RetroAhoy: Lemmings

Originally uploaded 16th December 2011.
Reuploaded here to consolidate on one channel.
5 new RetroAhoy episodes follow this original run.
Email: [e-mail]
Twitter: / xboxahoy
Reddit: / xboxahoy

[@BazilRat]

Lemmings was one of the first computer games I played, at school on our.. .Acorn computers in 1992-3. The teachers and students were both all just as hooked, and the hi-score contest between students and teachers was quite heated.

[@xisumavoid]

Lemmings 2 was an absolutely fantastic sequel, a much more polished game with rich themes, better music and a greater range of challenges in the levels. Although the original gets the credit for being just that, i always preferred L2 the tribes. Never completed it 100% though :-)

[@averyhighdoge6582]

wouldn't expect you to be here!

[@lurkerrekrul]

+xisumavoid I'm the exact opposite, I loved the original Lemmings and Oh No, More Lemmings, but I really didn't like Lemmings 2 at all. Too many of the powers seemed gimmicky and hard to use accurately. Like the archer and the one that throws snowballs. In the original game, the builder always built at a predictable angle, the miner always dug at a predictable angle, etc. Yet with a lot of the powers in Lemmings 2, it was basically trial and error.

[@harveyebetts3736]

DMA made one of my favorite games of all time for the n64, silicon valley.

[@OneWeirdDude]

+lurkerrekrul I'm quite the same way. Fortunately, there's Practice Mode.

[@itzbazil2802]

Didn't expect you to be here!

[@grfrjiglstan]

So even before GTA, Rockstar showed us that mass murder of a species can be fun!

[@roboactive]

True that

[@frallan874]

RDRII

[@Skyrilla]

Ahoy ripped off LGR's 2012 video down to the fucking point. Look it up.

[@divyanshsehgal3055]

@@Skyrilla Ahoy's original video was reportedly published in December 2011, so I suspect you got the victim and perpetrator mixed up.

[@Deadbeatcow]

@@Skyrilla hahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahaha... Wait. You're serious?

[@GideonIon8]

...Why does it feel like every video I watch, it inevitably leads back to Grand Theft Auto? It feels like a conspiracy by this point.

[@mladen7641]

Half life 3: Grand theft auto confirmed!

[@over7532]

That's just how good the algorithm is

[@reloadpsi]

I wonder what GTA's Ryu number is?

[@JoducusKwak]

@@mladen7641 so is it an Half Life reboot set in the GTA universe or a GTA set in the Half Life Universe? i would play both

[@Jonifico]

Same thing happens to me with Dark Souls.

[@FPSGHoST808]

Unbelievable. I never knew it was rockstar games.

[@P1ay3r7]

+FPSGHoST808 Never did I ;_; One of my childhood games that ran on MS-DOS

[@tttc]

+FPSGHoST808 Rockstar North!

[@TheMoviePlanet]

+tttc North is essentially the first Rockstar studio

[@TYNEPUNK]

well there was "Vis" first, but they sucked :)

[@Jakepearl13]

I never knew that the guy who made some of the soundtrack for wipeout made the music in lemmings.

[@dillmon1]

There is something so surreal about lemmings maybe its the music or the the way that the lemmings walk to their deaths, but I always have an existential crisis when I play it.

[@taoufik.jabbari]

wait what !

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

for me its the weird visuals in the levels, but its probably because i spent a lot of thinking about it as a kid. i always wondered what was on the other side of the entrance trapdoor and the exit. all levels seemed to take place underground, but why were there sometimes trees and buildings? did the exit of one level lead to the entrance of the next, or was there some underground lemming paradise in which they all ended up after beating a level? why would the levels sometimes stretch way beyond the exit when there was nothing of importance there? also, how did the lemmings feel when they had to blow up their friends to progress? why could the stoppers not simply start to walk again?

[@XC11301991]

I like how Stu mentioned Disney and the movie that started this misinformation. In the movie, that scene was really the people scaring and forcing the animals off a ledge.

