Nasir Gebelli: Programming God

Nasir Gebelli; programming God

There is never much talk of programmers these days - instead, gamers tend to bring up topics concerning industry giants like Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, or even Hironobu Sakaguchi. Today, I would like to go over a brief history of someone who is considered a programming legend in the video game world: Nasir Gebelli. Nasir? To you Final Fantasy fans, does it ring a bell? Take a look at the picture below and then you will know how Gebelli is a part of Final Fantasy history.

 Nasir Gebelli is an Iranian-American programmer who began his career in the era of the Apple II, and eventually went on to program a handful of games for SquareSoft. Gebelli is legendary because his games were fun, unique, and tended to push the graphics of a system's hardware. Gebelli could be considered much like a Michelangelo of games; able to paint games with such artistry while being limited by present technology.

 Gebelli began his career down the programming path when he moved to the United States to study computer science. After receiving his education, he started a game programming company called Sirius Software in 1980. As co-founder alongside Jerry Jewell, Gebelli began producing games at a fast pace - with one year yielding twelve games! Gebelli was known for his rapid production probably due to his method of programming - anything he planned for a game he would memorize in his head, so Gebelli would have to finish his work as fast as possible. During his time at Sirius, Gebelli programmed games such as Space Eggs and Gorgon, the latter becoming the best selling Apple II computer game at the time. It was also during his time at Sirius that Gebelli founded Gebelli Software, although this company closed its doors in 1984. It was shortly after this that Gebelli took a break from his work and travelled around the world.

Gebelli's 'Gorgon' proved to be one of the most popular Apple II games.

 In 1986, Gebelli returned from his vacation and visited a friend of his: Doug Carlston, owner of Broderbund. Gebelli was interested in working again as a programmer and asked Carlston where he should begin. Carlston pointed Gebelli in the direction of Japan - specifically at two video game companies, Nintendo and SquareSoft. Then, Gebelli flew to Japan with Carlston and he was introduced to both Nintendo and the development team at SquareSoft. Although Nintendo did not show much interest in him, Sakaguchi knew of Gebelli's work and it was then that Gebelli was added to Square. Nasir Gebelli was now a part of the Square A-Team, which also consisted of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu, and Yoshitaka Amano.

Rad Racer

 In the early days of Square, Gebelli programmed both 3D World Runner and Rad Racer. Although 3D World Runner was considered a flop, Rad Racer did show some success in North America on the NES. Even Square translator Ted Woolsey recognized Gebelli's work in Rad Racer, with its beautiful graphics and "disappearing horizon-lines". But when Square was experiencing financial troubles, Sakaguchi came up with the idea of a role-playing video game to feed on Dragon Quest's success: Final Fantasy. Although Final Fantasy is one of the most popular video games on the NES, programming an RPG proved somewhat difficult for Nasir. According to Sakaguchi, "it was the first time he had programmed anything like an RPG". Gebelli did not fully understand what an RPG was and how the battle system for such a game should work. I believe that Final Fantasy may have suffered from so many bugs and glitches due to Gebelli's understanding of RPGs. Nevertheless, Final Fantasy is still a fantastic game and Gebelli did not cease to amaze. Players were in awe at the battle system that Nasir programmed; being able to use four characters at once, the turn-based combat, and especially the spells and their glorious 8-bit animations.

An RPG proved difficult for Nasir to program.

 After the success of Final Fantasy, Square proceeded to work on both Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III. The programming was even better in these sequels, especially since Final Fantasy III added 'auto-targeting'. However, there were some hiccups during the development of these games. Gebelli's work visa for Japan expired and he was forced to move back to Sacramento, California. Despite that, Square proved their diligence by moving the development staff temporarily to California with Gebelli, where both Final Fantasy games had their programming completed. After Final Fantasy III, Gebelli began working on a new project with Square which was to be a title for the supposed CD based add-on for the Super Nintendo. The game, Secret of Mana, proved to be one of the most legendary RPGs on the system, meaning that Gebelli had done it once again.

 After his work with Square, Gebelli retired with Square royalties to travel the world. It was at this time that Gebelli was finished with the world of programming. It wasn't until August 8, 1998 that Gebelli re-surfaced again, this time at John Romero's Apple II Reunion Party. Romero had an interview with Gebelli, as they recounted on their early days of programming. Gebelli proved not only to be quite humorous, but very humble as well.

 Nasir Gebelli currently lives in California and both he and Sakaguchi remain good friends.

References
Nasir Gebelli interview at Apple II Reunion Party
Interview snippit: Nasir and Secret of Mana
Nasir Gebelli on MobyGames
Nasir Gebelli article on Moofgroup
Wikipedia article on Nasir Gebelli

Here lies Erdrick - Google Maps edition!

 April Fools has come and gone. Pranks have been pulled with laughter and tears abound but Google's prank has taken the day, (and many old-school gamers' hearts). Yesterday, Google released a fake advertisement of an upcoming product for the Nintendo Famicom: Google Maps 8-bit. Built like a Famicom cartridge and featuring a style ala Dragon Quest, Google Maps 8-bit uses its own line to connect to the internet. Of course, this product isn't real, but you can check out what our world would like in Dragon Quest. Just go to Google Maps and click the 'Quest' option in the upper right-hand corner - and voila! 8-bit conversion complete! EDIT: Unfortunately, this feature seems to be no longer available.

