It's fair to say that without Final Fantasy, Square (and later, Square Enix) wouldn't be the same company it is today.
Hironobu Sakaguchi's creation has become a million-selling behemoth that straddles the world of games, movies, music and more, but it arguably wouldn't have gotten off the ground were it not for the exceptional programming talents of Nasir Gebelli.
The Iranian-American programmer worked on the first three Final Fantasy titles, joining Sakaguchi's team after developing Tobidase Daisakusen / 3-D WorldRunner and Highway Star / Rad Racer.
He would later work on Secret of Mana / Seiken Densetsu II, earning him even more respect and admiration. Then, with the gaming world at his feet, Gebelli retired. The royalties earned from the titles he'd worked on at Square were apparently enough for him to travel the globe, and he hasn't worked on a video game since.
In 1998, Gebelli attended an Apple II Reunion and was interviewed by John Romero, giving fans their only insight into the mind of a programming genius – until now, that is.
Gebelli has recently been interviewed for NHK's Legendary Games Chronicle. The episode devoted to Final Fantasy was originally broadcast on NHK World Japan in October, but an extended version will be shown on NHK's BS4K on December 30th.
This version will include 20 additional minutes of footage, in which Gebelli appears alongside Hironobu Sakaguchi, Koichi Ishii, Yoshitaka Amano, Nobuo Uematsu and Shibuya Kazuko.