Not long after announcing a Backyard Sports revival, publisher Playground Productions and developer Mega Cat Studios have revealed Backyard Baseball ’97, the first in their revival series.

Backyard Baseball ’97 is in development for Windows PC (via Steam) and will launch on October 10th.

“This is just the beginning for Backyard and Mega Cat. We’re so proud of the engineers who worked long hours and overcame many obstacles to bring Backyard Baseball ’97 back to the gaming community,” said Chris Waters, CPO of Playground Productions. 

“To say the Mega Cat team is excited about working on the Backyard Sports franchise is an understatement,” said James Deighan, CEO of Mega Cat Studios. “Games with fandoms like Backyard are what Mega Cat was founded upon. It’s hard to type with a baseball glove on, though.”

Here’s a rundown on the game, plus its reveal trailer:

PLAY LIKE IT’S 1997

Relive the game that started it all! The original Backyard Baseball ’97, now enhanced to run on Steam. Whether you’re picking your dream team, hitting home runs, or just here for the witty banter, step back into the backyard and experience the game that made baseball fun for everyone!

Play pick-up games, practice batting, keep track of stats, compete in single games or a whole season – you can even set the rules! Backyard Baseball ‘97 features all of the realism and statistics of adult baseball games but with simple, intuitive controls that anyone can master.

BATTER UP, PLAYGROUND STYLE

The rules for Backyard Baseball are a hybrid of Major and Little League rules:

• No leading off
• No Injuries
• Bunting is allowed
• Tagging up is allowed
  You can also practice batting

To get into the swing of things, choose a batter and face Mr. Clanky for some batting practice. This is where you’ll learn just when to click to make your chosen batter hit that ball!

ONE NATION UNDER PABLO

For many fans, this is the game that debuted one of the most iconic video game characters of the 90s or any era—the legend himself, Pablo Sanchez. Build a roster from a cast of 30 hilarious child athletes who made Backyard Baseball a cult classic.

Game Modes include:

• Random Pick-up: A quick way to jump right in! The computer chooses a random team for you and itself, and the game starts immediately.
• Single Game: You take turns with the computer, choosing players from a random pool of characters.
• Season: You create a team and manage the team through a 14 game series. The opposing teams are computer generated. At the end of the season the best two teams advance to the BBL playoffs (best of 3). The playoffs winner advances to the championship series which consists of the Super Entire Nation Tournament (best of 3) and then the Ultra Grand Championship of the Universe Series (best of 5)!

GLOBAL LEADERBOARD

Compete globally! Steam’s Leaderboard system lets you compete with friends and players around the world. Track your home runs, strike-outs, grand slams, season wins and more in real-time. See how you stack up and strive to reach the top!

At our core, we are fans first–not just of video games but of the Backyard Sports franchise. Fans have asked for accessible and legal ways to play their original Backyard titles for years, and we are excited to deliver.

Without having access to the source code, there are hard limitations on the experience we can create. As an example, we can’t support gamepads, nor the Steam deck, in these original titles. We can’t use the original 32bit code to support modern macOS, as even with an incredibly clever wrapper, macOS can’t execute the binaries.

We can make the game run buttery smooth, stack it with Steam achievements to test your mettle and give you a chance to batter up to compete in the Steam Global Leaderboards for Home Runs. Baseball 1997 runs well, looks better than ever, and creates a new installation for digital preservation within the Backyard Sports catalog that allows the next generation of fans to fall in love with the title that started it all.