how did people find cheat codes in older games?

Question

Older games had stuff like passwords or the konami code, but i dont see how those button combos could be figured out by one player. Im guessing some official strategy guides had them but if the game didnt have one or didnt include them, did they just spread word-of-mouth from that kids uncle who actually does work at nintendo?

In: 16

Answer 1

Bit of everything. Some were posted, some were figured out, some data mined. Older the game is generally the easier it is to figure stuff out about it.