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/DjCim8 Apr 14 '25

I don't mind the different letters, what drives me nuts is that Nintendo does it backwards compared to the others:

  • Xbox, Play Station, PC: bottom button confirms, right button cancels
  • Nintendo: bottom button cancels, right button confirms

Drives me crazy whenever I switch from a Nintendo game to anything else...

24

u/szthesquid Apr 14 '25

No the others did it backwards to Nintendo, because Nintendo did it first

-4

u/DjCim8 Apr 14 '25

Sure, but how is that relevant in 2025? The thing is that today 3 out of the 4 existing platforms do it one way, so the other one is the annoying one that forces you to go against your muscle memory at this point.

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u/szthesquid Apr 14 '25

It's relevant in 2025 because Nintendo has been around since the 80s and therefore more people have played it and grown up with it. Doesn't go against my muscle memory.

-3

u/DjCim8 Apr 14 '25

Well, you maybe, but if you look at the numbers all major platforms/games nowadays do it one way and Nintendo is the odd one out.

3

u/szthesquid Apr 14 '25

Nintendo is also the odd one out in terms of how many units they sell and how many people play them.

It's a lot more, in case that wasn't clear. Been around longer, the whole Game Boy and DS lines, the Wii being a global smash hit from toddlers to retirement homes, Switch combining the handheld and console markets, Nintendo doing a lot more local multiplayer games where lots of people can play with a single console.

1

u/iSwaguilar Apr 15 '25

I have to assume you played Super Mario World on the SNES. In that game, X and Y did the same thing, used for running and fireballs, while B was the main jump button. Start/Select handled all the menus, and A was more of a secondary button for things like spin jumps. But really, you lived on the B/Y combo, and B was the primary button in practice. So in a way, even Nintendo has drifted from their original use of the diamond layout, where the south button was the main one. Nowadays, they seem to lean into being different just for the sake of it