Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is the first game in the Sly Cooper series, in which Sly and the gang face the Fiendish Five to steal back the pages of Sly's family book. It is the series' entry with the most hidden content, including unused dialogue, scrapped powerups, debug cheat codes, and a secret developer in-joke that went undiscovered for 18 years.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Notes Bugs

Out-of-Bounds Objects#

Scenery#

A copy of Sly's arm holding a cane can sometimes get stuck on one of the nearby rooftops when you skip the intro cutscene in "Paris, France". There is also a door and a lamp which aren't supported by anything. Spooky...

"A Hazardous Path" has a bubble of lava impaled by a stalactite floating out of bounds, off to the right from the start of the level. The lava bubble loops an animation of growing bigger and bigger until it pops.

Also in "A Hazardous Path" are these textureless gray boxes. They are hidden away inside the volcano, at the base of the low-poly security tower in the distance.

In "A Strange Reunion", these two crates can be found floating in the lava behind where you spawn in the third phase of the boss fight. They are hidden inside another setpiece which is not visible in these screenshots due to back-face culling.

Pickups#

A coin and a lucky charm can be found floating below the dojo in "Flame Fu!"

This coin is stored below the lava in "A Daring Rescue".

3 coins are stored directly below the tower in "Sinking Peril".

Alarms#

This alarm is hidden inside the pagoda at the end of "The King of the Hill".

In "A Strange Reunion", during phase three of the Clockwerk fight, this alarm is hidden below the lava. It controls the laser beams in the platforming section of the level. You can also see the remainder of the security tower head, most of which is hidden beneath the lava's surface.

Map Cubes#

Behind each of the five world maps in "The Hideout" are clusters of cubes arranged in a 3x3 grid. The amount of cubes behind each map corresponds to the number of levels in that world. World 5 is the only world with fewer than 9 levels, and the position of the missing cubes on its grid is consistent with the map IDs not used by that world (i.e. World 5 does not have levels with map IDs of 3 or 5, so the third and fifth cubes are absent). It is unknown if the cubes serve any purpose.

Unused Carmelita Texture#

The body texture for Carmelita's old design, seen in the May 19 2002 prototype, can be found among the textures of Paris.

Unused Bentley Dialogue#

Bentley has several voice lines that aren't used in the final game. Most of them have text subtitles, but they were not localized into any other languages.

Powerups#

Short Range Teleport#

This powerup would have allowed you to set a waypoint anywhere in a level and teleport to it at will. The filename is vapup2teleportbnt.vag, suggesting it would have been the second powerup unlocked. For some reason, the audio is repeated twice.

Spatial Relocator#

This powerup would have allowed you to teleport between the checkpoints in a level. The filename is vapup9checkbnt.vag, suggesting it would have been the ninth powerup unlocked.

Clue Collection#

This master thief technique behaves like coin magnet, but for clue bottles. While it is active, bottles will break when you get near them without actually touching them. The filename is vapup12cluebnt.vag. This powerup is not unlockable in-game, but it can be enabled through memory editing. In the North American version, change bit 0 at address 0x27DC12 to 1.

Prowling the Grounds#

This unused dialogue answers Bentley's earlier question as to why Raleigh would want a storm machine. The line may have been scrapped due to the answer being obvious, or to leave it up to the player's interpretation.

Treasure in the Depths#

This audio file is called ripi09.vag, which is a reference to uw_rip_off, the internal name for the level "Treasure in the Depths". This line is unused in the final game because the number of chests you need to collect never changes. However, this line is used in the May 2002 Prototype version of the level.

Vaults#

An unused vault combination, called vcom320.vag. It's obvious why this is unused; there's a lot of background noise and static on the recording. In the May 2002 Prototype, though, this line and combination are used... for four separate vaults!

These two lines feature Bentley telling Sly he needs to collect more clues before he can open a vault. They are called vgmt.vag and vgol.vag, respectively.

Unused Music#

Unused Text#

The following string is present in the final game but not shown on-screen. &2T& is the triangle button icon, &2(&. is the analog stick, and &2X&. is the X button. A variation of this string with "Exit" instead of "Back" is used in prototype builds for the "View Map" screen.

&2T&. : Back
&2(&. : Move
&2X&. : Warp

Debug Codes#

The game contains several debug codes that went undiscovered for nearly 18 years.⁶ There are 9 codes in total, all of which are confirmed to be debug features that were meant to be removed in the final release.⁷

Chetkido Password#

Down L2 R2 X Down L2 R2 X Left Circle Square Square Square

Entering this code under specific conditions will show a pop-up message that reads, "The password isː chetkido". The conditions are:

1. Be in the level "A Perilous Ascent"
2. Have 100% on your save file
3. Have 99 coins
4. Have 0 lives left

It is unknown what this password was ever intended to be used for, if anything. When asked what it means, one of the developers said it was merely an inside joke among the dev team that was left in by mistake.⁸

The word "chetkido" is actually encrypted in memory. It is stored as "@KFWHJGL", and when the code is entered, it decrypts the text using a XOR cipher with 0x23 as the key.

Invulnerability#

There is a debug flag in the game's memory that, when set, makes Sly invulnerable. While enabled, Sly will ignore all damage, he will never be knocked back by guards or level hazards, and he will always have Water Safety and Fall Safety. To enable it in the North American version, use a memory editor to change bit 0 at offset 0x262C64 to 1.

While external tools are required to activate it in the final version, the E3 2002 Demo has a debug code to enable it.

