Obi Lemmings

[Prob Lem]

No, they're not Jedi. Rather, they're the lemmings printed on the obi (spine-cards) from a couple of Japanese releases of the original game, for CD-ROM based systems. They're unique and haven't, as far as I know, appeared elsewhere.

I came across them whilst browsing Yahoo! Auctions Japan, and was charmed by one of them, and figured that I'd post about the little guys, since I quite like looking at the various art-styles that have been applied to the series, and figured that you guys might, too. Since the source pictures are already quite small, I'll also include enlarged versions of each image.

Firstly, there's this chap, from the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² System port of Lemmings;

http://i.imgur.com/oadwOwS.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

http://i.imgur.com/FDkbbd8.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

As you can see, putting aside the colour scheme (the obi in this case is only printed in shades of black and red - it's obviously not the intended colour scheme), he's a fairly standard-looking lemming, but rendered in an anime-esque style, giving him enlarged paws and eyes. This has the ironic effect of making him look even more disproportionate than lemmings usually tend to look, as typically, lemmings have big feet, instead of big mittenpaws.

Still, he's pretty cute - though I don't think he's quite as cute as the illustrations from the Lemmings Advanced Manual (the Japanese strategy guide for the SNES version of the game), shown below.

http://i.imgur.com/FJ0BTVr.jpg" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

http://i.imgur.com/TMmIXQf.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

http://i.imgur.com/qBahHNN.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

And secondly, here's the one from the Japanese 3DO release of Lemmings. This guy actually freaked me out slightly when I first saw him, as he looks rather like his head's been replaced with a jolly onion, since his head's very round and un-rodent-like, and his hair's all bunched-up at the top of his noggin, unlike your regular variety of lemmings. He also appears in a mildly-less-freakish image on the back of the case, too (and not on the obi, at that), using an umbrella. He looks less weird in this one, but in the end, I still don't like him as much as the designs above.

http://i.imgur.com/3IpuNiz.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

http://i.imgur.com/yQFY3iU.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

Are there any other unusual officially-licensed lemming designs out there that have cropped up on packaging (or, indeed, other places) like this? And does anyone else think the onion-headed lemming is as weird as I think he is? http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" />