Hi Namida,
Thanks for checking it out! I'll definitely take that as a compliment, thanks! 
The Master System version is actually the one I've played the least. What I mainly based on the NES version were the levels and the smaller sprites.
although I did end up leaning a little more towards the Amiga version with the sprites.

Here's an example of how I adjusted the climber to lean a bit more towards the Amiga version:


For the gameplay itself, I tried to stay closer to the SNES and Amiga versions.

I had a quick play with it. Honestly - I have to say the gameplay feels more comparable to the SMS version than the NES version (that's not a bad thing; the SMS version is one of the best ports IMO).

Hi Nessy,
Thanks you much! 😊 Really glad you're enjoying it!
The NES version actually felt like a good starting point for a PICO-8 demake, since it already had to work within quite a few limitations. I did borrow a lot from the Amiga version (and SNES) though, like the improved Lemming sprites, tiles, cursor, and various other little details.
And it's really cool to hear from someone who actually played the NES version a lot and appreciates those level variations! 😄
And if you feel like leaving a little rating or review on itch, that would be hugely appreciated and really helps! 😊

*P.S. The music was done by Eric Billingsley, he's awesome! We used the SNES music as a reference, and he absolutely nailed it. 

Hey Buzzard!

I played through the entire Fun rank of your PICO-8 demake and it's fantastic so far The gameplay feels good and I absolutely adore the music.

I'm also really glad that the demake recreated the levels from the NES version specifically. I played the NES version a ton in the past and even though it's not my favorite port, I always thought it had some really interesting variations and takes on some of the original levels.

But yep, great job

Congratulations kaywhyn and Dexter on your well-earned LOTY victories!



Congrats IchoTolot for your third-place victory as well

Failed to check my own assumptions on the EGA graphics, my apologies. As it turns out, the dirt tileset was a misleading example, as its "ega_preview" is the only one that contains exclusively CGA colors (and happens to match the in-level colors precisely), and I failed to check the other graphics sets. Seems like "ega_preview" is accurately named, as the colors for the other tilesets do indeed match those found on the level preview screen. It does seem like there is indeed a 16-byte copy from "ega_standard" through "ega_preview" for the preview screen though, as the not-quite-right object/lemming colors do actually match the way objects appear in said preview (most clearly seen with the water in dirt and pillar graphics sets).



As for the colors in the levels, I realize now how the 200-line video modes actually work. Those "ega_custom" colors ARE actually used in the level, even though they don't look like the CGA colors. Essentially, the secondary green bit acts as the CGA intensity bit in 200-line modes (equivalent to controlling all 3 secondary bits simultaneously), so those color values are simply encoded differently, which also means the "ega_standard" colors are indeed not used in the actual levels (since they use the invalid-in-200-line-mode secondary red and secondary blue bits), only the preview screens. The "ega_custom" colors also definitely do occupy colors 8-15, though I wouldn't know where the fixed colors 0-7 (or 0-6 more accurately, as color 7 is always copied from color 8) are sourced from.

On a brighter note, I can happily report that the Tandy audio is already much better and much closer to how it's supposed to sound, and both AdLib and PC Speaker sound closer as well. The hardware accuracy option is very welcome as well.

Sorry again for jumping to a conclusion without checking the other graphics sets (and without fully knowing how EGA works, how embarrassing! )

still no progress on the 2-player version (because I haven't decided yet). But I believe I fixed the technical issues already. There is a "Hardware Accuracy" option now which let's you choose which Tandy version you want to hear.

Quote from: The Tomato Watcher on July 27, 2026, 11:52:06 PMHello VorticonCmdr, and welcome to the Forums since I hadn't said that yet. 

I've spotted some graphics and sound issues, and apologies if this seems nitpicky;
...
Hope this is helpful at all!

Hi Tomato Watcher,

love the feedback! No worries being nitpicky. I want to improve this project so this is very helpful!

Finding the correct timings of the pc speaker code will be a great project for the weekend.

If you find anything else let me know. I will try my best to integrate yours and Simons feedback.

Cheers
Valentin

Congratulations to the winners! Many solid levels.

Epilogue had the most interesting solution of the three. During the poll of the final 3 levels, it seemed a clear winner. Now it tied. If I had to guess a downside ... maybe it's less elegant than the other two because it relies on more complex mechanics (permanent skill removers)? Maybe the solution is a tad too hard to find? Doesn't matter, lovely level, and a deserved top place.