Out-of-Bounds Triggers#

Dread Swamp Path#

Watch on YouTubeThe level “Dread Swamp Path” has a debug trigger out of bounds. The trigger is suspended in the void behind the gate at the end of the level. Entering this trigger restarts the level from the beginning.

Eye of the Storm#

The World 1 boss fight with Raleigh, “The Eye of the Storm”, has a trigger outside the blimp that exits back to the World 1 Hub, “Prowling the Grounds”.

Hidden Developer Commentary#

Most levels have developer commentary that is unlocked by completing the Master Thief Sprint (aka time trial) for that level. The developers actually recorded commentary for all of the levels in the game except for the prologue, hubs, and boss battles, but because the following levels lack Master Thief Sprints, their commentary cannot be unlocked in-game.

Anticrack#

Watch on YouTube

The game uses multiple checksums to detect any unauthorized modifications or if the game is being emulated on third-party software. It is known to be triggered by certain GameShark codes. If any of the checksums fail, certain flags are set in memory and one or more of the following measures will take effect. This system is referred to as “anticrack” internally.

Anti-Grab#

Pressing the Circle button while jumping to hook onto a rope, ladder or pipe does nothing, making climbing impossible. This happens in two stages:

• After 30 seconds of in-game time, the effect happens intermittently.
• After 2 minutes, climbing is disabled altogether.

Vehicles#

After an FMV has been played for three seconds, the following restrictions are placed on the game's vehicles. Since the game starts with an FMV of the Sucker Punch logo, these are usually triggered when the game is booted.

• The van's acceleration is capped at a very low value, making races impossible.
• The hover blaster's cannon is disabled, making the shooter levels impossible.

Collectibles#

The key counter will never increase when collecting a treasure key. Since you need a certain number of keys to reach the next area, this effectively halts all progression.

Also, after 2 minutes and 55 seconds of in-game time, the following measures affect clue bottles:

• After dying or loading a level, each clue bottle you previously collected will have a 20% chance to be un-collected.
• Each clue bottle in the level will have a 20% chance to be invisible. However, you can still see their location by using the binoc-u-com powerup.

Firewall#

In the level "Into the Machine", if the player spends 1 minute and 27 seconds in the final section of the map, an invisible wall of fire will appear, making it impossible to reach the key. If you save the game while this measure is active, it will become permanent, rendering the save file corrupted.

Regional Differences#

European Version Differences#

• The European version of the game removed the "Commercials & Outtakes" unlockable movie, replacing it with “Tokyo Ending”, the ending cutscene for the JP version of the game.
• A language toggle was added to the title screen.
• Murray has a unique animation in front of the next upcoming chapter map in the hideout of the American version of the game. This was changed in the European version, where he always stands next to Bentley and eating a hotdog. This change would also be carried over to the Japanese version.

Japanese Version Differences#

• The opening and ending movies were completely redone in a different animation style with more frames of animation and different designs for Sly and Carmelita.

• A language toggle with options for Japanese or English voice overs was added and can be changed at the title screen or in the options menu at the Hideout. The toggle also changes the opening and ending movies.
• The Lucky Charm on Sly’s back pack is flipped vertically in the Japanese version.
• A unique theme song called "BLACK JACK" by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra can also be heard in the Japanese version, which plays both during the demo reel and the credits.
• The Japanese version has a demo reel of the game that plays after being inactive on the title screen.

Watch on YouTube

Revisional Differences#

The Sly Collection#

The Sly Collection, released in 2010 for the PS3, introduced some changes.

• The soundtrack was reworked to use streaming audio instead of sequenced audio. This introduces the following:
  • Many of the music tracks were re-recorded.
  • This change causes the music to cut out after Sly loses a life, instead of continuously playing.
  • A couple of audio bugs are introduced. The first bug involves the sneaking intro music before the title screen not always playing properly. The second bug involves the “sneaking” notes that play while Sly is sneaking up on an enemy; here, they often do not stop playing, even during normal movement.

Japanese Version

• The PS3 version lacks the language toggle, therefore, English voice acting is not accessible.
• The Japanese voice acting has been re-recorded with a different cast.
• The BLACK JACK theme song is missing, as well as the demo reel that plays at the title screen. The end credits, which have the theme song, have been omitted.
• The music that plays during the FMVs have been replaced with different tracks.

PS2 Classics for PS4/PS5#

The PS2 Classics Catalog version was released digitally on PS4 and PS5 in June 2024. It is an emulated build of the original PS2 game.

• The North American version does not have the "Commercials & Outtakes" unlockable movie in the Hideout. Selecting the empty space where it should be does nothing. The “Tokyo Ending” movie still replaces it in the European version.
• The Japanese version (accessed by setting the system language to Japanese) lacks the BLACK JACK theme song. The music video does not play at the title screen, and the ending credits were modified to remove the theme song and any references to it, instead using the original music from the North American and European versions.
• Initially, the PS4 version ran about 10% faster than the PS2 and PS5 versions. This affected all aspects of gameplay except for streamed audio playback (such as the opening sequence before the title screen and all voice acting), which was slightly out of sync. This was especially apparent during the boss fight with Ms. Ruby. A patch with the version number 1.03 was issued on July 2024 to fix the issue.

Build Strings#

The following strings can be found within the game executable. They are the build user, build date, and build ID, respectively.

North America#

jojo

08/24/02 22:06

0824.2206

Europe#

jojo

11/21/02 21:05

1121.2105

References#