ZX Spectrum + NES Levels

[Ron_Stard]

Hello! I am planning to recreate with NeoLemmix editor the exclusive ZX Spectrum levels included in that version of the game, as well as NES ones. Perhaps you already know about some of them: Speed Trap, Sleepless Nights... This is the complete list, as far as I've deduced from the maps:

ZX Spectrum Lemmings:

11 - Origins And Lemmings - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

12 - Don't Let Your Eyes Deceive You - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

15 - Don't Do Anything Too Hasty - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

26 - Reflex Actions - DONE!

32 - The Crankshaft - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

36 - If At First You Don't Succeed... - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

43 - It's A Race Against Time - DONE!
48 - Speed Trap - DONE!

52 - Heaven Can Wait (We Hope!!!!) - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

53 - Dig For Victory - DONE!
56 - Jon's Mayhem level - DONE!
58 - Sleepless Nights - DONE!
59 - Pride Comes Before... - DONE!
60 - Enviromentally Friendly

NES Lemmings:

Fun

12 - We All Fall Down - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

13 - Origins And Lemmings - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

14 - Danger The Bridge Is Down - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

15 - Do Not Do Anything Too Hasty - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

25 - Lemming And Lime - DONE!

Tricky

2 - A Bag Of Lemming Drops - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

05 - Lemming I Scream - DONE!
23 - Iced Lemming - DONE!

24 - The Crankshaft - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

25 - Lemming Good Fun - DONE!

Taxing

01 - Roman In The Ruins - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

03 - Up The Wooden Hill - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

06 - A Spot Of Bother - DONE!

12 - On The Spiders Web - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

17 - Just Drop In - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

18 - Arctic Lemmings - DONE!
20 - Come To Lemming County - DONE!

Mayhem
15 - This Lemmings Faulty - DONE!
16 - Hello John Got A New Lemming - DONE!

17 - My Word What A Lemming - DONE! - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

18 - A Free Lemming In Every Pack - DONE!
22 - Is That Lemming Licensed - DONE!

The complete maps of all the levels can be found here:

Spectrum - http://maps.speccy.cz/maps/Lemmings.png

NES - http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/#L


My question is: do you think it's worthwhile doing this? And most important, are there any of you already recreating these levels?

[Gronkling]

I tried this once, however I found it to be basically impossible due to how different the Spectrum version's physics and level creation method are to the original game. As far as I know, the Spectrum levels were basically drawn from scratch rather than using tilesets. (I found a disk image of a level editor for the system)
Good luck if you do try though!

[namida]

Cheapo levels were stored as images of the entire level's terrain layout too. We found a way to get them working on NeoLemmix anyway.

It sounds like Ron's quite happy to fully remake these levels, in which case, that's fine, problem solved. However, if not, I'm sure something similar to the Cheapo solution could be used here too.

(On looking at those maps, it looks like remaking might be the preferable option...)

EDIT: I notice some of these are just slight variants on usual maps...

[Ron_Stard]

My idea is recreating them with the Amiga/DOS graphics, not with the monochromatical ZX graphics. I hope release rate, delays and distances be no problem in the recreations.

[Ron_Stard]

Ok, let's start with Reflex Actions and Speed Trap (both of them use the same layout, but different skillset):

Reflex Actions & Speed Trap
(Tricky 11 & Mayhem 3 from ZX Spectrum Lemmings)


I have built and tested them for/in NeoLemmix and they are solvable (but I haven't tested them yet in Lemmix).

There are still 6 levels to create, I hope I can recreate them soon!

[Wafflem]

Awesome job!

This level I think is pretty much the same as Lemming and Lime from the NES version of Lemmings; in fact, I think most of the ZX Spectrum Levels also appear in NES Lemmings.

[Ron_Stard]

Awesome job!

This level I think is pretty much the same as Lemming and Lime from the NES version of Lemmings; in fact, I think most of the ZX Spectrum Levels also appear in NES Lemmings.

Yes, is very similar. I think I'll take a look to unique NES levels once I've finished with these ones.

And, by the way, here is another recreation from ZX Lemmings:

Jon's Mayhem Level
(Mayhem 11 from ZX Spectrum Lemmings)


I've been a little creative with this one. The original seems to have exclusive elements in its layout, so I've recreated them the best I could.

Having said that, this is an awfully easy level: I could have designed it even putting random tiles along the screen, and the solution had been the same (or perhaps, even harder!). It doesn't deserve to be placed at Mayhem rating, not even at Tricky. I've played it in a Spectrum emulator, and my feelings were the same.

Never mind, another Speccy level done!

[Ron_Stard]

It's time for another ZX level:

Pride Comes Before...
(Mayhem 14 from ZX Spectrum Lemmings)


I've put a lot of effort into mimicking all the details of the original level, despite of the fact that most of the scenario is out of reach for the lemmings, due to skillset constraints.