 I thought this was a really cool, (yet cruel), prank. I own a Famicom and if this product was real, I would buy it immediately. Unfortunate as that is, the internet version is sufficient to satisfy my Famicom fanboy-ism. Either way, Google has excellent taste and I have even more respect for the Google team.

AND YES, this does mean there will be more Dragon Quest related posts in the future! I've been experiencing this great series as of late and I plan to share my experiences with these games.

Sheep in a world of wolves; Ad #8

It's been a few days folks, but I am back once again! Today is our eighth commercial and while our look at Final Fantasy V commercials were somewhat lacking, the next three commercials for Final Fantasy VI are quite unique. The commercial I have for you today is another personal favorite of mine, and I'm glad to finally talk about this one. So what are we waiting for? Let's delve right in!

Wow, now that's what I call a commercial! Beautiful actress possibly portraying Terra (Tina in Japanese)? Check. Gameplay footage? Check. Classic Final Fantasy nostalgia? Major check! This commercial really hit all the chords for me. From the music to the editing of gameplay and appropriate Tina actress, it's quite well done. So what's the commercial about? Well, it just seems to be Tina standing in the wind, (maybe she's thinking about her adventure?), as scenes from the video game itself play in and out during the advertisement.  Is the game represented well? I think so! The game is advertised well, since not only do we have gameplay but Tina is prominently displayed. Her expressions are important, as well as the dreary setting of the commercial. Tina looks sad in this video; maybe even depressed, which I think is symbolized by the background, (grey clouds; a moody, stormy atmosphere). Final Fantasy VI is not a 'cheery' game, (it does have its comical moments, though), and in fact, many scenes are quite despondent and tragic.

 The music is very fitting, I think. The title of the song is "Roaming Sheep" and it's actually from Final Fantasy III. The title is very appropriate for the game, because it effectively describes the characters and the setting in two words. The characters in the party of FFVI could be viewed as 'roaming sheep', because many times throughout the story, the characters are constantly separated and re-grouped, usually making them vulnerable in a dangerous and dark world - similar to a herd of sheep in a world of wolves.

NOTE: The video below is the track played in the commercial, "Roaming Sheep", which is from Final Fantasy III on the Famicom.

Overall, I really like this commercial! It fits the game quite well and it gives me the energy to want to play Final Fantasy VI again. Great commercial for a great game. I give this one an 8/10.

This is the Onion Knight signing off. Have a good day!

Are these gems? Or just rocks?

Greetings readers! This is your adventurous writer, the Onion Knight! This is the seventh installment in our look at Final Fantasy commercials. Today's post is going to be a little special because not only will we be looking at two commercials, I also had to dig deep into the depths of "YouTube Hell" to find these hidden gems.

 These commercials, like the previous post, centre around a chocobo. The exuberant bird runs around a hole  placed in the ground as monsters, (presumably from FF V), jump out of the hole; monsters such as Iron Giants and Bombs. Nothing else can be described since that is all that happens.

 Do both of these commercials represent the product well? They certainly represent the series, but the commercials themselves are not very interesting nor exciting. In fact, these commercials remind me of those cheesy toy or children's show advertisements you would normally find on a Saturday morning. Still, the commercials do present the game as a Final Fantasy game; a statement that holds weight when compared to earlier commercials we've looked at thus far.

I don't really have much to say on these two, since not much happens and there's not enough substance to really dig into. At least, not from what I can see. Overall, these commercials are mediocre and slightly hint in the beginning that the game being advertised is specifically Final Fantasy V. The only connection I can make is the chocobo - since chocobos (Remember Bartz's pet chocobo, Boco?) are prominent in FF V more so than any other Final Fantasy title before it.

 So here is my question: why are both of these commercials so similar and how are they different?

Of Chocobos and Ostriches - Ad #6

 Welcome to the Grove folks! I am your illustrious writer, the Onion Knight, and today is our sixth commercial. Last time, we travelled to Europe and discovered that, sometimes, a Final Fantasy commercial is actually a Zelda commercial. Now we have left our European friends and return to the land of Japan. Today, we'll be looking at a Japanese commercial for Final Fantasy IV on the Super Famicom. If you thought the English ad for Final Fantasy II on the Super Nintendo was weird, this next commercial blows the competition out of the water - in terms of strangeness.

 The first thing you'll notice (I hope you notice) is that the commercial has the chocobo theme playing in the background. Nice! It's such a classic theme and it fits the outlandish mood perfectly. Next, an ostrich, (an ostrich?! NOW I've seen everything), runs along a beach while a person laughs in the background. Wait, what?

What... just happened?

Why is the chocobo theme... ostrich... choco- OH! I see what Square did there. Clever!

The chocobo, of course, is an animal in the Final Fantasy world based upon a real bird: the ostrich. So they used an ostrich to represent the chocobo in the commercial, thus the theme. Well, the theme makes more sense than ever!

This is what a typical chocobo looks like in FFIV.

 Overall, the commercial is good and I personally like this one. It's something only Final Fantasy fans will understand, while others will become perplexed, which usually leads to interest of the game - advertised as Final Fantasy IV for the Super Famicom.

 I still don't understand why someone's laughing.

This has been the Onion Knight. Have a good day!