the cutting room mirror

Backyard Hockey

view on tcrf.net

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion.
Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?
Notes: Should I really upload the Backyard kids' short versions of their tunes? They're generally only used in Baseball '03 & Soccer '04 when at bat/scoring a goal.

The Backyard kids once again return to play games of hockey, in the eighth Backyard/Junior Sports game if you count the games which included pro players from the various sports leagues. You may also have noticed that this is the first Humongous game to not use the SCUMM engine, it instead runs on Infogrames' (later renamed Atari after buying the latter company) Yaga engine.

Unused Music#

The Backyard kids' short leitmotifs are never used here, but Backyard Hockey for some reason contains the Backyard Baseball pros' themes in music.he... At least you can now listen to them here as well.

Unused Subtitles#

Hidden inside the data.he zip file (they are really renamed .7z files) under the nine XML files for dialogue are subtitles meant for the various chatter in-game, but there is no (known possible) way to enable them.

Unused Sound Test?#

To do:
Try to make the menu accessible, so far I only crash when trying to access it by renaming the original "sound.xml" and then the "talkie_viewer.xml" to what was "sound.xml"

In addition, there seems to be a "talkie viewer" hidden inside the menus.he file and graphics meant for it.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!-- talkie_viewer.xml -->

<menu   xmlns="x-schema:menu_layout.xsd"
        value = "blank"
>

    <background value = ""/>
    
    <base_order value = "0"/>
    
    
    
    <navigable value = "0"/>
    
    <default_button value = ""/>
    
    <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "0.0"/>
    
    <text_style>
        <font value = "Arial"/>
        <pointsize value = "20"/>
        <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
        <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
        <bold value = "0"/>
        <color r = "0.0" g = "0.0" b = "0.0"/>
        <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
    </text_style>
    
    <button value = "PrevFrameBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_FramePrevBtn.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = ""/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "20"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "0"/>
            <color r = "0.0" g = "0.0" b = "0.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "1"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "0.5"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "-32.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
    <button value = "OpenMngBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_Lg_Btn.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = "OpenMng"/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "10"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "1"/>
            <color r = "0.0" g = "0.0" b = "0.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "1"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "0.5"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "-32.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
    <button value = "WavStopBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_StopBtn.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = ""/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "20"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "0"/>
            <color r = "0.0" g = "0.0" b = "0.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "1"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "0.5"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "0.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
    <button value = "MngNameBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_Display.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "-1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = ""/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "10"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "1"/>
            <color r = "255.0" g = "255.0" b = "255.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "0"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "1.0"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "-32.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
    <button value = "OpenWavBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_Lg_Btn.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = "OpenWav"/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "10"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "1"/>
            <color r = "0.0" g = "0.0" b = "0.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "1"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "0.5"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "0.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
    <button value = "WavPlayBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_playBtn.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = ""/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "20"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "0"/>
            <color r = "0.0" g = "0.0" b = "0.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "1"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "0.5"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "0.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
    <button value = "NextFrameBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_FrameNextBtn.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = ""/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "10"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "1"/>
            <color r = "0.0" g = "0.0" b = "0.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "1"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "0.5"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "-32.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
    <button value = "WavNameBtn">
    
        <background value = "menus\talkie_viewer\talkieview_Display.mng"/>
        <default_frame value = "0"/>
        <flash_frame value = "-1"/>
        <gray_frame value = "-1"/>
        <rollover_frame value = "-1"/>
        <displayed value = "1"/>
        <active value = "1"/>
        <caption value = ""/>
        
        <text_style>
            <font value = "Arial"/>
            <pointsize value = "10"/>
            <h_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <v_justify value = "CENTER"/>
            <bold value = "1"/>
            <color r = "255.0" g = "255.0" b = "255.0"/>
            <kerning_adjust value = "0"/>
        </text_style>
        
        
        <mnemonic value = ""/>
        <flash_on_click value = "0"/>
        
        <rollover_icon value = ""/>
        
        <opacity value = "1.0"/>
        <order value = "2.0"/>
        <init_delta x = "0.0" y = "0.0"/>
        
    </button>
    
</menu>

Revisional Differences#

To do:
Add images and voice files, expand the differences and more.

As with other Backyard Sports games, the game was re-released as Backyard Hockey '02. While most of the game is intact, the following changes are made.

