it was mostly from the internet yeah, old websites and emulation, plus the occasional bit of magazine coverage, it was way before the video era. i had no personal experience with them growing up in the UK where there was very little distribution of such things (at least until the plug n play famiclone era got into full swing in the early 2000s) but that's why they fascinated me, this whole sort of "underground" side of gaming that never reached me but was the mainstream in half the world