Top 15 hardest Lemmings levels in the Original Lemmings game

[Flopsy]

Something I've been thinking of doing for a while video wise for my channel is a video where I countdown the top 10 hardest Lemmings levels from the original game.

But I thought I'd ask for the community's input as well because it's all very well me making a top 10 video where it is just based on my personal opinion but I thought it would be nicer if it was a community effort.

Of course when making this list, I'm going to base this off of the original game on the Amiga/DOS with the original 120 levels (including the special graphic levels) and I'm going to assume that the Neo Lemmix tools and untimed bombers are not a thing when making this list so timed bomber levels can be considered.

Everybody had their roadblocks when playing the original Lemmings games all those years ago, it would be nice to hear which levels caused you difficulties.
I'm going to avoid levels which are repetitive/luck based liked We All Fall Down (do I need to explain why), All or Nothing (just luck based)
I'm more interested in levels which were hard to work out and we were stuck for ages on because of this or levels which had tight time limits making it difficult to finish the level (or even both)

I've prepared a preliminary shortlist of my own but feel free to make any suggestions to any levels which I've missed.

Tricky 19 - Postcard From Lemmingland (first hard level in the game for most people)
Tricky 23 - From The Boundary Line (hard solution to work out for those who are unaware of making the step up at the end simpler)
Tricky 25 - Cascade (can be a daunting level at first glance, not sure whether this is a good inclusion)
Tricky 26 - I Have A Cunning Plan (again not sure whether this should be included or not)

Taxing 3 - Heaven Can Wait (We Hope!) (Tight time limit, hard to contain the lemmings)
Taxing 4 - Lend A Helping Hand (Spike Traps make this level harder, although it is backrouteable)
Taxing 6 - Compression Method 1 (Tough level for those who are unfamiliar with trap mechanics, another road block for some)
Taxing 11 - The Ascending Pillar Scenario (100% required, Lemmings going in the wrong direction and no Blockers)
Taxing 22 - Come on over to my Place (100% requirement makes this level very scary)
Taxing 26 - Triple Trouble (Amiga version has 10 builders, this level is definitely one of the hardest)

Mayhem 2 - The Boiler Room (getting past the flamethrower can be hard to figure out for the casual player)
Mayhem 5 - Down, Along, Up in that Order (Tough level to get right)
Mayhem 13 - The Great Lemming Caper (Hard solution to spot initially although I hear there are multiple solutions)
Mayhem 16 - Just A Minute (1 min time limit)
Mayhem 17 - Stepping Stones (doing it the legit way, it is not easy although the backroute may be a reason not to include it)
Mayhem 19 - Time To Get Up (the Bomber timing on this level adds to the difficulty)
Mayhem 20 - No Added Colours or Lemmings (Brilliant level and hard to spot solution)
Mayhem 26 - Steel Mines of Kessel (only 10 Blockers, Bombers and Builders and 90%, I find this level hard personally)
Mayhem 27 - Just A Minute part 2 (1 min time limit again, which one is harder though)
Mayhem 29 - Save Me (This level is a brilliant penultimate level, it is a genuinely tough level)

This is just my initial list for now, I would like to hear whether you think any levels in this list should be removed and whether you think there are any which I have overlooked.
Remember to think of these levels as if they are being played on the Amiga and not on Neo Lemmix.

Depending on how this goes, we could ultimately move onto ONML and maybe even look at a generalisation of Neo Lemmix level packs.

[Colorful Arty]

Interesting thread! I'd like to put in my two cents. I think the hardest Lemmings levels in order are:

1. Save Me
2. No added colours or lemmings
3. Just a Minute (Part 2)
4. Just a Minute (Part 1)
5. I have a cunning plan
6. Triple Trouble
7. Upside-down World
8. Going Up
9. King of the Castle
10. The Steel Mines of Kessel

Other levels that gave me roadblocks were:
If only they could fly... (I always tried to use the steps for the Mayhem solution)
Lemming drops (seriously hard in the DOS version if you didn't know you could land on the stairs at the beginning)
From the boundary line (my family never realized we had to let the lemmings die at the beginning)
Cascade (it was a seemingly daunting level)
Heaven can wait (we hope!!!) (First level dealing with seriously tight time limits and a 100% save requirement)
Lend a Helping Hand (those needles)
The Prison! (those 1 pixel gaps!)
The ascending pillar scenario (pretty evil level, got stuck there for 10 years)
POOR WEE CREATURES! (using the platform above the exit eluded me for a good while)
Steel Works (I was an inefficient builder as a child)
The Boiler Room (bombing up was a novelty, and I played this before Taxing 27)
The Crossroads (I didn't realize those giant gaps in the fence were on purpose)
The Curse of the Pharaohs (just a hard level, got stuck for 10 years)

[Ron_Stard]

Looking back in time, I remember having a real struggle with the first 5 Mayhem levels, which I still find harder than most of the rest of this rank. Also with "Heaven Can Wait (We Hope!)", "It's Time To Get Up!", "Triple Trouble", Luvly Jubly" and "Poor Wee Creatures".

