Talking Point: The Problem With The X Button

I only play my switch intermittently so whenever I pick it up I spend the first few minutes backing out of menus because for me (I spend way more time nowadays on the PS4 and more recently on Xbox) the accept button is in the wrong place.
I know that's how it's always been on the Nintendo controller but it's still a minor annoyance.

The PlayStation is the worst of the lot.
They make a controller with O and X, which are synonymous with Yes and No, then inexplicably all the none-Japanese devs seem to think that X means Yes, and it's never fixed, and it's broken forever..

If they'd have kept O = Yes, the buttons would be the same orientation as Nintendo's A and B, and all would be good.

It's ALL the XO confusion's fault.

@Mr-Fuggles777,

Other way round for me, I am always pressing the wrong button on my X box controller, and backing out of the menu etc.

What we need is for everyone to agree on a standard - how about X on the right?

Nintendo's button configuration is right and everyone is wrong.

@johnvboy weirdly when I'm using the xbox cloud app I back out a lot because the Razor Kishi feels like a switch in your hands.

I do wish there was a universal layout cause I've died more times than I'd like to admit or found myself pulling my hair out in menus.

I use an Xbox controller on PC and for the most part A and B never come as an issue but X and Y I tend to mess up on QTE fairly Often...

All this is cus of the PlayStation in the west utilising cross as accept. Has resulted in nothing but confusion for people who use multiple consoles/controllers. It'd make sense if the cross was a different shape with no visual relation to X, but as it stands it completely confused the gaming world.

And Xbox using the same four letters for their controllers is at least more understandable, but the swapped positioning is almost as confusing since A is accept on both Nintendo and XBox, but the muscle memory of one system does not translate to the other; XBox has the same inputs as PlayStation in the end.

Nintendo's buttons are in the correct place.

@Mr-Fuggles777,

Yes the different positions of the same button causes many hours of fun, always takes me a while to adjust to the Xbox set up.

I can handle the Nintendo/PlayStation layouts fine, I just struggle with the Xbox controller.

Makes PC games pretty annoying at first, but you can adjust pretty fast. Different platforms, different layouts 🤷‍♂️

Yes, this is clearly the only reason why I am so bad at Apex Legends.

The inner button (X on the PS and A on the Xbox) is for bigger hands. People with bigger hands can get cramps using the outer button the most.

That Sony changed the layout to accommodate Western gamers and Nintendo didn't puts me squarely on Sony's side here.

BTW, X marks the spot. It works fine as a confirm button.

Disappointed in Sony for abandoning their Japanese button methodology in favor of the West’s misinterpretation.
More and more companies are losing their national identity in favor of a global identity and it’s boring and unfortunate.

@Balta666 I’m the same way! I think I’ve largely trained my brain to do the A/B switch but as X and Y don’t come up as much and I normally use them based on the action rather than a button prompt it trips me up.

Even if I’m thinking in my head it takes a few seconds to figure out which way round it is on controllers.

My mind will forever think in the Nintendo layout, and that's fine by me, it's everyone else who is wrong obviously

What about Sega's 6 (face) button controllers ABC, XYZ configuration ? that really throws things out of whack.

How would the buttons switched on dreamcast matter for deaths in sonic adventure. A and B both jumped, didn’t they? It’s been a while. I know Knuckles could punch and tails had his little spin and Gamma shot, and I’ve blocked Big’s gameplay from my memory.... but still pretty confident both A and B jumped. Did one do the lightspeed dash?

For me, it isn't that huge of a problem. Maybe it's because I've used both systems for so long, but when I switch from my XBox One to my Switch, and vice versa, I automatically switch my fingers to account for the different button layout.

Not only that but all the X buttons are blue! The PlayStation X, the Xbox X and the SNES X

X should be cancel I don't get why O is.
Also ps5 controller has no coloured buttons which makes switching harder still

The naming of the buttons doesn't bother me. It's purely the role of the buttons that bothers me.

I swap the A and B through the main menu. Now the only controller that wants to be awkward is my Wii U.

