Backyard Football facts for kids
- This article describes the video game. For the underlying sport, see Street football (American).
Quick facts for kids Backyard Football |
|
|---|---|
The current Backyard Football logo.
|
|
| Genres | Sports |
| Developers | Humongous Entertainment |
| Publishers | Humongous Entertainment Infogrames Atari The Evergreen Group |
| Platforms | Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, Windows, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, Macintosh, Nintendo GameCube |
| First release | Backyard Football 1999 |
| Latest release | Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush 2010 |
Backyard Football is a fun series of video games where you can play American football as a kid! These games were made by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari. It's part of the bigger Backyard Sports collection. What makes it cool is that it was one of the first games to let you play as famous professional football players, but as kids! Imagine playing with a young Steve Young or Barry Sanders. There are currently eleven games in this series.
The main idea of Backyard Football is to let you feel what it's like to play football with your friends, just like in a real backyard game.
Contents
Explore the Games in the Series
This table shows all the different Backyard Football games that have been released:
| Game Title | Year Released | Systems You Can Play On | Star Player on the Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backyard Football | September 14, 1999 | Macintosh, Microsoft Windows | Steve Young |
| Backyard Football 2002 | 2001 | Macintosh, Windows | Drew Bledsoe, Donovan McNabb |
| Backyard Football | 2002 | Game Boy Advance | Donovan McNabb |
| Backyard Football | 2002 | Nintendo GameCube | |
| Backyard Football 2004 | 2003 | Windows | Jeff Garcia |
| Backyard Football 2006 | 2005 | Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Windows | Daunte Culpepper |
| Backyard Sports Football 2007 | 2006 | Game Boy Advance | Ben Roethlisberger |
| Backyard Football '08 | 2007 | Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, Windows | Tom Brady |
| Backyard Football '09 | 2008 | Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, Windows | |
| Backyard Football '10 | 2009 | PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360 | Frank Gore, Eli Manning, Kurt Warner, Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson, Jason Witten |
| Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush | 2010 | Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360 | N/A |
The First Backyard Football Game (1999)
The very first Backyard Football game came out in 1999. It was made by Humongous Entertainment. In this game, you could play football with both cartoon kids and kid versions of real professional football players.
There were three main ways to play:
- Single Game: You could pick your field, the weather (sunny, rainy, or snowy), and how hard the game would be. You'd choose a team name, like a real NFL team or a special "backyard" team. Then, you and the computer would take turns picking players for your team. Each team had seven players, with five on the field and two on the bench.
- Season Mode: In this mode, you'd guide your team through a 14-game season. If your team did well enough, you'd go to the playoffs. Eight teams would compete in three rounds to win the "Super Colossal Cereal Bowl," which is a fun take on the real Super Bowl!
- Online Play: This game was one of the few Backyard games that let you play online with other players. It was available for Windows users. You could chat with other players using pre-written messages.
Backyard Football 2002
Backyard Football 2002 was released in 2001 for Windows and Macintosh. This game let you play as kid versions of your favorite NFL stars. Famous players like Brett Favre and Drew Bledsoe were back in this game. Your goal was to lead your team to win the Cereal Bowl! Newer versions of the game came out every year until Backyard Football 2006.
Backyard Sports Football 2007
This game came out in 2006 for the Game Boy Advance. It was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari. Just like earlier games, you could create your own player and build your own team. You could also play quick exhibition games or a full season. A new feature in this game was 7-on-7 gameplay, meaning more players on the field! Some players found the game's sounds a bit repetitive and the controls hard to use.
Backyard Football '08
Backyard Football '08 was released in 2007 for Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PC. It was made by Humongous Entertainment with help from other studios. In this game, you could play as kid versions of professional football players from all the NFL teams. You could also play entire football seasons with any of the 16 teams. Reviewers thought the Wii version had funny commentary, but some controls might be tricky for younger players.
Backyard Football '09
Released in 2008, Backyard Football '09 included all 22 original backyard kids and 15 kid versions of professional players. Some of the famous players you could find were Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and LaDainian Tomlinson. Classic backyard characters like Pete Wheeler and Pablo Sanchez were also in the game. The game's commentators, Chuck Downfield and Sunny Day, were also familiar voices from previous games. Some reviews mentioned that the commentary could be repetitive and the game felt a bit too simple.
Backyard Football '10
Backyard Football '10 came out in 2009 for Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 2. It offered different ways to play, including "Single Player," "Season," "Tournament," and "All Pro" modes. You could also play with friends in co-op mode or two-on-two games. Reviews for the Xbox 360 and Wii versions were mixed, but many found the game easy to learn and well-designed.
Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush
The game Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush was released in 2010 for Xbox 360, Wii, Windows, and Nintendo DS. This game kept popular modes like "Pick-up Games," "Season Mode," and "Tournament." It also added two new ways to play: "Story Mode" and "Mini-Games." Common Sense Media gave this game a good review, rating it 4 out of 5 stars.
