Nakano was introduced to music at the age of 3, when his parents enrolled him on music courses and bought him an organ, which is what encouraged him to follow a career in music. At age 8, he then found that he had a liking for video games, as well as the usage of computers. He began working at Konami in 1991, where he met Kenichiro Fukui, and worked as a composer for eight arcade games. Along with Fukui, he left Konami and joined Square in 1995.