Nightmare 1 - From Unrest to Atrophy Not a very hard level but still quite challenging. I definitely remember this being a time cruncher on Lemmini, although there's no timer here. Even then, my solution here runs out of time under the Lemmini timer, as I took longer than 5 minutes. Not sure why it ends up running out on time, considering that the solution is more or less what I do on Lemmini.
Nightmare 2 - Castle Rush Indeed, the timer is more the challenge than the puzzle, although I remember this one stumping me badly on Lemmini back then too. I think I even had the solution in some early attempts but unfortunately it was too slow because I kept running out of time. Not as difficult as the previous one, but again still challenging, particularly finishing on time and getting the timing right.
Nightmare 3 - Lemming City Stories Ok here just barely finished under the Lemmini timer of 6 minutes, although again not a problem here since there's no timer. Even then, I try to make sure I beat the levels under the Lemmini timer pretty much at all times, even when there's no reason to, eg, there's no timer in the NL version of some levels. I think I remember doing a different solution on Lemmini in contrast to the replay, despite the skillsets being the same, I think.
Nightmare 4 - Stop and Go! Level plays out slightly differently due to how lemmings turn around when mining into steel, in contrast to Lemmini, where they don't. I certainly remember having a hard time with the level on Lemmini, although here I didn't have as much problems. It's a nice level, and a favorite of mine to an extent.
Nightmare 5 - Four Pals Somewhat hard level, although it's the timing that can be difficult. In some of my earlier attempts, I realized that I was supposed to have a lemming slip by the builder around the middle area to get through the terrain and build the splatform to catch the others coming from above. Thus, some of my restarts weren't necessary. Here, I had a basher leftover, although I can easily swap out the miner I used to help the lemmings avoid walking into the steam blower and have a miner leftover instead.
Nightmare 6 - Brick Confusion Hard one. This one took me a while to figure out. It was hard for me on Lemmini, and that remains true for NL. Even then, it's just a difficult level in general. The hardest part is the beginning and working out the timing of when to climb and dig away the pillar. I made the mistake of using the blocker at the start to avoid the ketchup wheel. It's more useful for turning everyone around at the top to turn back to the right after catching them with a splatform. Still, nice level.
Nightmare 7 - Tactical Foul I remember a huge amount of satisfaction I felt when I first solved this level on Lemmini years ago. I absolutely love that trick of making a dent in the wall with a miner to get a climber into it to build to catch the top left entrance. I definitely agree that it's a difficult one to see, as it did take me a while to figure it out, but it's very similar to the level The Royal Halls with the bashing the wall underneath to stop a basher. This is definitely one of my favorite levels of the rank :thumbsup:
Nightmare 8 - Up and Down the Shafts Somewhat a difficult level. More using a builder step through a thin wall. The start can be difficult to figure out, especially with sending two lemmings from the bottom entrance up ahead while delaying everyone else for them to get the work done so that no one is in danger. Also, the blocker must be freed with the final lemming from the bottom hatch, as there's no way to save him afterwards if everyone turns to the left.
Nightmare 9 - Pipe Grid Puzzle Difficult level, especially since it's properly patched up in NL. The current Lemmini version has a very bad backroute. This one took me a while to figure out, especially with getting the timing just right. I really like how the solution works out in the end, especially with getting a lemming to get past the builder who just barely got past the trigger of the sucker trap to build the bridge over the final gap before the exit. Genius! ;)
Nightmare 10 - Shadowrun If I'm not mistaken, I believe this was the winner of a past LDC? At a time when Lemmini was allowed. I can definitely see why, though. Not too hard of a level, just the timing is hard, especially with just getting two lemmings past the pipe at the top while everyone else turns back to the right. Also with just getting one lemming trapped in the digger pit at the start along with the digger. It's awesome seeing the solution/timing work out.
Nightmare 11 - The Chosen Lemmings of Ra This one also took a while, although that's because I kept trying to save the second lemming when in fact you're allowed to lose him and the climber that leaves a builder step past the wall in the middle section. Once again, the timing can be quite tight, especially with getting the bridge complete at the bottom where the smasher trap is. It's just barely enough time before the crowd arrives to get killed by the trap. The only other hard part is figuring out the timing so that only one lemming goes over the top to right, while the builder needs to turn around to the left to complete the splatform for the left crowd who will go over the top on that side. Still, quite a nice level here.
Nightmare 12 - Way Into Madness As already mentioned, I might have badly backrouted the level considering that I have a lot of skills leftover. At least it's more properly patched up as opposed to Lemmini, which has a very bad backroute where it's possible to finish in far less time.
Nightmare 13 - Face Down and Pushing Through The hardest part here is isolating four lemmings, two of which walk out to the right while the other two fall out to the left. Everything else is rather straightforward. Luckily the timing for the bridges to cross in the middle works out perfectly.