[@PixelatedH2O]

+GSDAkatsuki And that's basically exactly what the game is

[@the_original_Bilb_Ono]

Adam Porter no the difference is in the game they willingly walk off the ledge just because theyre following the leader. This doesnt happen in reality. lemmings was thought to be unique because their instincts to follow the lemming in front was so great, that they will follow them to their death. Which is a lie told by a Disney live-action documentary. In actuality the lemmings will stop. The movie made it seem like one lemming fell, and the others followed. Only they was being pushed by the cast.

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

Actually, White Wilderness was not the origin point of the myth that lemmings commit suicide. It's a myth mentioned in documentaries before that film, and its origins go back at least as far as the 19th century if not further.

[@Skyrilla]

No, NO! Ahoy ripped off LGR's 2012 video down to the fucking point. Look it up. Stu didn't do anything.

[@overlordalfredo]

@@Skyrilla how can this be a rip off of a 2012 video if the original upload of this video was in 2011? Check the description, it iven states there that this is just a re-upload...

[@Lofote]

Trivia: On the C64 the lemmings themselves were not Sprites, but background graphic, the background (=level) itself was sprites ;)

[@josephjohnson8705]

Noice

[@voxelbugged]

really!?

[@Lofote]

Yes, that was the only way to display so many lemmnings in one row. C64 can't display more than 8 sprites in the same row.

[@MarkPentler]

Cracking fact, this.

[@ninjacat230]

That really doesn't sound like something that would work

[@YellowDice]

So Rockstar made Lemmings? damn the more you learn I guess the pedestrians you see in the games are the new Lemmings.

[@genericwhitemale6089]

rockstar is Scottish, kinda cool

[@TheBroz]

No, DMA made lemmings. By the time it was Rockstar North none of the creatives and original talent of the company remained.

[@r3uvsgaming]

@@TheBroz still the same company

[@D0NH]

there even is a lemmings easter egg in SA's las venturas.

[@rh4815]

They also made midtown madness

[@BrySkye]

Sadly, in the year following when this video was originally uploaded, Studio Liverpool was closed down by Sony after what was essentially an audit of all their European games development studios, bringing to an end the legacy of one of the most prominent, historical UK development studios in Psygnosis. Maybe worth adding that detail in as an annotation?

[@Spidehman]

@Meier Di Capua To this day I still have no idea what the "EAT THIS!!!" annotations linked to on Machinima videos.

[@devianDog]

@Particularly GB Sadly, in the year following when this reply was written, Google+ was shut down, making editing comments impossible. Perhaps you should try another video sharing website?

[@Shr3w]

@@devianDog What are you on about? You can still edit comments.

[@devianDog]

@@Shr3w i t ' s a j o k e

[@danb9447]

@@devianDog Sadly, in the month following your original comment, youtube was shut down, ultimately benefiting humanity at the cost of cat videos

[@TYNEPUNK]

Excellent I worked at DMA/Rockstar in the early 2000's. Really proud, was only there a short while before I became an indie :)

[@violenceisfun991]

Radiant Silver Labs, thats interesting. what was that like? also, if you don't mind me asking, what was it that made you decide to go into indie development?

[@TYNEPUNK]

It was awesome, very high working conditions (and people bringing you bacon sandwiches to your desk in the morning!), and great people. I wanted to leave because actually being a coder on something like GTA, is not really designing games. By that point you are a cog in the machine and if you ever want to live your dreams of writing your own games (i.e you design them, you code them and you make all the high level choices), then you really have to become an indie.

[@LickMyMusketBallsYankee]

Prove it, nerd

[@dachel683]

@@LickMyMusketBallsYankee my guy did you really try to insult someone with "nerd"? Go back to the 90s

[@Ze-Germanzuk]

This was the first PC game I ever played, my school had an after school club where you could play on their computers. They had Lemmings and some game where you play a flying dinosaur with a gun on its back and flew around shooting things(no clue what it was called) but Lemmings was always so cool

[@Spitfire200]

Same here, Holy shit! Did you also have Dr Quandary and a caveman themed Mariokart clone on school computers?

