Review Insights · App Store
Backyard Baseball '97
Playground Productions LLC · 1,452 ratings · ★ 4.0
4.0
★★★★★
1,452 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 26 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"game"
16 negative reviews mention this · 62% of all complaints
★★★★★ "What a throwback!. This game takes me back. I have a few complaints though. During one game, the pitcher would begin pitching before my batter’s animation was complete. This went on for a whole inning since before I closed the app. Now Pete Wheeler’s run anim…" - RayRay Wiggins
2
"play"
8 negative reviews mention this · 31% of all complaints
★★★★★ "FIX THE STATS AND STOP SENDING ERROR MESSAGES WHEN I PLAY OFFLINE!!!!!. I turned off my data and Wi-Fi on purpose!! I don’t need to be reminded every five seconds like I’m stupid. Edit: Fix the bug with season mode statistics!!!!" - BTShake
3
"doesn"
5 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "can’t even open the game. i can’t even open the game, i’ve restarted my phone and let it rest for a couple minutes and still doesn’t open - wasted my money" - kkrrrey
4
"ball"
5 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Cheats. Game will cheat. Errors will happen conveniently for the computer to comeback (ball out of play, drop the ball, etc.) and will prevent you from scoring." - Djjdhsjjs
5
"every"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "FIX THE STATS AND STOP SENDING ERROR MESSAGES WHEN I PLAY OFFLINE!!!!!. I turned off my data and Wi-Fi on purpose!! I don’t need to be reminded every five seconds like I’m stupid. Edit: Fix the bug with season mode statistics!!!!" - BTShake
6
"phone"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "can’t even open the game. i can’t even open the game, i’ve restarted my phone and let it rest for a couple minutes and still doesn’t open - wasted my money" - kkrrrey
7
"game game"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
8
"crashes"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Great gameplay - crashes frequently. I would love to give it 5 stars - the gameplay is, I think, really good for a mobile adaptation of a desktop game. However, the app crashes on me about every two innings. I’m on an iPhone 13 mini. This is my only complaint - if it didn’t d…" - Great gameplay - but crashes
9
"screen"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just awful. Either you messed with the game or the game just doesn’t work well with touch screens. Lost all interest in the reboot of this series." - Zombiezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
10
"impossible"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Unplayable Garbage. Complete waste of time. The game takes up half the screen. It is impossibly slow and nearly impossible to play. It does not even work 95% of the time. Trying to bat is a nightmare. It is so bad that I have not even gotten to play defense be…" - Hdjsoskns
11
"pitching"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "What a throwback!. This game takes me back. I have a few complaints though. During one game, the pitcher would begin pitching before my batter’s animation was complete. This went on for a whole inning since before I closed the app. Now Pete Wheeler’s run anim…" - RayRay Wiggins
12
"complete"
3 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "What a throwback!. This game takes me back. I have a few complaints though. During one game, the pitcher would begin pitching before my batter’s animation was complete. This went on for a whole inning since before I closed the app. Now Pete Wheeler’s run anim…" - RayRay Wiggins
📋 All 26 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
FIX THE STATS AND STOP SENDING ERROR MESSAGES WHEN I PLAY OFFLINE!!!!!
I turned off my data and Wi-Fi on purpose!! I don’t need to be reminded every five seconds like I’m stupid.
Edit: Fix the bug with season mode statistics!!!!
Edit: Fix the bug with season mode statistics!!!!
can’t even open the game
i can’t even open the game, i’ve restarted my phone and let it rest for a couple minutes and still doesn’t open - wasted my money
hate
hate it
Bugged
I try to open it and it immediately kicks me out what a waste of almost $2 including tax….
Glitch
I loved this game a lot but the one thing I dont like about it is that it costs 5 bucks but for a game like this it doesn’t matter but as soon as I got it on my phone it just wouldn’t let me in the app I thought it was the phone but a few days later my brother got it and it was perfectly fine I’m thinking I got scammed please fix this
Cheats
Game will cheat. Errors will happen conveniently for the computer to comeback (ball out of play, drop the ball, etc.) and will prevent you from scoring.
