(Redirected from Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers)

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, computers and mobile devices. 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.

Based on one of the best selling kids' sports video games Backyard Sports is back with Sandlot Sluggers an all-new action packed baseball game. The next evolution of the series allows you to join your favorite Backyard Sports neighborhood friends and play ball in fun and exciting arcade style sports action. 'Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers is a big evolution for the number one kids sports videogame brand with a whole host of fun, new features while keeping true to the classic rules of the sport.

Some of these games are playable with the ScummVM emulator.^[3]

History[edit]

The series began in late 1997 with Humongous Entertainment creating the first game in the franchise: Backyard Baseball. Humongous Entertainment was then owned by GT Interactive.^[4] Later Infogrames bought GT Interactive^[5] and along with it came all of the game titles. Infogrames allowed Humongous Entertainment to expand the series, and Humongous developed more titles such as Backyard Soccer, Backyard Hockey, Backyard Skateboarding, Backyard Basketball and Backyard Football. Following the buyout by Infogrames these titles from the Backyard series were released for game consoles, including the Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii. Infogrames in North America eventually changed its name to Atari Interactive.

On July 24, 2013, private equity firm The Evergreen Group, bought the Backyard Sports franchise during the Atari bankruptcy proceedings, for its portfolio company Epic Gear LLC.^[6] It was later sold by Epic Gear to Day6 Sports Group.^{[citation needed]}

On December 11, 2014, Day6 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.

In 2016, Day6 Sports Group was 'acquired by a European investment group'^[7]

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.^[8]^[1]^[2]

Games in the series[edit]

Title	Released	Developer	Publisher	Platforms
Backyard Baseball	October 24, 1997	Humongous Entertainment	Humongous Entertainment	Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Soccer	September 24, 1998	Humongous Entertainment	Humongous Entertainment	Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Football	September 14, 1999	Humongous Entertainment	Humongous Entertainment	Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball 2001	June 6, 2000	Humongous Entertainment	Humongous Entertainment	Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Soccer: MLS Edition	October 3, 2000	Humongous Entertainment	Infogrames	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Football 2002	September 19, 2001	Humongous Entertainment	Infogrames	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Soccer Junior Sports Football	September 28, 2001 (US) November 3, 2001 (PAL)	Runecraft	Infogrames	PlayStation
Backyard Basketball	October 30, 2001	Humongous Entertainment	Infogrames	Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball	May 30, 2002	Game Brains	Infogrames	Game Boy Advance
Backyard Baseball 2003	June 7, 2002	Humongous Entertainment	Infogrames	Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Football	September 25, 2002	Torus Games	Infogrames	Game Boy Advance
Backyard Football	October 10, 2002	Left Field Productions / Humongous	Infogrames	Nintendo GameCube
Backyard Hockey	October 18, 2002	Humongous Entertainment	Infogrames	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Soccer 2004	March 18, 2003	Humongous Entertainment	Infogrames	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball	March 31, 2003	Humongous Entertainment	Infogrames	Nintendo GameCube
Backyard Football 2004	September 4, 2003	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Basketball 2004	September 4, 2003	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Hockey	October 9, 2003	Mistic Software	Atari	Game Boy Advance
Backyard NBA Basketball Junior Sports Basketball	September 4, 2003 (US) November 19, 2004 (PAL)	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	PlayStation 2
Backyard Baseball	March 23, 2004	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	PlayStation 2
Backyard Baseball 2005	June 22, 2004	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Hockey 2005	September 21, 2004	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Basketball	September 22, 2004	Mistic Software	Atari	Game Boy Advance
Backyard Skateboarding	September 27, 2004	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	Microsoft Windows
Backyard Skateboarding	October 4, 2004	Full Fat	Atari	Game Boy Advance
Backyard Baseball 2006	March 16, 2005	Game Brains	Atari	Game Boy Advance
Backyard Skateboarding - Kids Game of the Year Edition	October 4, 2005	Humongous Entertainment	Atari	Game Boy Advanc

Backyard Sports Sandlot Sluggers Ps4