| Backyard Soccer | |
|---|---|
North American Release cover art. |
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| Developer(s) | Humongous Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Infogrames |
| Series | Backyard Sports |
| Platform(s) | Macintosh, PlayStation, Windows, iOS |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | CD-ROM |
| System requirements
3 Memory Blocks, Multi-Tap |
|
Backyard Soccer, known in Europe as Junior Sports Football, is a video game in the Backyard Sports franchise, developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames. It was first released in 1998 for the Mac and PC, was released for the PlayStation in 2001, and the iOS in 2008.
Contents |
You start by picking a team and its players. Your team begins in "B" Division, the lowest level. If your team is in the top four by midseason, it will be invited to the Off-The-Wall Indoor Invitational. The indoor tournament consists of 8 teams, four from the BSL (Backyard Soccer League) and four exclusive indoor teams. The invitational is available in all three divisions. If your team finishes the season in the top two, it will advance to the "A" Division, the second highest level. If your team finishes in the top two, it will advance to the Premier Division (also known as the Premiership). However if you finish in the bottom two of the Premier or A Divisions, you will be relegated to the next lowest division. If your team wins the Premier Division, it will be invited to represent the United States in the Astonishingly Shiny Cup of All Cups Tournament (a spoof of the FIFA World Cup). The tournament is split into four tables of four teams apiece. If your team finishes in the top two in your table, it will be placed in an eight team bracket of all top two finishers. If your team can win the three games, it will be presented the Astonishingly Shiny Cup of All Cups. Regardless of the tournament outcome, your team will be placed back in the Premier Division for another chance at the Cup.
At the start of the season, you must choose your team name and its colors. You choose two parts to your team name, firstly, what your team name is, and secondly, a descriptive word before that.
| Descriptive Word | Team Name |
| Blue | Bombers |
| Red | Rockets |
| Crazy | Hornets |
| White | Boots |
| Green | Giants |
| Little | Wombats |
| Mighty | Melonheads |
| Super-Duper | All-stars |
| Humongous | Monsters |
| Junior | Fishes |
After you have chosen you team, your team starts in B Division. This is the lowest division of the BSL. If you come in the top two of the eight teams you will go up to A Division.
A Division is in the middle of the BSL. If you come in the top two of the eight teams, you will go up to P Division or the Premier Division. If you come in the bottom two, you will be relegated back down to the B Division.
P Division is the highest league in the BSL. If you come in the bottom two of this division you will be relegated down to A Division. If you come in first you will represent the United States in The Astonishingly Shiny Cup of All Cups Tournament.
The Off-The-Wall Indoor Invitational is an indoor soccer competition. Half way through each season the four top teams are selected to enter this competition. There are another 5 teams which you play. There is not much difference between this competition and normal games. The field is the same size and same amount of players play, but there are no throw-ins, if the ball goes over the wall it will result in a "kick-in". Three victories will earn you the trophy. This competition is available in all leagues.
If you win the P Division your team will be in this tournament. There are four groups of four teams each. In each group, the teams play against each other once. After those games, 1st and 2nd place will then enter the elimination part of the tournament. You then must win two games and then the Final to win the Cup.
There are several power-ups that a team can use. To activate a power-up, the player has to click on the opponents goal.