🎮 Play Lemmings Online (NES)

Lemmings is a puzzle game developed by DMA Design and released for the NES in 1991. A procession of small, green-haired creatures marches forward automatically, completely oblivious to every cliff, trap, and hazard ahead. Your job is to assign a limited set of skills to individual lemmings to steer enough of them safely to the exit. The tension between limited resources and escalating level design made it one of the defining puzzle games of its era.

How to play

Move your cursor with the arrow keys to hover over a lemming. Press X (NES A button) to assign the currently selected skill to that lemming. Press Shift (SELECT) to cycle through the skill types available in the level — each type has a limited number of uses shown on screen. Press Enter (START) to pause and survey the layout. Use Z (NES B button) to back out in the skill menu.

The skills:

• Blocker — plants a lemming in place; others turn around when they walk into it.
• Builder — lays a rising diagonal staircase; assign builders in sequence to bridge wide gaps or reach higher ground.
• Basher / Miner / Digger — tunnels horizontally, diagonally downward, or straight down through terrain.
• Climber — lets a lemming scale vertical walls instead of turning around.
• Floater — opens a parachute so a lemming survives long falls.
• Bomber — detonates a lemming after a short countdown, destroying surrounding terrain.

Each level sets a minimum rescue percentage — save at least that many lemmings to advance to the next stage.

Tips

• Place a Blocker early to split the group: one half stays safe while you solve the path ahead. When you no longer need it, assign the Bomber skill to the Blocker to free those lemmings.
• Chain Builders: assign a second Builder to the same lemming before the current staircase ends to extend it further without a gap.
• Count your Bombers before committing to a route — they often handle terrain no other skill can clear, and running out mid-level usually means restarting.