The biggest change of all is the absence of the Humongous Entertainment and Infogrames logos as well as the introductory sequence. While the former two is due to, as usual, legal issues, the removal of the introduction sequence is probably because the re-release notably lost the NHL license, so the copyright screens for the NHL has been replaced with the logos for Playground Productions and Mega Cat Studios, respectively. No sounds play here.

Teams#

Much like the re-release of Backyard Football, to accommodate the lost of the NHL license, custom teams replace the original NHL teams, though they retain their colors. Curiously, some of the custom team logos still use parts of actual NHL team logos (namely the Chirping Chickens using part of the Calgary Flames' logo and the Rowdy Rink Rats using part of the Philadelphia Flyers' logo).

Original Team

Replacement Team

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

Angry Hornets

Atlanta Thrashers

Atomic Oysters

Boston Bruins

Awesome Ostriches

Buffalo Sabres

Cherry Pickers

Calgary Flames

Chirping Chickens

Carolina Hurricanes

Crazy Melonheads

Chicago Blackhawks

Crunchy Cookies

Colorado Avalanche

Frosty Snowcones

Columbus Blue Jackets

Electric Rockets

Dallas Stars

Flying Saucers

Detroit Red Wings

Hot Cocoas

Edmonton Oilers

Hat Tricksters

Florida Panthers

Squawking Loonies

Los Angeles Kings

Inky Squids

Minnesota Wild

Mega Cats

Montreal Canadiens

Mighty Glaciers

Nashville Predators

Moody Mooses

New Jersey Devils

Mushy Muffins

New York Islanders

Nutty Bananas

New York Rangers

Mini Mittens

Ottawa Senators

Peppy Turtles

Philadelphia Flyers

Rowdy Rink Rats

Phoenix Coyotes

Salty Sea Otters

Pittsburgh Penguins

Sneaky Cheetahs

San Jose Sharks

Blizzard Brawlers

St. Louis Blues

Big Poppies

Tampa Bay Lightning

Stinky Cheeses

Toronto Maple Leafs

Terrible Tundra

Vancouver Canucks

Twisty Tornados

Washington Capitals

Wooly Woolies

Voice Differences#

Similarly, the voices mentioning the original NHL teams has been replaced with new voicelines to match. While some are presumably reused from Hockey '05, most of the new lines for the replacement teams are newly-recorded. And like before, the voices for Sunny and Buddy are not specified and creates a slightly jarring difference in voices when comparing them.

Changed Identities for Pros#

Unlike with past re-releases, the pros who did not return were not replaced by new or generic kids (or outright removed like with Kevin Garnett in Basketball '01 released the same day as this re-release). Instead, they were changed to be different professional players who were active in the NHL at the time of the original release, although they maintain the original pro players' in-game designs. However, none of the changed pros received new voicelines; their original voicelines were just removed entirely.

Original athlete

Replacement athlete

Jaromír Jágr

Chris Chelios

Joe Sakic

Jeremy Roenick

Steve Yzerman

Claude Lemieux

Paul Kariya

Mark Recchi

Of the above replacements, Jeremy Roenick notably appeared in another Backyard Hockey game, Backyard Hockey 2005.

"Thanks for Everything" Note#

Like all other re-releases of the Humongous-developed Backyard Sports titles, the credits added a note for the original Humongous Entertainment.

To the good people from
Humongous Entertainment.

Thanks for everything.

Sorry we removed
every mention of your
company from the game.

Legal made us do it.

References#

  1. INFOGRAMES DOMINATES THE BEST-SELLING PC GAMES LIST AT PLAYDATE 2002 - Infogrames - Corporate Information. (archived)↩︎
  2. GET INFO: PLAY SCHOOL - MacAddict, Issue 73, September 2002↩︎

v · t · e

The Backyard Sports series

Baseball

Windows, Mac OS Classic

Baseball (1997) • 2001

Windows, macOS

Baseball (2026)

Soccer

Windows

Soccer • MLS Edition • 2004

Mac OS Classic

Soccer

Football

Windows

Football • 2002

Mac OS Classic

Football

Game Boy Advance

Football • 2006 • 2007

Basketball

Windows, Mac OS Classic

Basketball

Game Boy Advance

Basketball • 2007

Other

Windows

Hockey • Skateboarding

Plug & Play

Baseball & Soccer