 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2014) |
| Backyard Sports | |
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 Series logo as of 2024 | |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
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| Publisher(s) |
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| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, iOS, Android |
| 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 video game series released for consoles, computers, and mobile devices created by Humongous Entertainment. 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 major 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 has changed ownership and developers several times since Humongous's 2005 closure.
The series includes Backyard Baseball, Backyard Basketball, Backyard Football (American football), Backyard Soccer (association football), 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 of their chosen sport. Players can create their own custom characters, starting in Backyard Football (1999). An additional 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 a 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 distracted for a brief period.