TomatoLems [Difficulty: Easy-Medium]

[The Tomato Watcher]

09 MAR 2026: V2 released! Fixed major backroute in Tense 9 and minor cheese in other levels.



After a few more months of work, I present to you all "TomatoLems"! 

FEATURING:

• 30 levels (7 of them repeats) split across 3 ranks
• 3 special hand-drawn levels (drawn by my bestie EeveeSkittles!)
• 9 standard (tracked) music tracks arranged by me + 3 special (streamed) music tracks composed by me (+ 2 custom jingles!)

Thank you to JawaJuice, kaywhyn, and weirdybeardy for testing my pack to varying extents. Your feedback was extremely valuable!
Thanks also to Ether Audio who makes cool music and let me use one of their tracks for this pack, and an extra special thanks to EeveeSkittles for once again drawing the special levels and for being the best friend I could ever ask for.

The full credits for the pack are in credits.txt, which can also be found inside the TomatoLems folder in the ZIP file.

RANKS:

Calm (Easy)

Calm 1 "Beware of the Pipeline"

Tense (Medium-Easy)

Tense 5 "Polar Vortex"

Panic (Medium)

Panic 8 "Cave-divers"

DOWNLOAD:
TomatoLemsV2.zip
Simply unzip this file into your main NeoLemmix folder.

I hope you all have as much fun playing this pack as I did making it!

Changelog

V2 (09 MAR 2026)

• Fixed major backroute in Tense 9 (also affecting Calm 8).
• Fixed minor cheese in Calm 6 (also affecting Tense 4).
• Fixed minor cheese in Calm 10.

V1 (07 MAR 2026)

• Initial release.

[kaywhyn]

Hello @The Tomato Watcher,

Congratulations on the release of your second level pack, after a wonderful first pack in Sweet & Sour Also, thank you for allowing me to pre-test some of this pack for you I've played all the new levels that I didn't get to pre-test due to only being sent 3 levels after the initial batch and hence I'm attaching all of my replays, including pre-testing ones so that people can check them if they want. At least the ones that still work from two months ago

General Feedback

As already mentioned, TomatoLems is The Tomato Watcher's second level pack, after Sweet & Sour. The former is a fair bit larger than the latter and also a fair bit harder, but not a whole lot in the difficulty. Unlike for their first pack, I had the pleasure of pre-testing a 14-level demo of TomatoLems for the author, as well as 2 additional levels and an updated level from the demo that were sent to me weeks later. I enjoyed what I saw in the demo and looked forward to the rest of the pack Indeed, this pack is just as impressive as their first pack but still a fair bit better!

It goes without saying that if you enjoyed Sweet & Sour, you'll enjoy TomatoLems as well! So, give it a try and play the pack now!

Calm Rank Feedback

For the ranks, I'm just going to give feedback on the new levels that I didn't pre-test. There's only about 3-5 in each rank.

Spoiler

Calm 2 - The Stumbling Block Probably a little too difficult for its position despite only two skills available. I was a dummy here and for some reason a few times tried simply digging with the first Lemming after the basher gets far enough to get past the block at the bottom It's likely possible to be able to have everyone who makes it into the digger pit survive, but I honestly probably gave up trying to fiddle around with that too soon

Calm 5 - Status Quo Nicely designed by your friend but other than the VGASPEC like level nothing too special and very easy.

Calm 6 - Your Egg Is Cracking! Hehe, I like the design of the egg with the exit partially buried in it I'm a bit annoyed that it doesn't seem to be possible to save everyone due to the builder staircase just barely not reaching high enough to stop the splatting on time, but well, it is what it is. I'm just one of those players who likes going for save all's as much as possible, and if that's not possible then saving as much as is possible

Calm 7 - The Lemming Hair Dryer Way too easy. I would definitely swap Calm 2 with either Calm 5 or this one, though it's probably better to swap with the latter, as the halfway point of the rank seems perfect for the VGASPEC level

Calm 8 - Follow Me! Harder than it looks, though that's because for the gaps where the wooden staircases are I kept trying to not use any interrupting skills Even then, the second Lemming catches up quite quickly and hence it's necessary to either delay him with the other skills and/or also have the lead Lemming build across the gaps as quickly as possible while also cutting him off early once he's made it over the other side. Nice level nonetheless!