I don't really interact with Xbox, and all Playstation controlers have been pretty much the same, so it is with a lot of ease that my mind goes from X&O on a Playstation to b&a on anything else I have, which is basically always a Nintendo.

I struggle with the Xbox controller the most. It being backwards from the standard trips me up. Playstation I could in a different category since enough of the buttons are different.

The greatest controller ever made used to be the Wavebird but that had an unorthodox (ie better) button arrangement so we have to scratch that.

Therefore we must default to the current best controller ever made: the Xbox One S controller. A should be confirm, B to cancel. This is how the Dreamcast did it, how the GameCube did it and how Xbox does it.

The GameCube got it right imo. I think of X and Y like the axis of a graph, so X being at the top (vertical) and Y being to the side (horizontal) is really confusing in my head.

Vexing, yes. I have Switch. I'm constantly backing out of things by mistake when I use my brother's xbox. It's always frustrating adjusting the the button layout when visiting each other.

Xbox button prompts are the worst for me as well. Playstation's adoption of shapes in place of letters was smart (even if, yes, cross looks like an "X" to me), as it allows me to keep it mentally distinct from Nintendo's layout.

Xbox just swapping the Nintendo letters just confuses the hell out of me, though, and it's yet another reason I don't really want to play on those controllers.

How do you make an entertaining 25 minute video about the X button?

This used to be an issue for me back in the early aughts, but I was able to successfully program my brain to differentiate the various consoles’ layouts by the time the Wii Classic controller came out.

The SNES was what taught me how intuitive controller designs could be, but the real culprit of screwing with my brain was poorly integrated NES button mapping on SNES controllers.

Key offender: Castlevania Collection on Switch. Having already established with SCIV that when using an SNES button layout, Y is whip and B is jump, because Y and B are the most ergonomically sensible buttons to use for your main actions in platformers, this same input is a no-brainier for how the NES Castlevanias should control on an SNES pad.

But no. Because the NES only has two buttons in B and A (which work perfectly for whipping and jumping, respectively, in that order), it was assumed that players would associate those same buttons on the SNES pad to function the same way. But because the thumb placement of Y and B on the SNES is in the same location of where the thumb placement of B and A is on the NES, a horrible and unforgivable blunder was made.

Such an issue wouldn’t be a problem if the game had mappable controls, but lo! No such configuration exists.

In conclusion, the Virtual Boy controller was way ahead of its time.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It feels like an INSULT to have ABXY turn into BAYX all because of the stupid western developers who thought Circle was "No" and Cross was "Yes." It got worse when Microsoft propelled that concept forward with a face button layout that mimmicked Sony and Sega's, NOT Nintendo.

Nintendo SHOULD have their layout be standardized. They CREATED it, after all.

@chardir
At the very least, in the one instance where X was on the right, it had a uniquely-shaped button.

for some reason i only have a problem when using an xbox controller at keeping the buttons straight. playstation’s never bothers me because while i still in my head call the “cross” an X, i think of it as the shape rather than the letter since all the rest are shapes (well circle could be O i suppose...)

Is it me or NL has been pouring extremely dumb and useless “opinion” articles as lately?

Of course if Sony had any care in the world about the user experience, by the PS5, they would have simply added a setting in the setup for your controller layout "reverse o/x", and games would automatically support the mapping, and display the right one in prompts. The console does support remapping, but then the prompts are still wrong.

Nintendo may be the Apple of gaming, but Sony's not far behind.

@DK-Fan I think they're doing a good job coming up with content to engage the community considering Nintendo releases absolutely zero information to publish of any sort. Push Square has suddenly found itself with the same problem with Sony as well. That's why all the sites just cover any Phil Spencer quotes - XB is the only brand making much in the way of conversation points, other than the Square "Direct" yesterday.

