An early design of Sly Cooper that more resembles Jojo from Rocket: Robot on Wheels.
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Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
- Early designs of Sly were more chunky and his clothes varied, with one wearing less clothing
◊ and another 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 Dummied Out 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 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 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 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 Gadgeteer Genius 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.
- 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. 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 Crash and Spyro, Sly would have been redesigned for a younger audience in Japan, according to this concept art.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
- Originally, there was a level in Monaco but it was cut for time and space constraints. It would have been Dimitri's Part 2 episode seeing that he was the only Klaww Gang member (aside from Arpeggio) without a part 2 episode. The episode played out with a wedding and Bentley crashing a boat into the casino. It's unknown what Clockwerk part would have been obtained. This level idea was eventually made into a comic book instead.
- Murray would have had his original personality from the first game but he was a little more grown-up and casual. One example of this was in the secret demo included with Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal showing some alternate dialogue between Murray and Bentley in the Paris level, with Murray getting angry at Bentley for giving the mission instructions in a slow, patronizing tone of voice. In the finished product, Bentley still delivers the instructions in the same manner, but Murray just replies "Check!" and their argument is completely cut out. It was changed to a more heroic and somewhat childish personality to fit his fighting combat persona better.
- The Bad Mojo Collector mission would have had Murray asking "What's a bad mofo collector?" to Bentley but was replaced with him asking "Huh?" to lower the risk of a T rating.
- Early concept art◊ of Dimitri had a more realistic design in style as well as a pimp-like appearance. The idea was scrapped for being too mature for an E rated game, so he was given a Disco theme instead.
- In the Paris level, there was a mission where you had to ride a helicopter to open the gate to the back of the night club but it was cut from the final.
- Arpeggio was slated to have two episodes like the rest of the Klaww Gang (meaning that this game was going to have 10 episodes), and the Cooper Gang was set to retrieve Clockwerk's brain during the first one. The part two episode would have been where Arpeggio obtained all of the Clockwerk parts and rebuilt Clockwerk as he does in Episode 8 of the final game.
- The game was going to have a 3D feature that can only be seen in early betas. It was never implemented, but it would later be used in the third game.
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
- Originally, the intro was much different than the final, with Sly getting beaten and washed up on the beach instead of being crushed and almost eaten by a monster.
- In an early prototype, there were some unused power-ups such as sleep gas bombs, and an unused outfit for Sly where he dresses up in a pulp-like hat, possibly indicating a costume that works in all levels.
- The Guru at one point was a monk, but the idea was scrapped to avoid religious sensibility. In the final game's credits, he's incorrectly credited as The Shaman, possibly an early name for him. In early Concept Art, he had a boomerang, possibly as a weapon, but it was removed to fit his peaceful personality better. Also, he was originally going to speak, but due to time and money constraints he only speaks in mumbles and gibberish in the final game.
- Originally Dimitri was going to wear only a speedo as his diver outfit, but it was changed to a diving suit because it made him look naked, which would've gotten the game's rating would be bumped up to a T. He was also going to use a harpoon as a weapon, but it was changed for the same reason because it looked too much like a shotgun.
- The game at one point showed that you can play as Penelope, but this can be done only with cheating devices. She can only double jump and she can activate buttons with her own interactive icon, but she has no attacks and she can't use a Binocucom.
- In an alpha build of the Venice level, Octavio had a different design where he had more of a Beethoven look rather than a Phantom of the Opera look. Also, his guards were dressed up like circus clowns instead of opera singers.
- In the Outback Australia level, instead of only feeding guards to the alligator, you would have first given him a scorpion to make him fall in love with you.
- Bentley wore his hat from Sly 2 instead of the helmet we see in the final game.
- There was a mechanic were Bentley would chuck bombs at Sly and he would have to hit them away like a baseball to reach distant targets.
- The alpha had a lot of missions that heavily changed or were just cut, as seen by leaked footage in YouTube:
- The first mission in Venice involved Sly checking pizzerias around the map to find Murray, only to get caught and ambushed twice. Octavio made his first appearance in this version of the mission.
- Destroying the Ferris wheel in Venice was originally its own mission, and required Sly and Bentley to steal keys around the map. The justification for it was also very flimsy, and the "it's used to spread tar into the water" was a later addition (hilariously, in the alpha it really feels Bentley was planning a terrorist act for shit and giggles). In the final level it's just a cutscene in the end of an another mission.
