Lemmings (video Game) - Ports and Remakes

Ports and Remakes

The popularity of the game on the Amiga and Atari ST led to its rapid porting to many other platforms, and it is considered to be one of the most widely ported video games of all time. Known commercial ports of the original game include: 3DO; Acorn Archimedes; Amstrad CPC; Apple II and Macintosh; arcade (prototype only); Lynx; Atari 800 XE/XL; Commodore 64, Amiga CD32, and CDTV systems; MS-DOS; Hewlett-Packard HP-48 series; Mobile phone; Nintendo's NES, SNES, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color; OS/2 (demo only); Palm; Philips CD-i; SAM Coupé; Sega Game Gear, Master System and Genesis; Sinclair Spectrum; several Texas Instruments calculators; UIQ; Pocket PC and Windows; TurboGrafx-CD and Windows Mobile. While all ports share the same basic characteristics of the game, there are a number of significant differences, generally related to hardware and control restrictions. This may include how skills are assigned, the number of difficulty levels, the number of lemmings supported on-screen, the individual levels within each port, and exclusion of certain words and levels due to their connotation or legal standing.

In early 2006, Sony released a remake of Lemmings for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld console, developed by Team17. It features all 120 levels from the original game, 36 brand new levels as well as DataPack support (similar to the Extra Track system featured in Wipeout Pure), and a "UserLevel" Editor. Every level in the game is a pre-rendered 3D landscape, although their gameplay is still 2D and remains faithful to the original game. UserLevels can be constructed from pre-rendered objects, in a similar manner to unofficial level editors such as LemEdit for DOS Lemmings and LemmEd for Amiga Lemmings 2: The Tribes. UserLevels can be distributed by uploading them to a PlayStation-specific Lemmings online community. The soundtrack also marks the final video game score created by longtime composer Tim Follin after he announced his retirement from the industry in mid-2005.

The game was also ported for play on the PlayStation 2 with use of the EyeToy in October 2006 by Rusty Nutz. The basic change in the concept is that the player must stretch and use his/her limbs in the recorded picture to aid the lemmings. This version was also panned by critics, being nothing more than a straight port of the PSP game with the added difficulty of getting the motions correct for the EyeToy, and only received an average Metacritic score of 67/100.

Later, in 2007, Team17 produced a similar remake of Lemmings for the Sony PlayStation 3 for download through the PlayStation Network. The game has the similar graphical improvements as the PSP title, as well as on-line scoreboards and additional levels developed for high-definition display, but lacks the ability to create and share levels as the PSP version offers. The inability to create levels or play competitively online resulted in the game receiving mediocre reviews, with an average Metacritic score of 59/100.

In 2010, it was announced that the game will be ported to the iOS operating system by Mobile 1UP. On June 29, 2010, however, Mobile 1UP reported that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe had presented them with a cease-and-desist letter, forcing them to halt development of the port. In April 2011, Mobile 1UP has released a re-worked version of the work done in 2010 with a prehistoric setting (new artwork, sfx, music, levels) under the name Caveman, available for the iOS and webOS platforms.