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Lemmings. A classic puzzle game that revolves around strategic planning and mastering the game's mechanics in order to successfully guide these cute little green haired creatures to the exit.
It was originally released for the Commodore Amiga in 1991 and quickly became an instant hit. Naturally, the game would get ported to damn near every console and home computer at the time in order to capitalize on its success. The Atari ST, C64, Macintosh, MS-DOS, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES, NES, Game Boy, Master System, 3DO, Philips CD-i, and even some Japanese releases on both PC-98 and PC Engine CD. Some of these ports are better than others (and some just flat out SUCK), but they all retain the same gameplay as the Amiga original.
I first came into contact with this game about a few years ago through an old "Steam Train" episode on Game Grumps where they played a demo of the DOS version. Thought it looked interesting, so I went further down the rabbit hole. And after discovering that the game's concept is based on an old movie where some asshat drove a bunch of real life lemmings off a cliff, I found a PLETHORA of ports for this game. Naturally, I played the versions which piqued my interests the most (or rather, the ones I could easily emulate on my phone lol).
First comes the SNES & Sega Genesis versions developed by Sunsoft. These are easily the best of the bunch. Despite both consoles lacking a mouse (At the time of their releases), controlling the cursor with the directional pad is surprisingly good—and there's a pause button to compensate for the lack of precision that comes with switching from mouse controls to the D-pad. Assigning different skills for each lemming is quick and painless for the most part. Both versions have occasional slowdowns, but the Genesis version plays a bit smoother (especially when blowing up the lemmings).
Graphically speaking, both versions are relatively faithful to the original despite the Genesis version taking quite the hit in a couple instances like the dirt in the very first level. Musically speaking, both are good. But the Genesis version is BY FAR the best out of every version—even the SNES! It uses the same engine from other Sunsoft Genesis titles and every track sounds incredible. There's even a 16-bit version of the overworld theme from "Hebereke" (Y'know, because this is a Sunsoft developed game) used in one of the new "Sunsoft Special" stages. By comparison, the SNES OST isn't bad—it certainly fits the lemmings themselves. But I feel the melodies are a bit weak compared to the Genesis version.
Next, the PC Engine CD version. It's... alright. Sunsoft unfortunately published this version and outsourced its development to another studio by the name of "Kuusou Kagaku". While the soundtrack is decent, it unfortunately has inferior graphics (even compared to the Genesis port which struggled occasionally), choppy animation for the lemmings themselves, and the gameplay feels a bit slower compared to the SNES & Genesis ports. It's not terrible, but it definitely could've been better.
These last two ports are straight up trash lol. They are the NES & Game Boy ports developed by... Ocean. yaaaaaaaay.
OK, so... Picture the SNES & Genesis versions only with worse graphics and a an abysmal soundtrack. Assigning skills for different lemmings on NES with precise timing is nearly a pipe dream now because of how slow the cursor moves and how fast the lemmings move. And OH BOY, if you thought the PC Engine CD version was slow, wait until you play the Game Boy version. It's DREADFUL. While I prefer the Game Boy soundtrack to the NES version, it's still vastly inferior to most of the other ports.
I haven't played the Master System and Game Gear ports yet, but I've heard that they're much better than the NES & Game Boy versions.
It was originally released for the Commodore Amiga in 1991 and quickly became an instant hit. Naturally, the game would get ported to damn near every console and home computer at the time in order to capitalize on its success. The Atari ST, C64, Macintosh, MS-DOS, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES, NES, Game Boy, Master System, 3DO, Philips CD-i, and even some Japanese releases on both PC-98 and PC Engine CD. Some of these ports are better than others (and some just flat out SUCK), but they all retain the same gameplay as the Amiga original.
I first came into contact with this game about a few years ago through an old "Steam Train" episode on Game Grumps where they played a demo of the DOS version. Thought it looked interesting, so I went further down the rabbit hole. And after discovering that the game's concept is based on an old movie where some asshat drove a bunch of real life lemmings off a cliff, I found a PLETHORA of ports for this game. Naturally, I played the versions which piqued my interests the most (or rather, the ones I could easily emulate on my phone lol).
First comes the SNES & Sega Genesis versions developed by Sunsoft. These are easily the best of the bunch. Despite both consoles lacking a mouse (At the time of their releases), controlling the cursor with the directional pad is surprisingly good—and there's a pause button to compensate for the lack of precision that comes with switching from mouse controls to the D-pad. Assigning different skills for each lemming is quick and painless for the most part. Both versions have occasional slowdowns, but the Genesis version plays a bit smoother (especially when blowing up the lemmings).
Graphically speaking, both versions are relatively faithful to the original despite the Genesis version taking quite the hit in a couple instances like the dirt in the very first level. Musically speaking, both are good. But the Genesis version is BY FAR the best out of every version—even the SNES! It uses the same engine from other Sunsoft Genesis titles and every track sounds incredible. There's even a 16-bit version of the overworld theme from "Hebereke" (Y'know, because this is a Sunsoft developed game) used in one of the new "Sunsoft Special" stages. By comparison, the SNES OST isn't bad—it certainly fits the lemmings themselves. But I feel the melodies are a bit weak compared to the Genesis version.
Next, the PC Engine CD version. It's... alright. Sunsoft unfortunately published this version and outsourced its development to another studio by the name of "Kuusou Kagaku". While the soundtrack is decent, it unfortunately has inferior graphics (even compared to the Genesis port which struggled occasionally), choppy animation for the lemmings themselves, and the gameplay feels a bit slower compared to the SNES & Genesis ports. It's not terrible, but it definitely could've been better.
These last two ports are straight up trash lol. They are the NES & Game Boy ports developed by... Ocean. yaaaaaaaay.
OK, so... Picture the SNES & Genesis versions only with worse graphics and a an abysmal soundtrack. Assigning skills for different lemmings on NES with precise timing is nearly a pipe dream now because of how slow the cursor moves and how fast the lemmings move. And OH BOY, if you thought the PC Engine CD version was slow, wait until you play the Game Boy version. It's DREADFUL. While I prefer the Game Boy soundtrack to the NES version, it's still vastly inferior to most of the other ports.
I haven't played the Master System and Game Gear ports yet, but I've heard that they're much better than the NES & Game Boy versions.