- The Venice disguise mission has Bentley entering apartments and a museum for some unspecified purpose rather than coffeehouses for blueprints. The last location to infiltrate was repurposed into the Police HQ in the finished gamenote . Tony B. is given the placeholder name Bob in this version of the mission, and the additional security question he asks is about his mother’s name (Martha) rather than his own nickname. The last part of the mission also incorporates the multiplayer element that is absent from the main story campaign in the finished game, passing a gold helmet between them that has a time limit for how long a single person can hold it at a time.
- The mission where you destroy Octavio's blimps and billboard was originally meant for Bentley, and involved boats instead of blimps. The billboard would be destroyed by shooting sleep darts at targets behind the moving hands.
- Australia's first mission also required the baseball system, but instead of bombs Bentley would throw Sly hooks to create pathways to Guru's hideouts. In the final game the hooks are already there, brought by the miners.
- Another mission in Australia required Murray to first knock over a large rock to create a bridge between landmasses and lift a large metallic contraception to act as another bridge. The mission was removed, but both makeshift bridges are still there (One is next to the twin rocks near the saloon, the other is the metallic contraception floating in the swamp near where Guru has to destroy the generator).
- The last episode has an unused mission involving Murray using his ball form to climb on top of radio towers, possibly to destroy them.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
- Thieves in Time's original release date was penned for September 29, 2012 to coincide with the franchise's 10th anniversary, but was pushed back by Sony to February the following year as they felt it would be overshadowed by bigger releases from around that period.
- The game was originally going to be aimed at an older audience with a T rating in mind, but this was scrapped to keep the game family-friendly like its predecessors.
- Carmelita's earlier concept designs ranged from softer and lady-like to more mature and grown-up. One of these changed her personality to be more outwardly flirty and slightly ditzy (such as losing her gun in her tail fur).
- She was also going to use a more realistic firearm (to fit with the T rating) but this was quickly scrapped. Funnily enough, she does use a real gun in the promotional short "Timing is Everything."
- Biz Markie was once cast as the Grizz during pre-production readings but was replaced by Fred Tatasciore for unknown reasons.
- Dimitri was intended to be playable at some point, as evidenced by concepts of him wielding his own silver-topped cane, as well as his physical appearance in both some early promotional material (with David Scully even reprising the role in the game's announcement trailer) and the Bentley's Hackpack side-game. In the game proper, Dimitri only appears in the 2D-animated cutscenes, and his voice is not heard once. Despite all this, David Scully is still credited as Dimitri's voice actor in the game.
- A New Game Plus mode for Thieves in Time, called Horseshoe Mode, was planned. It would have removed the Thief Meter in favor of making the player a One-Hit-Point Wonder that could collect up to two horseshoes to prevent death after getting hurt, just like in the first game. This was scrapped due to both time constraints as well as some negative reactions from QA testers.
- Early concepts for Thieves in Time had a mole as the Big Bad of "Of Mice and Mechs," with Penelope remaining a Face.
- Penelope went through several designs throughout the development phase. One was simply an older-looking version of her Sly 3 design, indicating that her Face–Heel Turn may not have always been planned. Another had her with a crazy-looking Clock Punk inspired-look and was axed for being too spoilery.
- From the Outside looking in, it appeared to be Dimitri who was going to initially be the traitor, considering the first teaser for Sly 4 was him disguising himself as Sly to frame him for theft.
- Concept art for the Feudal Japan level shows that there was going to be a mission that took place in a bathhouse/spa.
- Sir Galleth Cooper was originally named Sir Robin Cooper and was a Robin Hood-based Cooper instead of a knight. This was possibly changed to keep in-continuity with the Cooper ancestors mentioned in previous entries, although some fans believe that a Robin Hood-inspired Cooper would have still made sense historically and theme-wise. Some concept art for Sir Robin can be seen in the circus mission as advertising posters.
- Thieves in Time was originally going to start with an Ancient Egypt-themed level, where Sly would meet one of the original Slytunkamens. While a full script was written for this episode, it was shelved due to a combination of both time constraints and the space limitations of the Play Station Vita. Ancient Egypt would eventually find its way into the game via the secret ending.
- As such, Sanzaru intended to release this Egypt level as post-game DLC later on, but was unable to.
- Carmelita was supposed to have her own Job Complete screen, but it was cut for unknown reasons.
