Lemmings

14 February 1991
Lemmings cover art
Released puzzle strategy

Lemmings

The landmark puzzle game that made DMA Design (later Rockstar North) globally famous.

AmigaAtari STCommodore 64PCmacOSGame BoySNESSega GenesisNESGame GearPlayStation

Lemmings is a puzzle-strategy video game developed by DMA Design (later Rockstar North) and published by Psygnosis. The concept was conceived by Mike Dailly, who during a lunch break animated a demo of tiny characters walking in a line — prompting Russell Kay to remark that a game could be built around it. Released for the Amiga on 14 February 1991, players must guide a tribe of hapless lemmings through 120 hazardous levels split into four difficulty categories — Fun, Tricky, Taxing, and Mayhem — by assigning each individual a skill: digging, building, blocking, climbing, bashing, bridging, or exploding. A quota of lemmings must be saved to complete each level. The game was a massive commercial success, selling 55,000 copies on its first day and accumulating over 20 million sales across 21 platforms. It cemented DMA Design as a world-leading studio, made David Jones a millionaire at 25, and launched a long-running franchise of sequels and spin-offs.

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Rockstar North

Rockstar North

Edinburgh

Creators of Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings — one of the world's most acclaimed and commercially successful game studios

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