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.
Reading through the thread I see a lot of people had to go through hoops, like getting peripherals to make copies of ROMs on floppy… discovering this was probably for a few more tech-savvy kids who had an older brother or friends to introduce them to it… and no solution for N64.
I guess this kind of contraband we had here would be harder in first world countries, but third world countries are a huge market for piracy simply because a large portion of the population can’t pay for original stuff.