I never have too much trouble with clever puzzles as "No added colours or Lemmings" or "Postcard From Lemmingland". By the way, I think the first real puzzle level of the game comes just before this last one: "It's Lemmingentry Watson"; I am very fond of this one.

I know this thread is just for talking about the Amiga and DOS version, but if you extend the list of candidates to the rest of the different ports of the first game, there is an unanimous winner for the hardest level ever, and I'm sure it is "I Am A.T.", followed by many of Present and Sunsoft levels.

[Proxima]

I know this thread is just for talking about the Amiga and DOS version, but if you extend the list of candidates to the rest of the different ports of the first game, there is an unanimous winner for the hardest level ever, and I'm sure it is "I Am A.T.", followed by many of Present and Sunsoft levels.

Nope. The Mac's version of "The Steel Mines of Kessel" beats that by a mile. (It's the same as the Amiga version, but since you only get 80 lemmings and the original game runs on percentages, you can only afford to lose 8, and three of the thorns on the final slope before the trap turn back the lemmings when they're not meant to, thanks to the Mac's high-res graphics, so you have more obstacles where bombers are needed.)

Anyway, for this thread I agree we should decide on one version of the game to judge by, since if we include multiple versions we leave ourselves open to someone pointing out yet another version we haven't considered. And that means Amiga or DOS, pick one. You can't lump the two together when so many levels differ between the two:

* Lemming Drops / Have a nice day: As pointed out, the lack of water makes this easier on DOS.
* The Fast Food Kitchen: An infamous example. DOS relaxes the time limit and save requirement so much that it's easier than its repeat.
* The Steel Mines of Kessel: As Flopsy mentioned, Amiga gives you 10 of each skill and 90%. DOS gives you 20 of each and 75%.
* Come on over to my place: Requires 100% on Amiga (and Mac), 80% on DOS.
* Just a Minute (1 and 2): I know the Amiga is one of the versions with a fast game clock so you have less effective time, and fewer solutions will work. I think the DOS version is more relaxed than the Amiga, but less so than the Mac? Not entirely sure.

Anyway, at a glance, it looks like most of the really hard levels have been mentioned by now, so I'll just give my votes for the top 10. (This would be easier to do for ONML. I still have the book in which I wrote down all the access codes for both games, but the Lemmings ones were copied from an earlier list, so they are all done with the same pen except for those after The Steel Mines of Kessel. In the ONML list, there are several changes of pen that mark where I got stuck for a long time.)

(0 - The Steel Mines of Kessel, but on Mac, so that doesn't count)
1 - Save Me
2 - No added colours or lemmings
3 - POOR WEE CREATURES
4 - Triple Trouble
5 - The ascending pillar scenario
6 - Come on over to my place
7 - Steel Works
8 - Compression Method 1
9 - I have a cunning plan (yes, this is trivial with the blocker release trick, but you don't find that out until much later in the game)
10 - Postcard from Lemmingland

[IchoTolot]

Here's my list. I played the DOS version as a kid, but only until "Postcard from Lemmingland". The game itself I completed on Lemmings for Windows 95, which had "Oh no more Lemmings" included, but I will only count the original game here.

10) Upsidedown World -- nice and hard puzzle, but I had not very many problems as in other levels here
9) It's hero time! ---- for the time it was a hard but at least easy to execute level.
8) Curse of the Pharaohs ---- builders that do not go the right way were annoying.......
7) Going up....  --- I did not go up .... I fiddled myself through the middle.
6) Postcard from Lemmingland ---- The first big roadblock
5) Triple trouble ---- difficult because of poor execution tools
4) King of the Castle ----- again the old lack of execution tools
3) Poles Apart  ---- I spent quite a while figuring this one out
2) Save me  ---  solving was not a big deal, but the execution was painful! Builders not going over blockers or in the wrong direction!
1) No added colors or Lemming  --- I spent a year here, with the final solution coming to me while trying to sleep   That final trick with the miner destroying the bridge.....

