DMA Design’s Lemmings arrived in 1991 with a crowd of tiny creatures marching towards whatever danger lay ahead. Players could not steer them directly; instead, selected lemmings were assigned jobs such as digging, building, blocking or floating. Each level became a race to reshape the route before too many wandered into trouble.
Why It Mattered
Its indirect control made the player responsible for the whole group while only being able to influence a few individuals at a time. That simple tension produced intricate puzzles, frantic mistakes and a style of play that looked unlike conventional platform games.
Level objective
- Lemmings enter through a trapdoor and continue walking unless the player changes their behaviour.
- Each level sets a rescue requirement, a time allowance and a supply of assignable skills.
- A level is completed by getting the required proportion to the exit.
Assigned skills
- The manual lists climber, floater, blocker, bridge builder, basher, miner and digger functions, plus a bomb action.
- Most actions take effect on a selected lemming and each skill has a limited number of uses.
- The player's intervention redirects or alters the terrain for the wider group.
Original computer versions
- The manual documents Amiga, PC and Macintosh versions and recommends mouse control on PC.
- The Amiga version supported a two-player game using two mice; the manual states that the PC version did not.
- The Strong preserves a 1991 printed manual as object 111.1539.
- The game was developed by Dundee-based DMA Design and published by Psygnosis in 1991.
Associated With
DMA Design; published by Psygnosis - creator or operator
Defining Feature
Players assign limited skills to moving lemmings so that a required proportion reaches each level's exit
Status
Preserved - The 1991 game and its printed manual are preserved in museum and design collections
- All one image sources are not yet verified — editorial review required.
Rights Notice
Images are included for historical and archival reference.
Rights holders may contact Forgotten Archive through the publishing account to request a credit correction or removal.
Lemmings game image: DMA Design / Psygnosis; screenshot preserved by MobyGames; capture contributor not identified.
Licence
Historical Ephemera
Displayed for commentary and research. Fair dealing under the UK CDPA 1988 applies only where its conditions are met. No permission for reuse is granted.
Caption
Lemmings asks players to guide a crowd through hazards by assigning jobs, turning the apparent simplicity of marching characters into a puzzle of timing and limited resources.
