Lemmings Diary

Remember the first level of the Sports tribe and how it just didn’t seem to be possible to save all sixty lemmings despite the fact that nothing in particular seemed to be going wrong?  Well...

Anyway, today’s level features cannons, and before playing the level proper, I tested the cannons out to see where they shot the lemmings.  The first cannon launches the lemmings nowhere.

The second cannon also launches the lemmings nowhere, while the third launches the lemmings onto a platform that they immediately walk off of and die.

The idea behind the level is positioning the cannons where they’ll shoot the lemmings to safety, or making the area where they get shot safe after the fact.

These positions seem pretty good.

After all, they’re shooting the lemmings somewhere where they don’t immediately die.  So what’s the problem?

That’s the problem!  As we already know, trampolines can only bounce one lemming at a time, any other lemming passing through the trampoline as if it doesn’t exist.  Two lemmings launching out of the third cannon at the same time means one of those two lemmings is destined to pancakeification.  And there’s so few skills in this level and therefore so little fine control over the circumstances which causes two lemmings to get launched, I had no idea what to do to stop this from happening.  No combination of cannon positions seemed to change this either, so I just seem doomed to lose one random lemming on this level.

Oh, did I say one?  I meant two.

I can only look at levels like this and sigh.  They sour what is otherwise a great puzzle game that still holds up some two decades after release.  I’m sure there’s some way to save all the lemmings on this level, as there is on the first Sports tribe level, but to be honest I don’t really want to.  This feels like a case of the developers saying “Well, the level is technically beatable, so it’s fine”.

Trampolines just seem to spell trouble in this game.

This level features use of the hang glider skill, which is a pretty fun one to use.

So the goal here is to use our two laser blasters to free two clumps of trapped lemmings.  The challenge is getting in position to use the lasers.

You need to make use of the fan to direct the hang glider downward, and then quickly select the laser blaster.  After that, the way to the goal should be safe, right?

Wrong!  These pesky flowers crumple up lemmings who happen to walk by it.  Ouch!

Simply rope over that flower and use a jumper as needed to avoid the crumpling.  Then get ready for another hang glide.

This time we use the fan with the hang glider to gain altitude and slip into that little opening.  It’s kinda tricky.

Then up here we use our second laser blaster to get these guys free.

After that we use our second rope to overcome the other flower.

And there they go!

They don’t call it the highland for nothing!  Wait I said that already.

Lots of single screen levels this time around.  Anyway, this one has the wind-powered chain swing thing which we haven’t seen for a little while.  This level is also not as daunting as it appears.

Through some miracle, it’s actually pretty easy to time the jump and release onto the swing for the very first lemming out of the entrances.

It is important that you make sure the lemming is facing the right way when it releases from the swing.

But yeah, this one’s bark is worse than its bite.

Off they go!

The Highland tribe is going smoothly so far.

This level features a skill that I haven’t really had a chance to show off before, called the thrower.  It makes a lemming take out a ball and throw it in a wide arc across the map.  The ball sticks to whatever it hits and become a part of the terrain.  The goal is to throw enough balls that you make a ramp up to the exit, which is... tricky.

Nope.

Hmmm...

Nope!

Oh, this looks like it’ll work.

Well?

Nope, the incline is too steep!  Maybe if I throw another stone...

Augh!

How’s this?

Ugh, finally.

I hope we never have to use that skill again.

This level features a bunch of bouncy trampolines, but thankfully is pretty easy despite that.

To recap, the way trampolines function is that, obviously, any lemmings who fall onto one will be bounced off.  The distance and height they bounce is based on how close to the center of the trampoline they are when they fall onto it.

So the goal is to use builders to make stairs that drop off above the trampolines so our lemmings fall onto them just right and bounce where we need them.

Dropping the lemmings at the center of that trampoline launches them into the upper right corner of the map, which is as good a place as any for them to go.

Build over to this trampoline and the lemmings will bounce...

...onto the platform, and then onto the trampoline under it and onto the goal.  The stairs we made also stops the first trampoline from launching our lemmings directly into the upper right corner, but they still make it there anyway due to the three trampolines in the bottom left of the map.

Then just fill this hole up.

Boing!

They don’t call it Highland for nothing!

Here’s a quick, fun level.

It’s another level involving running and jumping, which is just so fun to me in this game.

Timing these jumps is fairly simple, but even if you mess up you have plenty of jumpers to spare.

