Lemmings: NES Lemmings Improvement

A redress and redesign of the utterly terrible NES version of Lemmings.

Beyond just an improvement to the graphics and sound, this hack aims to fix at least some of the many bad design decisions made for this version, as well as some nasty bugs and oversights in the game's programming. To complement these changes, several of the levels are altered as well.

Since v1.3, a PAL-optimized patch is included for those who wish to play the game at the slower physics rate without the music being significantly affected. This PAL-optimized patch must still be applied to the USA release of the game.

Thank you for downloading NES Lemmings Improvement!

This hack features:
- Improved color palettes
- Improved music and sound effects
- Simultaneous music and sound effects
- More useful HUD
- More appealing font for menu screens
- More appealing toolbar design
- Tweaked lemming animations
- Various bug fixes and gameplay tweaks
- Altered levels to work with those gameplay tweaks

We hope this is more enjoyable to play!

NOTICE: BOTH the NTSC-optimized version AND the PAL-optimized
version MUST be applied to the USA release of the game!!!

Updated 2024 by Nintendo Lemmings Improvement Team.
Designed by The Tomato Watcher and MisaeRockabout!

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Version History:

Ver. 1.4:
- Added the classic "Let's Go!" speech sample at the start of
every level (without increasing the ROM size!)
- Fixed an issue where repeatedly pausing could cause the
Lemmings to slowly desync from one another
- Fixed a bug preventing the Lemming status "DROWNER" from
appearing in the HUD
- Fixed a bug causing the first frame of the chain trap
animation to be skipped
- Added the ability to mash the d-pad to navigate the skill bar
quicker
- Implemented the skill bar logic in the password screen to
make it less annoying to enter them
- Tweaked some title screen graphics
- Tweaked some graphics in the end credits
- Updated end credits

Ver. 1.3:
- Greatly improved cursor movement; it now accelerates to a
top speed of 3px/frame the longer you hold a direction,
rather than stiffly moving at a constant speed of 2px/frame
- Altered cursor graphics for better contrast
- Improved audio mixing
- Better Bomber sound effect and animation
- Better Skill Assignment sound effect
- Added Steel sound effect
- Fixed some very small timing issues
- Fixed a very minor audio bug where sound effects would
nullify any pitch bend effects for the channel it played on
until a new pitch bend effect was loaded
- Several small changes to skillsets
- Game now initializes all of memory at power-on
(yes, the original game didn't do that, and it executed
several uninitialized memory reads, albeit inconsequential)
- Provided a PAL-optimized patch with corrected audio
- Updated end credits

Ver. 1.2:
- Fixed a bug where assigning a Basher to a left-facing Miner
would result in the Basher deleting part of the Miner ramp,
making it impossible to walk up without using more skills
- Enabled skipping the intro cutscene without having to wait
- Swapped the terrain of Fun 18 to match that of Mayhem 14
rather than Tricky 1, as the solutions for Fun 18 and Tricky
1 were identical
- Increased time limit of Tricky 6 from 3 minutes to 6 minutes
- Altered the Faller animation to face in one direction
rather than flipping back and forth

Ver. 1.1:
- Enabled assigning skills while the game is paused
- Altered skillset and save requirement of Mayhem 25 to be
less annoying
- Removed two small lava objects in Tricky 8 to avoid
PPU OAMADDR bug when hatches open

Ver. 1.0:
- Enabled switching skills while the game is paused
- Pausing the game no longer obscures the HUD
- Skills assigned to Climbers pulling up onto a ledge are
no longer eaten and are instead queued as normal
- Builders now bounce off walls/ramps and continue building
in the opposite direction, including when they are
first assigned to a Walker about to hit a wall
- In any situation where a Builder cannot build at all
(e.g. hitting a ceiling or being assigned between two ramps)
he will ALWAYS turn around before reverting to a Walker
- Builders assigned to Bashers near a ledge no longer get eaten
- Bashers can no longer phase through tiles
without destroying them

Database match: Lemmings (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210216-231042)
File SHA-1: 62E587CE49FF641FAC3BE1E6268D21038212D0FA
File CRC32: CB2C08D4
ROM SHA-1: 8C13584F22D1FDE5711DB2C59940EB37E6FC1ECE
ROM CRC32: A69F29FA