Nightmare 14 - Justice for Heroes! I remember struggling with this level a lot on Lemmini. I kind of struggled here as well, although certainly nowhere near as long. It's definitely a hard level for many reasons. Working out the very beginning is difficult, especially with the timing and getting just two lemmings isolated, one falling out to the left, the other to the right. This has to be done quick, as there isn't much time before the miner gets deep enough to turn the others back to the right, where they will splat if the splatform isn't done. Even after figuring this part out, the rest of the level doesn't get easier, since it can be difficult to figure out the right side of the level.
Nightmare 15 - Try Die Cry Yet another level that took me a long time when I first played it on Lemmini many years ago. It's especially frustrating because of how you have no idea when placing builders if you placed it at just the right distance so that the lemming doesn't turn around when it finishes sealing off the gap or if you're going to end up short. This is a non-issue on NL due to skill shadows, that is, if you play with them enabled. Even then, it's still a difficult level, especially with freeing both crowds to get them to the exit. I like the setup to extend a basher in the middle to free the right crowd. Also with bombing the OWW to make a hole for another climber to get inside and bash free the left crowd. I do have a builder leftover, though, so possibly a minor backroute or even an acceptable alternative.
Nightmare 16 - Another Brick in the Wall Ah, the level that stumped me the longest out of any other level in the pack back when I first played it on Lemmini. I think it ended up taking me 2-3 weeks. It was all due to me missing the part with digging at the start on the left side so that the lemming who falls in there can climb out to the right later. In other words, one of the diggers I couldn't figure out for a really long time. I had everything else figured out but that one. Since I already know the solution from before, it was much easier this time. It's definitely frustrating on Lemmini, particularly since the bombers are timed. Also, you got to make sure that they explode in the right place, as even though the chains are somewhat thin it's still possible to bomb all but the other half away.
Nightmare 17 - Frozen Mind Difficult one, but it's really the timing of sending out climbers that's really hard here, especially since the level is quite huge, making it very hard to know when to send out climbers relative to others. Other than this, I say the other hard part is figuring out the building section near the very end to make sure the crowd survives the falls. I also got lucky here with the two climbers at the end with digging away the terrain that blocks the lemmings from getting to the exit before the other one can climb out and walk into the steam blower :laugh:
Nightmare 18 - Under the grinning moon Somewhat difficult, especially now that it's properly patched up in NL. In Lemmini, it's possible to simply build straight up to the first wall to get to the exit, but doing this is difficult considering the precision needed. Still, nice level.
Nightmare 19 - Balls Ahead! Ah, I kept unnecessarily trying to get the timing of the climbers right so that you can get to steel platform with just one builder after using a blocker to turn him. That took so many attempts to get right. When it finally did work, I totally didn't take into account that where the builder finishes the wall is too high for the crowd to get up. I also had to check the Lemmini version at some point to see if if the skillsets were the same, as I kept wondering why I was a builder short after using two builders to get up the area where a blocker is used to turn everyone back to the left. Indeed, it turns out that I fell for the red herring at the very top of the right side, where it's not necessary to use a builder to get over the very tiny gap, even though it's necessary for the same gap in the starting area. Quite a nice deception there :crylaugh: Oh well, I managed to figure it out.
Nightmare 20 - Pachelbel's Canon One of my favorites. So here, we have a level where Icho voiced his dislike of disjoint unions, although others might like such levels, designing and playing them :P I definitely remember struggling with this one on Lemmini. While you only need to manage two lemmings per section, both have their difficulties. In particular, the top is more about delaying one of the lemmings as much as possible to allow the other to get tasks done before either of them get into danger. The bottom is all more about using tricks with builders to extend a basher and a miner, although there's still some delaying/stalling needed. All in all, I say the top section is the harder of the two, although given the skillset the difficulty also lies in knowing where the skills go and which ones to use for either section.
Nightmare 21 - Rockbiter Once again, in Lemmini it's possible to just simply build up in the starting area, while it's possible to destroy the green emerald at the top and therefore avoid some skills. Here, the level's definitely more of a challenge. It looks simple, but it's deceptively difficult. I think the main trick with getting the bottom entrances up is intended, although perhaps blocking lemmings on the left at the top where the OWW is isn't intended. I'm also not sure if the part near the end is intended as well.
Nightmare 22 - Kairo One of the hardest levels of the rank. It took me a long time on Lemmini, and it also took me a long time here too. Certainly the hardest part is the very start. In many of my earlier attempts, I kept trying to delay one of the lemmings by getting a lemming to turn back to the right to get killed by the trap while the first builder going left after finishing gets past unharmed. This was to give the lead lemming enough time to seal off the gap to the left at the bottom, but this never worked out. Then I came up with blocking and then digging to release him after turning to the right to bash. I don't know if this is intended. Also, here I can swap out the miner for a basher for the end part to get the worker to die to the trap while the crowd passes by unharmed. So, possibly a minor backroute?
