I am 34 years old and I will still randomly blurt out a soundbite from a game that was released when I was seven. A “That’s my sister!” will escape my lips when I reunite with my younger sibling after not seeing her for months, or I’ll utter an “I like candy, everybody likes candy” while walking through the confectionary aisle in Walgreens. Those ear worms that have remained steadfastly bored into my brain for close to thirty years are from Backyard Baseball, a point-and-click sports arcade game first released in 1997 that just dropped on Steam by way of publisher Playground Productions.
Backyard Baseball ‘97 as it’s now known is the original Backyard Baseball, exactly how you remember it, from the cartoonish sounds of some of its absurd pitches (a sopping wet spitball or a twisting corkscrew) to the silly, sloppy field gameplay that often results in dropped balls or in-field collisions, and all the (somewhat irritating) chirps from the kids in-between. The moment I boot up Backyard Baseball and am greeted with the goofy opening credits, it’s like a warm hug from my YiaYia or a rainbow cookie hand-delivered from my Gramps on a brisk September morning. Picking my team from a gaggle of fidgety kids on the bleachers, kids like Pablo Sanchez, the Weber twins, and Keisha Philips, is like taking a time machine back to elementary school recess days. And when I get into an actual game and remember how arcadey and silly it is, I can’t wipe the smile off my face.
I first played Backyard Baseball ‘97 during a Twitch stream, and my chat was delighted to see the game we clearly all played when we were younger. “Pablo Sanchez the GOAT,” typed one person, while many derided my CPU opponent for its lineup choices. As the game began, someone typed in chat that the announcer, Sunny Day, is voiced by none other than Jen Taylor, who plays Cortana in the Halo games and TV series. The vibes are impeccable as I head into the first inning.
Unfortunately, nostalgia can only carry a game so far. I am no longer in elementary school, and Backyard Baseball’s inherent jankiness means I rarely get on-base, so the game drags on as errors abound in my infield, the opposing team loads the bases, and my tired pitcher walks batters. The chirps from the children (some of which have not aged well) get annoying after the fourth, fifth, and sixth time they echo across the field. Thankfully, gratefully, after nine long innings, I get a Power Up while at bat with Pablo Sanchez: an aluminum bat that rockets a homerun 515 yards, bringing the game, mercifully, to an end.
Backyard Baseball ‘97 is fun in snippets, and a great way to reminisce about the games of yesteryear. It’s not expensive (just $8.99 on Steam), so it could be worth playing just to remember what it was like to live a life unburdened by taxes, toxic Twitter users, and the far-reaching global implications of 9/11 (plus you can play it on your Steam Deck).
And if you enjoy playing Backyard Baseball ‘97, there’s lots more nostalgia headed your way, as Playground Productions will eventually release Backyard Soccer ‘98, Backyard Football ‘99, Backyard Basketball ‘01, Backyard Baseball ‘01, and Backyard Hockey ‘02 on Steam. You can wishlist them all now.
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