I don’t have any problem with the PS controller, since the X is a shape, not a letter, but the Xbox layout always fucks me up so bad since it’s become standard for PC games. The Nintendo layout was hardcoded into my brain in 1991 when I played Super Mario World. I don’t think I’d ever really get used to the Xbox one even though I probably won’t be playing on Nintendo consoles any more.
In the 90’s me being the edgy teenager I “grew out” of Nintendo and switched to PlayStation. So the PS layout was hard coded into my brain for almost the whole decade. Then I switched to PC and it’s now the Xbox layout is in there. To this day I have to draw the PS layout on a piece of paper in front of me when I use emulation until I get used to it again. If I’m playing a N64 game you can map the buttons all you want that Z trigger is irreplaceable.
As someone who grew up with N64, then GameCube, then XBOX 360, thankfully I’ve never had this issue with XBOX controllers. (The N64 had six face buttons and the GameCube put the A button directly in the center.) So when I switched to PC after the 360, the transition was natural.
Which is why the Switch controller always fucks me up, and is one of the reasons why I prefer to play Switch games in an emulator, even though I have the actual console: because I can fix the button layout. (The other reasons being 4K, 120FPS, and mod support. Basically what the OLED Switch should have been from the get go—but isn’t—so I have to resort to emulaton.)
Yeah, Nintendo used that control scheme for the SNES and didn’t come back to it until over 10 years later with the DS. I can at least switch between the bottom button being select and the right button being cancel without too much trouble - the bottom being cancel is not only Nintendo, but Sony Japanese games.
The PlayStation one is the symbol, not the letter, so that one is a bit different.
Tell that to my brain’s pattern recognition reflexes…
Yup, functionally the cross is more like an A, and the PlayStation layout is effectively the same as the Xbox one in actual practice.
Which is incorrect in the first place. Circle was supposed to be the accept/enter button originally.
I never understood why Sony felt the need to flip confirm/cancel in markets outside Japan.
Yeah, the original system had logic to it. The square also symbolized menus, and triangle was tertiary.
Meanwhile, I’m annoyed by the shift from Y/triangle to B/circle for navigating back in menus. Nintendo, as far as I know (console ownership gap between SNES and Switch), kept their button assignments for those consistent.
I remember the PlayStation doing that since the PS2. I had like 30 or so games which had X for accept and O for back. But then I played a remastered Uncharted on my PS4 and was utterly confused to see triangle for back.
lol not at all. Your gap of skipping N64 and GameCube misses the inconsistencies perfectly. Have a look at images of the N64 and GameCube controllers. 😄
The Switch is the console that went back to the roots of the SNES.
I vaguely remember playing on GameCubes at the dentist’s office back then, could never figure out button mappings for the games 😂
😁 GC controller easily the best controller for a console. So comfortable, could play for hours on that thing. I especially loved the click at the bottom of the triggers. Ingenious thing that nobody did before or since.
Both triggers of the original steam controller had the click.
Honestly, I don’t even really know where they are unless I’m looking at them. The games that show all four face buttons and just highlight the one I need to push are the ones that really work for me.
this lack of a standard layout is annoying
the xbox style layout, which a lot of pc games such as Hollow Knight expect, is not something im used to, especially with yes and no buttons (a/b) being reversed compared to nintendo switch
and a lot of games dont have good remapping
especially with yes and no buttons (a/b) being reversed compared to nintendo switch
It’s also reversed on Playstation. Games use “X” for “yes” and “O” for “cancel”. But only in the west, it’s reversed in Japan.
“it’s reversed in Japan.”
Here’s a layout I just came up with:
☆ ◇ ❌️ ✔️OMFG BANNED
j/k
How about a controller with only “X” buttons, but each in a different font?
If controller manufacturers stuck to their original color scheme it would be way less confusing for most, with the color button prompts on games it used to be much easier to use a different console, but all of the newer controllers are turning colorless which makes switching to another one and getting the hang of it much harder.
Retvrn 2 Tradition
I loved that controller as a kid.
In all seriousness I wouldn’t be surprised if this is purely a legal precaution.
Yeah, I was pretty sure it’s a patent, copyright, or trademark thing.
Well clearly the answer is an X to the right
Big gaming companies. They could made a standard layout, but they are not so clever for this. Every time i play with my Nintendo Pro controller a new game in the PC i get frustrated until i find the proper workaround.
Removed by mod
XBox controller and Nintendo are completely inverted. A&B, X&Y.
The funny thing is that when you press Y with Nintendo it reads the top button (it is on the left) and the UI of the game shows wrong position. Its not you press the top button and whatever symbol it has whatever, reads that you pressed the top button, NO. You press the top button it reads the left and vice versa. Same with A&B.
Imagine one company puts another controller on the market with same symbols with PS but inverted and the system reads the symbols, not the positions.
Edit: I don’t know if this happens only with Steam or outside Steam. I only know it is frustrating until i find a way to fix it in every game a start.
I’m pretty sure that Nintendo created this problem.
They used a/b/x/y on the SNES. The Genesis, it’s direct competitor, had a/b/c.
Then Xbox copied them and Sony copied them… But each had to have a slight variation because Nintendo being Nintendo, they’d get sued into next week…
I definitely blame Nintendo for this one.
First, sony didnt copy them. The symbols on the PS controller had special meanings in Japanese. X = incorrect/cancel O = correct/accept. English localized games reversed them for whatever reason. Also, xbox actually derived its layout from the Dreamcast. MS was partnered with Sega, thus the xbox carries on the Sega legacy.
I remember reading somewhere that the Triangle was meant to represent “viewpoint” and the Square was meant to represent “menu”. Neat, if true!
This.
The Playstation started as an SNES add-on.
My first PlayStation was the PS3, I had Nintendo consoles and was used to Xbox by that time. First game I played on PS3 was heavy rain. A game heavily littered with QTE’s. Big mistake. I was looking at the controller half the time figuring out which button to press, missed half of them. I’m sure it came natural to some, but my muscle memory learned on ABXY… So its generally me preferred way to play.
Swap them all to:
---- N
W------E
-----S
