I love Lemmings 2. For me, it's the best game in the series. The idea of introducing different tribes and creating a story around them, and the fact that each tribe had its own unique setting, is simply fantastic and original.
However, I found it jarring that the Classic Tribe only featured levels based on the pillar tilesets: there are up to 10 different sets across Lemmings, Oh No! More Lemmings!, and the special Christmas games. Anyway, I understand that this was done for simplicity.
And so, the absence of the other original tilesets in Lemmings 2 gave me an idea: what if we created a Lemmings game with levels from each tileset? 120 levels divided into 10 tribes: Dirt, Pillar, Fire, Marble, Crystal, Brick, Rock, Snow, Bubble, and Christmas, with 12 levels from each tileset.
I'm not talking about creating such a game, however, but rather about choosing, from all the official Lemmings games outside the tribe concept of Lemmings 2, the most significant and memorable levels, ordered according to their learning curve. There can be, and I believe there should be, candidates from all Lemmings ports, not just those released on PC and Amiga.
What levels would you choose for each classical tribe? From "Just Dig!" for Dirt Tribe to "I Am A.T." for Marble Tribe, I'm sure it's possible to create a new "Lemmings I - The Original Tribes" game.
Some of my personal choices for candidates, in no particular order within the list of each tribe:
"Private Room Available", "Hello John Got A New Lemming" and "Speed Trap", for Crystal Tribe
"Fall And No Life", for Pillar Tribe
"Lemmy in the cold, cold ground", for Christmas Tribe
"ROCKY VI", for Rock Tribe
"There's madness in the method", for Brick Tribe
"Looks A Bit Nippy Out There" and "SNOW JOKE", for Snow Tribe
"Lemming Express", for Bubble Tribe
"I Am A.T", "It's not over 'til it's over" and [a backroute-free version of] "Let's Go Camping", for Marble Tribe
"Just Dig!" (simple, but endearing) and "Through the graveyard", for Dirt Tribe
"King Of The Castle" and "Watch right or left (Part two)", for Fire Tribe
I challenged myself to only pick 3 of each:
Crystal - POOR WEE CREATURES!, The Art Gallery and Don't Make The Wrong Choice!
Dirt - Watch Out There's Traps About, Steel Works and Rendezvous At The Mountain
Fire - Mary Poppins' Land, X Marks The Spot and Take A Running Jump (with backroute fix for the latter of these; it should be necessary to take the MAD DAM DMA route)
Marble - Compression Method 1, Tribute To M.C. Escher, No Added Colours or Lemmings
Pillar - If At First You Don't Succeed... (with backroute fix), The Great Lemming Caper and Save Me
Brick - LeMming ToMato KetchUp fAcilitY, There's Madness In The Method and AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
Bubble - Down The Tube, It's The Price You Have To Pay and Flow Control
Rock - ROCKY VI, ROCKY ROAD and Where Lemmings Dare
Snow - The Stack, Chill Out! and The Race Against Cliches
Christmas - Merry Christmas Mr. Lemming, Get The Point? and Presents Of Mind II
Interesting topic. Are we just talking hypothetically here or do you intend to put our choices together into an actual pack? If so, there should be some kind of formalised voting structure so that it's not just weighted towards whoever decides to list more levels.
That said, I'm happy to list my picks! This is a little bit similar to picking levels for Lemmings Redux, but that was years ago, differently structured, and not grouped by tileset :P
(I've grouped Snow and Christmas together because the level selection for both is not great, so this feels like a better balance. To bring the tribes back up to 10, I would honestly suggest a second Brick tribe, maybe recoloured, as there are far more great Brick levels.)
Dirt: Konnichiwa Lemming-san; Temporary peace; The Steel Mines of Kessel
Pillar: Have a nice day; The Great Lemming Caper; Fall and no life (Part Two)
Marble: Postcard from Lemmingland; Come on over to my place; It's hero time
Crystal: Electric circuit; POOR WEE CREATURES; Evacuating a coal mine
Fire: Last one out is a rotten egg; Lemming Lament; Let's get together
Brick: This Corrosion; Be more than just a number; Creature Discomforts
Rock: KEEP ON TRUCKING; ROCKY VI; ROCKY ROAD
Snow: Quest for Kieran; SNOW JOKE; Steel Block Party
Bubble: PoP YoR ToP; DON'T PANIC; Flow Control
Quote from: WillLem on January 15, 2026, 01:51:00 PMI challenged myself to only pick 3 of each:
Crystal - POOR WEE CREATURES!, The Art Gallery and Don't Make The Wrong Choice!