Calm 9 - Sneaking Out Needed to resolve this one, as one of the early skill assignments comes about a frame too late or so. Phew, nearly ran out of time, I think I was just a frame away from the clock ticking down to 0 seconds

Calm 10 - Break the Cycle I remember the contest version of this level from 5 years ago. Sorry to hear that it needed to be scrapped from the pack I remember it being a nice one despite it being an easy one. This one's easy too, though I think my solution to the contest version might still work here too. I would have to check.       

Tense Rank Feedback

Same thing, just going to give feedback on the 4 new levels I didn't play plus a resolve I needed to do.

Spoiler

Tense 3 - Going Down Now this would be a good example of one where it's easier than Calm 2 but still not trivial by any means. Once again, I was a dummy of having the digger face the wrong way when I was doing it on the right side, as after a few attempts I went down the left side. You can actually go down either side, just if you do it on the right make sure the digger is facing the left, not the right! Nice level!

Tense 4 - Operation Hatchling Easier than the original in the previous rank IMO, especially as you have more builders than you actually need this time unlike the last time. Still a nice level here

Tense 6 - Pause and Ponder I haven't tried or checked, but I'm guessing there's a hidden exit on either side. I went for the right exit. Nice challenge to save everyone here, though it's still not too difficult. This one is a bit harder than the VGASPEC level in the previous rank, but still a nice one. Your friend did great.

Tense 7 - Meet in the Middle Nice Cascade concept level. Nice level idea with a glider going over the top to dig and build to the exit to turn and then build from the right side while also having another Lemming build from the left side later on, with some timing needed in order to turn the glider back around towards the exit.

Tense 9 - Risky Business This one I needed to resolve. The leader in my pre-testing replay gets killed by the shredder trap here. Looks like it was a backroute according to what I saw in my replay Just turned around with a bomber this time and I believe the rest is the same.

Panic Rank Feedback

Same thing, only feedback on the 5 new levels plus the level I needed to resolve.

Spoiler

Panic 1 - Help is on the way! Repeat of Tense 7 and probably a bit easier. The only real difficulty is being quick enough to save the hatch before you lose too many due to splatting, but I think the timing always naturally works out here.

Panic 2 - Lemming-lime soda Wow, nice level! I like how the climber/swimmer needs to come from the other side to get the others out safely. Here, I was a dummy because I thought you needed to go over the green pail as the handle looked like it's too high for the others to step up through Hence I originally tried building and blocking to build the other one, but turns out that's not necessary and hence you can just lose 1

Panic 4 - Freezer Burn Another nice level and concept of having a danger hatch over the steam blower trap of the Ohno Snow graphic set and hence you need to get Lemmings from the other entrance to make safe landing platform for the danger hatch. Even with that, quite an easy level due to the lenient save requirement and plenty of skills available. Probably could squeeze a few more saves in my replay, but meh, couldn't bother myself to go back and tweak it

Panic 6 - Lemming Replacement Therapy Probably just as hard as Calm 2, though the level concept here is nice too. I challenged myself to get the two miners to cancel each other out at the bottom and hence make it a lose 1 solution. I would just keep it a lose 2 level, as this is super fiddly and very precise. As Armani once said of me in his Lemmings Uncharted for a talisman he tributed to me, "don't try this at home if you're not kaywhyn"

Panic 7 - Be the girl you wanna be Nice final special VGASPEC of the pack. Definitely the hardest one of its kind but still a very nice challenge to go for a save all

Panic 9 - A Death-Defying Stunt Like the original, I needed to resolve this repeat as well. I believe it's the same as my pre-testing of the updated version you sent me in that I was able to spare a shimmier here as well. I personally would probably leave some more wiggle room to allow successful shimmying at the start, as it seems quite tight and visually appears like they won't be able to get past the blocker, but that's just me    

There's probably a few contenders for Panic 10's position as the hardest level of the pack, but it is honestly my favorite level of the entire pack!

Thank you again for allowing me to pretest some of TomatoLems before release and congrats again on releasing your second level pack!      

[JawaJuice]

Congrats on the release, @The Tomato Watcher, and thanks very much for letting me playtest the majority of the pack - it was a lot of fun!

I'm not gonna provide more feedback now as I've already shared a lot with you as the pack was being developed, but just to say that overall, this is a worthy follow-up to Sweet 'N' Sour Lemmings and I look forward to more from you in future! Great job!