@Beatrice That and the asymmetrical position of the d-pad and face buttons on Switch compared to PS really messed me up at first. Good thing the game offers great customization, once I switched to arrow icons it became way easier

I just have my switch's rebound controls set to Xbox style, so that I don't have to deal with muscle memory problems. I've been playing on PC a lot more recently, and I use my Xbox controller for that, so I just unified the control schemes, even if it's a bit weird for some games (BOTW in particular sucks with this control scheme.)

Y&B are the default position for the majority of lots of games and is ergonomic, holding run in Mario while jumping or charging a shot in Mega Man is uncomfortable if you attempt to stick to the B&A layout, it’s blatantly obvious why you’d have the down button for accepting but I guess adhering to 30+ year old NES logic is better than ergonomics.

I still remember owning a Hong Kong PS3 and playing Australian games on it... Circle was confirm in the home menu, X was confirm in the games... And then some games said to press X but it was somehow overridden by the machine region to work the opposite... Utterly ridiculous.
And of course the first experience of it all... FF7 using circle to confirm, then FF8 switching to X...

This will never be resolved, because which company wants to go to its customers and say, "Unlearn everything you know, we're switching to a new button system"? Mapping is the only way to address this.

The A and B buttons got me more as SNES the B button was also often a confirm button, on the N64 the A button is where the SNES B button is, that button is on the same place as Xbox, and the A button on Gamecube is more prominently in the middle, like the B button.

Until Switch, I hadn't bought a new Nintendo since the Gamecube. I got a DS for free with Mario 64, but I never played it.

Nintendo's layout will also be the standard for me. That's why whenever I use an Xbox controller, playing with a family member or w/e, I usually have to look down. Not only that, but I could never get used to the black and white buttons on Xbox or Xbox 360 controllers.

That feeling when you use two consoles and go back instead of forward is right up there with seeing a green dot on your Nintendo online icon and clicking only to meet everlasting, terminal, gut wrenching, tear jerking, soul destroying disappointment.

SNES and subsequent swapping of A/B for Y/B is my biggest button complaint of all time. Most people prefer to rocker between Y/B for games like Mario, but not me. Since the days of NES, Genesis and all the game boys, I prefer the horizontal seating of the ‘go and stop’ buttons. My Switch has an anti-SNES configuration, and I’m glad for it.

In case I wasn’t clear, Nintendo Switch online is just horrible. Constant, mainlined disappointment.

Now THERE’S a soapbox talking point.

I usually just think of it as the PS controller X is square and Y is triangle.

Despite playing both PS4 and my Switch heavily i've never had this issue, i think its more because i expect each layout to be what it is on the systems their on. Didn't even register it was different when i got my Switch because it was so ingrained into me.

In the 4th paragraph is it supposed to say "confound" us further?

It's come to a point where I've played playstation and nintendos consoles so much that I just instinctly know what buttons to press without looking and thinking about it, yet on xbox I still struggle

Honestly thanks to Key Rebinding's and Steam recognizing I'm using a Switch or Wii U controller I've never had this issue (Yes I use the Wii U Pro Controller for Shooters as I prefer the stick placement for them). The only time I have issues is with older 7th Generation games where they default to an Xbox 360 controller for the UI and that is just simply modding the UI and done it now displays the right button inputs for QTEs and tutorials (this is what PS Controller enthusiasts been doing for about 15 years now).

But, it is still annoying when you're playing a game on a XSX/XSS and have to use an Xbox Controller. Or if you're playing a game where there is no easy way to mod the UI on PC. But, at the end of the day I'm just used to it and realize this will always be an issue until we have a uniform controller layout... which will only happen if a monopoly happens in the gaming space which seems to be what Sony is pushing for... so count me out.

Only time I have any problems is playing import games or older RPGs when X is back and O is confirm. Otherwise every controller hasn't a different feel and texture to them so I know immediately where buttons are.

I only ever see "goodly" on NintendoLife. Is it a European thing or have I just never encountered it before?

Is this really a major issue??

This explains my appalling performance in the karaoke mini game in Yakuza 0, having never had an Xbox controller before.

