Nasir Gebelli
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Nasir Gebelli is a programmer and video game developer. Gebelli worked for Sirius Software and Square, and also created his own company, Gebelli Software.
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[edit] Sirius Software and Gebelli Software
A native of Iran, Gebelli studied computer science in the United States. In 1980, Gebelli started Sirius Software with Jerry Jewel. While part of Sirius Software, Gebelli developed advanced graphics techniques for the Apple II. At this time, Gebelli gained a reputation for producing games at a rapid pace; among those games produced were his best-selling games, Space Eggs and Gorgon.
In 1981, Gebelli left Sirius to establish his own software company, Gebelli Software, through which he released Horizon V. However, his company didn't prove very successful, and video game crash of 1983 sounded the death knell for Gebelli Software.
[edit] Time at Square
After Gebelli Software went bankrupt, Gebelli went on a long vacation traveling the world. He resurfaced in 1986 and went to visit his friend Doug Carlston, owner of Brøderbund. Gebelli was interested in developing games again; Carlston told him about the rise of the Nintendo gaming system and that Nasir should start programming on it. Gebelli was interested, and so Doug offered to fly to Japan with Nasir and introduce him to his friends at Nintendo and Square. Nasir met with Shigeru Miyamoto at Nintendo and several people at Square. Nintendo was apparently uninterested; the programmers at Square (especially Hironobu Sakaguchi, a long-time fan of Gebelli's work), however, were aware of Nasir's reputation and were excited to have him join.
Gebelli arrived at Square around the same time Akitoshi Kawazu and Takashi Tokita became employed there. Along with Sakaguchi, their combined appearance culminated in the separation of the “Square” label from parent software company Denyuusha.
While at Square, Nasir first programmed the game Tobidase Daisakusen for the Famicom Disk System, which released in the U.S. as 3-D Worldrunner for the NES; his second Square project was Rad Racer. Gebelli then teamed up with Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu, and Yoshitaka Amano as part of Square's A-Team to produce Final Fantasy. He went on to program Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III. After completing Final Fantasy III, Gebelli took another long vacation and later returned to work on Secret of Mana. Nasir has since been succeeded (for the most part) by Ken Narita.
[edit] Life After Square
Following Secret of Mana's completion, Gebelli once again disappeared to travel the world, essentially retiring with income from Square royalties.
In August 1998, Gebelli reappeared to attend John Romero's 1998 Apple II Reunion in Dallas, Texas at the Ion Storm offices.
Currently, Nasir lives in Sacramento, California, where he has lived most of his life. Sakaguchi and Nasir remain great friends.
[edit] Games credited
[edit] Sirius Software
- Star Cruiser (1980, Apple II)
- Phantoms Five (1980, Apple II)
- Both Barrels (1980, Apple II)
- Gorgon (1981, Apple II)
- Space Eggs (1981, Apple II)
- Cyber Strike (1981, Apple II)
- Pulsar II (1981, Apple II)
- Autobahn (1981, Apple II)
[edit] Gebelli Software
- Horizon V (1981, Apple II)
- Firebird (1981, Apple II)
- Russki Duck (1982, Apple II)
- Zenith (1982, Apple II)
- Neptune (1982, Apple II)
[edit] Square
- 3-D WorldRunner (1987, NES)
- Rad Racer (1987, NES)
- JJ (1987, NES)
- Final Fantasy (1987, NES)
- Final Fantasy II (1988, NES)
- Final Fantasy III (1990, NES)
- Secret of Mana (1993, SNES)
- Final Fantasy Origins (2002, PlayStation)
