Description
Your task is to rescue the Lemmings across 120 levels of fast-paced puzzling. These creatures simply walk blindly through the world in the hope of reaching safety at the end of the level - unfortunately these levels include steep drops, gaps in the ground, barriers and rivers amongst other hazards.
You are in control not of any individual Lemming, but of a cross-hair, which can be moved over any of the Lemmings. Along the bottom are a selection of functions which can be assigned to a Lemming, including climbing, floating and bashing. You must click to select the appropriate function, then click on the Lemming to activate it. Each level has a different range of skills on offer, a different amount of Lemmings, and a different percentage target in order to progress.
Alternate Titles
- "הנמלולים" -- Hebrew spelling
- "Lemmings 1" -- Informal title
- "Ha-Namlulim" -- Hebrew title
- "レミングス" -- Japanese spelling
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Trivia
The original Lemmings game had a strong edge of macabre imagery in it, perhaps to offset the excessively "cutesy" look and feel of the lemmings themselves. This is particularly prevalent on the "Hell" levels on which the exit portal is a horned pig's head, and especially on level 14 of the "Tricky" difficulty rating (the level title is "MENACING!!") which contains several skeleton limbs hanging from what appears to be dripping blood, and a large skull with a snake crawling through its eye sockets.
Probably most (in)famous of all, however, is level 21 on the "Tricky" difficulty rating, entitled "All the 6's........" and consisting entirely of a playfield which is shaped like the number 666. It also contains a total of 66 lemmings, requires 66% to be saved, provides 66 of each skill, and provides 6 minutes in which to finish. Like many pop culture references to the number 666, this was meant as a joke and wasn't intended as an overt reference to Satanism or anything else of that nature, but the matter was sensitive enough that the "Menacing" and 666 levels were removed from several versions of the game that were released for family-friendly consoles. Another level cut from some versions was "A beast of a level" which may have been removed simply for fear that it was referencing the "Beast" associated with the number 666, although the level title actually references Psygnosis' earlier title "Shadow of the Beast."
A webpage by
Mike Dailly (founder of
DMA Design) documenting the history of DMA explains that the 666 level originated when Mike wanted to make a 5-themed level, but he couldn't get the level to require 55% of the lemmings to be saved without changing the number of lemmings. Then, thinking of the other Hell levels in the game, he thought of 666 and opted to go with that. He also expresses surprise at how strong a reaction the level got, particularly since from his perspective, players are actually rescuing the lemmings from Hell into a better place.
This entry was contributed by
Corn Popper (66156),
Trixter 
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PCGamer77 (3026),
Famine3h (300),
krammer (235),
Kabushi (52023),
Martin Smith (64028),
IJan (1980),
Satoshi Kunsai (1844),
-diabolik- (298),
quizzley7 (21314) and
Mike Clarke (63)
