So I was curious if picotron would be capable of running the original Lemmings game as it was on Amiga, it turns out - yes!
Well, with the exception of no halfwidth pixels for the UI. But otherwise, you could make a 1:1 clone. Which I started doing, but then I thought it would be more fun if I pretended Psygnosis had time-travelled and asked me to make a picotron port. So I added extra in-between frames to the classic walk cycle for smoother animation, climbing gloves and umbrellas to indicate lemmings with permanent skills, fast forward (an invaluable feature added after the first games), and a nicer level select.
At the moment there are only a handful of levels and only one half-finished music track, I hope to work on more and have all the levels from the first four games (Lemmings, Oh No! More Lemmings, and the two holiday packs from '93 and '94), buuuuut I don't know that I'd be comfortable posting that here (or at all) - Lemmings is somebody else's IP after all. This is a fun hobby project for me, but if you want to play classic lemmings there's a few other options for you. I'm only really sharing this so that anyone that wants to see how I've done it can check the code, and also it's a way for me to call it a milestone I can step away from - I've got other projects with my own IP to finish!
I'll plug the current commercial Lemmings game since it feels weird not to when I'm so clearly doing as I please with the IP myself. Check it out if you like lemmings and mobile games with pretty graphics (and don't mind adverts, wheel spins, multiple in-game currencies, energy mechanics, and all that modern mobile "free-to-play" stuff)
Update (31/07/2024): So I've improved this A LOT and I've actually recreated most of the original levels almost 1:1 as they were, including some of the "On No! Mor Lemmings", Holiday Lemmings, and megadrive (and PSP) exclusive levels, I've even started on some of my own using new artwork but... that isn't what is here. The picotron cart size limit for the BBS and a lack of desire to go wiiiiiild with compression means that this version has only levels using the original art and only a handful of them at that. I tried to include the classic memorable easy levels and a few I think are more challenging, or interesting, or pretty. If you want my too-big-for-a-cart source file, it's here.
Oh and before I forget, huge thanks to everyone who contributed to NeoLemmix - being able to check over all the graphics those folks ripped saved me an immeasurable amount of time.
Brilliant. It's finally fun to play a version of this game where clicking on a lemming actually immediately does something. Maybe my memory is fuzzy or I'm just making excuses but I seem to remember the original being a bit laggy with clicks. Most likely just excuses.
very well done!
(and yes, some sfx would help - it feels empty atm...)
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This is crazy impressive-seeing those levels again unlocked so many memories-and frustrations :D Thank you for sharing!
Incredibly well done, super fun! Really brings back great memories playing it on the Amiga :)
I noticed one small bug though, in the big cartridge: it seems like the spinny flamethrowers don't hurt the lemmings, e.g. in map 9 "As long as you try your best"
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