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5. We all fall down – why must we play this level four times?
4. Taxing 26: Triple Trouble – this was one of the levels that really floored me when I first played the game as a child, for some reason. I still have some residual hatred for it, even though I think I can now manage it, just.
3. Mayhem 29: Save Me – to be expected of one of the final levels, but those final tiny ledges are just annoying.
2. Taxing 14: Hunt the Nessy – as a representative of all the bloody builder levels out there. ARRGH
1. Mayhem 26: The Steel Mines of Kessel – a graphical bug in the Mac version (one of the few times that the updated graphics had an effect on the level – it's the little stalks on the ground; there's about 3 that you should be able to climb over that you can't. Naturally this is a problem because you have to be even more conservative with skill assignment.) and the changing of the goal from 90/100 to 72/80 mean that this level simply induces pure bile within me. It's possible, but very difficult.
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5. Mayhem 2: The Boiler Room – Dunno, there's something I quite like about it. Probably just because it's not intuitive.
4. Taxing 28: POOR WEE CREATURES! – as I say, it took me a long time to pass Triple Trouble for the first time, so I've still got this sense that this and "Call in the bomb squad" are in some way new. If it weren't for that, I'd probably place it lower. Also, I like levels in the crystal style, and ones that aren't repeats. In general.
3. Mayhem 19: Time to get up! – again, I think there's just something I quite like about it because it's unusual.
2. Tricky 25: Cascade – I quite like it when a level does something unique. And the 100% thing is cool too, although I only ever managed it once.
1. Mayhem 20: No added colours or Lemmings – nifty. Difficult to pull off, though.
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5. Havoc 16: Scaling the Heights – The other graphical bug that I can think of from either game in the Mac version (coincidentally, it's also 5th from the end!). However, very satisfying to complete, unlike The Steel Mines of Kessel, which crossed over that line long ago – essentially it's the wall that you have to climb up, which isn't quite flat. The climber doesn't get all the way up, and you have to build a step in the little notch so that he can get up. Needless to say, this is very difficult to do. Fortunately on the Mac version loading times are almost non-existant, unlike some other versions I've played.
Here's a screenshot from when I played it the other week if you're wandering what the hell I'm on about. Must be at least the 50th attempt...4. Wicked 6: PoP TiL YoU DrOp! – bit of a waste of space if you ask me, particularly being able to skip two of the entrances and still get more than 37%.
3. Wicked 9: How on Earth? – Annoying builder-catches-the-floaters level, not hard enough for Wicked.
2. Havoc 5: There's madness in the method – very hard on the PSX version, where you can't select a lemming that isn't bashing by holding the right mouse button or equivalent, so 90% of attempts end with you splatting on the first hurdle.
1. Wild 14: ICE SPY – Actually, it was a toss-up between this and SNOW JOKE. I mean, they're both lazily designed levels with an AWFUL, AWFUL PUN in the title. I also can't remember which is which off the top of my head – and they get conflated with "On the Antarctic Coast" for me, too.
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5. Wicked 2: Inroducing SUPERLEMMING – The speed up function is neat but makes "This Corrosion" feel like the lemmings are walking s-l-o-w-l-y along at a snail's pace. Also, I have a bit of a soft spot for the singleton levels. It's nothing special, I guess. Also, I think there's a backroute near the end where on some versions you can just build over the final gap to get to the exit. That's always how I used to do it, anyway, although it's difficult to pull off. Took me ages to realise what that chamber on the right is for.
4. Havoc 17: Where Lemmings Dare – I think I like it for nostalgic reasons more than anything, for some reason. Dunno. Anyway, simple-looking level with lots of ways of catching you out. However, it was a lot easier for me when I played it the other week than it used to be.
3. Wild 13: ONWARD AND UPWARD – Nice unconventional use of blockers at the beginning, which I like because it's unusual – blockers are usually only used for holding the crowd...
2. Havoc 14: Synchronised Lemming – Not much puzzle to it, it's just a unique level that stands out to me.
1. Havoc 19: Looks a Bit Nippy Out There – Difficult in a good way; very satisfying to complete, because the exact way of getting the lemmings into the right place isn't immediately apparent and took me a while to work out.
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5. Blizzard 12: The Voyage Home... – I haven't really complained about any other levels that take ages to walk because the Mac version has a speed up function. But this just takes the piss. Getting the bombers to go through the ledge is also annoying.
