Game Hacking in the 90's

[Kyle]

I had a random thought the other day that I've been fixated on. What did game hacking/code making look like in the early 90's before emulators/debuggers were prevalent? Did they dump roms and have custom software for it? I mean more along the lines of the Game Genie side and not PAR which has a cheatfinder. Also people at Galoob etc who knew what they were doing as opposed to the kiddos at home entering random codes.

[Hybrid]

you should read Richard Alpin's (inventer of snes/genesis game genie) Hackers of Lore entry you should be able to find it under the globe in the main title bar.
he's listed in the 'other' section

[Kyle]

That was perfect thanks a ton!