Junya Nakano

is a Japanese video game composer. After working for Konami in the early 1990s, he was employed by Squaresoft and then Square Enix from 1995 to 2009. He is best known for scoring Threads of Fate and co-composing Final Fantasy X for Squaresoft, arranging for Dawn of Mana and the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV for Square Enix, and scoring arcade video games such as X-Men and Mystic Warriors for Konami. Nakano has collaborated with Masashi Hamauzu on a number of games.

He was introduced to music at the age of three when his parents offered him lessons in the electronic organ. After studying composition and arrangement at a vocational school, Nakano worked for Konami from 1991 to 1994, where he scored numerous arcade games. Nakano is noted for his ambient style and for using percussion, timbre, and rhythm in his compositions.

Biography Junya Nakano was born in Kyoto, Japan. His parents introduced him to music when he was three years old, offering him lessons in the electronic organ through the Yamaha Music Foundation; they also encouraged him to join some brass bands. After playing the 1979 arcade game Lunar Rescue, he developed an interest in video games and subsequently began to enjoy chiptune music. By frequently listening to the radio, he started composing MIDI music using the NEC PC-9801 in 1985. In 1987, he attended a vocational school to study composition and arrangement in hopes of entering the gaming industry. After graduation, he joined the Kobe branch of Konami in 1991, where he contributed music to eight arcade games with several collaborators over a three-year period, including titles such as X-Men and Mystic Warriors. Deciding he wanted to create more original music and have a chance to receive individual recognition, Nakano left Konami after completing the score for Golfing Greats 2 in 1994. His first solo project came about with Satellaview's Treasure Conflix the same year. he contributed three compositions. In 1997, Nakano served as synthesizer programmer for the score to Front Mission: Alternative. which he was given a deadline of two months to complete.

Since scoring Threads of Fate, Nakano has collaborated with several composers on major projects instead of being the sole composer. based on their ability to create music that was different from Uematsu's style; Nakano created 20 pieces. Following Final Fantasy X, Nakano composed the soundtrack to Asmik Ace Entertainment's flight simulator Sidewinder F.

Back at Square Enix, he created the music for Musashi: Samurai Legend with Hamauzu and the duo Wavelink Zeal (Takayuki and Yuki Iwai) in 2004. In 2006, Nakano created seven tracks for the Xbox 360 game Project Sylpheed, which also featured several other composers. Later the same year, he arranged four pieces from the Mana series for Dawn of Mana (known as "Seiken Densetsu 4" in Japan). and composed the soundtrack to its 2008 sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. On December 31, 2009, Nakano confirmed that he had left Square Enix and would be joining his former mentor and collaborator Yuji Takenouchi's supergroup "GeOnDan", whom have since disbanded. Nakano's last projects for Square Enix before leaving were the soundtracks to Fullmetal Alchemist: Prince of the Dawn and Daughter of the Dusk. the tracks have been described as "mellow" and "upbeat". For Final Fantasy X, Nakano was responsible for most of the ambient-styled compositions, which featured percussion, timbre, and rhythm. Nakano stated in the original soundtrack's liner notes that he wanted to create music with a "vibrant and dynamic feel" that tied together his years of experience with game music.

When starting out in the field of music, he was influenced by brass bands he was involved with and electronic organ music; however, he could not think of a specific musician who influenced him. Nakano cites Hamauzu as the colleague he admires most at Square Enix, and is particularly interested in the sounds he creates. When asked about his thoughts of Uematsu and how he had influenced his work, Nakano replied: "He is a very youthful and active person, but he hasn't influenced my work."

Works YearTitleNotes 1992 Asterix Music with various others 2015 Galaxy Gladiator Genesis Music with various others 2018 Final Fantasy Record Keeper DLC; music with various others 2023 Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis Music with various others 2025 Hotel Barcelona Music with various others Bounty Sisters Music with Yuji Takenouchi, Miki Higashino, and Takako Yumishima