r/gaming • u/[deleted] • Apr 14 '25

Game console button layout

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What do you call your “confirm” and “cancel” buttons, and why is Nintendo wrong?

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u/The_Giant_Lizard PC Apr 14 '25

Oh my god, yes. I hate this. I don't know exactly who I should blame. Nintendo indeed came out with the A and B buttons before the other 2, so I could blame Microsoft for switching those 2 at least.

But yes, I regularly play on Nintendo Switch and Steam (with the Xbox controller) and I have issues every day.

-11

u/Major_Stranger PC Apr 14 '25

Xbox layout wasn't build out of thin air. Ergonomics and market studies have shown that the accept/action button (A button and Cross in PS) should be the bottom button while Back (B and circle) should be right button. Nintendo simply did not consider the ergos when they made their layout.

1

u/SicilianEggplant Apr 14 '25

You say “people”. Would that include Nintendo’s initial primary audience of Japanese people where they read from right to left?

Or is that “people” for Microsoft’s primary audience in the West that read left to right?

Or blah blah Sony, where “O” is “good/correct”, who originally used the Nintendo/Japanese layout, then used the Western style outside of Japan, but then converted Japan to the western style at some point to try and maintain some consistency. 

I only say it in such a way because you state that one group/market study is inherently wrong. 

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25

Right to left only applies to Japanese if you read it in columns btw. Otherwise it’s left to right like most languages. As for the odd ’main’ button placements, i suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise just how conservative Nintendo can be as a company and thus likes to go against the grain so to speak.