This wonderful article by Dom Auffret (VGDensetsu) is full of interesting information – so much, in fact, that it is difficult to choose what to highlight.
Here is one sad bit:
At Square Enix, on the other hand, some files could not be saved in time and some games’ source codes were lost. In addition to the Mana series previously mentioned, we know that the source code of the PlayStation version of Final Fantasy VIII has disappeared, forcing the developers of the HD version to fall back on the code of the PC version whose music is slightly different. Same with the first episode of Kingdom Hearts; the developers of the 1.5 HD Remix version had to analyze in depth a commercial copy and recreate many assets. An example that echoes the story a developer posted in 2010 in which he explained that, as part of a port of various Midway arcade games, the editor in charge of the project was unable to get his hands on the source code of Spy Hunter, so he had to download the game’s ROM in order to extract the graphics via MAME and retrieve the sound files from a fan site, among other things.
I rarely play video games nowadays, but I enjoy reading about it once in a while – especially on history.