[namida]

My roadblocks on my first playthrough of Lemmings. Just in in-game order, most of them I can't remember well enough to put in a specific order, with a few exceptions that should be obvious from the descriptions.

Tricky 16 "Luvly Jubly" - Had me stuck for a while.
Tricky 19 "Postcard from Lemmingland" - One of my biggest ones, I remember this having me stuck for at least a week or so.
Taxing 11 "The Ascending Pillar Scenario" - This one was a nightmare for me. I'd always release the crowd in the wrong direction, or run out of time.
Taxing 23 "King Of The Castle" - I'd always either run out of builders or lose too many lemmings here. Now, I don't know how I had so much trouble with this one.
Mayhem 13 "The Great Lemming Caper" - Took me ages to figure out this one. I don't actually remember which solution I found first.
Mayhem 19 "Time To Get Up" - The damn bomber timing on this one had me stuck forever!
Mayhem 23 "Going Up..." - I don't know how, but this one had me stuck for weeks before I finally realised to just go near the top.
Mayhem 29 "Save Me" - This still holds the record as the Lemmings level that had me stuck for the longest (out of all levels, not just Orig levels or even just official levels). It was something like 7 years between me first reaching this level, and finally beating it - obviously I wasn't attempting it 24/7 throughout that time, but even so.

Honorary mention - Tricky 14 "Menacing" from the Sega Master System version. For those who aren't familiar with this version, this level is nothing like the special graphics level in the DOS / Amiga versions, but rather is nearly identical to "Lemming Lament" from the Budget Amiga version (though a tiny bit easier - this is mostly due to that it gives you a digger). This level was responsible for me being further ahead in the PC version for quite some time, even though I played SMS more. It doesn't compare to Going Up or Save Me, but is probably comparable to Postcard in terms of how long it stumped me for.

One level that I'm quite surprised to see on here, on many people's lists, is Triple Trouble. I didn't play the Amiga variation on this level until recently (though I still don't find that too tough), but neither the DOS nor Master System versions of this level ever really gave me much trouble. In fact, it's barely even a level that really stood out to me.

[ccexplore]

I know this thread is just for talking about the Amiga and DOS version, but if you extend the list of candidates to the rest of the different ports of the first game, there is an unanimous winner for the hardest level ever, and I'm sure it is "I Am A.T.", followed by many of Present and Sunsoft levels.

Arguably Genesis's Present and Sunsoft levels are better lumped with the ONML levels anyway.  They tend to lean more towards that difficulty and some are even actual clones (just remade with the Lemmings 1 graphics sets) of ONML levels.

[Proxima]

Actually, the Taxing rank in Genesis Lemmings has most of the ONML clones, though there is one in Present (Field athletics) and one in Sunsoft (Exodus).

[grams88]

Interesting topic there Flopsy

I put mines in a random order sorry about that one.

(With a twist of lemming please) this one became a nightmare due to the last bit where you only have one basher to get it right.

(Save me) Took well over five years or so until I decided to give this level a try again and I was able to solve it. I managed to complete Oh no more lemmings first.

(Heaven can wait (we hope!!!!) ) This was a hard one when it came to just releasing the lemmings at the right time.

(Triple Trouble ) due to the very last bits of the level where you have to get the lemming building in the right direction.

(Feel the heat!) I remember spending a lot of time on this one.

(Every Lemming for himself!!! ) The puzzle element in this one was brilliant due to the time playing a massive part in the puzzle in this one.

(Poles Apart ) I remember spending a lot of time on this one in the past.

(The ascending pillar scenario) This one probably looks harder than it was but I still think it earns a place in the top 10 hardest levels.

(The Far Side ) The time was an issue in this one. Similar to the heaven can wait we hope.

(Time to get up! ) Even though I like the whole walking bombers thing that was probably making this level much harder getting that bomber timed right.

I have a massive feeling save me will make the list.

You need to do an oh no more lemmings one as well as a lemmings two the tribes.