(It’s a good controller, though)

There's really no reason that every game shouldn't have fully customizable button mapping. Platform holders should require it for all games that release on their system. And I'm aware you can usually do this at the system level, but the customization really needs to be game-specific.

For some reason, I'm fine with the Dreamcast controller, but I have issues with any Microsoft gamepad. It makes no sense.
On XBox game UIs, I usually look at the color of the button, rather than the letter.

And yeah, Sony of America swapping accept/cancel around was the worst decision ever.

I don't really mind with ABXY or Square Triangle X O button schemes as long i can play my games very well.
As long i don't get a controller with four X buttons. 😂

We need an international body to regulate this.

God saves remapping

I haven’t watched the video yet, but plan on it! As someone who primarily games on Nintendo and Xbox, my brain does a really weird thing: I have no problem remember that A and B are swapped on both controllers and adjust accordingly. I cannot for the life of my do the same for X and Y... My brain defaults to the Xbox position (which is funny because I’ve gamed on Nintendo for a lot longer) but it takes me seconds to remember “Ok I’m back to Nintendo, Y is here.”

I don’t have trouble with PlayStation because the symbols are so different from the letters.

@foobarbaz Agreed!
I will also add that using A to confirm and B to cancel on Switch is absolutely unnatural and awkward

Did this need to be an article?

Well, it's pretty simple really: it's Sony's fault. Nintendo was first, so they got it right, and it should have become just as mainstream as any other thing that the other two copied from them...

All kidding aside, though: as somewhat of a logical mind, I am always a bit annoyed about X being the upper button and Y being on the left, because anybody with some kind of vague memory of maths or science, knows full well that the Y-axis is the vertical one, so by rights, that button should be up top.

I suppose that Microsoft got that part right, at least...

Either way: I own most Nintendo and Xbox platforms, and personally, I have no problems whatsoever exchanging one controller scheme with the other. It's like flipping a switch in my head, much like how I seamlessly switch between languages in my daily life.

@Jack_Goetz The same thing could be said about your comment. Which, by the way, goes against the community rules:

2. General Behavior

a. Do not post - unless you have something useful to say; Only post when you have something meaningful to say or something that will contribute to the discussion.

If you own many consoles, you'll have to deal with ... SEVEN. DEADLY. Xs.

I'm used to Nintendo's layout the most, but it only takes me a few seconds to get used to a PlayStation controller. I seldom play Xbox (and I have never owned one), so when I do the button prompts tend to trip me up since they're all the same names as Nintendo controllers, but backwards. I play on PC quite a bit, and the standard configuration for most games on PC is based on an Xbox controller, but I just change the button mappings (or use Xpad (8bitduo app) if the game doesn't support remapping) and I'm g2g

I like that its not the same, My hands know the feel of all the controller's so I like how I feel like i'm not playing with the same controller every time but maybe thats just me.

Thats not to say if I take long breaks from one it will take me a little bit but other then that I play games daily and switch back and for throughout the day.

@Nameless_Shame Same here dude.

This article a thousand times. I own all three consoles and every time I play switch I constantly mix up the X and Y buttons.
The A and B ones are fine, but why the Y button is lower than the X on the controller is beyond me. At least on the GameCube the X and Y buttons were both above and to the side of the large A one.
I eventually get there, but as the article do truly states....many deaths later.

May Nintendo’s button layout never change.

It was the standard in Japan on Sony consoles, too, and by far the layout I’m most used too. I don’t know why Sony felt the need to flop “confirm” and “go back” buttons in the West.
People in Japan are understandably upset with Sony for now adopting that backwards layout after generations of consistency there, the console’s origin country!

I’m sure Nintendo will be pressured to fall into line, but I hope they stay true to their roots on this. Their layout makes sense - let’s keep it!

For some reason, this has never been a big problem for me when switching between systems, but I would like there to be a standard layout across controllers, preferably with the bottom button being for primary actions as well as jumping and advancing in menus, the left button for primary attacks and dashing, the top button being for secondary attacks in action games or a menu in RPGs, and the right button being used for going back in menus and the least used actions appropriate for face buttons since having to use it constantly can lead to unwanted hand-cramps and just being uncomfortable in general. Most Xbox and PlayStation games seem to use my preferred setup; I just wish they (especially Microsoft) would make the controllers themselves more responsive, but that's a different subject.

