| Backyard Soccer | |
|---|---|
North American cover art for the PlayStation version | |
| Developer(s) | Humongous Entertainment (PC) Runecraft (PlayStation) |
| Publisher(s) | Humongous Entertainment Infogrames (PlayStation and MLS Edition) |
| Series | Backyard Sports series |
| Engine | SCUMM |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Macintosh, PlayStation, iOS |
| Release | PCPlayStation
|
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
Produced by Humongous Entertainment, Backyard Sports is a franchise of sports games aimed towards kids which often includes professional sports players as cartoon versions of themselves.
Backyard Soccer, known in Europe as Junior Sports Football, is an association football video game in the Backyard Sports series, developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames. It was first released in 1998 for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, in 2001 for the PlayStation, and in 2008 for iOS. The PlayStation version of the game was the only Backyard Sports title released in Europe.
Gameplay[edit]
The player selects a team, aiming to win promotion from the 'B' Division, to the 'A' and then Premier Division. If in the top four by mid-season in any division, the player's team will be invited to the Off-The-Wall Indoor Invitational. After winning the Premier Division, the player's team will be invited to represent the United States in the Astonishingly Shiny Cup of All Cups Tournament (a spoof of the FIFA World Cup). Regardless of the tournament's outcome, the player's team will be placed back in the Premier Division for another chance at the Cup.
There are several power-ups that a team can use. To activate a power-up, the player has to click on the opponent's goal.
- Cannon—The player launches a fast and powerful shot
- Underground—The ball goes underground and pops up in a random place.
- Bowling Ball—The ball transforms into a giant bowling ball knocking over any opposing players.
- Tracer—The ball is controlled using the cursor. The player clicks where he or she wants the ball to go.
Reception[edit]
Backyard Soccer received moderate reviews. Its gameplay was criticized for the hard-to-use controls for the PC version and long loading time, while its graphics were praised on all platforms.[1][2][3][4] Brad Cook of Allgame stated for the PC version, 'when it comes to their Backyard Sports series, though, I think they missed the boat in one really crucial area: game controls.'[1]
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References[edit]
- ^ abcCook, Brad. 'Backyard Soccer (PC)'. Allgame. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ abBeam, Jennifer. 'Backyard Soccer (PS)'. Allgame. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ ab'Backyard Soccer MLS Edition - PC - Review'. GameZone. 25 October 2000. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ ab'Backyard Soccer - PSX - Review'. 28 October 2001. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^'Backyard Soccer for PS'. GameRankings. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^Junior Sports Football game review, Official UK PlayStation Magazine, Future Publishing issue 80
External links[edit]
- Backyard Soccer at MobyGames
| Backyard Sports | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Developer(s) | Humongous Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Android, Game Boy |
| First release | Backyard Baseball 1997 |
| Latest release | Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015 and Backyard Sports: Basketball 2015 2015 |
Backyard Sports (originally branded as Junior Sports)[1][2] is a series of video games released for consoles and computers. The series is best known for starring kid-sized versions of popular professional sports stars, such as Albert Pujols, Paul Pierce, Barry Bonds, Tim Duncan, Clint Mathis, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Joe Thornton and Andy Macdonald. The Backyard Sports series is licensed by the leading professional U.S. sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS).
The series includes Backyard Baseball, Backyard Basketball, Backyard Football (American football), Backyard Soccer, Backyard Hockey (Ice hockey), and Backyard Skateboarding. In the games, players form a team consisting of Backyard Kids and pro players, which they take through a 'Backyard League' season, attempting to become the champions. Players can create their own athletes, starting in Backyard Football (1999). Another aspect of the games is the use of Power-Ups, allowing players to gain 'super-abilities'. For instance, 'Super Dunk' allows a basketball player to make an incredible dunk from nearly anywhere on the court, 'Leap Frog' allows a football player to jump over the entire defensive line, and 'Ice Cream Truck' causes the other team to be completely distracted for a brief period of time.
Some of these games are playable with the ScummVM emulator.[3]
History[edit]
The series began in late 1997, when Humongous Entertainment created their first game, Backyard Baseball. Humongous Entertainment was owned by GT Interactive. Later Infogrames bought the company, and along with it came all of the game titles. Infogrames allowed Humongous Entertainment to expand the series, and they developed more titles such as Backyard Soccer, Backyard Hockey, Backyard Skateboarding, Backyard Basketball and Backyard Football.[4] Following the buyout by Infogrames these titles from the Backyard series have seen releases for game consoles, including the Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii.
On July 24, 2013, Epic Gear bought the Backyard Sports franchise from the Atari bankruptcy proceedings.[5]
On December 11, 2014, Day 6 Sports Group announced the relaunch of the Backyard Sports series with Backyard Sports NBA Basketball for smartphones and tablets, with Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry as the cover athlete.
On April 19, 2019, Humongous Entertainment tweeted an image of the original Junior Sports logo, hinting at a possible re-release of the original games and/or the developer having re-secured the rights to the series proper.[6][1][2]
Film[edit]
In 2016, it was reported that Cross Creek Pictures and Crystal City Entertainment were developing a film based on Backyard Sports with Brian Oliver and Ari Daniel Pinchot producing.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ abSchmidt, Eugene (April 24, 2019). 'Humongous Entertainment coming to consoles'. Barrelrolled. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^ abFrech, Ricky (April 24, 2019). 'Humongous Entertainment is Bringing Their Collection of 90s Classics to Consoles'. DualShockers. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^http://gamesdbase.com/list.aspx?in=1&searchtext=backyard&searchtype=1
- ^'Backyard Sports - Backyard Basketball and Backyard Football'. Barcodespider.com.
- ^http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130724006402/en/Evergreen-Group-Agreed-Acquire-Backyard-Sports-Video/
- ^Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (April 19, 2019). '[Image-only tweet; image shows a red exclamation point on a transparent background overlaid with the words 'It's Junior Sports' in blue.]' (Tweet). Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^Fleming Jr, Mike (March 30, 2016). ''Backyard Sports' Video Game In Movie Deal With Cross Creek & Crystal City'. Deadline.
External links[edit]
- Official website (2007 archive on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine)
- Backyard Sports series at MobyGames
