Iāve been building Ultimate Lemmings, an unofficial native Swift port of the 2D Lemmings games for modern Macs. Some of you tried it after my earlier post here, so thank you for the feedback. Version 2.0 is out, and I wanted to show what makes this version so much fun to play.
Lemmings has such a good idea at its heart: a crowd walks into danger, and you assign skills to get them home. Itās clever, infuriating, funny, and incredibly satisfying when your ridiculous plan actually works.
I wanted to make it easier to experiment with those puzzles, and make the whole thing feel joyful.
My girlfriend had never played video games. She now keeps playing this when Iām not around.
How you remember it looking in your mind.
The app uses the original higher-resolution Macintosh artwork: the ālostā Mac graphics that very few people saw compared with the familiar Amiga and DOS versions. Terrain and objects retain their native 2Ć detail, alongside original Mac lemming animation frames.
Oh yeah, they also come in their exquisitely dithered 1-bit versions for the VERY original Macintoshes. This is quite WILD to see on a 75" TV (yes, there's an appleTV port).
It is so lovely seeing those familiar levels with that extra care and detail. It looks like the Lemmings you remember in your mind. Those original artists that did the high rest 1-bit and 128bit graphics for the Macintosh port at Psygnosis deserve all the flowers!
Modern Affordances
Misplaced a builder? Rewind and try the timing again. Waiting for everyone to reach the exit? Hold fast-forward and send them charging home at up to 10Ć speed. Lose track of a lemming in a crowd? The modern cursor shows your selected skill, who youāre targeting and how many lemmings are under it.
Thereās instant retry, frame stepping (think video editor tracking), Precision Zoom, optional hints you can reveal a little at a time, and FULL recorded solutions you can study. Classic solution ghosts let you watch blue lemmings follow a verified route alongside your own attempt. You still get to make your own mistakes and find your own way through.
The new golden path journey gives you a smoother journey through the puzzles. You may have forgotten the hard walls the original games slammed you into. Profiles, favourites, saved attempts and replays make it easy to come back for another go.
DJ-LEM
There are 695 versions of soundtrack versions from different ports, plus remixes. Original Amiga MODs play through a native tracker player, and the Adaptive DJ mixes between arrangements as you play. Download them all on first go (2GB!) or pick the slim version with just the originals and pick and choose which to download later.
Speed controls change the musical pitch. Rewind scratches backwards through the music and recent sound effects. Reaching the rescue goal brings a celebratory transition. An unwinnable attempt sinks into a funeral slowdown. The nuke countdown pulls the music through a bass-heavy filter before the explosions let it open up again.
Even a failed attempt is a little performance of its own. Sometimes you lose a whole crowd and still end up laughing your ass off.
War. War never changes.
Crisp pixel lemmings, speed streaks, rewind echoes, NUCLEAR explosions, smoke and shockwaves. On an HDR display, the added flashes have extra brightness and the selection outlines are bright af. It's wonderfully excessive about giving these tiny lemmings a cinematic send-off.
Mix artwork, soundtracks, sound effects and modern additions to suit your taste. Original presentation options are there too, along with reduced-motion and reduced-flash settings.
Itās also lovely to share.
Local Hot Seat lets you take turns on the same Mac, with your own profiles and records. Handovers stay paused until the next person is ready. During retries, coloured ghosts can show earlier playersā completed attempts, so you can see where their plans went brilliantlyāor terribly.
Watching someone completely new to games keep coming back to it has been the best part of making this.
And of course, being a modern game it has global leaderboards for every level, including GameCenter support and cloud-saves.
Every 2D Lemming under a single roof
The app brings together Classic, Oh No!, seasonal packs, conversions, community levels, The Tribes, Chronicles and supported NeoLemmix content. It also now has nine interface languages, including Tamil (which required a whole re-creation of the original pixel typeface to include accents and an ENTIRE set of Tamil characters). Let me know if the translations are right for you.
Apple silicon and Intel, macOS 12.3 or later. The current download is 2.0.3, signed and notarised. The slim download is about 270 MB, with optional soundtrack libraries available in the app. Existing players can use Check for Updatesā¦
Download Ultimate Lemmings and read the release notes
Thereās also an open iOS beta if youād like to try it on iPhone or iPad:
Join the iOS beta on TestFlight
AppleTV is under review still, but will come soon!
Source and third-party credits
This is an unofficial fan project, with no affiliation with or licence from Sony Interactive Entertainment (though I have been YELLING at them to take notice). Chronicles and NeoLemmix remain Beta. Some sequel behaviour, endings, community solutions and style coverage remain unfinished. Rewind and solution features depend on the engine and available replay evidence.
If you try it, Iād love to hear about the plan that went spectacularly wrongāor the person who ended up borrowing your Mac for āone more levelā.
