See also:
How to play and create custom levelsList of Lemmings engines (2013)Running original Lemmings from 1991 on a modern PC isn't as simple as grabbing a copy of the game and double-clicking the EXE file. It was for DOS and Amiga, but modern Windows has no support for these. Even the Windows version of the game doesn't run without problems.
There are several ways to play it on a modern system, the most common are:
NeoLemmix + conversion of DOS Lemmings 1This runs well on Windows, or on Linux via Wine.
Download the NeoLemmix installer, then
Download the 'Lemmings' levelpack for NeoLemmixPhysics are different than true DOS Physics. Several glitches are fixed and many non-glitch physics are changed: Builders cancel when their bellies hit terrain, steel stays intact even when ground removers move halfway inside, ground removers have different cancelling conditions, etc.
DOSBoxFor the most authentic Lemmings 1 experience -- or if you want to play Lemmings 2: The Tribes, Lemmings 3: The Chronicles, or 3D Lemmings -- DOSBox is your best option. DOSBox is a DOS emulator for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and several other platforms. You need an actual copy of the DOS versions of the games.
For Lemmings 1, set DOSBox CPU cycles to 7,000 or fewer, otherwise music will not load. You can increase cycles after you are in Lemmings 1's main menu. L2, L3, or 3D Lemmings behave best at higher cycle counts.
You can get DOSBox here:
DOSBox WebsiteSee also threads in the Help section on how to run Lemmings 2 or Lemmings 3 in DOSBox.
LemmixLemmix is a fan-made clone originally developed by EricLang, with later improvements by ccexplore and myself. There is a "Lemmix player" for each official game based on the original mechanics, as well as one containing extra official levels from various sources. This means Lemmix is an option for Original Lemmings, Oh No! More Lemmings, Xmas Lemmings 91/92, Holiday Lemmings 94 (this includes 93), Covox Lemmings Demo, Prima Publishing Lemmings Demo, as well as virtually every official level from other (non-DOS) platform versions of these which share the same or very similar mechanics (and even some that don't, such as Sega Master System).
Lemmix emulates the original games' mechanics perfectly. For convenience, it offers savestates, fast-forward, framestepping, and saving solution replays -- although with unremappable, obscure hotkeys that you must locate by experiment.
Lemmix Player downloads from the NeoLemmix websiteLemmini or SuperLemminiLemmini is a fanmade clone originally developed by Volker Oth. Lemmini is Java-based, and as such, can work on virtually any operating system, rather than being limited to just Windows. Unlike Lemmix, a copy of the Lemmings data files is not included; you must provide a copy of Lemmings for Windows 95 from which it can extract the graphics files and levels.
Physics are different from DOS Lemmings 1.
The advantage is that Lemmini is much more compatible with recent systems than Lemmings for Windows 95 is, as well as being perfectly playable on other operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS.
The disadvantage is that by default it only has the levels from Original Lemmings and Oh No! More Lemmings!. However, it is possible to find and add the levels from other games to it.
Lemmini websiteSimilarly to how NeoLemmix exists as a "modernised" fork of Lemmix, there is also a "modernised" fork of Lemmini, which is known as SuperLemmini and developed by Tsyu. Aside from improved mechanics, it contains far more levels - it is on par with Lemmix and NeoLemmix for how many official levels are either included by default or available as an officially-supported addon. SuperLemmini still requires a copy of Lemmings for Windows 95, though.
SuperLemmini topic on these boards