Steam Just Quietly Added The Most Classic Sports Game Ever, Right in Time For Football Season

In 1997, I played my very first video game, and no, it wasn’t a Mario game. Instead, it was a charming little sports game called Backyard Baseball, where you build a team of personable little kids to play some, well, baseball. As I split time between playing sports and video games, the Backyard games remained a huge part of my life for years — and for my money, Backyard Football was always one of the best.

And now an entirely new generation, or anyone looking for that weekly dose of nostalgia, can dive into Backyard Football ‘99 on Steam, or on your mobile device if you need a football fix on the go — you could even play it while you’re at an actual NFL game. While it’s a game that does show its age, its simplistic approach to recreating America’s favorite pastime is undeniably charming, and a genuine good time for anyone of any age.

This new re-released version of the game is exactly the same as the original, just updated for modern systems and with a few extra things like Steam Achievements. Developer Mega Cat Studios has said the main goal of these releases is preservation, and that’s something I genuinely respect, considering how the Backyard games helped mold my life — giving me a bridge between two of the major facets of my adolescence.

Originally released in, you guessed it, 1999, Backyard Football was one of the first games in the franchise to feature kid versions of real-life sports stars. Alongside the iconic series’ characters like Pablo Sanchez, you could now recruit the likes of John Elway, Jerry Rice, and Barry Sanders to your team. All of the original players are in this version, outside of one obvious exclusion — Brett Favre, who has been replaced by Chase Downfield.

That element of real players was incredibly fun in 1999, and now acts as a kind of time capsule to see what players really capture the zeitgeist of the era. But it also feeds into the Saturday morning cartoon-esque aesthetic of the entire game, and its biggest strength: sheer charm.

Backyard Football isn’t the most complex sports game you’ll ever play; it was largely designed for younger audiences and is delightfully simple because of that. This is quick-hit football where quarters last one minute, and you only have eight players on your team. It essentially transforms football into a kind of point-and-click game, where you click players to throw, move around, tackle, etc.

But there’s still some nice depth here as each kid has their own stats for what they’re best at, and you can mix and match your formations as you see fit. You’ll also be choosing plays on the fly, and in between games can go into your playbook to completely rearrange what you have access to, or even create your own custom plays. You also don’t need to worry about penalties or anything; your singular goal is to get that ball in the endzone.

And while that simplicity is a huge draw, what makes Backyard Football so memorable is its whimsical quirkiness. Every bit of the game has a sense of childlike tongue-in-cheek humor, from naming your team the Potato Sackers to listening to commentary from the announcers, Sunny Day and Chuck Downfield. Each player also has their own unique touchdown celebration, like Jerry Rice whipping out a giant book that says “Records,” and erasing a line to write down his new one.

That sense of whimsy is also built into the gameplay itself, as you can unlock power-up plays by doing well. These power-ups have some wild effects too, like letting your Running Back leapfrog over the defense, or turning all your players the same color as the opponent so they don’t know who’s who. There’s a layer of unpredictability to the game that injects a lot of fun, even right down to the football bouncing off someone’s helmet and careening wildly during a punt.

The bite-sized nature of the Backyard games is a perfect fit for football, and a salve when you don’t want to spend 1-2 hours playing a game of Madden. It’s the perfect experience to whittle away an hour or two when you have time, or even bond with your kids because of how approachable the game is.

But what’s really important is that Backyard Football is simply fun. There aren’t any extra frills or complex systems to dig through, you simply jump right into a couple of games and enjoy the moment — and that simplicity is beautiful in this day and age.

Backyard Football 99 is available on PC, Android, and iOS.