper_deesigns/ according to this concept art]].

** Early designs of Sly were more chunky and his clothes varied, with one [[https://www.slycoopernet.com/uploads/7/6/6/2/7662758/voodooapproach.jpg wearing less clothing]] and another [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TZnLYqOvEu0/hqdefault.jpg having a turtle neck]]. He was also much younger at one point in development. His original name was going to be JT, but this was changed early in development. Sly's originally had a Jersey-style voice before becoming a more classic suave-voiced thief. Also, Sly personality was originally a bit more conceded and egotistical which can be found in some DummiedOut dialog text in early demos.

** Carmelita Fox originally had a different, less revealing design that was only found in very early demos of the first game. Her voice was more Hispanic-accented than the final, and her name was originally Chase Montoya Fox. She was also going to shoot bullets or small missile-like rockets but it was changed to a shock pistol to ensure an E rating.

*** Another early concept for Murray was a Rambo-esque character with machine guns and have levels where he rescues Sly from capture. The only remainder of this idea is the two hover blaster levels in the final game.

** In some concept art there were two meerkat-like characters named Zig and Zag. In early versions of the game, mainly in demos, one of them is seen in treasure chests that act as checkpoints. In a podcast with [[WordOfSaintPaul Kevin Miller]], he stated they were news reporters.
** Originally the Fiendish Five were somewhat different.

** The original currency consisted of both coins and dancing cash bundles. The cash bundles were removed for localization reasons. Also, Sly face was going to be on the currency but was scrapped due to it not feeling like your stealing from others if Sly iconography was on everything, Only the last stage has Sly's face on the currency.
** Originally triggering an alarm in the game was going to have you not progress until you smash the alarm this only appears in the first few levels. Also, you would have a time limit to smash the alarm before a bomb or torrents goes off, This was replaced by the traps being fatal when you trigger them in the final.
** Originally Sly's eyes were always meant to be seen, even in the dark, but it wasn't implemented due to technical issues. However, this made it into the sequels.
** The game originally had other Thievius Raccoonus page abilities that were planned (such as "Teleportation") but were never implemented.
** Originally the game's power-ups were going to correlate to the Fiendish Five gang members, which was possibly scrapped when they changed the member's level and character themes. This is evident in the first level, which was going to have the Panda King instead of Sir Raleigh. Sly would learn The Ninja Spire Jump from the Panda King's section of the Thievius Raccoonus instead of the turret addition to the Cooper Gang's van, which would be more fitting for a GadgeteerGenius like Raleigh.

** Muggshot's location was originally a junkyard in Texas (fitting with his scrapped Cowboy persona), but this was scrapped due to the level having too much visual clutter, making the level nearly unplayable according to playtesters.

** Similar to [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash]] and [[Franchise/SpyroTheDragon Spyro]], Sly would have been redesigned for a Younger Japanese Audience [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/96av5u/evolution_of_sly_early_sly_cooper_deesigns/ according to this concept art]].

** Another early concept for Murray was a Rambo-esque character with machine guns and have levels where he rescues Sly from capture. The only remainder of this idea is the turret levels in the final game.
** According to some audio dialogue in an early E3 preview alpha build (from what would become "Murray's Big Gamble"), Murray was originally more stereotypically dimwitted.
** In some concept art there were two meerkats-like characters named Zig and Zag. In early versions of the game, mainly in demos, one of them is seen in treasure chests that act as checkpoints. In a podcast with [[WordOfSaintPaul Kevin Miller]], he stated they were news reporters.

** Originally triggering an alarm in the game was going to have you not progress until you smash the alarm this only appears in the first few levels. Also, you would have a time limit to smash the alarm before a gas bomb goes off, This was replaced by the traps being fatal when you trigger them in the final.

** Muggshot's location was originally a junkyard in Texas, but this was scrapped due to the level having too much visual clutter, making it nearly unplayable according to playtesters.

* AcclaimedFlop: The first game sold poorly upon release due to being overshadowed by other games like ''[[VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy Jak and Daxter]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 Ratchet & Clank]]''. The game increased in sales the following year of the game's release, especially overseas.

** Murray was going to be bisexual, but it was scrapped because he reminded the testers of Barney the Dinosaur. Regardless, it would have been inappropriate for a kids' game at that time, [[WordOfGay though some elements of this behavior appear]] in the [[VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime fourth game]].

** In some concept art there were two meerkats like characters named Zig and Zag. In early versions of the game, mainly in demos, one of them is seen in treasure chests that act as checkpoints. In a podcast with [[WordOfSaintPaul Kevin Miller]], he stated they were news reporters.

