Hello everyone, we have a big update involving changes to Sly 2’s leaderboards. Following a community survey released in November, our intentions were announced in the Sly Cooper Speedruns Discord on 1 Jan. with the goal of inviting community feedback before they went live. This decision was reached after a tremendous amount of deliberation within the mod room – with consideration of the community survey and discussions in the Discord. 

This change will go into effect today. Please pardon our dust as we make the changes on Speedrun.com. 

Sly 2’s main-page categories will now be split three ways:

• Original
  • PS2 Disc
  • Patched versions of PS4/PS5 Release
• Remaster [Default Category]
  • HD Remaster (PS3 Digital, Collection Disc, PS Vita, PS Plus Premium)
• PS4/PS5 v1.0
  • Launch version of PS4/PS5 Release, which has Universal Cutscene Skips

This change originated from notable – but not unanimous – dislike of the previous setup, which was in place throughout 2025 and featured all versions other than PS4/PS5 v1.0 on a shared “Classic” board. Patched PS5 was optimal for most categories under this arrangement, partially obsoleting the Remaster version – Sly 2 speedrunning’s flagship version for nearly its entire existence and the preferred version for the vast majority of runners. It also created a circumstance where two different consoles/versions were optimal in different categories of the same leaderboard; this demotivated some runners who only have one console or the other, and it risked dissuading new runners because of the inability to buy a single optimal console/version – often one of the first things which prospective runners ask about. It was also argued by some that it was unhealthy for the game’s optimal version (for most categories) to be one which the vast majority of runners would rather not play on. A leaderboard split of this type did not have any equivalent precedent in the Sly community but is commonplace in speedrunning in general.

Community survey responses and discussion in the Discord indicate a majority desire for change and for Remaster to be separated from PS4/PS5. When considering only the two options for a two-way split, preferences are mostly divided. When including the three-way split, support for this option – meaning it was someone’s first or second preference – constitutes a majority and leads the others. The previous setup finishes last in this comparison. Based on these community opinions, the three-way split has been selected primarily as a compromise.

We also prefer the three-way split over the alternative two-way option (Original/Remaster) because it represents a forward motion from the previous structure rather than a backtrack. The three-way restructuring is essentially a split of the previous “Classic” subcategory, whereas Original/Remaster would be a complete flip. We also believe placing non-v1.0 runs alongside v1.0, which saves well over an hour and has been repeatedly referred to as a completely different run by the community, would be unfair. Multiple community members have expressed this same concern. Original/Remaster restructuring would have also obsoleted patched PS5 runs already sitting at the top of some leaderboards, which we believe would be inappropriate and unjustified.

Some runners expressed concern that a three-way split could potentially result in “dead boards” or a divided community. Although we agree that these are important considerations, and boards should not be split unnecessarily, we view this as secondary to the other factors. We also do not believe that – under this arrangement – there will be seldom-ran categories that are overall harmful and/or that are not already seldom-ran.

On Category Extensions, the previous two-way split will remain. Unlike with the main boards, there are not currently enough runners, runs, or interest on CE to support a three-way split.

This was not a circumstance in which a solution could be reached that would please everyone, but we view this outcome as the only fair option when taking into account the opinions of all runners and the full extent of the circumstances.

As always, please feel free to let us know if you have any questions or concerns. 

-Sly Cooper Speedruns Mod Team