[@EarthboundBenjy]

Was that dinosaur game called Nanosaur by any chance?

[@kumatorahaltmanndreemurr]

My elementary school had us play this sci-fi action game called Math Blaster where you fought against a robot empire by solving math problems. As a little kid it felt pretty epic lol

[@andrewgraham6920]

How about Super Munchers.... And a couple years later Oregon Trail

[@boombaby1769]

In my Amiga times, someone gave me a demo disc of Lemmings with four playable levels, long before the craze started. I immediately knew that this would go very very big. It was such a fresh experience and felt like you had known this forever at the same time.

[@0ptimal]

Great description. I think this is the case for a lot of great art, music.

[@FrogSpl4sh]

thanx for reuploading these retroahoy's. I didn't know them before. Entertaining snack bits to watch.

[@aztecwarrior5189]

Man, I used to and still sometimes watch your cod weapon videos. Crazy how time flies, this video was so good I stopped eating until it was over. Magnificent content.

[@joeschroedernz]

Thank you for all the memories.

[@atrophine_]

This game actually looks really really fun

[@supersquinto]

Really enjoying everything on the channel! Kudos to all the great work.

[@swsephy]

I remember playing this game when I was very young! My mom used to play it and introduced me to it.

[@lgasc]

I know how the levels look like after 2/3 of the game. So I can say you have a good mom.

[@Ghi102]

I remember playing Lemmings on the PSP with better graphics years ago, weird that it wasn't mentionned.

[@StickFreeks]

Lemmings is one of my earliest memories of a video game. I wasn't allowed to touch the computer, but I watched my mom play it for a couple days. She ended up rage quitting it! Must've been pretty hard. XD Thank you for this showcase, it brings back memories.

[@TimmacTR]

Ohhhh yeah.....good old days...

[@CameronBrtnik]

This was one of my favourite games on the SNES!!! Thanks for the review

[@blaize00]

I love his voice so much. It's so soothing I could literally fall asleep to it.

[@Trancefreakeh]

It's been a while, but thank you for the shot of nostalgia. I had the original lemmings and Chistmas lemming for the amiga 500. Good times ^^.

[@sixx6vi472]

Should make a video about the worms games

[@RussellTeapot]

YES

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

I loved this game as a teenager. I even downloaded the level editor and made my own levels. Oh the nostalgia.

[@JoeDrinks]

Thank you for a great video - this game brings nostalgia from my times playing it as a kid on my Sega Megadrive.

[@SonofMrPeanut]

Note on the Lemmings Myth: It emerged from Canada & Scandinavia. Though some species of lemmings will leave the group after a population density line is crossed, even crossing perilous conditions to do it, observers in both regions noticing the decreased numbers started the rumor of them committing mass suicide. When White Wilderness was being filmed, they were (ironically) aiming to dispel the myth of mass suicide and clarify it was just migration. However, to add "drama" to the scene, they pushed the lemmings off the cliff to their deaths, the crew not even certain if they were actively aiding the migration or not. Despite their original intention, their action (along w/ the narration selling this as a mania/sudden irrational compulsion) not only reinforced the myth but made it considerably more widespread than before.

[@constipationcampvideo4171]

I LOVED this game as a kid, had it for snes. I played it over and over, and sometimes would even just listen to the soundtrack with the option menu.

[@Sreht]

Honestly your videos are all beautifully made. Keep up the great work

[@Godzillamikey1337]

"And still exists to this day" If only he knew...

[@FirstNameLastName-js3ry]

Great video. Lemmings was my childhood.

[@jeynarl]

I remember playing a version on nitrome that had little ink blots and you controlled their routes by doodling ramps and walls and stuff. So many good games

[@thisdominion9374]

I love his phrasing sometimes: "...the game Blossomed into a pioneering puzzler, and paired with a high degree of polish..."

[@oliharding]

I find this stuff so interesting! Great job Stu

[@BZAD1989]

So good quality in these lectures :)

[@triasn5039]

Great vid, as always

[@scaredyfish]

One of my favourite games of all time.

