Lemmings (video game)

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Lemmings

Developer(s)	DMA Design
Publisher(s)	Psygnosis, Sunsoft
Designer(s)	David Jones
Release date(s)	February 14, 1991, 2006
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single player multiplayer (on some systems)
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Commodore Amiga, various
Media	Two 3.5" floppy disks, various
Input	Mouse, Keyboard, D-pad

Lemmings, a computer game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and published by Psygnosis in 1991, was one of the most popular computer games of its time. Several games magazines of the time awarded the game maximum review scores.

Psygnosis, also known for the Wipeout series, had its greatest success in Lemmings. Famously, the concept for Lemmings came from an animation created by Mike Dailly over a lunchtime, to prove a point about how small a character could be on screen.^[1]

The game was unique and based around a concept previously untried. In the original Commodore Amiga version, there are 120 levels, and on each level, the player must guide a group of up to 100 lemmings (or 80 in many versions, such as DOS and Windows) home by giving individual lemmings various commands. The "lemmings" of the game are small, green-haired humanoid beings that mindlessly walk en masse into any danger in their path, following the popular myth that real lemmings behave in a similarly suicidal fashion.

Of the numerous sequels the only one to achieve the success of the first was Lemmings 2: The Tribes, which added twelve specialist tribes of lemmings, each with their own type of level and specialist workers.

The game briefly gave rise to a new genre, described in magazines at the time as the "save 'em up", a joking reference to other popular genres like beat 'em up and shoot 'em up.

1 Gameplay
- 1.1 Two-player mode
2 Ports
- 2.1 PlayStation portable remake
- 2.2 EyeToy remake
3 Sequels
4 Allusions
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links
- 7.1 History-related
- 7.2 Other

[edit] Gameplay

Amiga screenshot

The gameplay in Lemmings was radically new for its time. Rather than directly controlling the actions of the tribe of lemmings, the player must choose from a list of preset actions called "skills". Individual lemmings continue to do whatever they are doing until instructed otherwise. That is, a walker will continue to walk until he is assigned a skill (or dies).

The main difficulty in surmounting the puzzles of Lemmings is not only in solving the puzzles, but also in executing them in an efficient way. Some levels are easy to see and plan but when actually attempted become more formidable than first expected.

Each level starts off with the lemmings coming out one by one from one or more entrances. When not executing a skill, a lemming is a Walker that simply walks along the floor it is on. If it walks off a cliff, and the fall is not high enough to kill it, the lemming continues walking in the same direction after it lands. When it walks into a wall, it will turn around and walk the other way. Lemmings generally do not interact with each other (with the exception of Blockers as explained below); for example, two lemmings walking towards each other will pass by each other and keep walking. However, lemmings are affected by the environment which can be altered by certain skills.

There are eight skills which can be given to lemmings:

Climber: For the remainder of the level, the lemming will climb up any vertical walls it encounters, instead of turning around as it normally would. Any overhang encountered on the wall whilst climbing will cause the lemming to fall back down and, assuming survival, to proceed in the opposite direction.
Floater: For the remainder of the level, the lemming will gently parachute down falls, allowing them to survive falls from any height. (Non-Floaters die if they fall from too great a height.) A lemming can simultaneously possess both the Climber and Floater skills, and is called an Athlete if it has both.
Bomber: A number 5 will appear above the lemming's head and count down while the lemming carries on doing whatever it was doing. After about five seconds the countdown finishes, the lemming exclaims, "Oh No!" and explodes, killing the lemming and carving out a small chunk from the most types of surrounding terrain. The explosion does not affect nearby lemmings.
Blocker: The lemming will stop at its current position and cause each lemming approaching to turn around. The lemming will remain a Blocker for the rest of the level, unless the Bomber skill is issued on it or the ground underneath it is somehow removed. If made a Bomber it will continue to act as a Blocker until it blows up.
Builder: The lemming will build a ramp upwards at 30° from horizontal by laying out small bricks forming a staircase. It will stop building if it reaches an obstacle, or when a total of 12 bricks have been placed. On most versions the last three bricks make a "click" sound when laid down, giving the player a chance to prepare for re-assigning Builder on the lemming when it finishes building. Once the last brick has been laid the builder will shrug his shoulders, then revert to a walker lemming, walking in the direction he was building (i.e. off the end of his bridge). If the lemming instead hits an obstacle (in front of or above him), he will instead turn around after stopping building. They also turn around and continue building in the opposite direction if they encounter a Blocker.
Basher: If the lemming is facing a nearby wall, it will start bashing out a horizontal tunnel through it, until it reaches open air or an object it cannot bash through (such as metal materials).
Miner: The lemming will mine downwards at 30° from horizontal through the floor it is on, using a pickaxe, until it reaches open air or an object it cannot mine through (such as metal materials).
Digger: The lemming will dig vertically down through the floor it is on until it reaches open air, and will then fall down to the floor underneath and start walking again (or die on impact). Like the Basher and Miner, a Digger will be stopped by hard materials.

