This is during the era when the N64, PS1, SNES, Dreamcast or Sega Genesis were popular. Games back then were released physically via disc or cartridge, meaning distributors or publishers would've implemented anti-piracy (like Lenslok) measures onto physical copies but some knew how to tamper with anti-piracy if they have a computer using other sources of capturing data (floppy disks).

Also, games at the time were 'simple' to torrent but with a catch (dial up was still a thing at the time meaning downloads could take a while if you have a PC). Discs were more straight forward than "torrenting" cartridges (unless you have connections with the manufacturer on smuggling circuit boards). Like with movies, games that came on discs were "torrented" through CDs by using a PC.

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[–] __hetz@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

The means of distribution was direct, internet connectivity (for most) was slow, and some technical ability was required but the warez scene was absolutely jumping in the 90s. Granting computers were still niche, of course. I was just a kid but my understanding is lots of Russia was mob run following the CCCP's collapse. There was a lot of craving for outside media there (games, music, film... everything, really) so lots of FTP servers and fserv bots on IRC were based in former Soviet Union states. It wasn't like any central authority was left to crack down it or cave to pressure from international authorities that were still very tech illiterate. And those authorities were not yet under pressure themselves by the movie and recording industries. Napster eventually changed that in about a year's time.

Like a GameShark, there was also "Game Enhancer" for the PSX. I still have mine somewhere. It plugged into the same port and came with a little button/spring to keep the lid detector button depressed. You could boot with a legit game disc (I think a black disc was either preferred or required) then open the lid and swap to your copied game. On top of that I believe it also had the same memory editing/cheat functions that GameShark provided.

Dreamcast had a software exploit that was found pretty quickly. Something to do with Windows CE, if I recall. Wasn't long before a boot disc came out, no extra hardware required. That evolved into a patcher so copied games could be burned as directly bootable, skipping the boot disc. Also various homebrew from a devoted fanbase.

Before any of the above and before my time, people had been dumping arcade boards and cartridges to ROMs for quite a while. Programmable carts and flash tools were coming out for various systems. I remember a buddy in high school, early 00's, had something akin to a dev kit for his old Gameboy and was working on writing his own games. Another friend actually had a Game Doctor for the SNES which let you play backups off a 3.5" floppy. Precursor to modern flash carts, before bigger storage started coming in smaller form factors. Neat stuff mostly lost to time now.