[nin10doadict]

I'd like to bring out "I am A.T." from Genesis Lemmings (Sunsoft Special 2 in SNES). That digger staircase is hard to execute and until you realize that you have to curve it up sharper at the end it's quite vexing.
"Save Me" really should have been Mayhem 30 though, because "Rendezvous at the Mountain" just doesn't have the same impact.
"Triple Trouble" is terrible. The lack of builders makes it require way more precision that it would first appear and I hate it for that.
"Cascade" never really gave me trouble because it's easy to tell that it's just a race. Though the way they look while walking up the stairs is always fun to watch.
"I have a cunning plan" is obnoxious if you're trying to use the builder wall strategy, which is the only one I knew of for a while. The blocker/digger makes it a joke, though.
"Steel Mines of Kessel" is annoyingly strict as well. Another one that doesn't seem too bad until you get into it.
"Just a Minute" and its counterpart can go die. Hate 'em.
"Compression Method I" also never really gave me trouble. I just go out the left side and pin them real tight between two blockers. You just have to be sure not to bomb through the floor, which isn't that hard to avoid if you use the first blocker as soon as the lemming lands.

[Proxima]

"Compression Method 1" also never really gave me trouble. I just go out the left side and pin them real tight between two blockers.

Yes, it's not hard to execute at all. The difficulty lies in coming up with that trick when you've never seen it before.

[exit]

These aren't in any order, since it's not really easy to compare the difficulty of lemmings levels because of the different factors that go into it. I might be forgetting some, as these aresults just the ones that I can think of.

Save Me - reasons pretty obvious
No added colours or Lemmings - great puzzle, IMO best level in the game
The Great Lemming Caper - it took me a long time to finally figure this one out, despite there being many possible solutions
Just a Minute I and II - the timing is very frustrating, especially on versions with faster clocks than DOS
Call in the Bomb Squad - for some reason, I had a very hard time figuring out the pretty obvious trick to this one
Compression Method 1 - it took me a while to realize what I had to do to get through the bottom
I have a cunning plan - the trick in this one requires some creative thinking, took me a while to figure it out
Postcard from Lemmingland - great puzzle, took me quite a while to figure out
Triple Trouble - very hard execution, frustrated me a lot when trying to solve it
Curse of the Pharaohs - same as Triple Trouble

After I returned to lemmings a few years ago though, I found that looking for a lemming that you can clearly make out can help with assigning in a crowd, since the order in which the game displays the lemmings is similar to the skill assignment priority, making levels like Curse of the Pharaohs a bit easier.

[Gronkling]

the hardest levels when i played lemmings as a small boy

1: that mac exclusive level that replaced all the 6s... - for some reason i could never beat this even though when i went back to it, it was super easy
2: mayhem 3 - this was as far as i could get in mayhem.
3: we all fall down - i used to have to get my parents to beat this for me
4: just dig! - how do i move a mouse?? i didnt know, i was a baby when i first started
5: there was a level i taxing i couldnt get past quite early on but i forgot it
6: mayhem 1 - i beat this level once then forgot how i did almost instantly

i cant remember how i found out how to beat Postcard from Lemmingland but i never remember having any trouble on it, maybe my parents showed me. i cant remember having any trouble on any other levels. then i ruined the game by looking up all the solutions so i dont have the joy of describing the difficulties of save me

[Flopsy]

Wow, quite a lot of replies, wasn't expecting that!
Thanks a lot to everyone who chipped in.

Just to clear up some confusion, I did mention the Amiga and DOS versions specifically but I agree with what Proxima says about there being a vast amount of differences in level stats in the DOS version to the point where the level is made significantly easier to save enough lemmings.

For this reason, I'm focusing on the Amiga version which had the tougher level stats on levels like Come on Over to my Place, The Fast Food Kitchen, Steel Mines of Kessel etc.

Also I'm not considering the Genesis unique levels and here's why, I feel the Genesis version could be a whole new can of worms and deserves a separate Top 10 personally. The Genesis levels brought a whole load of levels which were vastly more difficult than most of the levels already mentioned in this topic (especially in the SUNSOFT rank) so I feel for this reason, it would pretty much dominate the Top 10 if it were included.

I'd also like to discuss how this top 10 should be calculated, not just which levels get in but also how it is which one gets the coveted number 1 spot, number 2, number 3 etc.
I've noticed a fair few of the same levels have been mentioned in pretty much every reply I've read and I think they should be guaranteed to be in the countdown for that reason but I feel we need to have a fair system to decide which levels are harder than others.

I'm going to tot up how many times each level has been mentioned and I'll include my own list in this as well.