[@CoLD.SToRAGE]

Nice coverage of the history and game mechanics. 👍🏻☺️

[@hitmanwolf]

great video as allways, Ahoy.

[@xynaptic]

These videos are so good! Keep it up!

[@Doktor_Jones]

I love that voice

[@Nihilore]

This was the first PC game i played in the early 90s at a mates place before we even had our own PC. love it.

[@lazyslackerboy]

this actually makes me wanna play lemmings again ...great video man...

[@Lmskilla]

I loved this game back in the day!

[@0ptimal]

What a game. I remember it fulfilling something inside, like when u played it u realized u were craving it all along.

[@RobertChisholm]

I had forgotten Cold Storage did the Lemming Music. His Wipeout music is classic.

[@vine01]

i had no idea there's music in lemmings for start :P and now to learn about him as Cold Storage oh dear :) missed a lot with just pc speaker back then :D dune2 music all along :(

[@DeathBringer769]

Loved this game as a kid.

[@CoolDudeClem]

I used to love this game on the Acorn Achemedies, my old school had one of those back in the day and it had this game on it. It was the first time I'd ever seen Lemmings and it blew me away with the graphics and sampled music as I was used to 8 bit stuff.

[@THB192]

You can tell Stuart has evolved his style since his last episode of this series. The sound is richer, and the script feels more evocative of his later style

[@StephanS]

Wow.... Lemmings was my entry-level-drug to PC games back in the early 90's I was blown away by that atmosphere this game has...

[@sekara9866]

My sister and I 100%'d the game on co-op. No Lemming left behind!

[@Lintary]

I played the original for so many hours as a kid :)

[@Jokbig]

I love your work! Also great relaxing voice

[@thatguyoverthere531]

Considering this episode is 4 years old...

[@josephjohnson8705]

Lmao

[@swampertdeck]

I grew up with lemmings, had all the games, even "Operation Lemming". 2 player Lemmings was crazy fun.

[@CreeperSwift]

Great video Ahoy

[@arnaudcondakesa8979]

First time seeing this video as I did not dig for older videos. I really hope Stuart will find his way back to videos, he is a unique storyteller, mesmerizing also... He is lost but hopefully shall be found again.

[@Jamesthe1]

I own Wipeout Omega Collection and had no clue that the original company that made the series was Psygnosis. Impressive work they've made

[@JamSparing]

OH! I owned the 3d Lemmings - thanks for bringing those memories back!

[@eltoro4814]

Awesome vid. I really wish there was a clean, HD remake of Lemmings to play on PSN or XBLA. It's greatly missed!

[@k18rock22]

I loved the original lemmings as a kid! And now Sony has it as mobile version! That I freely admit I'm addicted to!

[@RetroCubeXD]

How did I not see this... this game was my childhood 💙

[@fulhjort]

Really interesting video! Loved Lemmings when I was a kid, and as a non-native English speaker it was so easy to get into without knowing a single English word.

[@Dellaluna13]

Loved this game. I had no idea about the ongoing lineage of Psygnosis after the early '90's. I miss my Amiga!

[@designbyatlantis007]

In 2007 I threw out, yes threw out my still working Amiga 500+ with a cardboard box of about 200-300 disks! What was I thinking?

[@dianecanup5446]

I miss playing Lemmings. Used to stay up all night trying to beat levels. Sure wish I could find it again but alas I guess I am SOL for that game. Thanks to my son for sending this link to me.

[@GamerJayR]

Great vid, always loved Lemmings :D

[@S-I-T]

Excellent channel. Have subscribed.

[@theultimatehunt]

i used to play this when i was SOOOOOOO YOUNG! When i saw the gameplay it hit me!!!!

[@Critterb0t]

I feel a bit over saturated by videos from Stu. Do keep it up. :D

[@gurthbrooks3501]

+Critterbot I keep seeing Xbox Ahoy videos pop up in my feed, i'm like oh wow these are old, fuck yea cant wait to watch them again!!!

