Lemming Level List Game

[Proxima]

Heh...... trust me to do it the hard way.

The rest of my solution was: when the lemmings enter the V at top-right, have the second one build to turn round while the first starts building over the gap at the end. Then just keep clicking..... making sure to save one builder for when the lemming you turned round reaches the last gap before the exit.

I'd love to know your solutions to Present 15 as well, since it sounds like they're completely different from mine!

RR99 immediately. Mine through the stairs near the end, and mine and bash under the metal while the other lemmings trap themselves in the pit on the left. Mine into the wall above the exit, then dig over the block that protrudes to the left. Release the other lemmings.... luckily you get two tries.......

Anyway......


Present 16: A Trap is a trap

7 bombers, 7 blockers, 5 builders
To save 10% of 100
Release rate 80
3 minutes

Good: kaboom! kaboom! kaboom!
Bad: ok, why the hell do you only have to save ten? I got 94 home with no difficulty at all........

[Special_Gunpowder]

My Present 15 solution's the same as yours but using two miners and a builder at the end rather than a miner and a digger...so muggins here only got one try!

Oh, and I used to bomb down on Present 16 as far as possible and then nuke the lemmings. I think I got around 34% in using that method.

Now, this next one is a classic:

Present 17 - Electric circuit



Skills: 5 Bombers
3 Builders
1 Basher
3 Diggers

Save 100/100 (100%)
RR 99
4 minutes

Good: absolutely brilliant design: both pictoral and challenging at the same time.
Bad: maybe some of the bottom part of the level could've been better thought out, but that's just splitting hairs.

Note: for anyone who hasn't played this level, those funny looking crossroads are designed so that the lemmings go down them but fall through them if they try to go up.

[Conway]

  Present 18 - King of Lemmings
  Save: 80/80
  Time: 6 minutes
  RR: 1
  Skills:
    Builders: 12
    Bashers: 10

  Good: Nice use of the columns style with a few different solutions, and it's great for a low-medium difficulty level like this to have a 100% target.

  Bad: The level is far too liberal with the skills! Even doing it the hardest way I could think of left a few builders and bashers.

[Proxima]

I won't do Present 18, since there's nothing interesting to say about it, whereas 19 is very interesting (and we might want to compare solutions for that one too).

Here's how I solved Present 17:

Dig before the first "plus sign" in such a way that just one lemming goes past and walks left on the lower ledge. When he reaches the end of the platform below the "plus" at bottom centre, build once. Dig the sloped platform just left of the metal and bash the crystals -- you'll just have time before the other lemmings reach you.

I suspect it's a backroute, as it doesn't use all the skills (ignoring the bombers which you can't use anyway).

[Proxima]

Fine....... while I was typing that someone else did Present 18, so I make you a free present of Present 19!


Present 19: Acrophobia

2 bombers, 8 builders, 1 basher, 1 miner, 1 digger
To save 99% of 100
Release rate 1
3 minutes

Good: the main solution is very elegant and involves a lovely trick. Not sure why you're given eight builders though.
Bad: *SPOILER WARNING* There's a backroute using just one builder, the miner and the digger that saves 100%

[Conway]

Present 17 - I remember doing it slightly differently, using builders. I suspect there are quite a few different solutions to this one . . .

  edit: Present 19 - There is also a 100% backoute that uses just one digger!

[Proxima]

Thought there might be; I was just being extra-cautious. The interesting question though is, since this same backroute solves Sunsoft 1, what the heck was the intended solution to that level?

[Conway]

In Sunsoft 1, you're probably supposed to use that solution (although I still don't know what the floaters are for!), but they expect you to use a different route in present 19, then when you get to Sunsoft you'd be like 'Oh yeah!'

[Proxima]

Actually, just after I posted that I realised the answer to the mystery. You have to remember that Sunsoft was originally meant to come before Present (see Libra part two and Watch Your Step part two). Thus, if that was the solution in the Sunsoft level they'd definitely have realised it was a backroute in the Present one.

The answer is simply that in Sunsoft 1 you're meant to use that solution -- with floaters! They just didn't know that the lemmings will survive the fall anyway!

[Special_Gunpowder]

Present 20 - Lemmings-preying iron plate



Skills: 3 Builders
12 Bashers
5 Diggers

Save 80/100 (80%)
RR 50
5 minutes

Good: the title: a bit of a clue to the hidden spike trap in the level (although if you've played "Lemming Eater" then you already know).
Bad: not different enough from "Lemming Eater"...in fact, you can do pretty much the same solution and you don't even need 100% this time. All in all, another pointless level, really.

[Isu]

Present 21: Use your brain better



Skills: Its 20 of everything (The site says: 2 Builders, 1 miner, 1 basher)
  
Save: 50/50 (100%)
Release rate: 01
Time: 3:00
    
Good: A nice use of the pink set
Bad: The difficulty of this level is a joke.

[Proxima]

You sure? On the emulator at least, the skills on that level are the same as on the site. (It's stil a complete joke, of course. I really expected there to be a hidden trap under that block......)

Next on tonight's menu:


Present 22: None title

7 builders, 3 miners
To save 90% of 50 (i.e. 45; Planet Lemmings wrongly calculates this as 40)
Release rate 1
2 minutes

Good: a clever little level with a bit more dignity than many of its predecessors in this rating
Bad: why didn't they require 100% ?

[Isu]

Hm...
I remember playing a level like that and thinking that psygnosis was having a laugh, due to the fact that it was easier than most of the 'Fun' rating. Maybe I'm getting levels mixed up again

[Proxima]

It _is_ easier than most of the Fun rating even with the reduced skills! Try it and see.......

[Special_Gunpowder]

No, I'm sure "Use your brain better" was 2 builders, 1 basher and 1 digger...at least that's how I remember it. It certainly is a poor level anyhow, but there's a better version in Sunsoft.

Present 23 - Precarious oasis



Skills: 1 Floater
4 Builders
1 Basher
2 Miners

Save 50/50 (100%)
RR 50
5 minutes

Good: getting harder now: a 100% target and quite a limited amount of skills to achieve it with. Also, I like those machine-gun-like structures hanging from the top right of the level.
Bad: doesn't really look like an oasis though, does it?