Before Grand Theft Auto made DMA Design a household name, the studio's breakthrough was a hundred green-haired pixel creatures walking calmly toward their doom. Lemmings (1991) is one of the purest ideas in gaming: assign eight jobs to suicidal rodents and get as many as you can to the exit.

Mike Dailly's original Amiga prototype was a technical showpiece; the finished game turned it into a puzzle toy that worked on literally every platform of the era. The level design does the teaching - each stage introduces one skill and then cruelly combines it with the last.

Why it still works

The controls take a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. Nuke-ing a level you have botched is still cathartic. And the parade of expressionless faces into traps remains one of gaming's great comedy routines.

Where to play

The 2006 PSP/PS2 remake by Team17 is the friendliest package; the Amiga original in an emulator feels the best. Either way, the "oh no!" sample is unavoidable.

Verdict: proof that the best game mechanics can fit in a tweet.