4. Frost 12: It's Boxing Day! – Cheap and nasty trick that violates the conventions of level design. Argh!
3. Hail 6: Surprise Package? – This level just baffles me. It's not even a puzzle, for heaven's sake!
2. Hail 8: Sir Edmund Hilemming – Again, haven't complained about similar levels in ONML or original lemmings, but even with the speed up function this level is very, very tedious. I used the solution on TLE, which is probably a backroute, ie bashing underneath all the obstacles. I can't imagine how tedious it would be to try and build over everything.
1. Blizzard 9: Lemmings...The Motion Picture – this was honestly the tipping point that made me absolutely hate builders. Yes, I can build to catch a non-floater. I know I can. Why must I do it 5 or 6 times? Trivial solution but non-trivial, tedious execution is what made me hate it.
Honorable mention to any level shaped like letters or numbers.
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5. Blizzard 1: Oogilemming! – Looks simpler than it is, although I guess it's a bit tedious.
4. Blizzard 13: The Final Frontier – Was thinking of putting it in the bad list because it's annoying, but I decided it can be let off for being quite clever – you think it's a standard builder level but you don't quite have enough unless you change the formula slightly.
3. Hail 13: Polar Expedition – Metal blocks are a nice way of getting the digger to stop, although a little obvious perhaps.
2. Blizzard 15: The Needs of the Many... – A couple of the more unusual tricks in this level but nothing we haven't seen before really. I can't quite fathom why there are less floaters than there are lemmings, though. It seems wasteful to me.
1. Hail 15: Steel Block Party – I like this one because I found a nifty solution to it. It's a different one from the one on TLE, though – you bash, and then use the right mouse button to select a few diggers at the same point as the basher, so that the basher goes down a few pixels and dodges the metal. I think the level's a good design in that it makes you think about how to do it with only one basher.
You may be able to tell I'm flailing a bit there; going back through the list makes me realise how much I hated this game overall and how much "Steel Block Party" was really the only level I actually liked.
By the way, what's "Blitz"?
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5. Circus 6: HEADACHE – You don't say. Any level that relies on waiting for every lemming to climb into the cannon is a bad level. Plus it's not very obvious how to get to the cannon.
4. Highland 7: In Memory of McAngus – a pausing bug that makes cannons not go off properly makes this level a nightmare.
3. Classic 9: Flying the Mad Pursuit – differences in the selection criteria for Lemmings 2 mean that it's very hard to get the lemmings to build near each other, because the game will try to select the lemming that's already building rather than the one that's not building, which is how it works in the original game. So this level became very difficult for that reason.
2. Shadow 9: SPINNY THANG – I found it very difficult to get twisters to work properly, so a level that relies on their use with very narrow margins of error was a bit of a nightmare.
1. Sports 10: Take Up Archery – the only one that floored me. I managed it on gold a few weeks after completing the rest of the game. It's the bit where you have to get a runner to shoot an arrow in the air and have it come down in such a way that it blocks him that I found hard.
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5. Egyptian 7: The Egypt Cottage – Nice use of flying skills.
4. Circus 8: PLAY THAT FUNKY LEMMING – I quite like using the different digging skills here. Manages to be quite tricky, too, especially at the bit at the beginning where you have to make sure the lemmings don't turn back.
3. Cavelem 9: EVOLUTION OF LEMMINGS – I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this level, actually, because the bit at the start where you have to laser through the floor and then send a jet pack through the tiny gap is very hard. But I think it's quite a cool level, the way you have to get the guy up there to build the bridges. Reminds me a bit of "This Corrosion".
2. Space 8: Odyssey – Again, a bit of a love-hate level. I couldn't really work out how to do it on my own, unfortunately; all the bits were there but I hadn't pieced them together in the right way. And I wasn't really expecting teleporters. But the level meshes together quite well in the end. It's just a shame that most walkthroughs, including the TLE one, highlight the obvious backroute/bug that is using the swing and shunting the lemming straight into the maze at the bottom without going through most of it.*
1. Space 6: Lunar Olympics – I think this level would have been better suited to the Sports tribe, really, but this was one of the few levels that really made it fun rather than a chore to work out how some of the new skills worked, particularly the pole vaulter, which I always find a little bit funny to watch.
I was flailing a bit here again; I much preferred some tribes to others, and I couldn't think what to put for #5 – because there are quite a few that are kind of alright but not quite good enough to put in the top list. Also I've only played the game once so I don't know the levels by heart like I know the original games.
* Having gone back through the thread, it seems you've already been talking about this: basically what I think is that it's meant to be a way of catching a lemming that isn't a floater – that's the solution I ended up using. This would fit with what Adam said about the SNES version having no chain and a parachutist instead.
