Backyard Soccer

Not to be confused with Backyard Football, a game based on American football.

Backyard Soccer, known in Europe as Backyard Football (PC)^[1] or Junior Sports Football (PlayStation) and in Australia as Junior Sports Soccer, is a children's association football video game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment; Infogrames published the PlayStation version. It is the second game in the Backyard Sports series, following Backyard Baseball. It was first released on September 26, 1998, for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows,^[2] in 2001 for the PlayStation, and in 2008 for iOS. The PC and PlayStation versions of the game, alongside the PlayStation 2 version of Backyard Basketball, were the only Backyard Sports titles released in Europe.

Backyard Soccer
Cover art for the original PC release as taken from the game's AutoRun menu. Depicted are Ricky Johnson (left) and Gretchen Hasselhoff, two of the "Backyard Kids".
Developer(s)	Humongous Entertainment[a][b]
Publisher(s)	Humongous Entertainment[c][d]
Series	Backyard Sports
Engine	SCUMM
Platform(s)	Windows, Macintosh, PlayStation, iOS
Release	Windows, Macintosh NA: September 26, 1998 EU: 1999 PlayStation NA: September 28, 2001 EU: November 2, 2001 iOS NA: October 31, 2008 '98 remaster (Windows) WW: November 27, 2024
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

The game spawned two sequels, both of which would include players from Major League Soccer and the USWNT; the sequels were Backyard Soccer MLS Edition, released in 2000^[3] and Backyard Soccer 2004, released in 2003.^[4]

A remastered version of the game entitled Backyard Soccer '98 was released for Windows via Steam on November 27, 2024,^[5][6] becoming the second remaster in the Backyard Sports franchise after its 2024 reboot, following Backyard Baseball '97 the previous month and preceding four more remasters.^[5][6]

Gameplay

Backyard Soccer is a 6-a-side soccer video game with hybrid youth and professional soccer rules.^[2] The game has five modes: "Pick-Up Game", "Friendly Match", "Practice Penalty Kicks", "Spectator" and "League Play". The PlayStation version also includes an additional "Beach Tournament" mode.^[7]

In league play, the player takes a managerial role by selecting 8 players from a pool of 30 Backyard Kids. The team enters the "Backyard Soccer League", aiming to win promotion from the B Division to the A and then Premier Division. If in the top four by mid-season in any division, the player's team will be invited to the Off-The-Wall Indoor Invitational, an indoor soccer tournament. After winning the Premier Division, the player's team will be invited to represent the United States in the Astonishingly Shiny Cup of All Cups Tournament (a spoof of the FIFA World Cup). Regardless of the tournament's outcome, the player's team will be placed back in the Premier Division for another chance at the Cup.

There are several power-ups that a team can use. To activate a power-up, the player has to click on the opponent's goal:

• Cannon - the player launches a fast and powerful shot.
• Underground - the ball goes underground and pops up in a random place.
• Bowling Ball - the ball transforms into a giant bowling ball knocking over any opposing players.
• Tracer - the ball is controlled using the cursor and the players click where they want the ball to go.

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
AllGame	(PC)[8] (PS)[9]
GameZone	8/10 (PC)[10] 7.5/10 (PS)[11]
PlayStation: The Official Magazine	2/10[12]

Reception

Backyard Soccer received moderate reviews. Its gameplay was criticized for the hard-to-use controls for the PC version and long loading time, while its graphics were praised on all platforms.^{[8][9][10][11]} Brad Cook of Allgame was critical to the controls for the PC version.^[8] PSX Nation gave the game a score of 49 out of 100.^[13]

Notes

1. Ported to the PlayStation by Runecraft.
2. The remastered version (Backyard Soccer '98) was developed by Mega Cat Studios.
3. The PlayStation version was published by Infogrames.
4. The remastered version (Backyard Soccer '98) was published by Playground Productions.