** Early designs of Sly were more chunky and his clothes varied, with one [[https://www.slycoopernet.com/uploads/7/6/6/2/7662758/voodooapproach.jpg wearing less clothing]] and another [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TZnLYqOvEu0/hqdefault.jpg having a turtle neck]]. He was also much younger at one point in development. His original name was going to be JT, but this was changed early in development. Sly originally had a Jersey-style voice before becoming a more classic suave-voiced thief. Also, Sly personality was originally a bit more conceded and egotistical which can be found in some DummiedOut dialog text in early demos.

** Originally triggers an alarm in the game was going to have you not progress until you smash the alarm this only appears in the first few levels. Also, you would have a time limit to smash the alarm before a gas bomb goes off, This was replaced by the traps being fatal when you trigger them in the final.

** Originally triggers an alarm was going to have you not progress until you smash the alarm this aspect only appears in the first few levels. Also, you would have a time limit to smash the alarm before a bomb or gas goes off, This was replaced by the traps being fatal when you trigger them in the final.

** Early designs of Sly were more chunky and his clothes varied, with one [[https://www.slycoopernet.com/uploads/7/6/6/2/7662758/voodooapproach.jpg wearing less clothing]] and another [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TZnLYqOvEu0/hqdefault.jpg having a turtle neck design]]. He was also much younger at one point in development. His original name was going to be JT, but this was changed early in development. Sly originally had a Jersey-style voice before becoming a more classic suave-voiced thief.

** Another early concept for Murray was a Rambo-esque character with machine guns. The only remainder of this idea is the turret levels in the final game.
** According to some audio dialogue in an early E3 preview alpha build (from what would become "Murray's Big Gamble"), Murray was originally more dimwitted.
** In some concept art there were two meerkat like characters named Zig and Zag. In early versions of the game, mainly in demos, one of them is seen in treasure chests that act as checkpoints. In a podcast with [[WordOfSaintPaul Kevin Miller]], he stated they were news reporters.

** The original currency consisted of both coins and dancing cash bundles. The cash bundles were removed for localization reasons.

** Sir Raleigh's level was initially going to be completely underwater, with the Cooper Gang needing a submarine-like watercraft to get around. Also, the level "into the Machine was going to have a mini-boss fight with an octopus but it was cut out.

** Carmelita Fox originally had a different, less revealing design that was only found in very early demos of the first game. Her voice was more Hispanic-accented than the final, and her name was originally Chase Montoya Fox.

*** The Panda King was more Han inspired than sumo wrestling and Kung-Fu inspired.

** Sir Raleigh's level was initially going to be completely underwater, with the Cooper Gang needing a submarine-like watercraft to get around.

* AcclaimedFlop: The first game sold poorly upon release due to being overshadowed by other games like [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy Jak and Daxter]], and [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 Ratchet and Clank]]. The game increased in sales the following year of the game's release, Especially overseas.
* DummiedOut: In addition to the normal stages' developer commentaries, [[https://tcrf.net/Sly_Cooper_and_the_Thievius_Raccoonus#Unused_Developer_Commentary dev commentary tracks exist for every minigame stage in the game and every stage of the last world except for the final boss's level(excluding clockwork)]], but since none of those levels have [[TimeTrial Master Thief Sprints]], it's impossible to hear their dev commentaries without hacking.

** Early designs of Sly were more chunky and his clothes varied from [[https://www.slycoopernet.com/uploads/7/6/6/2/7662758/voodooapproach.jpg wearing less clothing]] to [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TZnLYqOvEu0/hqdefault.jpg a turtle neck design]], He was also much younger at one point in development.
*** Sly’s original name was going to be JT, but his name was changed early in development.
*** Sly originally had a Jersey-style voice.
*** Sly originally had a cane with multiple unique functions. At least some of these functions included creating a sort of water cone that could reveal a hidden maze with the spray of some water, freezing crabs to make them crust over and die, and freezing fish into blocks of ice to create walkways.
** Carmelita Fox originally had a different less revealing design that was only found in very early demos of the first game.
*** Carmelita Fox’s voice was more Hispanic than the final.
*** Also her name was originally Chase Montoya Fox.
** Bentley’s voice was more stereotypically nerdy than the final.
** Murray was going to be bisexual, but it was scrapped because he reminded the testers of Barney the Dinosaur. Regardless, it would have been inappropriate for a kids’ game at that time. [[WordOfGay Although some elements of this behavior appear]] in the ''[[VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime fourth game]]''.
*** Although an Earlier concept for Murry was a Rambo-esch character with Huge Mashean Guns this idea was scrapped because the creators realize that was too much. The only remainder of the idea was the two shooting torrent levels in the final game, Seeing that you were meant to play as murry in those sections.
*** Plus according to some audio dialog found in an early E3 preview alpha build (Specifically the Mugshot shooting section where you protect Murray), He was originally more dimwitted.
** In some concept art there were two meerkat like characters named Zig and Zag its unknown what their true purpose was but in early versions of the game mainly in demos one of them is seen in treasure chess that acts as checkpoints. In a podcast with Kevin Miller, he stated they were News Reporters.
** Originally the Fiendish Five was somewhat different.
*** The Panda King was more Han inspired then Sumo Kung-Fu inspired.
*** Muggshot was originally a cowboy-inspired Bull Dog instead of a gangster.
*** Clockwork originally started out as a thousand-year-old Stone Gargoyle then became a Mechanical Owl.

