Lemmings

1991 · Puzzle · Amiga

Overview

Lemmings (1991) is DMA Design's puzzle game in which green-haired creatures walk straight into danger unless the player assigns them jobs; it sold an estimated 15 million copies.

Deep Dive

Lemmings stream from an entrance and walk straight ahead regardless of danger. The player has to get enough of them to the exit within a time limit by handing out eight skills in limited numbers: climber, floater, bomber, blocker, builder, basher, miner and digger. The original game's 120 levels are split into four difficulty ratings, Fun, Tricky, Taxing and Mayhem, and there are 20 two-player levels that use the Amiga's ability to run two mice at once.

Developer Story

Designed by David Jones and programmed by Jones, Russell Kay and Mike Dailly, Lemmings was published by Psygnosis on 14 February 1991 and sold more than 55,000 copies on its first day. It was ported to around two dozen platforms, and Dailly estimated 15 million copies sold by 2006.

Did You Know?

The game started when Mike Dailly animated tiny 8×8 pixel figures in Deluxe Paint and Russell Kay said, "There's a game in that!"
In 2004 Graham Cormode proved that deciding whether a Lemmings level can be solved is NP-hard.
Blizzard's Bob Fitch said it helped inspire Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.