I have played many games over the years, mainly on a PC. There are several classic retro games I could talk about but the obvious place to start, for me, is Lemmings. This was one of the first games I remember playing, and it is brilliant! In case anyone here doesn’t know (and if you don’t, go and buy the game. You won’t regret it, and I bet it’s really cheap now), Lemmings is a side-scrolling strategy game. A number of lemmings are released onto the map at regular intervals. Maybe I should explain that these are no ordinary lemmings. They aren’t cute, fluffy rodents. They walk around on two legs, have massive green hair and wear blue. To start with, they are useless, and each lemming merely follows the one at the front. They are also stupid. They will walk over the edge of cliffs, into jets of flame, under crushing columns, or through any of a number of lethal traps and obstacles on their route. If they reach a wall they cannot step over, they will just turn around and continue walking back the way they came from. By giving individual lemmings unique skills, your goal is to guide a certain percentage of lemmings to the safe exit somewhere on the map.

Let's Go!

You can transform an ordinary lemming into one of eight different specialists:

• Climber – these lemmings will, as the name suggests, climb any wall they encounter.
• Floater – these are given a parachute so that they can survive long falls
• Exploder – when selected, a 5 second countdown will start, at the end of which the lemming will explode
• Blocker – the lemming is frozen in its position and prevents any others from passing. The only way to clear the blockage is to turn the blocker into an exploder.
• Builder – when selected, they start building a bridge upwards. They will place twelve bricks, then stop and walk off the end of the bridge if they are not selected again.
• Basher – When selected, they will start bashing sideways. This will clear destructible land.
• Miner – When selected, they will start digging diagonally downwards with a pickaxe.
• Digger – When selected, they will start digging vertically downwards.

All the digging lemmings will continue until the land runs out or they are given another order. A lemming can be designated a climber or a floater without interrupting any other task they may be performing. In addition to giving lemmings skills, you can change the rate at which lemmings are released onto the map, pause or fast-forward the game and choose to explode all lemmings and give up.

The number of each specialism you can use is limited, so you must use them wisely. It is worth pointing out that at no point do the lemmings gain any intelligence. A climber will climb all walls it comes across, even if they lead to death. A builder will walk off the end of a bridge after running out of bricks. You have to keep an eye on your lemmings, and give them their abilities at the right times for them to do what you want.

Lemmings has four categories of difficulty; Fun, Tricky, Taxing and Mayhem. As expected, the thought you need to put into solving the levels in higher categories is more, and there is a far higher chance that you’ll make a mistake. And the smallest mistake can mean having to start the level again from the beginning.

The music accompanying the game suits it well. It is a series of electronic versions of recognisable tunes and, like many old games, the tracks are simply midi files, which means you can actually find them in your computer and listen to them.

Lemmings is one of the all time greats in gaming. Since its first release for the Commodore Amiga in 1991, it has been released on almost every console imaginable (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, but certainly more than most games). It has given rise to numerous sequels and spinoffs, and over 15 million copies of the original game have been sold across all platforms. It manages this through simple, addictive gameplay in a concept which appeals to all ages. I was playing Lemmings as soon as I knew how to use a mouse, and still play it now. Only the other day, my Dad sat down for a fifteen minute break to play Lemmings, and the next thing he knew, an hour had gone by.

It was this addictiveness and the pure joy of playing it that made Lemmings the foundation of my gaming life.

Yippee!

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