Those of you who grew up playing video games in the late 1990s and early 2000s can enjoy a good deal of nostalgia this weekend.
“Backyard Baseball ‘97” has been re-released by Backyard Sports on Steam, Mega Cat Studios and Playground Productions announced Thursday. The re-release of “Backyard Baseball ’97” coincided with the 27th anniversary of when the game was first released, which was the first video game of the Backyard Sports series.
Five other games from the Backyard Sports series will soon be re-released, Mega Cat Studios and Playground Productions also shared. “Backyard Soccer ‘98,” “Backyard Football ’99,” “Backyard Basketball ‘01” and “Backyard Hockey ’02” will eventually be re-released and can be wish-listed now through Steam.
Mega Cat Studios and Playground Productions shared in August that they planned to revive the Backyard Sports series in some form. While they shared a trailer for the revival, details were scarce at the time.
“We’re incredibly excited to reintroduce Backyard Sports to a new generation of players,” Chris Waters, chief product officer at Playground Productions, told Sports Illustrated in a statement at the time. “We’re taking great care to preserve the look and feel that made the original games so special while updating them with modern features and gameplay that today’s audience expects. I can’t wait for fans to see what we’re building on the playground.”
In addition to relaunching the video game line, there are plans to bring the Backyard Sports brand to film, television and expanded merchandise, Variety reported in August.
The Backyard Sports games quickly became popular in the late 1990s. Pablo Sanchez, a character in the series since Backyard Baseball ’97, has been widely regarded as one of the best video game athletes of all time due to his strengths as a hitter and runner in the baseball editions of the game.
As the video game series grew more popular, Backyard Sports reached licensing agreements with MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, the WNBA and MLS. The licensing agreements allowed real-life athletes to appear in the game. MLB stars, such as Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter, didn’t appear in the series until “Backyard Baseball ‘01,” so they aren’t featured in the re-release of “Backyard Baseball ’97.”
NFL players appeared in “Backyard Football ’99” while NBA players were in “Backyard Basketball ‘01.” There were also NHL stars in “Backyard Hockey ’02.”
The re-release of “Backyard Baseball ‘97,” features several of the former characters in the original edition of the game, including Sanchez and announcers Sunny Day and Vinnie The Gooch, according to Sports Illustrated. There’s also a season mode in the game.
As of Thursday, the re-launch of “Backyard Baseball ‘97” is only available for purchase through Steam, a video game digital distribution service that’s primarily by Microsoft Windows users, for $9.99. However, the Backyard Sports brand teased on social media that it will soon be compatible with Mac products.
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