@ThanosReXXX So true. The Y and X axis from geometry is what always gets me when I switch consoles. I also don't see the logic in it. Going from Tony Hawk's 1+2 on Xbox to Marvel Alliance 3 has killed me.

I’ve switched X and O on my PS4 top make it closer to the Nintendo layout. Unfortunately, sometimes the buttons don’t make sense as much in the games.

I still have the Nintendo controllers layout memorized and with muscle memory. The Xbox controller layout messes with me, and I find I have to look at the controller to know what button to press when I have to press a certain button. The Playstation controller I can easily use, because I don't see the buttons as letter. I see them as symbols. Square, Triangle, and Circle, are obvious. But for "X", I don't see it as in the letter "X", I see it as a "cross". Like the "X-ING" street signs for "Crossing". So, Playstation I can adjust to easily. But I can't stand using Xbox controllers. I've been using the layout since the SNES, and it's ALWAYS been the same. Always. So, for decades I've been playing with the same layout, the Nintendo way. Tho, I do play the other consoles too. And every time I play the Xbox, I just can't get used to their backwards concept. Feels unnatural to me. "X" on the Sega Controllers I can totally adapt to tho, in the 6 button layout, with X, Y, Z (top row), A, B, C (bottom row). That's easy, because the layout is a little differnet, and there's more letters to help balance out the placement and knowing what's where. Even when I game on PC, I connect Nintendo Controllers (The Wii U Pro Controller is my all time favorite controller, so far). .. But yeah, the "X" button situation... its only a problem for me on the Xbox. The other consoles I can easily adjust to. I primarily have played on Nintendo consoles my whole life. So i have their layout memorized by heart. But the Xbox controller I don't like using because their layout always throws me off. When its games that tell you to press a certain button, by name. If they don't tell you to press a certain button, by name, and I just play, by feel, like any controller, I'm good. But is otherwise, I ALWAYS have to look to xbox controller to know what button to press, when it tells me to press a certain letter button, as I always guess wrong, and fail, or, take too long looking, and fail. But Nintendo's way is how its always been, from the beginning. So, I go their way, and like their way the best.

I've never got it mixed up with the Playstation layout as that doesn't have an X on it but I do struggle on Xbox controllers but that's there fault for getting it wrong 😉. My only problem with Switch is Nintendo's weird insistence on using B and A for NES games when clearly Y and B are the better options, they even know this as Mario 35 does just that and SNES Mario games used Y for run and B to jump

Doesn't the GameCube controller put X on the right, so that ALL FOUR positions have been used at some point?
And then there was the WonderSwan, which replaced the D-pad entirely with four X and four Y buttons, to one group as a D-pad and the other as action buttons, depending on which screen orientation the particular game wanted.

@foobarbaz And then PC-Engine swapped 1 and 2 and renamed the Start Button "Run" for whatever reason.

This is such a first-world problem lmao

@KingMike No, the GameCube controller is the one Nintendo controller that actually puts X on the left.

Personally, I think everyone should just drop the diamond formation of identically shaped buttons entirely and adopt the GameCube controller's face button layout. That's always been the best face button design.

It's the 21st century...we ought to be able to re-map buttons on any console, for every game, already!

My 47 y/o hands, almost arthritic from too much VG playing since '83, prefer the feel of the accept button at the bottom quadrant, not the right. Also, the WiiU Pro Controller, because of its overall layout, was completely unusable for me. Who puts the buttons BELOW the sticks? Crazy!

I thank Parrapa on PS1 for memorizing Sony’s buttons, but I’ll never stop getting mixed up with DC/Xbox’s Bizzaro World SNES layout.

@Roam85 One for jump and the homing attack, one for the Spindash and Lightspeed Dash.

