If one guy starts playing it, you ALL have to play it.

September 22, 2011 8:59 AM

Do you miss the game, Lemmings? Would you like to play Lemmings again? How many lemmings can you handle? How many more lemmings?

Note: it's not exactly like the original Lemmings game. But it is still fun and there are still lemmings. Please do not get mad that this isn't an exact copy of Lemmings. Thank you. Also, pressing Esc will take you back to the main menu. Enjoy.

posted by phunniemee (58 comments total)

Warning: addicting. It's crazy but after a few levels you really feel a sense of responsibility for the little guys.
posted by bleep at 9:02 AM on September 22, 2011

How many times are we going to see this post?

I keed, I keed. I was glad to see it yesterday, and I'm glad you re-posted it today.
posted by gauche at 9:02 AM on September 22, 2011

While this is fun, drawing the lines that the lemmings walk on isn't nearly as much fun as using the individual lemming actions that were in the original versions.
posted by I Havent Killed Anybody Since 1984 at 9:07 AM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

Clearly you don't want me to accomplish anything today.
posted by drezdn at 9:12 AM on September 22, 2011

I still have the original lemmings floating around on a cd on somewhere. Labeled "Old games" and tucked into the back of a binder or the bottom of a spindle. I really need to go through all that old stuff.
posted by antifuse at 9:18 AM on September 22, 2011

OH GODDAMMIT I HAVE WORK TO DO
posted by saladin at 9:18 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you want the original thing in your browser, you want DHTML Lemmings.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:19 AM on September 22, 2011 [10 favorites]

Pingus
posted by DU at 9:19 AM on September 22, 2011

Had never played that before ... MAN is that addictive. Gotta walk away.
posted by jbickers at 9:21 AM on September 22, 2011

And then there were a few pixel-perfect unlicensed remakes by a chap named Aaron Ardiri; one for PalmOS a decade or so ago, and an iPhone port which he did in 24 hours, and which was pulled by Apple just as quickly.
posted by acb at 9:21 AM on September 22, 2011

Needs a way to speed the lemmings up once you've built your lines. Sitting around waiting for 3 minutes for them to make it to the end is PAINFUL.
posted by antifuse at 9:25 AM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Who's awesome, Wolfdog? You're awesome.
posted by I Havent Killed Anybody Since 1984 at 9:33 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Do you miss the game, Lemmings?

Not being snarky here, but is that comma correct? I've noticed it used this way in other posts and it just seems off.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 9:33 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't think it's correct unless you're addressing "Lemmings" and asking it if it misses the game. People think a comma goes there because that's where you'd put a pause if you were speaking.
posted by bleep at 9:37 AM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I played a few levels of this and it's better than I thought it would be. But it's hard to see how it could remain interesting after, say, 20 or so levels. Lemmings and its sequels at least had the various skills to explore. Here, all you can do is draw and erase. Technically the lemmings in the original games could do that too, they just had much cruder ways of doing it. And unlike the Amiga/SNES/other games, since you never use the individual lemmings for anything they cease to be a resource to be managed. Every level thus tends to be about ensuring the survival of the lead lemming, with all the ones following sharing his fate. (There was some of that in the original games too, but it wasn't quite so obvious.)

One of the great things about the original Lemmings BTW, it was a game that used a framebuffer the same way platformers use tilemaps, as an actual playfield, not just window-dressing. You could theoretically hack the Amiga game to play this same way.
posted by JHarris at 9:38 AM on September 22, 2011

ohhhh you sons of bitches with bringing me back to when I was 15 and everything was still basically awesome
posted by mightygodking at 9:39 AM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

The first few levels are very easy but it starts to get a lot harder when levels restrict you to eraser-only. I'm stuck on level 12 of eraser-only; I haven't figured out the 'game physics' enough to solve it. Level 11 took me about 10 minutes of "how do lemmings react to X? How do I get them to do Y?"
posted by muddgirl at 9:41 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I meant to say I'm stuck on level 12 of the easy levels.
posted by muddgirl at 9:41 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

mightygodking: 15? I WAS 8!!!

God I feel old as shit. Got the combo of this and Lemmings Paintball for Christmas that year.
posted by deezil at 9:43 AM on September 22, 2011

it's not exactly like the original Lemmings game.

I love Lemmings, and the graphics and sounds in this thing are are an amazing recreation. Takes me right back to my C64 and High School.

But the gameplay is nothing like Lemmings. In the original (which you can play at wolfdog's link, the Lemmings themselves modified the play field, and you have 10 different 'skills' the Lemmings can use. It took timing, strategy & puzzle solving. This takes.....a mouse.
posted by FfejL at 9:51 AM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I don't think it's correct unless you're addressing "Lemmings" and asking it if it misses the game. People think a comma goes there because that's where you'd put a pause if you were speaking.

