Lemmings

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Lemmings for Picotron

About

This is an unofficial fan/hobby project to create a version of Lemmings as it could have existed, were it to have been ported to Picotron in the early 90s.

Levels

The aim is to include every classic Lemmings level - including expansions, replacements, holiday promotions, and levels exclusive to some consolve versions, as well as "demake" versions of new levels from the PSP remake of the game. As some ports added their own unique levels and challenges, this one does that too.

Each level is recreated by hand, I have not written a converter to create the levels for me. Rather, I try to place the available level terrain and objects to match the originals as closely as possible. I take great care to match the active silhouettes to keep gameplay consistent, but levels often don't match pixel-for-pixel in places where it is not important. I do test every level to ensure it can be completed.

Level (Re)creation Progress:

  • Lemmings: COMPLETE!
  • Oh No! More Lemmings!: Barely begun
  • Holiday Lemmings: COMPLETE!
  • Console Lemmings: Barely begun
  • Sophie's Levels: I've made 6 so far!

A note on two-player levels: I do intend to add two-player levels when possible, but I have not implemented that mode yet.

Picotron

Picotron is a fantasy workstation that behaves very much like computers from the early 90s. Lemmings was remarkable for the number of ports it had (hard to count, I believe there are AT LEAST 25) - so if Picotron really existed at that time, it would have absolutely had a Lemmings port.

This version is an attempt to create that hypothetical port of Lemmings, with some of the modern conveniences and advantages that Picotron itself affords. It differs from the originals in the following ways:

  • Much higher framerate
  • Smoother animation for Lemming sprites, and more shading
  • Floaters and Climbers have visual identifiers
  • Fast-Forward and Slow-motion controls
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Click while holding shift/ctrl to only select lemmings going left/right
  • All levels are available from the start

There are also some things missing, mostly because I haven't gotten round to them yet:

  • Music
  • Robust settings menu
  • Detailed credits screen listing everyone who worked on the original games

If you have Picotron, you can download Lemmings for it.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

This project would not have been possible were it not for the original games' developers and publishers, as well as the efforts of multiple communities (Lemmings fans, ROM archivers, Emulation developers) in their painstaking work preserving computing and gaming history so well that I can recreate it as faithfully as I have.

In particular I want to shout out these great people and resources online:

This project is NOT financially supported by my Patrons, however I would like to express my deep gratitude to them as their support for my own work allows me the space to indulge in this hobby when I get overwhelmed - which is pretty often.