[quote name='m0rningbreakfast']
Was called something related to Mario, but the name escapes me right now.[/QUOTE]
It was (is) called warp pipe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warp_Pipe_(Software_Developer)
Edit: Looks like gamemoose beat me too it.
I used to play Mario Kart Online. It was kinda of neat playing online on a console back then but by today's standards it just seems like a laggy mess (although not as bad as Brawl

). From what I remember you signed up to warp pipe and then used the tunneling program to connect to another player (AIM was used for communication). Essentially the program tricks the Gamecube into thinking you are playing a LAN game while you really are playing online.
I also had a sub to PSO EP 1 & 2 for awhile. I think I logged 200 hours into that game.
I sold my broadband adapter for $20.00 on eBay before the Wii came out. I can't think of any good reason to own one anymore.
[quote name='Strell']I'll be honest - not sure exactly what tunneling is.
I just know that you could exploit some buffer overflow somehow (I think with one of the PSO games, actually) which could let people stream data to the system to play games. One of my friends said he saw a guy do it with Warioware (J), and that they played it before it was released in the USA. (They all remarked that whenever the doctor gave instructions on what to do, it was a lot of fun
not knowing what he was saying.)
Is that tunneling?
Point being is that a resourceful and dedicated person could use it for some low-key pirating if they really wanted.[/QUOTE]
That is not tunneling. Tunneling is the process described above. What you are thinking of is an exploit in Phantasy Star Online. It essentially allows piracy. Due to the complicated and unaccessible nature of the process it never really took off nor did Nintendo care.