This, my friends, is Backyard Baseball. Backyard Baseball takes you back to when you were a kid, when baseball was a game, and the team was hastily put together among the kids in the neighborhood. Playing for Real. Humongous Entertainment reached back into the past and captured all those childhood memories of baseball and digitally assembled. Backyard Baseball is a fun and casual sports game aimed at kids, developed by Humongous Entertainment and released in 1997. The cute and colorful visuals invite youngsters (or wondrous adults) to partake in a classic game of baseball. Backyard Baseball captures the fun and laughter of summer days spent playing sandlot baseball with the kids from the old neighborhood. Kid announcers Vinnie the Gooch and Sunny Day help your kids get to know each of the 30 girls' and boys' strengths and weaknesses.
Backyard Baseball is a fun and casual sports game aimed at kids, developed by Humongous Entertainment and released in 1997. The cute and colorful visuals invite youngsters (or wondrous adults) to partake in a classic game of baseball. You'll pick your team from a group of neighborhood kids, and enjoy a simplified and addictive match of the sport. As a series, the Backyard sports titles have found great ways to introduce sports to gamers of all skill levels. Whether or not you're a fan of baseball, Backyard Baseball finds charming and fun ways to motivate you to play.
From the main menu, you're able to hop into a pick-up game, check out your coach trophies, and join the Backyard Baseball League. The League mode is the main focus of the game, and where you'll find the most customization and gameplay. Once you've signed in as coach, you'll get to create your own team and pick their colors. After that, it's time to draft your team!
There are around 30 different neighborhood kids you can draft onto your team. You'll have to choose nine, and there's a wide variety of characters to pick from. Kids from all walks of life are ready to play; humble farmhands, Spanish-speaking sluggers, nervous nerds, and more. Each kid has their own stats to check out, ranging in power in four categories. Pitching, Batting, Running, and Fielding are all taken into account, so you'll want to pick a good spread of strengths for your team. For those who don't care, you can also let the game choose for you.
Once you've crafted your team, it's time to take on your opponents in the Backyard Baseball League. In the Team Dugout, you can arrange players on the field, see your schedule, and check match records. It's your job to carry your team to victory throughout the season, winning the award trophy. Playing the actual match is easy enough. When you're at bat, you simply choose the kind of swing you want to take, wait for the pitch, and try to click at the right time. You can also adjust your stance while at bat. Pitching and playing outfield is similarly easy. When pitching, you simply choose the type of pitch you want (including fastballs, intentional walks, etc) and click to throw. If a ball is hit, you direct one of your team members to catch it and throw it at a chosen base. Everything feels incredibly easy to figure out, and the overall gameplay is welcoming and cheery.
Overall, Backyard Baseball is a fun baseball title that's great for kids. The colorful cartoon visuals and personable athletes make games fun and memorable, and the commentators and player jaunts are fun and witty. Playing the game is easy and enjoyable, making it perfect for newer gamers. Multiple stadiums, over 30 unique characters, and a happy attitude make Backyard Baseball a content-rich and enjoyable game. If you've got a younger gamer you want to introduce to baseball, or you have some nostalgia for this late 90's sports game, Backyard Baseball is a must-play.
Inspired by an article by Zach Kram at the Ringer last year, Bobby and Alex take a deep dive into the history of “Backyard Baseball,” the kids-video-game-turned-cult-classic that they grew up with. They bring on Nick Mirkovich, one of the game’s co-creators, to talk about the game’s inception and its evolution through the years, and speculate on why the game remains so firmly embedded in the minds of this generation. They dive into the colorful personalities of each character and reminisce on what made the game so special in the first place. It’s a full-on nostalgia sesh, featuring real gameplay and cameos from Sunny Day, Vinnie the Gooch, and the one and only Pablo Sanchez.
Do you want to play the game too and get all the memories rushing back? Here’s how!
On a Mac:
1.Download the video game emulator ScummVM.
2. Open the DMG file and drag ScummVM into your Applications folder.
3. Download Backyard Baseball 2001 here.
4. Once the ZIP file has downloaded, double click to open it. It will reveal an ISO file called Backyard Baseball 2001.
5. Double click to open the ISO file. It should open a drive that looks like this.
6. Create a new folder on your desktop (or wherever you will remember) and call it Backyard Baseball.
7. Select all the contents of the ISO drive and drag them into the folder you just created.
8. Now, open up ScummVM and click “Add Game” on the right hand side. Find the folder you created and click “Choose.”
9. You should see a screen like the one below. Press ok, select the game, and press start!
On a PC:
1.Download the video game emulator ScummVM.
2. Save to your desktop, or wherever is convenient for you.
3. Download Backyard Baseball 1997 here, or Backyard Baseball 2001 here.
4. Double click to open the zip file. It should open a folder called Backyard Baseball.
5. Open ScummVM and click “Add Game.” Navigate to find the Backyard Baseball folder and click “Choose.”
6. You should see a screen like the one below. Press ok, select the game, and press start!
Enjoy!
All music sound clips, and photos from “Backyard Baseball,” courtesy of Humongous Entertainment/The Evergreen Group.
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