Each level has a quota (a fixed limit) for the number of times each of the eight skills can be issued. Some skills may be unavailable (i.e. a quota of zero) for some levels, as part of the challenge. For example, on an early, easy level, the player may be given a quota of 20 for each of the eight skills, although only one or two are actually needed to complete the level. On a later, harder level, the quota of available skills may be set such that the player needs to use them all in a planned sequence to complete the level.

There is also a special command, "nuke", which allows the player to rapidly turn all lemmings into Bombers. This is used to restart the level if the player realizes failure is imminent, or to bring the level quickly to a close if enough lemmings have already been saved (e.g. only excess Blockers remain).

Each level starts off with a minimum release rate, which determines how quickly the lemmings are released from the entrance(s). On most versions of the game (including the original Amiga version), the player can raise or lower the release rate at will throughout the game, but can never lower it below the minimum for that level. Increasing the release rate to 99 is a common way to hasten the end of the level, once the player has created a safe passage for the lemmings.

Lemmings are pretty delicate creatures and will die if they:

fall from too great a height (unless they are a Floater);
fall off the map;
enter water, lava, or slime;
step into a trap, such as a spring-loaded trap, compressor, etc.; or
are ordered to explode.

A lemming is "saved" when it reaches the exit of the level. Each level has a required percentage of lemmings that must be saved. If the player can save at least the required number of lemmings within the time limit of the level, then the player wins that level and moves on to the next. There is no limit to the number of attempts that can be made to complete a level.

[edit] Two-player mode

Screenshot of the two-player mode of Lemmings

The original Amiga Lemmings also had 20 two-player levels. This took advantage of the Amiga's ability to handle two mice simultaneously. Each player would be presented with their own view of the map (vertical split screen), could only control his own lemmings (green or blue), and had their own base. The goal was to save more lemmings (color irrelevant) than the other player. Gameplay would cycle through the 20 levels until neither player got any lemmings home. The Atari ST also had a 2-player mode, one player using keyboard, and the other using the mouse.

Two-player levels were also present in the Sega Mega Drive version, along with some levels unique to that version by Sunsoft, the company that worked on it. They were also present in the Super NES version.

[edit] Ports

The popularity of the game on the Amiga led to its rapid porting to many other platforms, and is considered to be one of the most widely-ported video games of all time, together with Pac-Man and Tetris.

Known ports include: 3DO, Acorn Archimedes, Amstrad CPC, Apple IIGS, Arcade (prototype only), Atari Lynx, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga CD32, Commodore CDTV, DHTML, MS-DOS, Hewlett-Packard HP-48 series, Macintosh, Mobile phone, Nintendo Famicom (NES), Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo Game Boy Color, Nintendo Super Famicom (Super NES), Nintendo DS, OS/2 (demo only), Palm, Philips CD-i, SAM Coupé, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Sinclair Spectrum, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Playstation 3, PlayStation Portable, TI-82, TI-83 plus, TI-89, TI-92, UIQ, and Windows.

While all ports share the same basic characteristics of the game, there are a number of significant differences. For the NES and Game Boy versions, a lemming will only perform actions given to him at specific spots. This results in a delay of the action being carried out, as opposed to an immediate response that occurs in the original game.

In the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version of Lemmings, an additional 60 levels are available, some of which are conversions of Oh No! More Lemmings levels. Some other ports also include additional levels, unique to their respective systems (for example, the Super NES port includes a new difficulty of five levels known as Sunsoft, which is also the name of the company that ported and published that particular version).

In some ports, the levels are altered (possibility out of the company policy of the console maker for which the port is for). For example, in the Super NES version, the word "HEAVEN" is replaced with "PARADISE" in levels where it appeared previously. (The title of the level "Heaven can wait (we hope!!!)" has been changed to "Paradise can wait (we hope!!!)".) Furthermore, the 666 level has been removed. This is most likely due to Nintendo's strict family-value policy in which they imposed until the late nineties.

Other differences include:

Mouse option - Obviously lacking for some systems, usually making the game harder to play
Two-player levels - Ported only to the Super NES, the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Atari ST
Graphics - Some ports (primarily Macintosh and Windows) had improved resolution compared to their DOS counterpart.
Fewer levels - Some ports only have 100 levels
Smaller levels - The maximum level width is shorter on some ports, altering certain levels
Maximum number of lemmings in a level - This varies from 14 to 100
Nonfunctional traps - On some ports the traps were visible but did not work (e.g. Amstrad CPC port)
Intro movie and ending credits - Missing or different in different ports
Availability of map thumbnail or release rate buttons
Availability of fast forward button or action replay mode - Options not included in the original Amiga version, although featured in some Lemmings sequels

The arcade game prototype, made by Data East, had the 666 level removed, and had a conversation of a Data East employee and a Psygnosis programmer about the 666 level, allusions to hell and heaven, and the "MENACING!!" level (see allusions below).

