The grand return of the Backyard Sports series is near upon us , as we ’ve learned thatBackyard Baseball ’ 97will launching on October 10 .

In August , a ship’s company called Playground Productions emerged , revealing that it now have Humongous Entertainment’sBackyard athletics biz seriesand planned to revive the franchise across games , moving picture , and TV . It prognosticate that some sort of rerelease for the Backyard Sports games would pass off presently , but hold back detail very vague . Now , we cognise what to expect at first : Steam releases of these sports game classics .

Backyard Baseball ’ 97will kick affair off on October 10 . It will cost $ 10 and is a square - up rerelease of the game that kicked off theBackyard Sports franchise . That means there are no official MLB participant or teams in this one ; they are just a group of kid with whom you may progress a team and play your room through a season . While the rootage code for the original was lost , Playground Productions worked with Mega Cat studio apartment to hack a CD - ROM of the original to create a young game build that could be release on innovative PCs .

Playground Productions gave me early access toBackyard Baseball ’ 97 , and I found it to be a basic rerelease of a kid ’ game that still contain up today .

Backyard Baseball ’ 97lacks the ruff of most modern rereleases , as it features no sort of museum of subject matter from development or esthetic borders around the game . Mega Cat Studios got a physique of the original up and running again and ensured it ran just as smoothly on modern personal computer as it did on them in 1999 . Those looking for more fromBackyard Baseball ’ 97might be disappointed by the lack of any important changes , enhancements , or content additions from later in the series , but I appreciate its simplicity , especially when you reckon the duration Mega Cat studio had to go to to revive the game .

Those who do n’t want to emulate the game now have an official way to buy and play the game on the most democratic personal computer gaming storefront without any major technical hurdle to jump through . The original Backyard Baseball , while illumination on features and canonical from a gameplay perspective , still holds up today . Backyard Baseball ’ 97’sdistinct visual style and liveliness is as charming as ever , as is its divers and charming cast of persona to pluck from for your squad . It can be played with just a shiner and offers up some all - years play that can familiarize young child with baseball game rules or give grownup a moment of relaxation in the eye of a meddling twenty-four hour period .

The Backyard Baseball series was extremely endearing from the start , and a straightforward Steam release like Backyard Baseball ’ 97 affirms that . If Playground Productions rightfully wants to resurrect this franchise , getting its original games up and running and available on modernistic PCs is a sensible first step , even if it ’s not doing it with the flourish of games from companies likeDigital EclipseorLimited Run Games . Hopefully , Backyard Soccer , Backyard Football , Backyard Basketball , andBackyard Hockeyall get the same treatment soon .

Backyard Baseball ’ 97launches on Steam for $ 10 on October 10 .