What's your thoughts on the 2006-2014 era of lemmings?

[Erickk64]

Hello! , I've been playing a lot of lemmings games recently and I wanted to know something from the community

What's the general consensus around the "reboot" era of lemmings? (2006-2014, which includes PSP/PS2 lemmings, PS3 lemmings, lemmings touch, and a few of the j2me games)

Honestly in my opinion I think they are fine games and I enjoyed them! (I didn't enjoy that much of the j2me games tho..) but honestly I wished they were bigger and more fleshed out
I also I quite like the design of the lemmings in these games, I'd say they are my favorites alongside with the classic designs (especially the ones from PS3 lemmings)

So I wanted to know you guys what's your thoughts on that era of lemmings, do you think it was a good era for the franchise? Or a bad one?

Also sorry if my English isn't that great, it's not my first language :<

[namida]

I played PS3 Lemmings and Lemmings Touch.

PS3 Lemmings was fairly decent. The levels weren't the most interesting, but it retained the Lemmings feel in HD.

Lemmings Touch, I wasn't super impressed with. A lot of the mechanics were way too gimmicky, it really felt like one of those games that tries to use every feature of the system it's on just for the sake of doing so.

[Erickk64]

I played PS3 Lemmings and Lemmings Touch.

PS3 Lemmings was fairly decent. The levels weren't the most interesting, but it retained the Lemmings feel in HD.

Lemmings Touch, I wasn't super impressed with. A lot of the mechanics were way too gimmicky, it really felt like one of those games that tries to use every feature of the system it's on just for the sake of doing so.

Yeah I feel like lemmings touch's original levels did feel a little too gimmicky, with some of them being even a bit annoying, but honestly most of them are just fine or ok in my opinion
As for PS3 lemmings, some of the levels did feel a little boring, but i honestly think most of them are okay as well, and also the balancing of levels is definitely not that great, with some levels in earlier difficulties being pretty hard and later difficulties having some easy ones (at least on my experience)

[Simon]

Welcome to the forums!

We've had the fair share of PSP Lemmings fans: Luis, and probably others that I'm forgetting. Fans ported the PSP styles into NeoLemmix.

PS2 Lemmings with the Eye Toy camera looks like some high-up manager at Sony had the obvious idea. I don't remember die-hard fans on the forums for it. PS3 Lemmings flew under my radar entirely. Had you told me about Lemmings on the Playstation, I would have assumed PS2.

Custom Lemmings-1-like engines for Windows appeared, with level editors and communities. Cheapo was the first in 2003, then Lemmini and Lemmix, then Lix in 2009, then NeoLemmix in 2012. I was busy in this scene instead, and I have never owned a Sony console.

-- Simon

[Erickk64]

PS2 Lemmings with the Eye Toy camera looks like some high-up manager at Sony had the obvious idea. I don't remember die-hard fans on the forums for it.

Honestly never tried the eyetoy minigame, since I don't really have a PS2 with the eyetoy accessory, and all the emulators I tried didn't have camera support, but from what I have seen it definitely felt like Sony just wanted another quick cashgrab for the eyetoy so more people would buy more eyetoys, but I guess there is some fun to it if you play with friends or family

[kaywhyn]

Hello @Erickk64, welcome to the Forums! Out of curiosity, would you happen to be the same Erickk that I sometimes see at some of The Tomato Watcher's streams?

Of the games that you mentioned in the 2006-2012 era in the OP, I've only played PSP Lemmings. On the release day back in 2006, I walked down to my local Game Stop and purchased the game and played it on a PSP I had at the time. It's great, the new graphics and music are wonderful. The 36 Special levels are somewhat lame for the most part, but there's still some pretty good ones in there. I think my only criticism here is that the 4 special graphics levels were remade in the PSP tilesets. In particular, both Beast1 and AWESOME are remade in the PSP Dirt/Earth set, while MENACING and Beast2 are remade in the PSP Fire/Hell set. Other than that, PSP Lemmings is a great remastered version of the game and I can absolutely recommend to play through it

As for Lemmings PS3, I actually set that up on an emulator last night, and I'm looking forward to playing it for the very first time even though it's quite similar to the PSP port in plenty of ways.

In terms of the official Lemmings games, as of sometime mid-2025, I've played them all except for Lemmings Paintball. I'm not sure if I'll bother myself with it, though seeing as I have a playthrough of all the official games except for this one, I may. We'll see!      

[Erickk64]

Hello @Erickk64, welcome to the Forums! Out of curiosity, would you happen to be the same Erickk that I sometimes see at some of The Tomato Watcher's streams?

