Look, sometimes, you play something amazing and you can’t help but notice just how wonderful it is and want more of it. For me in the late 90s and early 2000s, the Backyard Sports franchise was that for me. That was when I couldn’t afford consoles myself. I only got games for the platforms I did have every so often, and our PC was the best method of consistent gaming I had. I loved these titles, and I became a bigger fan of certain sports because of the titles and the real-life players that were put into them, like Randy Johnson, Lisa Leslie, and John Elway.
So imagine my joy when I heard today that Playground Productions, the new rights owner of the Backyard Sports IP, was making a new title in the line! CEO Lindsay Barnett noted this to Variety about what the new game would be like:
“We are really excited because basically, we get to take the game that people loved and add new features that are kind of what you remember, falsely remember, perhaps, but add new features that are modernized for the times. And also making it a little more challenging for the adults that loved it and still keeping all of the charm and excitement for the kids who are discovering it.”
If they’re able to mimic the greatness of what came before? I’m all for it. Oh, and they’re trying to adapt the property into an animated series! Cool, huh? So, if you want to see where it all began, you can get Backyard Baseball ’97 on Steam right now!