In regards to the Dreamcast button placement, Sega had already committed on their ABXY placement back with the Genesis, with the 6 Button Controller having the buttons go ABC on the bottom row, and XYZ on the top, and continued this with the Saturn. They only dropped the C and Z buttons on the Dreamcast Controller.

Despite not owning a playstation since the PS1, the position of those buttons has been beaten into me. Only controller I sometimes struggle with is Nintendo since I've only owned one since the Switch. I've been an Xbox boy since the original and lately also playing on Stadia which thankfully has the same button layout as Xbox.

Considering PS4 sold 1.4billion of software and xbox also uses the same layout as PS and Sega.... unfortunately Nintendo is wrong.

If one can't switch(pun) between controllers you shouldn't be gaming. Nintendo is right regardless of what NintenDoomed says. Selling software says nothing about controllers-what a false fallacy one would use.

Gotta admit it sometimes throws me off when I go between Switch and Xbox because they have the same buttons but in a different layout. The Xbox layout is actually pretty much the same as the Playstation layout but obviously the PS uses shapes as opposed to letters. I never have issues with X on the PS since it's always the default confirm button, but have to remind myself where the X button is on the Switch after playing a lot of Xbox.

Nintendo is my brain’s default (and the correct way) so it’s always a struggle going to sony or ms after an extended period away. Unless it is a fighting game cuz I’m all about that fightstick life.

Going back to Nioh2 is gonna be b r u t a l.

I am perfectly used to Nintendo and Playstation, but Xbox always confuses me! 😠

I've learnt the SNES controller from back when it came out and then progressed and burned Sony's layout in my memory, especially after playing years of Project Diva.

Xbox controllers are the one I have a problem with, especially when it comes to Quick time events because it's an inverted SNES button layout and also the system I practically don't play on so I don't have the memory for doing them very well.

Good ole brentalfloss made a pretty entertaining video about this problem a while ago:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MzyTJbubzr4

Funny how this problem doesn’t seem to ever be going away even after all these years. Companies sure like holding their ground to be the definitive X button location.

Yeah when I played my cousins Xbox I was thrown for a loop

Don't forget the fun we had with the SNES where B accepted while Y cancelled. Fun times that period. That same nonsense had me holding B to run and pressing A to jump on to watch Mario walk and spin jump instead in SMW o_O

Sony changed X and O even in Japan? More proof how americanized they have become. No wonder they've become so puritan when it comes to sexuality even Nintendo seems more risqué.

This wasn't much of an issue until Nintendo started going back to the layout with classic and pro controllers from the Wii onwards. If I spend some time playing games on a Playstation now I have to spend several minutes of pressing the wrong buttons to confirm and cancel before I adjust. If only Sony had kept it the same but then again it was more because of how western developers were programming their games that it started to become the standard place for the confirm and cancel buttons.

Nintendo is right. Everyone else is wrong. End of story.

The only issue I get is commanding friends which button to press to Accept, as A on their XB controllers is in position B on Nintendo, so they instinctively press B and exit/decline rather than accept/confirm.

In personal use, I don't mess it up as my mind seems to know which mapping to use based on the system I'm using. Of course, the X/O thing with PS, especially the Japanese situation, is absurd. O should be Accept and X be Decline while using the North American layout. In that way, they'd mirror Nintendo with button positions.

i always associate A with Jump or Cofirm, B with cancel, Y or X with special action, so i don't mess up or feel conflited when i play in another console.

I'm impressed that NL hit on an engaging talking point on a relatively small item. 100+ comments is a good achievement here. I'd say, keep up the editorial brainstorming NL!

It drives me bonkers when I go from switch to playstation or back!

Aaaarrrgghhhhhhhh why couldn’t Sony keep Nintendo’s back/forward button positioning? Damn

Yeah, it's pretty annoying how everyone now has different button names and layouts.

All this could be useless if it were just standard practice to be able to remap all your buttons.

The way I remember XBOX from Nintendo is the way "YA" is spelled. On Nintendo it's spelled horizontally and on Xbox it's spelled vertically. Might sound dumb but it works for me.

