Kyle wrote:I'd bet Ninja Turtles inspired a lot of interest in tie-up games. It was one of the influences on me, although I can't trace the interest solely to that.
To all of you who mentioned Ninja Turtles, I second that! I think the interest was always there. I wish I could quote multiple people in one post, because I feel like a lot of my early feelings of interest in TUGS have been accurately described by what you guys have previously said. But definitely I clearly remember one episode where there's this evil clone version of Donatello running around, and he ties up the real Donatello and stuffs him in a closet. That part turned me on, for sure (though I really didn't even know what that meant back then, as I was an 80's kid as well and was only maybe 6 or so at the time), but even more so was the moment when he was found by the others. For some reason, tying me up gets me going; but the embarrassment of being found tied up - the moment other people who know me realize that I was overpowered, tied up, and rendered helpless - gets me going ten times as much. Strange, and I never have been able to pinpoint why. But that's the way it is.
So, long story short, I do remember when: TMNT!!