The grand return of the Backyard Sports series is nearly upon us, as we’ve learned that Backyard Baseball ’97 will launch on October 10.
In August, a company called Playground Productions emerged, revealing that it now owned Humongous Entertainment’s Backyard Sports game series and planned to revive the franchise across games, film, and TV. It promised that some sort of rerelease for the Backyard Sports games would happen soon, but kept details very vague. Now, we know what to expect at first: Steam releases of these sports game classics.
Backyard Baseball ’97 will kick things off on October 10. It will cost $10 and is a straight-up rerelease of the game that kicked off the Backyard Sports franchise. That means there are no official MLB players or teams in this one; they are just a group of kids with whom you can build a team and play your way through a season. While the source code for the original was lost, Playground Productions worked with Mega Cat Studios to hack a CD-ROM of the original to create a new game build that could be released on modern PCs.
Playground Productions gave me early access to Backyard Baseball ’97, and I found it to be a basic rerelease of a kids’ game that still holds up today.
Backyard Baseball ’97 lacks the frills of most modern rereleases, as it features no sort of museum of content from development or artistic borders around the game. Mega Cat Studios got a build of the original up and running again and ensured it ran just as smoothly on modern PCs as it did on them in 1999. Those looking for more from Backyard Baseball ’97 might be disappointed by the lack of any significant changes, enhancements, or content additions from later in the series, but I appreciate its simplicity, especially when you consider the lengths Mega Cat Studios had to go to in order to revive the game.
Those who don’t want to emulate the game now have an official way to purchase and play the game on the most popular PC gaming storefront without any major technical hurdles to jump through. The original Backyard Baseball, while light on features and basic from a gameplay perspective, still holds up today. Backyard Baseball ’97’s distinct visual style and animation is as charming as ever, as is its diverse and charming cast of characters to pick from for your team. It can be played with just a mouse and offers up some all-ages fun that can familiarize young kids with baseball rules or give adults a moment of relaxation in the middle of a busy day.
The Backyard Baseball series was extremely endearing from the start, and a straightforward Steam release like Backyard Baseball ’97 affirms that. If Playground Productions truly wants to revive this franchise, getting its original games up and running and available on modern PCs is a sensible first step, even if it’s not doing it with the flourishes of games from companies like Digital Eclipse or Limited Run Games. Hopefully, Backyard Soccer, Backyard Football, Backyard Basketball, and Backyard Hockey all get the same treatment soon.
Backyard Baseball ’97 launches on Steam for $10 on October 10.
