The original Backyard Baseball comes to Steam
This blog has speculated a lot recently about the Backyard Baseball comeback under Playground Productions, and we got our first answers this week. The first release as part of this Backyardaissance is Backyard Baseball ’97, a rerelease of the original game for Steam, priced at $9.99.
I wondered in previous posts if Playground were working with a game developer already, and in this case Mega Cat Studios took on the dev work.
It’s a little hard to know what to call this release. A newsletter announcement from Playground calls it a “remaster,” saying they have “undertaken an incredibly challenging task of rebuilding the game for modern devices.” The newsletter goes on to say “Mega Cat enlisted some of the biggest Backyard Sports gamers to develop new game builds to be compatible with modern devices, starting with PCs.” To my eyes, the game looks like a straight port to modern systems, with identical features and graphics. The only new features are Steam integration support with Steam achievements and leaderboards.
The Steam listing is a little apologetic about the compatibility limitations of this new release: “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.”
Well… The game runs perfectly in ScummVM, an emulator for the engine used by the first several Backyard Baseball games and other LucasArts and Humongous Entertainment titles. ScummVM supports controllers, and you can run it on a Nintendo DS or Sega Dreamcast, let alone a modern Mac. Running Backyard Baseball on modern platforms without the original source code is not an insurmountable problem.
This is only a rerelease of the very first game in the series, which did not include licensed professional athletes like the later ones. There is clearly more to come, and we’ll have to wait and see what format that comes in.
Konami returns Stateside with eBaseball: MLB Pro Spirit
In a new MLB-set spin-off from the Pro Yakyuu Spirits series, Konami has a new mobile game releasing world-wide later this year: eBaseball: MLB Pro Spirit. There is an official English-language website for the upcoming game here.
The official website has a few basic screenshots, but this Japanese-language video shows gameplay footage, starting around 22:30:
This announcement isn’t all that interesting by itself, honestly. There are lots of mobile MLB games, and nothing so far makes this one stand out too much. And the graphics look worse to my eye than Pro Yakyuu Spirits A, Konami’s primary Japan-only mobile baseball game. The eyes in these player likenesses look a little incorrect to me:
But it does make you wonder if Konami are edging closer to a real console MLB game again, which would be their first since MLB Power Pros 2008.
Given the huge number of MLB-licensed mobile games and the much smaller number of console ones (there’s still only The Show), MLB must either be hesitant to grant console license rights to anyone but Sony, or they may charge a much higher price for it.
But Konami have what looks like a ground-breaking game on their hands coming out next month in Japan, and they’ve got an MLB-licensed product out around the same time… It feels like we could be a year or two away from Konami re-entering the U.S. console baseball game market.
A special guest in the Power Pros Discord
Look who (reportedly) showed up in the Power Pros Discord this week. Giants legend Hunter Pence (or someone claiming to be him, possibly) left a message in the general chat. He then disappeared without another message, as you might expect.
YouTube Viewing Guide
- Greatest Nine ’96 (Saturn) CPU vs. CPU Gameplay – I finally bought a Sega Saturn. As with many things with the yen so weak right now, it was cheaper to import from Japan than purchase locally. My first recording on the console is this Japan-only Sega game, with 2D photographed/rotoscoped players on a 3D stadium background.
- Homerun Clash 2: Legends Derby (iOS) Gameplay – I liked Haegin’s previous game, World League Baseball, so I was interested to try their new product for this year. This is very much back in the mobile game style, with endless gacha boxes to open and mindless gameplay. The style is pretty nice, and it’s funny to see the few licensed players, including Dae-Ho Lee and Albert Pujols.