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Backyard Games
Backyard Sports is a successful series of video games that play on both consoles and computers. more...
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Airsoft
Archery
Backyard Games
 Bocce Ball
Cornhole Bag Toss
Croquet
Horseshoes
Other
Tetherball
Baseball & Softball
Basketball
Bowling
Camping & Hiking
Cheerleading
Climbing & Caving
Cricket
Curling
Cycling
Disc Golf
Equestrian
Fencing
Field Hockey
Fishing
Football
Geocaching
Go-Karts (Recreational)
Golf
Gymnastics
Hang Gliding & Paragliding
Hunting
Ice & Roller Hockey
Inline & Roller Skating
Lacrosse
Other
Paintball
Paragliding
Rugby
Scooters
Skateboarding
Sky Diving
Soccer
Track & Field
Triathlon
Volleyball
Wrestling
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, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez, Joe Thornton and Andy Macdonald. The Backyard Sports series is the only game brand licensed by all the leading professional US sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and 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.
The games evoke or supplant childhood memories for its players by recreating the types of sports fields seen in suburban parks and recreational areas.
Players can create their own athletes, starting in Backyard Football (1999). Players choose from silly names such as "Fancy Pants" or "Noodles," customize physical attributes such as hair color and height, and then distribute skill points as desired.
Another appealing aspect of the games is the imaginative use of Power-Ups, allowing players to gain wacky "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.
All of the Backyard Sports games take place in the Junior Sports Neighborhood, with the exception of Backyard Football 2006 (which takes place on an unnamed island) and parts of Backyard Skateboarding, Backyard Hockey 2005, and Backyard Skateboarding: Game of the Year Edition.
Backyard Sports games are produced by Humongous Entertainment.
Some of these games are playable with ScummVM emulator.
History (Specific games)
In 1997, the first game in the series, Backyard Baseball, was released. Backyard Soccer was released in 1998. Each one was quite popular with children between 5 and 12, which is the target audience. The first of the franchise to be licensed by a major sports league was 1999's Backyard Football, which featured Jerry Rice, Dan Marino, Drew Bledsoe, Barry Sanders, Brett Favre, John Elway, Randall Cunningham, and Steve Young.
The year 2000 saw Backyard Baseball 2001, which had licenses from Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association, followed that fall by Backyard Soccer MLS Edition, which was licensed by Major League Soccer.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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