It's Crazy Sports Day: At first, I was surprised to see it do so well. I had already seen all its tricks elsewhere. But in hindsight, it makes sense. It's a backroute-free showcase of several different tricks and it needs both planning and insight.

Industrial Incident is a classic case of hiding a simple solution in plain sight. Nothing is distracting, nothing is unfair, and yet it takes time to solve.

* * *

I had soft spots for these:

Armani's Underroot. I may have a soft spot for the rock tileset in general, but there is more here. One technical trick, and you feel that the entire level is made to support it. Before you know the trick, everything looks beautiful -- the visuals reminds me of Utopia by Pieuw -- and after you see the trick, it's beautiful and functional.

Icho's Tower of Sacrifice. The closest relative may be Geoffster's Parking Garage, doing everything with terrain removers when it looks like you need blockers and builders.

The Split by Dexter. Looks beautiful. Has a nice mix of easy pattern recognition and serious planning to tie the solution together.

All 4 maps by Giga. After you memorize what gadget does what, you get interesting puzzles every time. Lawful Neutral I liked the most.

Building, Fencing by Dexter. A well-hidden fair solution.

Crane's A Step Down With Difficulty, kaywhyn's Organic National Park, Armani's Let's Go Spelunking (after removing the horrible glare from the torch).

-- Simon

Hello VorticonCmdr, and welcome to the Forums since I hadn't said that yet. 

I've spotted some graphics and sound issues, and apologies if this seems nitpicky; I read the documents to check what you were and weren't aware of. First, the EGA graphics. The terrain colors are slightly different to how they appear in-game, and the lemming and object colors are completely and totally wrong, and I can see exactly how this happened! Colors 0-7 in the palette ARE the standard colors (except color 7) shared across all graphics sets (though it is absolutely correct that they aren't the low-intensity CGA palette). That 16-byte copy you mention does NOT copy starting from the offset that you label "ega_custom" and copies through to the end of "ega_standard"; it copies from "ega_standard" through the array that you labeled "ega_preview", because those "ega_preview" colors are actually the colors used in the levels. The "ega_preview" entries in the dirt set example match up with the terrain colors seen in-game (screenshot below), and it only contains CGA colors, which is important since EGA does NOT support non-CGA colors in 200-line video modes, which Lemmings uses during a level; thus the "ega_custom" colors could not possibly be used in a level.



Now for the AdLib sound. It's pretty good overall, but the tick rate for the music driver isn't correct. player.asm's timing loop simply is not accurate to what the actual game does. As far as I know, in all cases EXCEPT when running VGALEMMI with the "For High Performance PCs" or "For an IBM PS/2 Machine" options selected, the game programs the PIT to fire at a rate of 72.8261 Hz, which it uses to help throttle the gameplay speed, and the music is also driven at that rate. (The aforementioned exceptions seem to synchronize with the VGA video rate(?) independent of the PIT, which results in the music playing very slightly slower, but I am NOT an expert on how the High Performance mode works, so take that with a grain of salt.)

Next, the Tandy sound. The actual game uses the same 72.8261 Hz tick rate to drive the Tandy sound as it does to drive the AdLib sound. Additionally, the PSG clock speed is also incorrect, specifically half as fast compared to what it should be. There's some significant sequencing issues in the Tandy player as well, resulting in extreme desync and misplaced effects, though I imagine you're aware of that even if I didn't catch any explicit mention of that in your document. I also notice, thanks to Lemmings Tune 18, that the software PSG is using more than 10 bits for the period of the square channels, as that tune attempts to play notes that would require an 11-bit period to play, resulting in garbage pitches on the real chip as the most significant bit is discarded. Don't ask me why the tuning table contains 11-bit periods in the first place.

Finally, the PC Speaker sound. First of all, I had no idea there were unused sounds in the PC Speaker driver, so it was very cool to listen to them. However, the sounds seem to play much too fast. This is easiest to hear with Patch 12, which is triggered in-game when a lemming explodes (recording below). Unfortunately in this case, I'm not entirely sure what the tick rate should be; the driver certainly isn't getting called at 72.8261 Hz, as that would make the sounds play even faster. Sorry!



Hope this is helpful at all!