Just awful
Either you messed with the game or the game just doesn’t work well with touch screens. Lost all interest in the reboot of this series.
Don’t let nostalgia allow you to buy this trash game
Bought this thinking I’d love it like I always did in the old days. Nope… glitchy… hard to navigate, has not been adapted to the phone and it’s frozen 8 times in the first 10 minutes of trying to play. Save your money and your time. PICK any other game.
My testicular torsion was more enjoyable
Made it to the last inning multiple times in league play (sometimes 30 min/game) only for the game to decide its own character hit a ball so poorly it crashes the whole thing and I lose all progress. I would really prefer not saving my game every 30 seconds under the same fear north korean citizens must feel just to complete a single game. Congrats, you got my $5. Buy the worst tallboy beer and shove it up your coding.
Support controller
Should be able to use backbone controller. Game way too hard to play with just tapping. There’s an extreme delay.
Unplayable Garbage
Complete waste of time. The game takes up half the screen. It is impossibly slow and nearly impossible to play. It does not even work 95% of the time. Trying to bat is a nightmare. It is so bad that I have not even gotten to play defense because I quit before I get the chance. Save your time and money.
Impossible to hit
It is impossible to hit. Swings are so lagged and it’s rare the ball ever leaves the infield. Even when doing tball the ball just doesn’t go anywhere. Needs to be updated or make the game free. Just feels like a cash grab for subpar product.
Do NOT buy
Worst game EVER can’t play on any device or it will immediately back out
Terrible
Impossible to hit the ball. The screen size is half of the phone. Don’t but
Crashes
Can’t even open it, just crashes
Awful
The buttons don’t work. My 386 computer had better responsiveness 30 years ago. Awful.
Saves won’t load
I love this game but for some reason after the past couple updates I can’t load into a saved game. The game won’t stay on long til it crashes. I’m really disappointed
Backyard baseball ‘97
I won’t let me open the app
Game not Working?
Every time I click into the game on my iPhone SE it automatically backs out. If I could get some advice or a refund that would be great.
Thanks,
Petewheely
Thanks,
Petewheely
What a throwback!
This game takes me back. I have a few complaints though. During one game, the pitcher would begin pitching before my batter’s animation was complete. This went on for a whole inning since before I closed the app. Now Pete Wheeler’s run animation is slowed down. I closed the app twice before reopening and no change. He runs slower than expected and what we all expect him to. I’m not talking about when he’s behind a runner and needs to adjust speed. I’m talking about stealing bases and he’s no where near what he was last night. If the game compensates by increasing the difficulty level, I’d like to know that. In a game I was just playing, Kenny reached second during a base hit before Pete reached third. I’m at a loss. Devs, what’s up?
I can’t play
I s t even play the game it just lord me out
Riddled with errors and lost games
Constantly crashing and losing saves.
Great gameplay - crashes frequently
I would love to give it 5 stars - the gameplay is, I think, really good for a mobile adaptation of a desktop game. However, the app crashes on me about every two innings. I’m on an iPhone 13 mini. This is my only complaint - if it didn’t do this, it would be an easy 5 stars from me. This is frustrating considering that the gameplay is great and it’s a paid app.
Nostalgia in my hands but it strokes out
Was really excited about buying this. Brought back a lot of memories. Should definitely add some controls on the sides of the screen to better your aim for both pitching and swinging so your fingers don’t get in the way.
Not a fan
It is impossible to hit. Half the time I swing it doesn’t even register. The ball get stuck sometimes in fence and I can’t get it. I tap on the screen to move a player to get the ball and it still goes right past them. Waste of 5 dollars
Do not buy
This is not the game you once knew. Hitting, pitching, catching, and control of your outfield are much harder in this mobile version. There is some nostalgia to buying it, but don’t expect to actually win a game.
Sentiment summary
71%
Positive (4-5★)
9%
Neutral (3★)
19%
Negative (1-2★)