Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
Mike Dailly, the first employee of DMA Design and one of the programmers for Lemmings, provided a detailed history of the development of the game titled "The Lemmings Story" in 2006.
David Jones stated that after porting the game to 20 systems, he stopped keeping count of additional ports.
The games were well-received; Rob Mead of Amiga Format described it as "funny, frustrating and incredibly addictive", despite being disappointed by the number of levels, and Will Greenwald of PC Magazine ranked it among the best Christmas video games in 2014.
David Sears of Compute!, in his review of Lemmings for the PC, stated that "perhaps Psygnosis has tapped into the human instinct for survival in formulating this perfect blend of puzzle, strategy, and action.
Amiga Computing stated that "Lemmings is absolutely brilliant.
A review from the Australian Commodore and Amiga Review (ACAR) stated that "above all, the concept is simple, and the game is a lot of fun.
Computer Gaming World stated that "Not since Tetris has this reviewer been so addicted to, or completely fascinated with, a series of challenging puzzles ... follow the crowd and get Lemmings".
The game was reviewed in 1991 in Dragon by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column.
In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Lemmings the 12th-best computer game ever released, and that same year, Next Generation declared it the 8th-greatest game of all time, and "second only to Tetris" in the puzzle genre.
The editors called it "one of the biggest puzzlers ever released for PC" and "cleaner and less complicated" than its sequel.
In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 21st-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "as fresh and addictive today as it was when it was first released".
In 2018, Complex listed the game 70th on its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time".
In 1995, Total! ranked the game 81st on their Top 100 SNES Games summarizing: "The game that spawned a dozen imitators is still one of the best platform puzzlers available."
Other similar games include Clones (2009), which was described by the developed as "a multiplayer version of Lemmings".
A 1991 Amiga Power article claimed that Lemmings "was the first major game to introduce the 'indirect-control' concept," an element that is now common in many RTS games.
Blizzard Entertainment developer Bob Fitch said that part of the inspiration for the first Warcraft game, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, was based on developing a competitive multiplayer RTS that combined elements of The Lost Vikings (which he had worked on) and Lemmings; Fitch said "We just went, 'Oh it's so cool when you see lots of Lemmings all over the place.
The Super Famicom version received a Platinum Hall of Fame award in the Cross Review of the magazine Famicom Tsuushin, was rated the 2nd highest-rated game ever by Amstrad Action, and was selected as the 8th greatest game of 1996 by Next Generation.
The game sold about 20,000,000 copies across the ports on all systems combined.
In the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu it received scores of 9, 9, 8, and 9, for a total of 35 out of 40, earning a place in the Platinum Hall of Fame.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Family Computer Magazine,it scored 19.75 out of 30.
This score placed it 214th among all Super Famicom titles (323 titles in total, as of 1993).
In the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu it received a total of 26 out of 40. Gekkan PC Engine gave scores of 80, 80, 85, 85, and 80, for an average of 82 out of 100. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by PC Engine FAN its rating was 23.43 out of 30.
This score also placed it 66th among all PC Engine titles (485 titles in total, as of 1993).
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu,the four reviewers gave 8, 8, 6, and 7, for a total of 29 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Mega Drive FAN,it scored 20.68 out of 30.
In the Cross Review feature of the magazine Famitsu, the four reviewers gave 7, 7, 7, and 6, for a total of 27.
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu, the game scored a total of 28 out of 40.
Lemmings is also one of the most widely ported video games, and is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies between its various ports.
The original sales for Lemmings on the Amiga topped 55,000 copies on the first day of sales; in comparison, Menace sold 20,000 copies and Blood Money sold 40,000 copies cumulatively.
With all ports included, Mike Dailly estimated that 15 million copies of Lemmings were sold between 1991 and 2006.
In 2011, Luke Plunkett from Kotaku placed the figure at over 20 million, a figure which has been quoted as far back as 1997.
By mid-1995, Lemmings and its sequels had accumulated combined sales of more than 4 million units worldwide.
It was the first download-only release on the PlayStation 3, with new characters and stages and a structure of 45 stages in all.
Mike Dailly, the first employee of DMA Design and one of the programmers for Lemmings, provided a detailed history of the development of the game titled "The Lemmings Story" in 2006.
The original sales for Lemmings on the Amiga topped 55,000 copies on the first day of sales; in comparison, Menace sold 20,000 copies and Blood Money sold 40,000 copies cumulatively.
In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Lemmings the 12th-best computer game ever released, and that same year, Next Generation declared it the 8th-greatest game of all time, and "second only to Tetris" in the puzzle genre.
In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 21st-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "as fresh and addictive today as it was when it was first released".
A 1991 Amiga Power article claimed that Lemmings "was the first major game to introduce the 'indirect-control' concept," an element that is now common in many RTS games.
Blizzard Entertainment developer Bob Fitch said that part of the inspiration for the first Warcraft game, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, was based on developing a competitive multiplayer RTS that combined elements of The Lost Vikings (which he had worked on) and Lemmings; Fitch said "We just went, 'Oh it's so cool when you see lots of Lemmings all over the place.
More Lemmings, originally released for the Amiga in 1991 both as a data disk or standalone game, added five varying difficulties – 'Tame', 'Crazy', 'Wild', 'Wicked' and 'Havoc' – each with 20 new levels.
More Lemmings, originally released for the Amiga in 1991 both as a data disk or standalone game, added five varying difficulties – 'Tame', 'Crazy', 'Wild', 'Wicked' and 'Havoc' – each with 20 new levels.
He praised the game's originality but expressed criticism for it being repetitive.
Lemmings was one of six games featured in a stamp series issued by the Royal Mail in 2020 to pay tribute to the United Kingdom's early video game industry.
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