(Mayhem 29) Save Me: 8
(Taxing 26) Triple Trouble: 8

(Tricky 19) Postcard from Lemmingland: 5
(Tricky 26) I Have A Cunning Plan: 5
(Taxing 11) The Ascending Pillar Scenario: 5
(Mayhem 20) No Added Colours or Lemmings: 5

(Taxing 3) Heaven Can Wait (We Hope!): 4
(Taxing 6) Compression Method 1: 4
(Mayhem 1) Steel Works: 4
(Mayhem 16) Just A Minute Part 1: 4
(Mayhem 27) Just A Minute Part 2: 4

(Tricky 25) Cascade: 3
(Taxing 23) King of the Castle: 3
(Taxing 28) POOR WEE CREATURES: 3
(Mayhem 2) The Boiler Room: 3
(Mayhem 3) It's Hero Time: 3
(Mayhem 9) Curse of the Pharoahs: 3
(Mayhem 13) The Great Lemming Caper: 3
(Mayhem 23) Going Up: 3

(Tricky 16) Luvly Jubly: 2
(Tricky 23) From The Boundary Line: 2
(Taxing 4) Lend A Helping Hand: 2
(Taxing 13) Upsidedown World: 2
(Taxing 22) Come On Over To My Place: 2
(Mayhem 4) The Crossroads: 2
(Mayhem 5) Down Along Up In That Order: 2
(Mayhem 7) Poles Apart: 2
(Mayhem 26) Steel Mines of Kessel: 2

(Tricky 18) It's Lemmingentry Watson: 1
(Taxing 5) The Prison: 1
(Taxing 7) Every Lemming For Himself: 1
(Taxing 21) Feel The Heat: 1
(Taxing 27) Call in the Bomb Squad: 1
(Mayhem 12) The Far Side: 1
(Mayhem 17) Stepping Stones: 1
(Mayhem 21) With A Twist Of Lemming Please: 1

A couple of things to note here is that we technically have our 10 levels if we consider the levels with 8, 5 and 4 votes each.
We could just use these 10 levels as our result however, I would like it if we eliminated one of the Just A Minute levels and just include one of those in the top 10, alternately I could mention them both as a combined entry since they are virtually identical levels nearly.

Another thing I should mention is I could potentially follow what the likes of WatchMojo does and have honourable mentions before the number 1 level is announced, any that don't make the cut and are worthy levels could potentially be placed here, most of the levels with 3 votes could potentially go here. Steel Mines of Kessel could potentially slip in on here since it has had a low amount of mentions and is still a hard level in its own right.

Should Tricky 19 and Tricky 26 be worthy contenders as well, they aren't as hard levels compared to others but because they are in the tricky difficulty, they seem to be considered as roadblocks. I'm happy to include these levels of course but are we in agreement that both of these levels could potentially be in the middle of this top 10

I think considering the above and what everyone has had to say, the following levels should definitely be included

Save Me - 8 mentions in this topic
Triple Trouble - 8 mentions in this topic
The Ascending Pillar Scenario - very small space to work with in containing the lemmings, no blockers, 4 min time limit and 100%!
No Added Colours or Lemmings - brilliant level, hard solution, execution can be a pain also
Heaven Can Wait (We Hope!) - a bit like the Pillar Scenario but much tighter time limit - no blockers, 2 min time limit and 100%!
Just A Minute (either part 1 or part 2 or both of them as a combined entry) - 1 min time limit and 100%

So what does everyone think, should we consider the 10 levels (11 technically but I would like to omit one of the Just A Minute levels) we have in the top brackets (8, 5, 4)?
Or should we consider other levels which did not score so well (Steel Mines of Kessel and Come On Over to My Place are good examples)

[mobius]

I can only name top 5:

5. Compression Method 1 (didn't realize only 1 lemming getes squashed at a time).

4. From The Boundary Line

3. Cascade (This and the above level because I was stupid and didn't realize apparently that you can kill lots of lemmings)

2. No Added Colours or Lemmings

1. Postcard from Lemmingland. Stumped not only me but everybody else in my family for years. And as I was the only one who continued to play the game later in life, I was the only one in my family ever to solve it


ONML: I can't really give a very good list for this game because I didn't really play it much when I was young. the game came with OL1 on WinLems and for some reason I didn't like the graphics (back then, I do now) and every single level from Crazy onward seemed super hard and I skipped about every level. I can't remember when I solved the ones I liked properly, of it I did without looking up the solution. There are many levels in the game I have still never solved, like "lOok BeFore yoU lEap" or however it's spelled, because I hate them.



Genesis Levels that stumped me hard; (keep in mind I played these only in the past couple of years, I've only heard about them after joining the forum);

Evil Whisper, Jump Down!, Let's Get Together, I am A.T., Fall and no Life (part 1)

Unfortunately some level like Lemmings Ark I was spoiled on the solution so I can't say how hard I found those.