Dirt - Watch Out There's Traps About, Steel Works and Rendezvous At The Mountain
Fire - Mary Poppins' Land, X Marks The Spot and Take A Running Jump (with backroute fix for the latter of these; it should be necessary to take the MAD DAM DMA route)
Marble - Compression Method 1, Tribute To M.C. Escher, No Added Colours or Lemmings
Pillar - If At First You Don't Succeed... (with backroute fix), The Great Lemming Caper and Save Me
Brick - LeMming ToMato KetchUp fAcilitY, There's Madness In The Method and AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
Bubble - Down The Tube, It's The Price You Have To Pay and Flow Control
Rock - ROCKY VI, ROCKY ROAD and Where Lemmings Dare
Snow - The Stack, Chill Out! and The Race Against Cliches
Christmas - Merry Christmas Mr. Lemming, Get The Point? and Presents Of Mind II
Thanks for joining the conversation! "The Race Against Clichés" is a great Lemmings level, regardless of the game in the series. I totally forgot it!
What backroute are you referring to in "If at first you don't succeed"? Using one basher under the three pillars?
Quote from: Proxima on January 15, 2026, 04:08:27 PMInteresting topic. Are we just talking hypothetically here or do you intend to put our choices together into an actual pack? If so, there should be some kind of formalised voting structure so that it's not just weighted towards whoever decides to list more levels.
That said, I'm happy to list my picks! This is a little bit similar to picking levels for Lemmings Redux, but that was years ago, differently structured, and not grouped by tileset :P
(I've grouped Snow and Christmas together because the level selection for both is not great, so this feels like a better balance. To bring the tribes back up to 10, I would honestly suggest a second Brick tribe, maybe recoloured, as there are far more great Brick levels.)
Dirt: Konnichiwa Lemming-san; Temporary peace; The Steel Mines of Kessel
Pillar: Have a nice day; The Great Lemming Caper; Fall and no life (Part Two)
Marble: Postcard from Lemmingland; Come on over to my place; It's hero time
Crystal: Electric circuit; POOR WEE CREATURES; Evacuating a coal mine
Fire: Last one out is a rotten egg; Lemming Lament; Let's get together
Brick: This Corrosion; Be more than just a number; Creature Discomforts
Rock: KEEP ON TRUCKING; ROCKY VI; ROCKY ROAD
Snow: Quest for Kieran; SNOW JOKE; Steel Block Party
Bubble: PoP YoR ToP; DON'T PANIC; Flow Control
Hello, thanks for your post. I think this would be an interesting project to compile and play, so I am open to decide the levels via poll :thumbsup: .
Regarding combining the Snow Tribe and the Christmas Tribe into one, I think they're different enough to stand alone: the Christmas Tribe is the only one with decorations that the Lemmings can't interact with or be harmed by, and then there's the matter of Santa suits, and the curious fact that the Christmas levels are the only ones without hidden traps (and inexplicably, they also lack water obstacles).
Anyway, that's just my opinion. I'd like to know what others think, but the idea of a second brick tribe is interesting. There are actually a lot of levels with that tileset.
By the way, I've noticed that there are at least three levels from Oh No! More Lemmings! that already appeared in the Mega Drive version, using the tilesets from the original game. We could use those instead of the Oh No! levels, or vice versa, if we absolutely want to include them in the tribal compilation.
Finally, I deliberately omitted mentioning the Sega levels from the Master System due to their extreme simplicity (although their tile, faucet, cap, and mold decorations are very colorful and attractive). And of course, I also deliberately omitted mentioning those levels created solely to promote Psygnosis games (Menacing!, Awesome, Shadow of the Beast, and that other one with Ufouria characters), as they are few, merely symbolic, and above all, far too easy.
Thanks for your comments, let's see if more people get involved!