May 24, 2006

Meet the Lemmings (and the Lynx)

Apparently, the following jpeg depicts a lemming, a small and quite fluffy rodent.
This picture, on the other hand, is a screenshot from Psygnosis' Lemmings, a fast-paced, real-time strategic puzzler released initially for the Amiga, PC and Atari ST in 1991, and the real reason I bought my first mouse:

And here is a piece of wise gnomish advise: "If you fancy lemmings go for the digital kind. The other ones might bite a finger off". You'll also get a great variety to choose from (eh...from the digital kind; of course), as the Lemmings have appeared on almost every imaginable game system (except the EDSAC, that is). They also had quite a few of sequels over the last 15 years too. Let me elaborate, then.

The original Lemmings game has been released (albeit with a few tweaks here and there) on Amiga, Atari ST, PC, 3DO, CDi, CDTV, Amiga CD32, Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, Sega MegaDrive (or Genesis), Amstrad 6128, C64, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo Gameboy, Gameboy Color, NES and SuperNES (or Famicom), Sega MasterSystem, PSP, PlayStation, Acorn Archimedes, SAM Coupe, Macintosh, Palm, PocketPC, a variety of mobile phones and ...er... other places.

As for the (official) games that helped build the Lemmings myth, they are none other than: Lemmings (apparently), Oh no! More Lemmings, Holiday Lemmings 1993, Holiday Lemmings 1994, Lemmings 2: The Tribes, Lemmings Junior, The Lemmings Chronicles, 3d Lemmings Winterland, Lemmings 3d, Lemmings Paintball, The Adventures of Lomax and Lemmings Revolution. That's the lot. I guess. Now, at last, oh brawe reader you know the truth. The Lemmings were and still are a popular franchise. Exciting, isn't it?

But I digress. Really. What I really wanted to blog about was the Atari Lynx. The best hand-held games machine ever to grace our puny little war-torn planet. The first color portable console, that was designed by people who originally worked on the Amiga. The one that was succeeded by the Lynx II. But, now, having wildly digressed, I feel tired. You'll just have to wait for another post, or simply ignore/forget the Lynx altogether. It did have a brilliant Lemmings cart (pic via Psygnosis.org) though...

Related Gnome's Lair posts: Every Warhammer or Mario video game ever, an artsy video on Nintendo's popular franchises, Sweety Puzzle review


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16 comments:

  1. Just reminded me of a classic moment in the game when a countdown appears over the head of one of the lemmings and he utters oh oh! before he explodes in (at that time) a rather spectacular shower of lemming bits.

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  2. blogtopsites has you as the top games site. Congratulations!! and well deserved. (the Elderly kneels in the presence of greatness)

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  3. Always loved exploding Lemmings myself... And thank you for your wise and noble words. No kneeling please, I did it once and couldn't get up. Thanks again!

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  4. Lemmings! I've honestly never tried one of these titles, but they look interesting. The PSP version looks pricey for what it is...

    I would like to get a PSX version of the game but they're quite hard to find here due to them selling like trash.

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  5. There used to be a Java / DHTML version around, but it seems dead now... Anyway, you 'd better try the PC version. Download it at one of the many Abandonware sites...

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  6. I have never heard of a lemming game or animal in my life... Learn something every day!

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  7. Always feels nice to wear my teacher's outfit...

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  8. I recently reviewed the PSP version. It has 120 original levels (looking a bit different, but same in terms of gameplay) + 36 new, and also a level editor. The graphics are pretty nice, though a bit tiny and without some charm of the original.
    My only gripe was the profession selection, you are cycling through them by pressing shifts. But that's what the pause is for (and they also make nice melodic sounds when you scroll through them).

    You know you are into the game when you wake up in the morning and a neat solution to a stubborn puzzle comes to you. That's what happened with me and Lemmings.

    Unfortunately, I had to return my review copy, and now I'm into Exit.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. aww, dey're sooo cuwte!
    Thanks for a nice trip back to the time of the Amiga, a time when my Lemmings did more exploding than anything else.

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  11. (sorry about the double comments above, Firefox crashed in the middle.) Oh, yeah, did I mention I liked this post? 'Cuz I do!

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  12. Chentzilla: How about giving us a link to your PSP review? Please? ... That's nice.

    Juliraptor: Thanks a lot mate. Amiga is what the Lemmings were bred for...

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  13. I'd love to, but we're a paper magazine, which means the reviews are online at least a month later. Also, it's in Russian, and I'm not feeling like translating it just now. Sorry.

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  14. Hmm, I see. You've got a point there...

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  15. Oh, and maybe you know... I saw a video once in which some female singer was digitally cloned and imitated all the things lemmings do in the game, like falling with the umbrella, standing as a blocker, cutting her way with a pickaxe through a strange landscape made of two human profiles.
    Ever heard of it? Who's the singer? What's the song?

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  16. No... Damn. Never heard of it, but it really sounds interesting/funny. Have you tried searching google-video?

    I'll give it a try, and let you know what I find...

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