One graceful leap after another.

We need this lemming to turn around and fence, which can be easily done by making it jump into a wall.

The little lemming cup and the place that might as well be labeled “FENCE HERE” are perfectly positioned.

And there they go.  Quit day drinkin’!

Another easy starter level.

Breathe in that crisp mountain air!  Welcome to the Highland tribe, a tribe of lemmings affectionately based on Scotland.  The music is a cute little rendition of Scotland the Brave, some of the blocks have plaid on them, there’s a nessie in the very first level, and...

The lemmings all have orange hair!  How cute.

The highland tribe opens with a literal bang as the very first obstacle we contend with is dealt with via bazooka.

After that we use a twister to dig through the earth.

And after another bazooka blast, the lemmings stumble drunkenly into another police box.

A quick level that serves as a fun introduction to the new tribe.

As mentioned earlier, the music for this tribe is a bouncy little rendition of Scotland the Brave.  It segues into another Scottish song I don’t know the name of but one that I recognize nonetheless.

Welcome to the final level in the chill temperatures of the Polar tribe!  The temperatures are rising again and that snow has started becoming cold rain.  Let’s get these lemmings onto that ark, huh?

So, in case it’s not obvious by now when a level has an attractor in it, you start out by using an attractor lemming and then by having another lemming hop or run away from the phat beats.

The rest of this level is basically just this.  Turn a lemming into a twister and carefully direct it between the metal blocks, creating a safe tunnel for the rest of the pack.

It’s fairly tricky to do.  If you can’t tell by the above screenshot, to make a twister drill directly down or left, you don’t position the fan directly center of the lemming.

Still, the twister is pretty fun to use, and you’re given more than one, so it’s not a big deal if you mess up.

Do take care to make sure the tunnel isn’t too deep, and be sure it actually drops off above solid ground.

From here on out, you just make glue bridges.

And then...

Make the attractor stop jamming...

And watch as the lemmings go through the tunnel you made.  This reminds me of that one WarioWare microgame where... well, you know.

And with that...

The polar tribe makes it safely to the ark, only two lemmings worse for the wear.

We get the sixth piece of the talisman, and they all slot into place as usual.  Half of the game is now complete, can you believe it?

Well, six tribes down, six to go.  See ye here at the top o’ the mornin’, lads and lasses, as we take on the next tribe!

As I mentioned before, in Lemmings 2, there isn’t a required number of lemmings you need to save per level in order to progress.  You can save all the lemmings or one lemming and you’re allowed to continue on through the tribe.  But, I try to save as many lemmings as I can anyway.

Let’s start the level.  Make the first lemming out shoot a rope to close that gap and make the second lemming out a runner.

Quickly closing off these gaps means we don’t lose any lemmings in the level.

This level also features a cannon!  We don’t have to adjust this one as it shoots our lemmings where we need them already.

This level also features a classic Lemmings scenario--we need to make a long diagonal tunnel, and to do that we need to use a miner at the top of a structure.  Thankfully in Lemmings 2 it’s fairly easy to position a lemming at the top of something thanks to the super lemming skill.

So while this lemming is mining...

We block off this area with a builder.  Now it’s just a matter of waiting for the miner’s tunnel to finish.

It took more than a minute of mining, but the tunnel is done soon enough.

It was when I had finished building these stairs when I realized how much time was left, how many lemmings had yet to be launched by the cannon, and how much terrain the lemmings had to traverse to make it to the goal.

Time marched on, and there was a handful of lemmings still being launched out of the cannon by the time the timer hit zero...

Four of them, in fact.  Now, if I wanted to, I could go on to the next level with these fifty four lemmings.  But...

It’s definitely possible to get those last four lemmings in the goal.  I just have to optimize things a little bit.

This time I’d use one of the spare super lemmings to get a head-start.

The first super lemming started right away on building over the gap leading back to the cannon, and the second super lemming started mining sooner.

But there was still a problem.  Despite my optimizing, I’d only managed to save sixteen seconds on the clock--not enough time to get all those lemmings in, unfortunately.

Granted, now I was only missing one, but that one lemming was still enough to demote me down to a silver medal.

Then I realized what was going on.  The lemmings who didn’t get to use the cannon right away were walking all the way back to the start!  So all I needed to do was block off this gap.

And then do the rest of the level as normal.

Phew!  That was a long one.  But all the lemmings are accounted for and we got out gold medal.