Well, I left the comma out the last time I tried this, and when I went to go make this one, I was all "urk! comma!" I'm, like, 96% sure a comma belongs there. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty good at commas. If you can find the right rule, I'd love to see it (that's a legitimate, non-snarky request). A cursory googling didn't turn up anything saying it was wrong.
posted by phunniemee at 9:52 AM on September 22, 2011

Oh man, I played lemmings when I was like 20. Maybe 19. Hopefully it hadn't just come out then...*checks wikipedia*....Well crap.
posted by DU at 9:54 AM on September 22, 2011

...It's like saying: "This is my friend, Yolanda."
This is the game, Lemmings. Complicate up the sentence a little bit, it should still be the same. Do you miss the game, Lemmings?
posted by phunniemee at 9:54 AM on September 22, 2011

great post. no previous exposure to lemmings. suffice to say i was well into my first after-college job when lemmings made its debut, and just missed the whole thing altogether. i had a whole question prepared re: "what was the deal with this fpp yesterday?", and luckily phunniemee just posted his link to the removed post i was asking about. so, yeah. cool to learn about lemmings, and i'll be sure to check out the recreations of the original along with this newer mouse-centric version.

luckily i was able to do the first few (fun) levels, and still manage to pull myself out of the vortex before i lost my whole morning.
posted by rude.boy at 10:00 AM on September 22, 2011

"This is my friend, Yolanda" is correct when there is one friend (or only one present), when "This is my friend" would suffice. "This is my wife, Tiffany" and "This is my wife Tiffany" are both grammatically correct, but the latter implies that I have more than one wife.

Therefore, "Do you miss the game, Lemmings" makes sense only if there is only one game that we could be talking about (or if, as mentioned, you are directly addressing lemmings in your audience). I think what you really want is "Do you miss the game Lemmings?"
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:05 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Commas only generally frame appositives (nouns used to modify other nouns or noun phrases) when they are not restrictive. The Chicago Manual of Style uses the following examples:

"Robert Burns, the poet, wrote many songs about women named Mary." Here, "the poet" is not restrictive; it simply adds extra information about Robert Burns. Thus, you use the commas.

"The poet Robert Burns wrote many songs about women named Mary." Here, "Robert Burns" is restrictive; it specifies which poet. Thus, you don't use commas.

In the post, "Lemmings" is restrictive; it specifies which game. So there shouldn't be a comma.
posted by Hypocrite_Lecteur at 10:07 AM on September 22, 2011 [5 favorites]

YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE
posted by BigVACub at 10:14 AM on September 22, 2011 [9 favorites]

The Chicago Manual of Style is good enough for me. Thanks for finding it!
posted by phunniemee at 10:17 AM on September 22, 2011

Thanks for the post. I'm having a rough work day, and both pedantry and lemmings are useful distractions.
posted by Hypocrite_Lecteur at 10:23 AM on September 22, 2011

Lemmings and Oh No! More Lemmings ruled years of my childhood. I was obsessed. Those games taxed my brain and forced me to be creative in ways that grade school couldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.
posted by naju at 10:23 AM on September 22, 2011

> you have 10 different 'skills' the Lemmings can use.

Including, uh, standing one of the little guys next to some obstruction and making him blow up so that he takes it out with him. Or maybe only part of it, so then you do it again with another one. And right before they blow they hold their heads and go PEEP PEEP PEEP in a terrified tone. Saddest, wickedest moment in gaming. People who rant about Grand Theft Auto know nothing, nothing
posted by jfuller at 10:24 AM on September 22, 2011 [7 favorites]

COMMA FIGHT
posted by shakespeherian at 10:26 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh wow. I can kiss my weekend goodbye.
posted by Specklet at 10:29 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

One of the great things about the original Lemmings BTW, it was a game that used a framebuffer the same way platformers use tilemaps, as an actual playfield, not just window-dressing.

Worms worked the same way, and would let you upload "levels" as PCX files. I think the first time I installed Paint Shop Pro was in order to make PCX files from, uh, certain jpegs I had downloaded.

High school was awesome.
posted by 7segment at 10:32 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wolfdog and phunniemee, I hate you.

Not really, I love you with the fire of a thousand suns.

Almost as much as I love Lemmings.
posted by teleri025 at 10:38 AM on September 22, 2011

PEEP PEEP PEEP? What version did you play? In the original Amiga game they quite clearly said "OH NO-O-O-O!".
posted by egypturnash at 10:40 AM on September 22, 2011

NNOOoooooooooo......
[that is the sound of my afternoon productivity falling off a cliff into a flaming pit]
posted by rmless at 10:40 AM on September 22, 2011

I always felt a sense of 'comradeship' amongst those guys.

(Ponyfilter: Can we have blue, white, and green theme for this page? A modest salute to the fallen.)
posted by run"monty at 10:43 AM on September 22, 2011

The point of Lemmings isn't to bottle them up in a small as possible area and then make them all explode at once?