[Ron_Stard]

Another ZX level recreated, and another one that uses the Crystal set:

It's A Race Against Time
(Taxing 13 from ZX Spectrum Lemmings)


I've been a little creative again at designing the scenario, in order to meet the requirements for the intended solution.

[Ron_Stard]

The next ZX recreation was the easiest so far:

Dig For Victory
(Mayhem 8 from ZX Spectrum Lemmings)


I've only had to fix some distances from the original and famous "A Task For Blockers And Bombers", as well as to replace the thin lines by blocks of wood, for the solution to be the intended one.

[mobius]

nice work on these, I'll have to try them soon, never played these before.

[Ron_Stard]

nice work on these, I'll have to try them soon, never played these before.

Thank you! They are very easy, not quite challenging, but since they are unpublished, I think it's useful to have them recreated.

And now, let's move to the next level.

Here is Slepless Nights. I don't know why, but I love that title:

Sleepless Nights
(Mayhem 13 from ZX Spectrum Lemmings)


I've had to make last-minute fixes in the distances between the edge of the left crystal block and the net, in order to be faithful to the Spectrum release speed and the solution, which implies saving the second lemming released, thanks to an enough larger bridge. Also, the gaps between metal blocks were dramatically reduced: blame on the size of net squares. The diamond is bigger than the one from Spectrum level, and the top of the nets under the metal blocks isn't walkable on my version, while in Spectrum it is.

But despite this personal changes, the solution of this level is exactly the same to the ZX Spectrum one, so I think this recreation is OK.

The last level of ZX Spectrum (Enviromentally Friendly) is also the last unpublished from this port: it's a cut-down version of the classic "Watch Out, There's Traps About" (Taxing 2). I will probably adapt it, but I'm thinking more of creating a new thread for recreating the unique NES levels: by the way, some of them are almost equal to the ones I've already made from Spectrum.

[Flopsy]

I will probably adapt it, but I'm thinking more of creating a new thread for recreating the unique NES levels: by the way, some of them are almost equal to the ones I've already made from Spectrum.

Nice, I'll be interested in what you come up with for those levels.
I've remade 3 of the Game Boy unique levels but I understand the level contents of the NES and Game Boy version are identical.

I've remade the following.
Taxing 18 - Arctic Lemming
Taxing 6 - A Spot Of Bother/Mayhem 22 - Is that Lemming Licensed?
Mayhem 16 - John Got A New Lemming
I can post images if you're interested

[Ron_Stard]

Nice, I'll be interested in what you come up with for those levels.
I've remade 3 of the Game Boy unique levels but I understand the level contents of the NES and Game Boy version are identical.

I've remade the following.
Taxing 18 - Arctic Lemming
Taxing 6 - A Spot Of Bother/Mayhem 22 - Is that Lemming Licensed?
Mayhem 16 - John Got A New Lemming
I can post images if you're interested

Of course! Show me what you've done!

You can see the full maps for NES Lemmings here (scroll down):

http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/#L

My to-do list of NES levels is the following:

Fun
===

12 - We All Fall Down - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

13 - Origins And Lemmings - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

14 - Danger The Bridge Is Out - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

15 - Do Not Do Anything Too Hasty - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

25 - Lemming And Lime

Tricky
======

02 - A Bag of Lemming Drops - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

05 - Lemming I Scream
23 - Iced Lemming

24 - The Crankshaft - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

25 - Lemming Good Fun

Taxing
======

01 - Roman In The Ruins - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

03 - Up The Wooden Hill - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

06 - A Spot Of Bother

12 - On The Spiders Web - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

17 - Just Drop In - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

18 - Arctic Lemmings
20 - Come To Lemming County

Mayhem
======
15 - This Lemmings Faulty
16 - Hello John Got A New Lemming

17 - My Word What A Lemming - This level has a different layout and skills from its equivalent in the Amiga Original Lemmings

18 - A Free Lemming In Every Pack
22 - Is That Lemming Licensed

And yes, I think Game Boy and NES share similarities, so you've probably saved me some work

[Flopsy]

A Spot Of Bother, this one is definitely not a replica, I modified it because I came up with an alternative solution for it.



Arctic Lemming, this one is a lot more exact, added more stars for effect. The stars in Game Boy are not terrain so there'll be a major difference.



John Got A New Lemming, added the one way arrows to the left of the exit myself to prevent backrouting but the rest of the level is mostly spot on. Moved the trapdoors so it's not splat height since Gameboy requires you to float every lemming out of the trapdoors.

Pretty much all the levels are small vertical scrollers because the metal blocks in Crystal tileset which I was using to measure are much bigger.

Feel free to take these levels and modify them to your liking. I'll be keeping these versions for my level pack because I loved the Game Boy exclusive levels.

Hope this helps decrease your work load for the NES levels