It was only a matter of time: The original Backyard Baseball, first entry in the explosively popular Backyard Sports series, is coming to Steam. The re-release, titled Backyard Baseball '97, will launch on Steam October 10, making the game available for digital purchase for the first time.
Backyard Sports is one of those sleeping giant late millennial cultural institutions—not quite as enduringly popular as Pokemon or Spongebob, but a big deal in its own time and fondly remembered to this day. It provided arcadey, approachable videogame takes on various team sports—Backyard Baseball is to MLB: The Show as Mario Kart is to Gran Turismo.
