Article by: Paul Watkins (watkinzez)
Pictured from: Oh No! More Lemmings
Created by: DMA Design
First appearance: 1991
Bio
There is no single lemming that stands out in Psygnosis's famous strategy series, Lemmings. Legions of the little green-haired freaks attend to the player's every command in a journey to a small portal that supposedly leads to better places. This game formula turned out to be highly successful; several games magazines of the time awarded it maximum review scores. As such many players look back fondly upon the lemmings. Or they laugh after blowing them up.
In getting these small creatures where they want to go, several different abilities are at the player's disposal. One can assign a lemming to build a staircase that functions as a bridge, to dig through the terrain in their way, and even to commit suicide for the good of their group. Great care must be given to the lemmings as well, for if they unknowingly walk over a cliff, they will fall to their doom. To get all the lemmings to the other side of the level unharmed demands a sharp mind and quick decisions. If enough have survived at the end of a level, the game progresses to the next.
Lemmings's originality briefly gave rise to a new genre of games and spin-offs, inspired by Lemmings either in game mechanics or in art style. Team 17's Worms series tips its hat to Lemmings 's simple 2D graphical style, and even Nintendo's Pikmin games have a few things in common with the classic game. Lemmings 's popularity prompted it to be ported to many different systems; there are even some modern day remakes on hand-held systems.
Selected game appearances
Amiga
- Oh No! More Lemmings (1991)
- Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993)
Commodore 64
- Lemmings (1993)
References
