Comparison of Lemmings ports

A listing and comparison of Lemmings ports follows to identify the differences between different ports of the video game Lemmings.

General information

Feature comparison

Notes

• 1 ^ In this prototype, when you finish the last level, the game jumps back to level 45.^[3]
• 2 ^ The time limit works differently from most (if not all) other ports:
  • The amount of time left when you finish a level is carried over to the next level.
  • After saving a certain number of lemmings from previous levels, you get a time bonus.
  • Whenever the time runs out, the game pauses, and you are prompted to insert coin in order to continue. You are then given three minutes when you continue.
  • The clock goes at the same speed even when you pause or fast forward the game.
• 3 ^ When a lemming is assigned bomber, there is no 5-second countdown like most other ports, instead the lemming explodes immediately.
• 4 ^ With one exception, on every level at most 14 lemmings come out of the entrances. The exception is the level 'CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN' (21st level in rating Tricky). A total of 20 lemmings will come out of the entrance throughout the course of that level, but at most 14 lemmings will be in the level at any moment. This is because the entrance stops releasing new lemmings whenever there are already 14 lemmings in the level, and waits until one or more lemmings leaves the level (either by reaching the exit or being killed) before releasing the next lemming.
• 5 ^ Unlike most ports, the skills toolbar is not displayed together with the level. Instead, when you press the B button, it will pause the game and the screen will switch from displaying the level to displaying a skills selection menu page. Pressing B again will bring you back to the level.
• 6 ^ The maximum level width is smaller, meaning that a large proportion of the Amiga levels were replaced by completely new ones.
• 7 ^ This port has a "lock cursor to lemming" feature. Once you lock the cursor to a selected lemming, the cursor will automatically follow that lemming, until you unlock by moving the cursor away.
• 8 ^ Traps and metal do not work in this port and behave as normal terrain instead.
• 9 ^ Level numbering goes across all ratings, so that for example, the first level in rating Tricky is shown as level 16, rather than level 1 as in most other ports.
• 10 ^ The time limits on every level is lengthened by a factor of 2.5. For example, the first level, "Just Dig!", has a time limit of 12.5 minutes, instead of 5 minutes as in the Amiga version. This is presumably to compensate for the slower movement of the lemmings in this port.
• 11 ^ Most of the music is different from the Amiga version.
• 12 ^ This port features high-resolution graphics.
• 13 ^ Due to the smaller screen size, the skills toolbar is only displayed when you move the cursor to the lower part of the screen.

References