A point the video makes is that derivative works (ROM hacks, translations, etc) are made much more difficult to access as well by Nintendo killing the sites entirely. Those hacks are works in progress with many new hacks released even in the present day.
Super rare games or imports were sometimes hard to find that early in the game. It wasn't even just the age of the internet, but the age of the emu scene too.
Right there with you. Like as soon as I found out about emulators and "warez" I was nabbing all kinds of stuff I read about in Nintendo Power but never saw in a store to even ask my parents to get for me lol