You've also seen most of my replays before, so I'll just attach those for the new levels and a few that you've obviously tweaked a bit since I last played them (ten in total) for your entertainment.

[Guigui]

I have played the pack and join my solutions.

I had a very good time with it. Lots of levels were fun to watch and solve, some were medium-hard here and there, especially at the end (I'm looking at you Serpent !). No real roadblock level for sure but hey, I too enjoy having chill moments with the game where you can just look at the level and imagine many solutions to see which one will work and will be the smoothest one.

The use of custom tilesets is welcome, and the music fits very well with the themes. Congrats to TTW for making some of them himself, I know how hard that is 
The special levels designs were also very nice, love all of them, especially the cracked egg and the walk under the rain.

So yes, the road through this pack was definitely a good one to me. Thank you for making it TTW, be proud of your work.
Contrarily to JawaJuice, I wont say "looking forward to your next pack" (though I could!), just because I know how much time and efforts it takes to get to the release point, and that your brain needs much rest after that. So please TTW, just enjoy and look at other people playing your levels 

One thing though : the levels author are "anonymous" in the levels presentation. Why not write TTW here, as you like to call yourself in the credits and the rolling text in the pack main page ?

I'm now giving comments on the levels that struck me the most :

Spoiler

Calm rank

The Stumbling Block Sorry I did not try to save as many as I could here, just let my luck go and saved enough.

The needs of the few I had a hard time containing the crowd here, and ended up doing it under the chameleon. Certainly not optimal but it worked.

A Slight Detour It is worth noting that I played the pack backward : Panic->Tense->Calm. Dont ask me why, I just dont know. Maybe I like to end with easier levels.
In any case, this was consequently the 3rd time I solved this level, and with supposedly the easiest skillset. Remembering the other detour solutions, I thought "enough with the detour, this level title is just teasing me". So I just brute-forced my way to the exit, sorry 

Status Quo I love the design of this one, buccolic (is that an English word?) walk under the rain.
I love how that precise raindrop makes crossing the pond with builders painful : bridges end right in the raindrop, then you are forced to go up and splat !
Once again I just said "to hell with it" and went the whole bottom route. Sorry again 

Your Egg Is Cracking Once again the 3rd time I saw this level, playing backward. I tried my best to save 100% here but did not manage to save the 6th lemming from the splat at the beginning, my builder is some frame short no matter what I do. Anyone could save 100% here ?
I must also applaud the egg design, it fits very nicely in the Oh No Rock original style and this is a serious feat.

The Lemming Hair Dryer A level for the girls ! Love the electrical design, I could 100% with the upper route.

Follow Me! I found this one hard for its rank. At first I tried the upper route but did not have enough constructive skills. Turns out the bottom route works : building the many gaps actually allows to spread the lemmings apart and makes the final timing quite lenient.

Break The Cycle I recently quite fully understood the power of the so called "Dolly Dimple" bridge which allows to separate a worker from the crowd with bridges only. Applied it here and end up with an extra builder at the end.




Tense rank

Lucky Brick 3rd repeat of this level for me. Sorry I just cleared all of them with mostly the same technique each time. This is what happens when you start with the hardest one : you cannot unsee the solution you had the previous times.

Going Down I love this one ! The bridge technique I used here is also similar to a possible solution in the ONML Dolly Dimple level, which is one of my favorite level of all time considering how much time I spent stuck on it in the 90's.

Meet In The Middle Good level, my favorite of the 3 repeats, and among the favorites in this pack.
I had trouble with this one, again my fault because I was trying to more or less reproduce the solution I had for the Panic repeat of this level! It did not work though, and I scratched my head for a long time ... until I realized the level name gives the solution! 
How dumb of me not to see it, when I actually did the same in the Save One pack : give clues on how to solve in the level name!

Wait For Me! I must say I did not understand this one. The save requirement of 1 lemming out of the 2 is weird ? I just let one lemming die in the water and saved the other with the many skills available.
No idea how to save both though.

Panic rank

Lemming-Lime Soda Very good level, among my favorites in the pack!
I used one builder at the beginning to allow the pioneer to dive in the water and avoid splat. Then I went the bottom route to free the crowd. Pioneer died though, RIP.