I'm not a sociopath, I swear
posted by Burritos Inc. at 10:54 AM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

These "lite" versions are not the game I want to play. I want to play Lemmings. These are more like Kirby Canvas Curse or something. But even if they were the game I was hankering to play, antifuse is right - without the speed controls, it's unbearable.

I was excited about the DHTML version until it started and I didn't hear "Let's go!" I can get sound working by using IE, but music still doesn't load. Looking at the source, it appears to be trying to load .mid files... if I can't listen to modfiles while playing Lemmings, I don't want to play Lemmings!

Maybe it's time for me to make a stupidly hard version called "OH GOD PLEASE NO MORE LEMMINGS!!"
posted by aubilenon at 11:15 AM on September 22, 2011

Please, for the love of penguins, someone tell me how to get past level 12 of the fun level. It's been days and I can't figure out how to turn them around and I'm so very stuck!
posted by Kimberly at 11:18 AM on September 22, 2011

No. No, I do not miss Lemmings. That game used to irritate the shit out of me.
posted by Decani at 11:20 AM on September 22, 2011

And since we're talking about fun old puzzle games - can somebody do an FPP on The Incredible Machine? Or just point me to an online version of ANY Incredible Machine games? :)
posted by antifuse at 11:23 AM on September 22, 2011

There was a new Incredible Machine game that just debuted on Xbox 360 as a downloadable Arcade offering, not sure if it's on PS3 as well.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:58 AM on September 22, 2011

About # 12 - I had a hard time with this one, too! Just erase the first blockade to continue the stairwell so it looks like one continuous diagonal line, let the Lemmings walk into the diamond-shaped structure (they'll get trapped), then erase the leftmost wall of the diamond structure to allow them to fall onto the next stairwell below. Rinse and repeat! The trick is just to realize that they will walk into the diamond without you actually erasing any part of it.
posted by genekelly'srollerskates at 11:59 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

remains fun :)
posted by Coolio at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2011

I hate you.
posted by zennie at 1:38 PM on September 22, 2011

I think the real question though is IF the lemmings miss the game. Maybe they like being on the other side of the hatch and curse their gods every time someone revives them.
posted by bleep at 1:40 PM on September 22, 2011

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think the lack of a speed control makes this the perfect game to play at work. Start a level, draw all of the stuff you're going to draw for the whole level at once, then go to another tab and get back to work. Come back five minutes later to see how you did.
posted by jbickers at 2:03 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

There was a new Incredible Machine game that just debuted on Xbox 360 as a downloadable Arcade offering, not sure if it's on PS3 as well.
I believe you are talking about Crazy Machines Elements. I haven't played that version, but I do have the PC predecessors which don't quite capture the spirit of the original but they do come fairly close.
posted by netd at 2:52 PM on September 22, 2011

Ah, Lemmings, the game that ate 1991. There was one level in the middle with a kind of whippy thing that was, I think, literally impossible. I had to blag the cheat code for that layer from somewhere in order to finish the game. I look back at Lemmings with the same kind of fondness a recovering alcoholic feels for beer.
posted by Grangousier at 4:29 PM on September 22, 2011

Finding out that DMA Design made Lemmings and GTA is like that moment when you realize The Beatles recorded half the songs on the radio.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 5:16 PM on September 22, 2011

The complete history of DMA Design
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 5:17 PM on September 22, 2011

If any ever does this with Syndicate, please let me know.
posted by drezdn at 8:36 PM on September 22, 2011

"Do you miss the game, Lemmings?" is like a poignant existential question aimed at all the retired lemmings who are no longer trudging around dangerous scenery. Was it better then or now?
posted by memebake at 4:22 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Trudging back in the day was like this real thing we used to do you know. Like the scenery was dangerous. But now it's just like they draw lines and the kids trudge along like this preset route like they're just following the crowd.
posted by Not Supplied at 9:26 AM on September 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

"Do you miss the game, Lemmings?"

We would spend hours, crouched in the Tube, waiting for the doors to open and drop us into the Terrain. At first there was a buzz of excitement, of speculation - Which level would it be? What would be waiting for us? Where would we be going? But after a while you've seen too many good ones fall into the Pit, mangled by the Whip or frozen in terror - "Oh, no!" - as they count down and explode. After a while you become numb to it all, no longer grateful that you strode successfully out through the Door. In the end it's all the same - the Ladder, the Pit, the Door, the survivors and the ones who fall, are torn apart or blown to pieces. All the same. And on to the next level, and the next, and the next.

And yet now, after it's all gone and done and dusted and nothing but memories, everything seems so empty. A dark lifetime crouched in the Tube with no Terrain to look forward to.
posted by Grangousier at 9:36 AM on September 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

Angry lemming
posted by homunculus at 11:04 AM on October 5, 2011