Lemmings/Walkthrough

General strategies and tips

Here are a few general tips that will come in handy while playing Lemmings. For individual level solutions, proceed to Fun Levels 1-5.

• It is always a good idea to pause the level when it starts up, scan over the terrain, and have a strategy in mind before plowing into the level.
• If one solution is too hard to execute properly, look for another one.
• Budget your skills wisely and don't waste them.
• Pay close attention to the required save percentage. If you must save 100% on a level, there is no point in using bombers.
• You can dig vertically through one-way walls.
• Some skills can interact with each other. For example, if a builder hits a blocker, he will turn around and continue building the other way.

Crowd control strategies

In many levels, it is necessary to hold the crowd back while one lemming goes ahead and prepares a route for the rest. There are several ways to achieve this:

• Use blockers to hold the crowd in one place. The disadvantage here is that you will have to deal with the blocker later on.
• If you make one lemming a blocker as soon as he hits the ground beneath the entrance, the rest of the lemmings will walk through him to the right as if he weren't there, but he will still block lemmings returning to the left. Beware, however, that if he takes even one step before being assigned the blocker skill, he will block to the right instead, which is probably not what you want or you wouldn't be using this trick. This is probably easiest to pull off in versions of Lemmings which allow skills to be assigned whilst paused, such as Lemmings For Windows.
• Have a digger make a pit to entrap the lemmings, and stop him by making him build. Use more builders to get the lemmings out of the pit later. This is useful when you don't have blockers, or when you can't afford to kill any lemmings.
• If you have miners and builders to spare, you can sometimes use one of each instead of a blocker. Have a lemming mine a short tunnel, just long enough that it can't be climbed out of except by turning around, then have him build to stop him mining.
• Use the terrain to your advantage. On some levels, the lemmings will contain themselves without assistance.
• When all else fails, you can stack several bridges one on top of the other to build a wall, which will hold the lemmings back. The disadvantages to this technique are the fact that it is difficult to execute properly and it can quickly deplete your builder supply.

Time-saving strategies

Some levels may come down to the last few seconds, especially later in the game. These tips introduce ways to save a few precious seconds off the clock.

• Increase the release rate. If you complete a level quickly, there is no use in waiting several minutes for the rest of the lemmings to come out. A 99 release rate will have them all coming out in a matter of seconds.
• Release the crowd before the leader is done preparing the path to the exit. It often takes awhile for the lemmings to catch up, so the leader should finish before the others catch him.
• Pause the game immediately upon starting a level. It normally takes a few seconds for the entrance hatch to open up, but if you pause the game before it opens, it will open as soon as you unpause, saving a couple of seconds.
• If you've tried all of these and you're still running out of time, look for a faster solution.