Playstation I haven't owned one since PS1 so it doesn't come up enough to bother me.

I always thought game Controllers should mimic the Neo Geo CD's Controllers. Give us A, B, C, & D.

I've got Witcher 3 last Month and also bought it on the PC to transfare the Save whenever i want.
A and B are viceversa on the PC.
You can switch the Confirm Button, but not the Actions behind it.
What i can not understand the Actions behind the Place of X and Y are mapped the same.
The Game doesn't allows to change the Button Layout freely -,-.

Gratefully i can take Steam as a little Helper and switch the Buttons (even if i bought the Game on Gog)

All I know is that I miss the days of the Sega Saturn's A-B-C / X-Y-Z setup.

@chardir shrieks of a pitchfork sharpening

This is easily my biggest pet peeve with controllers, especially since I use a DS4 on both the Switch and on PC (with Xbox button prompts 70% of the time). The best solution I've seen is when button prompts include all four buttons with the one that needs to be pressed being the only detailed button (think Bayonetta, Breath of the Wild, and the like). It's a great little detail that lets me ignore the symbol and just use the location.

Quite frankly, I dont care any.ore I intended invented the layout. Every other controller out there using the modern standard and Nintendo just sticks with their own.

I just want a universal layout for everything, and throughout all my years playing games, I dont want Nintendo's layout as the standard.

@pip_muzz Yeah, it's so weird sometimes, considering all they copied from each other, to then just mix up button controls that way. Oh, well...

@ThanosReXXX The xbox layout is the Dreamcast layout. The original Xbox was essentially the Dreamcast 2.

As someone who is platform agnostic, I’ve been screaming about this for the last 20 years! Super annoying!

For me I dont have a huge issue switching between various controllers

What always gets me is the main menus, and pressing back instead of accept

Am I the only one who wants the Gamecube layout back, or an evolution of it? Keep the big button in the middle and have 4 bean shaped buttons around it.

It would actually be a big deal, to me at least, if the whole industry DID come together to vote the universal layout. One giant leap for mankind.

@CactusMan

Yeah, considering Nintendo has held on this long, I expect to see pigs fly before it changes. Haha

Oh well, I'll just continue spending the first 30 minutes or so of gaming screwing up all my menus when going from the Switch to other consoles and back again.

@ye67bbxs I guess it really depends. What are your thoughts on the 'X' button?

My solution is to only play on Nintendo consoles.

Thanks for bringing this up. This needs addressing. People need to either all conform to the original standard (to please me), or make remapping a lot more... doable.

(Though Nintendo probably is benefiting from the confusion, as it’s fans have nowhere else to go lol.)

Edit: As others have mentioned, Sony just needs to fix their system and we can have harmony. Xbox... well, there’s no hope for them. 😅 (sadly)

What we need is a new universal standard

https://xkcd.com/927/

Late comment here. This really only affects me the handful of times each year I bring my Dreamcast out of storage for some retro gaming, but if someone is confused there is an option in the Switch firmware these days that can remap any button, if I remember right.

@Mr-Fuggles777 You can remap the Switch ABXY to work like the Xbox ABXY.

@hlang What we need is a new universal standard
For what? Didn't everyone always harp about being able to multitask but yet seems to dismiss when it comes to game controller? Need to eat more veges is what I called this.

@Trajan I know, but that was never a point I was making, so no idea why you brought that up.

@ThanosReXXX You claimed MS got it right, when they just copied Sega.

@Trajan I did not "claim" anything, I just made a sarcastic joke about the Y button, which you apparently misinterpreted...

@ralphdibny I had never notice that, sadly Dreamcast's X button is yellow.

@Ghost_of_Hasashi would have been perfect if the DC X was blue and positioned where the A button is on Nintendo controllers. Perfect for this comparison anyway, probably a nightmare to game with 😅

@ralphdibny My guess is that they probably don't want to copy the SFC color position. Kinda odd that even though Xbox use the Dreamcast layout, they change the color position.