Freezer Burn Mean level, poor Lemmings die after about 5 frames of living. I had a hard time getting to save them, and just enough builders to do so. I'd say my solution is not optimal, but it works.

The Serpent Biggest roadblock to me. I spend much time figuring out how to get up there, the compression solution did not occur quickly! After that and the idea of half turning in the serpent's eye, things were not that easy because one has to place the miners very carefully to be able to save the crowd and reach the exit.

Lemmings Replacement Theory Tough repeat of Calm 2. At first I though it was simple, until the first miner fell right before the central block, and all subsequent lemmings with him, of course!
I kind of quickly understood that the 2 losses would be 2 miners going to the left, the hardest part was to manage a half turn with a lem to the right of the central block.

Be The Girl You Wanna Be No real difficulty in the buccolic sunny grass. I may have once again forced things with basher + builder cancel thing.

Cave-Divers Builderless level, you know how to please kaywhyn.
Love how you have to use the ascending terrains to their full extent here. Also dont waste the destructive skill, because a quick count when you finally get to the upper floor may show that you dont have enough.
I was a bit frustrated that one cannot do 100% here though (or have I missed it : how to half turn w/o the blocker on the right side ?). Also some skill assignement are very precise.

A Death-Defying Stunt Tremendous level 
Many possibilies here but also many of them that do not work, so I had to experiment a lot. The way to save the 2 blockers was quite obvious, but it used a lot of builders. So one has to be extra careful with the other parts of the level that have to be done almost w/o builders. Special kudos to the way you neutralize the bottom left trap right before the exit, this one took me much time to figure out.

As kaywhyn said though, I'd also point out that if one puts the left blocker a bit too far to the left on the beginning platform, he may not see that several shimmier can be escaped from the crowd. When you think about it, those shimmier going over the blocker when they are so close to it are pretty counter-intuitive. Maybe just shifts the shimmiable curved piece a bit to the left, so that even if one puts the blocker at the very left edge of the starting platform, then shimmiers can still be escaped ?

The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse Nice level to end the pack.
I could see a solution, though it was hard to set up correctly : over the exit, I had to make a digger pit with 2 lems in it. When the digging is done, I could make one lem walk to the right toward the other lems waiting to be saved, and the other walk to the left to the exit.
This was pixel/frame precise, and quite fiddly to pull out. So I think this solution is not the intended.

[The Tomato Watcher]

Thank you all for the replays and feedback. Really glad you all are enjoying the pack!

A lot of these solutions from all three of you are quite different than the ones I had in mind, but almost all of them are perfectly acceptable. It seems a lot of these levels, even many of the harder ones, turned out to be pretty open-ended, which I'm quite happy about. The only real exception is Guigui's solution of Tense 9, which I've just now patched (along with some minor cheese in a couple of kaywhyn's solves, since I was uploading a V2 anyway). 

It's worth noting now that I very much do not design levels with clean "max save" or "100% save" solutions in mind (unless of course the save requirement IS the max possible), so if anyone finds saving the max possible lemmings in a particular level annoying, I'm sorry!

Also GuiGui, it seems your Panic 8 replay is broken on my end. I'm using NL V12.14.0 currently. What version are you using, since CE shouldn't behave any differently?

I left the Author field blank on all levels since, in my mind, if all the levels share the same author, filling the author field is redundant, and on my version of NL, the Author field is not present when blank instead of listing "anonymous". Realizing now that there's versions that do list "anonymous", I probably should've fixed that for V2, whoops. If there's another major backroute, I might remember to fill those in.

Thanks again for the replays! With the levels in general being more open-ended in this pack, as well as having had it playtested some already, I'm hopeful there won't be another "Sour 2" situation.

[kaywhyn]

@The Tomato Watcher

Here are my resolves and hence I'm attaching my updated replay collection for V2 I just needed to resolve Calm 6, Calm 10, and Tense 4. Calm 10 and Tense 4 are pretty much the same solutions as before, while Calm 6 is different from my initial solution.

Spoiler

Instead of building on top of the tree on Calm 6, I now just need to have the Lemming drop down to the steel and then start building up to the egg. Tense 4 also fails for this same reason as my worker doesn't build on top of the tree, but that's ok, it's not that big of a deal for me to manually recreate my initial solution for the level