There’s not a lot of mystery when it comes to ports of classic games -- especially when they’ve already been re-released on another platform. There are only two questions that really matter: do the original experiences hold up, and did the ports ruin anything? In the case of The Sly Collection on PlayStation Vita, I’m happy to report that everything is still awesome and nothing has been ruined. All three of Sly Cooper’s original PlayStation 2 adventures remain as charming and engaging as ever, thanks in part to their imperfect yet still impressive transition to Sony’s portable system.

For those who missed the halcyon era of mascot platformers that defined the PlayStation 2, roguish thief Sly Cooper and his buddies Bentley and Murray travel the world robbing criminals, reclaiming Sly’s family legacy, and flirting with a particularly foxy police inspector. In addition to the usual mix of platform hopping, item collecting, and puzzle solving, Sly always emphasized stealth and cunning over button-mashy combat. The gameplay’s focus shifted a bit as the series progressed and more characters became playable beyond Sly himself, but those sneaky underpinnings were still enough to distinguish our slippery hero from his contemporaries Jak, Daxter, Ratchet, and Clank.More importantly, Sly’s humor always eschewed snark and cynicism in favor of goofy, light-hearted charm. If you’ve ever needed a warm “Saturday morning cartoon” blanket to shut out the cold, unfeeling embrace of reality, Sly is an ideal escape. The dialogue, though at times forced and trite, consistently delivers clever quips and winning puns. Characters -- including the dastardly yet pleasantly non-threatening villains -- manage to be familiar and likable without tipping into cliche. The slick, cel-shaded graphics and absolutely spot-on soundtrack tie the whole package into a unique, cohesive experience. In short: good writing doesn’t age, so Sly’s presentation remains just as appealing today as was 12 years ago when the first game debuted.Impressively, the gameplay has weathered the passage of time almost as resiliently. Sucker Punch -- Sly’s original developer -- always kept the core mechanics clean and simple, relying mostly intricate level design and meaningful rewards like collecting clues to unlock new moves in Sly Cooper and Thievius Raccoonus or acquiring currency to buy useful items in Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Like writing, smart design doesn’t age. Cleverly crafted puzzles are still clever; inventive traversal sections are still...you get it. When someone refers to a classic as “timeless,” this is what they mean.There’s also a surprising amount of gameplay diversity -- both within each game and across the series as a whole -- that keeps the overall experience engaging even by modern standards. You might have to tiptoe through a level wearing a barrel for protection or handle a few hacking mini-games that punctuate the more traditional gameplay. You’ll also gather new moves, new items, new playable allies -- nothing that drastically alters the basic formula, but more than enough to keep you invested. Even if you don’t have a near-lethal dose of nostalgia coursing through your veins like I do, I still genuinely believe each of these games is worth playing today.Of course, that wouldn’t be true if the ports were unbearable messes, so I’m grateful they were handled with obvious care by Sanzaru Games (the same team that brought The Sly Collection to PS3 before developing the well-received Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time). While other HD re-releases on Vita have suffered from glaring technical problems, The Sly Collection skates through nearly unscathed. I say “nearly” because there’s a bit of audio compression, the cutscenes aren’t as sharp as their PS3 counterparts, and I did encounter infrequent but still noticeable framerate drops, but none of these issues proved significant enough to actually detract from my enjoyment of the core experience. Overall, Sly looks sharp and plays smoothly even on a smaller screen and short two shoulder buttons.There are, however, a few drawbacks to the actual package. As of now, there’s no cross-buy option in the US, so if you already own a retail version of The Sly Collection on PS3, you’re going to have to suck it up and buy the games all over again. If you buy a physical copy of the Vita version, the game card only contains the first two Sly Cooper games; you’ll have to redeem an included voucher to download the third, which weighs in at just over two gigs. And even though you can only purchase all three games bundled together, they all download separately and even launch separately from the home screen. This means you can essentially choose to download just one a time (which could be helpful if your pricey memory card is already full), but it would have been a bit more consumer-friendly to see the games sold separately as well.Finally, this new version of a pre-existing collection offers no new content. In fact, it doesn’t even contain the offline multiplayer mode that shipped with the original Sly 3. Considering the PS3 collection has been out for three and half years now, it would have been cool to at least see some bonus content or behind-the-scenes extras. You know, anything more than just, “The games are portable now, please buy them again.” But then, all of this is a bit like complaining about not getting a cherry on top of an otherwise excellent sundae.