In its heyday, the PlayStation was most well-known for its mascots that were created to compete with Nintendo’s offerings. Characters like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and PaRappa the Rapper were known as key staples in the PlayStation brand, with newer ones popping up throughout newer generations of consoles. As the PlayStation brand progressed, so did the mascots, with Sony introducing newer franchises such as the Jak series, Sly Cooper, God of War, Ratchet & Clank, and later the Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet series.
But unlike Nintendo’s IPs, many of Sony’s franchises have been left in the dust in more recent years with only a handful that returned to relevance through consistent sequels and reboots. With the PS5 coming up, it seems like a good time for Sony to bring back some of its old and more forgotten franchises.
During the PlayStation 2’s prime, there were three huge franchises that were a force to be reckoned with: those three were Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and Sly Cooper. Being the least popular of the three, Sucker Punch’s Sly Cooper has always seen the least amount of love from the PlayStation brand, only ever given three entries on the PS2 console and later a fourth entry on the PS3. The series has gone on to become critically acclaimed and is widely loved by its fans, but for whatever reason, fans have never seen a consistent release of new titles.
The first three games make for a fantastic trilogy of titles, but it took nearly a decade for the Sly Cooper series to get a new entry—and never got a follow-up due to poor sales. In fact, Thieves in Time ended on a cliffhanger ending of all things and has yet to be concluded in any sort of way. It would be a shame to never seen Sly get a proper happy ending, forever stuck in an unfinished story.
If Sony were to bring back Sly Cooper, there are plenty of different avenues for the series to go down. Sony, in fact, has tried to adapt the game series multiple times: first in 2014, when the company attempted to make a CGI film based off of the Sly series, and then a television series in 2017, which was supposed to release sometime last year. It’s a wonder why Sony continues to announce and scrap new projects for the sly raccoon and where the series is supposed to be heading. Perhaps it’s a sign that Sony has lost hope for any real future for the character, or maybe it means that a new game is coming sooner than fans think.
Jak and Daxter, the other lost and forgotten platforming mascot from the PS2-era, has been absent from the PlayStation brand for even longer than Sly has. First introduced in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy in 2001, Jak became wildly popular at the start of the PlayStation 2’s launch, showcasing just how much was possible from Sony’s second console. The title came from the minds of Naughty Dog, the same creators of Crash Bandicoot. The series in many ways feels like the proper evolution of the Crash series, with more advanced and fleshed out gameplay mechanics.
The Jak series evolved over the course of its sequels, even receiving multiple spin-offs in the form of the racing title Jak X, the PSP-exclusive Daxter, and a sequel entitled Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. The latter wasn’t really the best send-off for the franchise, however.
Jak 4 was almost a reality, starting off as an early concept that later turned into what is now known as The Last of Us. The game would have been somewhat of a reboot of the series, but with a much darker tone. Perhaps it’s good that the title turned into its own franchise, as both The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2 have both gone on to become critically acclaimed and widely loved by gamers, with the first game considered one of the best games of all time by many. But if the series were to ever return with a new game, it dould potentially be a huge hit.
The Infamous series is yet another PlayStation franchise that has long remained dormant. Since Second Son‘s release, Infamous hasn’t appeared in any shape or form and shows no sign of returning. A return to the world of Infamous would be more than welcome, as its comic book-like world was an incredibly interesting and captivating one, and seeing more of it on the PlayStation 5’s hardware would be fantastic.
Other than these three franchises, countless other IPs have long remained dormant and untouched by Sony. Both PaRappa the Rapper and MediEvil recently received graphical upgrades of their respective PS one originals, but full-on sequels to both titles would be even better. Other franchises, like Twisted Metal, would be great to see come back as well. Twisted Metal last returned in the form of a soft-reboot on the PS3, but it could very well be brought back again for another revitalization on the PS5.
Sony has a dense catalogue of old franchises that are just begging for new entries on the PlayStation 5, and it would be a massive shame to not see their returns. With Sony’s very positive stance on its franchises, it sounds like it’s more of a matter of when, not if, these franchises will make their eventual returns.
The PS5 releases November 12.
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