Sackboy is a fictional character and main protagonist of the LittleBigPlanet video game series published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Introduced in the 2008 video game LittleBigPlanet, Sackboy is a small, anthropomorphic, humanoid doll-like character made of burlap sack with a brown knit pattern by default, with a zip fastener and button eyes. Sackboy was originally designed to be a "blank canvas" for LittleBigPlanet players, and is fully customisable using costumes which are either in-game unlockable content, or purchased as downloadable content (DLC) from the PlayStation Store. Sackboy was jointly created by the founding members of British game studio Media Molecule. Scottish composer Kenneth Young provided the vocal effects for the character from 2008 to 2014.
Due to the commercial and critical success of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, Sackboy is considered to be a notable mascot character for Sony's PlayStation brand by Sony staff members as well as video game journalists, and has drawn comparisons to several other video game mascot characters. The character's appearance in the 2020 spin-off title Sackboy: A Big Adventure, the first 3D platforming game in the series which also features Sackboy as a distinct character, has garnered a positive reaction.
Characteristics
Sackboy is the playable character of the LittleBigPlanet series of video games, which encourage players to create their own custom levels using in-game toolsets and share it online for other players to download and play. Sackboy was not intended to have a defined personality, as he was envisioned to be a blank canvas on which to express the player's own personal style, thus Sackboy is not fully voice acted like other characters in the series. His vocal effects from the inception of the franchise to 2014's LittleBigPlanet 3 were provided by Scottish composer Kenneth Young.
Sackboy can use his limbs to run, jump, and grab certain materials and operate levers. Players can also animate Sackboy to perform a dance routine, or use machinima techniques to create a cinematic production with Sackboy. In the main series LittleBigPlanet video games, Sackboy is represented by four emotional states: happiness, sadness, worry and anger, each of which comes in three levels of intensity and can be controlled by players. Depending on the input motion by the player operating the PlayStation controller, Sackboy will hold his hands differently. To express happiness, Sackboy makes a peace symbol with his hands. To express sadness, Sackboy holds his thumbs down. To express anger, Sackboy makes a fist out of his hands, and to express fear, Sackboy holds up his hands and they shake.
The Pod is Sackboy's "home", which is customizable through the use of stickers and decorations, and appears to be located within a bedroom and suspended by strings. The Pod is where the player can find and join levels, meet up with friends, and launch the level editor. To navigate the various levels, Sackboy operates a giant-sized PlayStation 3 controller within the Pod to travel to various levels. There are also three forward-and-back planes Sackboy can move between to navigate different areas of the levels. It is possible for players to customize Sackboy to look like anything the player desires, including other recognizable characters in popular culture, using nothing more than random objects or creating detailed stickers to paint him with. Some of Sackboy's licensed costumes are inspired by other video game series, including Assassin's Creed, God of War, Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid, Ape Escape, Wipeout, Street Fighter and MotorStorm.