The basic mechanic is indeed quite simple. Apparently, creating a sports sim was totally possible. It's a great example of the flexibility of the engine invented by Ron Gilbert. Believe it or not, Pablo Sanchez is one of the most beloved videogames characters ever created.Ĭuriously, Backyard Baseball was developed using the SCUMM game engine, the same used in many graphics adventure. Even if he looks like the worst player, he is the greatest one, and everybody loved him.

In this case, the real star is a short kid called Pablo Sanchez. This was probably one of the most memorable elements of this game.Īs you could expect from a sports sim, there are also top players. For each one of them, composer Rhett Mathis created a specific theme song. Somehow the kids remind me of movies such as The Bad News Bears (an amazing 1976 movie with Walter Matthau), and 'The sandlot', except that in the game, there are many more girls :)Īnyway, the kids in Backyard Baseball are so cute it's impossible not to fall in love with them. Vaguely inspired to the Peanuts, they are also a great example of diversity: 15 boys, 15 girls, all in different sizes, colors, and races. The baseball players, 30 kids, were designed with their own look&feel and personality. High-quality hand-drawn cartoon graphics, fluid animations, excellent gameplay, and, most importantly, a fantastic character design. The game created by the trio was brilliant and totally unique. The design team was made of Mirkovich, Richard Moe (a programmer), and Mark Peyser (a graphic designer).

He presented the concept to the legendary Ron Gilbert (not only the creator of Maniac Mansion but also the founder of Humongous), and after a while, he approved. The idea of a videogame about kids playing baseball was developed by Nick Mirkovich, illustrator and animator. It's the first of a long series of successful titles, the last one of which was released in 2015. Backyard Baseball is a baseball game created by Humongous Entertainment and released for Windows and Macintosh in 1997.

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