[@rockmanzeroconfused2509]

Lemmings. One of the games I began my Let's Play series on.

[@vertigoz]

The music is incredible

[@sahkovalo]

There's an amazing homebrew port of Lemmings on the DS with nice additions like pre-selecting a lem and giving them a job when they get to where you need them to be.

[@francocirillo8236]

The happy sound they made when they reached the exit was so satisfying

[@woodrowjang]

i love how these videos often end with a developer that is super well known now. always surprises me.

[@607]

One of my favourite games!

[@samnub7912]

Damn son, this is some good quality shit Stu

[@aliquidcow]

I played this game as a child on the Atari ST, I would have been maybe 8 or 9. At that age I wasn't clever enough to be able to do the later levels, some of them seemed utterly impossible. I picked the game up years later as a young adult, and found that it is actually really well structured if you play it linearly. It starts with the easy stuff and then gradually introduces levels that require a bit of out-of-the-box thinking (one example is that it is possible to release blockers without blowing them up if you dig the ground out from under them). By the time I got to the Mayhem levels I was able to figure them out using the techniques I'd accumulated throughout the game, and the final level ended up being a cinch. It was really satisfying to be able to beat this game that had confounded me as a kid.

[@EricHamm]

It makes sense that the producers of such a good puzzle game would make GTA and RD later on. I used to love me some Lemmings!

[@NeilRoy]

I loved this game, especially on the Amiga which had digitized sound effects. I think "A Beast of a Level" (the one with the trees he showed) was one of my favourites due to the excellent music for it (from Shadow of the Beast). So much fun.

[@wysiwyg2006]

lemmings is very nostalgic for me. played it loads in school on the acorn archemedies and atari st at home.

[@user-uj8og9cm9d]

Haha! I don't play video games anymore but used to when I was a kid, just hearing this music brought up deep levels of oppressed stress from when I panicked and failed to get those lemmings safe!

[@Pigzit]

I remember playing a flash game version of this! Never knew it was this old.

[@AntonioBrandao]

One of the 10 best games of all time! How many hours of endless fun!! Don’t understand why there isn’t a modern working version available!!!

[@niamaru2]

because I grew up with Lemmings on the Amiga (and be cause I watched the brief history of graphics) you sir are gaining yet another Sub... but lemmings man... Love them !

[@nevanoconnell3356]

My father loved this game but was never able to find a copy to show me, I’ve never known what the game he loved was like but yet now I know. All I can say is thank you. However sadly he is gone now, I’m sure he would have loved your small documentary.

[@vladimirgolosin4699]

Ahhh, tribes 2. One of my favorites.

[@MariLesteberg]

Lemmings was one of my favourite games

[@dr.dibble1868]

Lemmings was so fun on the PSP, the level editor was great.

[@ssm445]

Just a couple of months before The Lemmings hit the shelf's (well, the pirates...), there was a little demo circulating that had the lemmings (differently colored) walk around. It was just a cute demo, but then the Lemmings came out .... I never found that demo on the interwebs :(

[@earlgrey2130]

I actually played this when it came out. I feel old. And cool.

[@CFkimahri]

One of my all time favorite games. Never managed to finish Mayhem.

[@SachoManMandyRavage]

Lemmings on the PlayStation was one of the first game I ever played and the first puzzle game. I had actually forgotten about Lemmings

[@SachoManMandyRavage]

Lemmings 3D was the game, I believe

[@muskatDR]

A perfect game to fool a innocent little child into unforgiving, sadistic gameplay

[@benjollans6822]

just got this with a mega drive on ebay a few months back. Remember this omfg

[@Krondelo]

Ah I love Lemmings as a kid (Snes version), although I never could get very far before getting stumped. I never thought about how good the sprites are for only being 8X8.

[@Cam-dn9ed]

I remember this game... After so long I finally remember this game exists...

[@davethomas1241]

I love lemmings you've inspired me to pull out my amiga and set it and play lemmings

[@yseong9999]

one of my favorite games

[@eddiemorrone870]

I still remember the layout of the store where we rented this game. They’ve remodeled since.