Nightmare 23 - You Have to Believe! Difficult one I remember from Lemmin, but another favorite of mine. The trick at the very beginning with digging just before the very tiny gap and then building to seal it off once he's low enough so that a lemming from the right crowd can use the builder step to extend the miner and also release the blocker is quite clever! :thumbsup: Once again, I ran into difficulties with the OWW at the top, where I kept thinking the miner needed to start going to the left, when in fact it's the other way around, where you're supposed to start the miner going to the right. Some things never change, I guess :XD: Certainly the hardest part is getting a blocker to block in the right place so that he can use the builder bridge to keep going to the bottom left. The second blocker isn't as difficult to place, but you still have to make sure some lemmings happen to be nearby when the miner is around the right place. Something tells me you got inspiration from the Maso level from Dovelems, as it too also uses two blockers to turn a miner. You could had had it happen with your Cerebus level from United too :P
Nightmare 24 - Rise of a Digital Nation Ah, one of the hardest levels of the rank as well. Not only is the puzzle quite difficult, but the timer is really tight. This one certainly took me a while on Lemmini back then, and it was true to an extent here as well, although it didn't take me as long as I thought it would. In some of my earlier attempts, I kept trying to get a lemming to finish the final gap to the right at the very bottom so as to avoid using a builder in the section right above it for the same gap, but this never worked. The digger/bomber on the right side can be super tight on timing. I think more often than not when the bomber was successfully with getting the right entrance to go to the left one of them kept turning back to the right on Lemmini, which you couldn't afford to happen because you would run out of time otherwise.
Nightmare 25 - The Flameout Looks intimidating and difficult due to the size of the level, but it's not too hard. It's still challenging, though. Perhaps the most difficult was getting the timing for the part with the terrain that has arrows going in both directions and making sure no one is nearby to give the builder enough time to build over the gap before anyone can fall through. Nice level, though. I ended up saving 1 over the requirement, so maybe minor backroute too?
Nightmare 26 - The Master System Yet another level that looks overwhelming and intimidating due to the huge size, but it's not too hard either. Once again still challenging. Way more frustrating to do on Lemmini due to not knowing whether you placed the miners correctly ahead of time, which is especially problematic with the very long miner section at the very beginning. That's definitely a nice trick and also with sending two climbers up the left side and bombing the first to allow the second to get up over the top. Quite a nice level and one of your best designed with the Sega tileset.
Nightmare 27 - Unsecure Area Oh man, that's a lot of masher traps at the start :laugh: Can be difficult, but it's still not too hard. Here, I had a problem with being a builder short in some early attempts, but that's because I used one of them unnecessarily. More using builders to extend a miner here. As a matter of fact, this trick is used for the remaining levels of the rank, starting with the previous one. Something that I barely realized just now :lem-mindblown: One of my favorite levels to an extent. I didn't use one of the climber pickups, so maybe a slight backroute?
Nightmare 28 - Cranking the Stress Hard level, especially with a tight timer. Getting the setup for the miner can be difficult. Once again, need to place the blocker just right to turn the miner.
Nightmare 29 - Lemtris Version X Very intimidating and difficult level, considering the huge amount of Tetris blocks you need to get through. Diggers might seem plentiful, but they surprisingly run out fast. I think I remembered having some of the more important skills leftover, but here I ended up using all the destructive skills. I certainly remember feeling a huge sense of relief when it finally all worked out on Lemmini. Being economical and getting the most out of your skills is the name of the game here.
Nightmare 30 - The LIVING NIGHTMARE Certainly the hardest rank finisher in the entire pack, although for the final level of the pack it's nowhere near the hardest level. It's just even moreso in NL, as it's more properly patched up in contrast to the Lemmini version, particularly since I used the stuck climber glitch to solve it. It's good to know that it's not required to solve, and so I really overcomplicated it, although it does allow me to save some skills on that version :P Pretty much some tricks that have been seen on many of the previous levels come together here, most notably using builders to extend a basher and to extend a miner.
Now that I've played and solved this level again after so long, albeit a patched up version, once again I'll reiterate what I said in the United pack topic, and that a better way to put my feedback would be to say that Nightmare 30 "feels" harder than Genocide 41, only because it's less obvious where the skills go in the former than on the latter and hence Genocide 41 "felt" easier to me. Also because how I generally have this view that levels that use only the classic 8 skills tend to be easier than the ones that use at least one Neolemmix skill, but I suppose it's just all about getting familiar with the skills. Even then, I agree that they both have their own difficulties as the final level in regards to the packs they come from. In Nightmare 30, certainly the hardest part was setting up the middle left-most entrances just immediately to the right of the pyramid structure where the exit is to work out. There's very little room for error here, particularly with the fire blower traps on either side, and so the lemmings from either side have to fall just right in between in order to survive. Also getting the builder bridges set up right for extending the basher, but luckily that crowd is quite tight so that it makes the timing easier.