this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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Early eights it was disk and tape trading, mostly tape trading in the UK. Was a way more social activity.
Late 80s and early 90s, it was all disk, and you really needed a connected friend who could get the menu disks (custom pirated compilation disks). These were often super hoarded, only traded for a lot of games, like certain private trackers today.
Very early web stuff was all usenet and ftp servers, often hosted at a university. If you knew where to look, anything was accessible.
Early 2000s was a golden period of easy access. It would be slow, and the quality would often be low if it was a video or mp3. It's gotten harder to find the obscure stuff as time has gone on. I
t's like the scene only remembers out and out classics or the latest thing outside of some niche places.
Late 80s early 90s there were literal adverts in the classified section of the paper by pirates where you could buy 100s of games for a set sum (very cheap usually). Often you mailed empty disks to them and the money, and they would return it with games. They would also have monthly printed newsletters about new titles.
Always been a bloke in the pub or car boot or whatever that can supply hooky dvds or games or hacked satellite, FAST always talks tough about busting them.