Of the games that you mentioned in the 2006-2012 era in the OP, I've only played PSP Lemmings. On the release day back in 2006, I walked down to my local Game Stop and purchased the game and played it on a PSP I had at the time. It's great, the new graphics and music are wonderful. The 36 Special levels are somewhat lame for the most part, but there's still some pretty good ones in there. I think my only criticism here is that the 4 special graphics levels were remade in the PSP tilesets. In particular, both Beast1 and AWESOME are remade in the PSP Dirt/Earth set, while MENACING and Beast2 are remade in the PSP Fire/Hell set. Other than that, PSP Lemmings is a great remastered version of the game and I can absolutely recommend to play through it

As for Lemmings PS3, I actually set that up on an emulator last night, and I'm looking forward to playing it for the very first time even though it's quite similar to the PSP port in plenty of ways.

In terms of the official Lemmings games, as of sometime mid-2025, I've played them all except for Lemmings Paintball. I'm not sure if I'll bother myself with it, though seeing as I have a playthrough of all the official games except for this one, I may. We'll see!      

1. Yup that IS me!
2. One of my favorite aspects of PSP lems is the music as well, Tim did a pretty good job on the music and I really like the vibe it gives off.
2-1. And yeah most of the special levels did feel a bit lackluster compared to the classic ones, it definitely feels like Team17 didn't know how to make interesting lemmings levels that well.. but as you said there's still a few good ones in there.
2-2. And it's a shame that the special crossover levels didn't have their tilesets, It definitely would be interesting to see them in higher quality, but seeing the MENACING level in the original versions.. Maybe they didn't make a tileset for it because it was too gory for an kids game (which I guess also explains why the traps in PSP doesn't feel as "violent" as in the original)
3. I Played PS3 lemmings and also played its levels on neolemmix, I guess for a short (at least for a lemmings game) digital-only game, it's fine, the levels are okayish and I quite like the in-game animations for the lemmings I like how bouncy they are and it makes me happy! 
4. Honestly never Played Lemmings Paintball, but from what I have seen it looks fun! I will probably play it soon

[Luis]

Hey long time no see everyone.    The last time I was logged in was on July 21 2018. I came back because Lemmings PSP turns 20 this year. I was 17 years old when I bought it. It was one of those games I played so much. I was one of the few people who talked a lot about it in this forum.

I also played Lemmings PS3. It was the first game where I have gotten a Playstation trophy. The game was an attempt at making a new Lemmings game without the old classic levels. I enjoyed it for what it is but thought it could have been better. There were only two backgrounds.

About the special graphic levels. The design of those levels were inspired by other games. Like "Shadow of the Beast" for the Amiga. I don't think Team17 have the license for those games, so they didn't gave those levels unique graphics. Unfortunately this made "What an AWESOME level" easier. While I love the PSP version it does have some problems.

1. Lemmings walk slower. They increased the time limit on the levels to compensate. Mayhem 16 now has two minutes. Despite the slower walk speed, it's still possible to beat most of the levels under the original time limit.

2. The release rate for "All or nothing" is 10 instead of 99. This made the level easier.

3. The terrains they added in some levels made the level easier. For example "Tightrope City" was just a straight line in the original. Now it has wood below it. A bomber can explode and the wood will save the Lemmings from falling to their deaths. You don't even need the umbrella in "Postcard from Lemmingland" because the grass on the pillar will save the Climber from killing himself.

There's more but it would be too long. Anyway happy 20 years anniversary for the PSP Lemmings. 

[Erickk64]

I also played Lemmings PS3. It was the first game where I have gotten a Playstation trophy. The game was an attempt at making a new Lemmings game without the old classic levels. I enjoyed it for what it is but thought it could have been better. There were only two backgrounds.

About the special graphic levels. The design of those levels were inspired by other games. Like "Shadow of the Beast" for the Amiga. I don't think Team17 have the license for those games, so they didn't gave those levels unique graphics. Unfortunately this made "What an AWESOME level" easier. While I love the PSP version it does have some problems.

1. Lemmings walk slower. They increased the time limit on the levels to compensate. Mayhem 16 now has two minutes. Despite the slower walk speed, it's still possible to beat most of the levels under the original time limit.

2. The release rate for "All or nothing" is 10 instead of 99. This made the level easier.

3. The terrains they added in some levels made the level easier. For example "Tightrope City" was just a straight line in the original. Now it has wood below it. A bomber can explode and the wood will save the Lemmings from falling to their deaths. You don't even need the umbrella in "Postcard from Lemmingland" because the grass on the pillar will save the Climber from killing himself.

1. Yeah I wished PS3 lemmings was a more bigger game, it would be cool if there was more styles for the levels and maybe even a level editor, also I heard the trophies for that game is pretty "challenging", especially with that "Lemming leader" trophy
2. It's definitely a shame they didn't have the license for the special crossover levels, it would be cool to see something like the MENACING! Level in PSP lems
3. I did know about these other changes they made but Honestly I did not notice that much that the lemmings walked slower, maybe it's because I'm already used to them be walking slow since I also played a lot of the PSP version