** Originally in the first game Sly’s eyes were always meant to be seen even in the dark but it was never implemented due to technical issues, but it was implemented in the sequels and onward.
** The game originally had other Thievius Raccoonus page abilities that were planned such as “Teleportation” (possibly use as fast travel system in levels between checkpoints) but were never implemented.
** Originally the game's power-ups were going to correlate to the Fiendish Five gang members, It was possibly scrapped when they changed the member's level and character themes. This aspect is somewhat kept with Mugshot.
*** This is evident because the first level was going to have the Panda King as the first member of the Fiendish Five instead of Sir Raleigh. Sly would also learn The Ninjaspier jump (or possibly the climb move) from the Panda King's section of the Thievius Raccoonus also Clockwork was the only one that doesn't have a page where you gain a power-up, It's just a mention.
** Sir Raleigh’s level was initially going to be completely underwater, with the Cooper Gang needing a submarine-like watercraft to get around.
*** Also his Boss Fight was much different in concept art, With him using a mechanical crab with razor blade claws.
** Muggshot's location was originally a Junk Yard in Texas, This was scrapped due to the level having too much visual clutter, Making it nearly unplayable according to playtesters.
** In the final stage Clockworks deathray was originally a giant mechanical lighthouse, Other ideas were a series of windmills and a volcano tube.
** [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/92n0ai/sly_1_concept_art_by_hokyo_lim/ An early concept for the Cooper Van]] would have had it transform into an RV as a secret hideout for when you visit different stages
*** [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/95tysm/vehicle_designs_for_sly_1_by_hokyo_lim/ At one point]] the characters would have driven other vehicles a such as a Snow Ski and a Regular Car showing that the Cooper Van was not yet conceived.

* DummiedOut: In addition to the normal stages' developer commentaries, [[https://tcrf.net/Sly_Cooper_and_the_Thievius_Raccoonus#Unused_Developer_Commentary dev commentary tracks exist for every minigame stage in the game and every stage of the last world except for the final boss's level]], but since none of those levels have [[TimeTrial Master Thief Sprints]], it's impossible to hear their dev commentaries without hacking.

*** Clockwork originally started out as a thousand-year-old Stone Gargoyle then became a Mechanical Hawk than to his final design of a Mechanical Owl.

*** Clockwork originally started out as a thousand-year-old Stone Gargoyle then became a Mechanical Hawk then to his final design of a Mechanical Owl.

** Originally in the first game Sly’s eyes was always meant to be seen even in the dark but it was never implemented due to technical issues, but it was implemented in the sequels and onward.
** The first game had other Thievius Raccoonus page abilities that were planned such as “Teleportation” but were never implemented.

** Muggshot's location was originally a Junk Yard in Texas, This was scrapped due to the level having too much visual clutter for platforms to jump on and making it hard to find objects, This made it nearly unplayable for playtesters.
** [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/92n0ai/sly_1_concept_art_by_hokyo_lim/ An early concepts for the Cooper Van]] would have had it transform into an RV as a secret hideout for when you visit different stages

** Similar to [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash]] and [[Franchise/SpyroTheDragon Spyro]], Sly would have been redesigned for an Younger Japanese Audience [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Slycooper/comments/96av5u/evolution_of_sly_early_sly_cooper_deesigns/ according to this concept art]].

*** Although an Earlier concept for Murry was a Rambo-esch character with Huge Mashean Guns this idea was scrapped because the creators realize that was too much. The only remainder of the idea was the shooting levels in the final game, Seeing that you were meant to play as murry in those sections.

*** Muggshot was originally a cowboy-inspired Bull Dog instead of a gangster and his location was a Junk Yard in Texas.