[edit] PlayStation portable remake

In March 2006, Sony released a remake of Lemmings for the PlayStation Portable handheld console, developed by Team17. It features all 120 levels from the original game, 36 brand new levels as well as DataPack support (similar to the Extra Track system featured in Wipeout Pure), and a "UserLevel" Editor. Every level in the game is a pre-rendered 3D landscape, although their gameplay is still 2D and remains faithful to the original game. UserLevels can be constructed from pre-rendered objects, in a similar manner to unofficial level editors such as LemEdit for DOS Lemmings and LemmEd for Amiga Lemmings 2: The Tribes. UserLevels can be distributed by uploading them to an exclusive Lemmings online community.

The game was released for Japan on March 9, 2006, for Europe on March 10, 2006, and for US/Canada on May 23, 2006.

[edit] EyeToy remake

The game was recently also announced for EyeToy - the basic change in the concept is that the player must stretch and use his/her limbs in the recorded picture to aid the lemmings.^[2] The Eyetoy mode is developed by another UK developer Rusty Nutz [1] and was released in October 2006 as part of the PSP -> PS2 port.

The main PS2 version was a port by Team17 from the original PSP version. This version also contains a level editor that allows user-created levels to be uploaded and shared with others. Levels can also be transferred to other PSPs.

Screenshots of a Playstation 3 version have been leaked on http://www.ps3forums.com, detailing the interesting night levels.

[edit] Sequels

Xmas Lemmings, also known as Holiday Lemmings (1991 - 1994) is a series of two small demos of Oh No! More Lemmings, and two full games with their own demos, with Christmas music and snow levels.
Oh No! More Lemmings (1991) - expansion with 100 more levels.
Covox Lemmings - a promotional variant released with Covox sound cards, the game is identical to Lemmings but contains a "Covox" level and seven more levels not found in the original game.
Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993)
All New World of Lemmings (1994) - The Lemmings Chronicles in North America, also referred to as Lemmings 3
3D Lemmings (1995)
Lemmings Revolution (2000)
Lemmings (2006) was released for the Sony Playstation 3 video game console via PlayStation Network download.

Two other Lemmings games were released, although these had entirely different gameplay. These are:

Lemmings Paintball (1996) - A puzzle/action game
The Adventures of Lomax (1996) - A platform game
The new Lemmings will be released 12/7/2007 for the PS3. Gametrailers website

[edit] Allusions

Main article: References in Lemmings level names

In the original Lemmings title, each level difficulty rating (Fun, Tricky, Taxing, and Mayhem) had one level with its own unique graphics and music. Each of these levels borrowed the graphics and music from another Psygnosis title. The levels are:

Fun: "A Beast of a Level" used the graphics from Shadow of the Beast.
Tricky: "MENACING!!!" used the graphics from Menace.
Taxing: "What an AWESOME Level" was based on Awesome.
Mayhem: "A BeastII of a Level" was taken from Shadow of the Beast II.

The unique levels were removed from later versions (Lemmings for Windows, Lemmings for Game Boy Color, and the Lemmings which came with Lemmings Paintball). They have been restored for Lemmings PSP, albeit with the landscape style changed to match that of the other levels, and the unique music removed.

There are also two levels, which share the same layout, where the word "heaven" is painted near the top of the screen with an arrow pointing to the exit. The player must build a large, staircase-like bridge to make it to the exit, possibly a subtle allusion to the Led Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven. It has also been suggested that this is a possible Meat Loaf reference to the song Heaven Can Wait, as the second occurrence of this layout is given the title, "Heaven can wait... we hope!!"

It is of note that the word "Heaven" has been removed from the PSP remake of the game, replaced instead by two hanging cages.

Many of the level themes are arrangements of classical themes and other public domain music, such as the The Galop from Orpheus in the Underworld (the music often used for the can-can), London Bridge is Falling Down, Ten Green Bottles, How Beautiful The March Of Days, My Old Man (Said Follow the Van), Babyface and She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain.

In the expansion/sequel Oh No! More Lemmings, many of the level titles are allusions to pop culture.

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.

At the height of the popularity of Lemmings, Eric W. Schwartz, the most famous Amiga animator of the time, created the Anti-lemmings demo, where Lemmings are being shot in a humorous way.
Lemming fan stories from the community^[3] are numerous, humorous stories include the idea of being born from cabbages due to their hair, and an 'evil lemming' spin off that involves farmers being chased by lemmings with pitchforks.
The voice of the lemmings were provided by background artist Scott Johnston's mother.^[1]
The original Amiga, Macintosh, and Atari ST versions featured special levels that used graphics and music from the games Shadow of the Beast, Shadow of the Beast II, Menace and Awesome.