Swap them all to:
---- N
W------E
-----S
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025
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I got it!
Well clearly the answer is an X to the right
Here's a layout I just came up with:
☆
◇ ❌️
✔️
OMFG BANNED
^j/k^
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.
Yep. And even if it wasn't, different brands are under no obligation to do the same thing - I'd argue that this is different from a keyboard for example where you'd want everyone to stick to QWERTY. The only thing I'd realistically expect to stay consistent is the controller across different generations of the same console - and most brands have done that.
Honestly if they flipped and mirrored it it would be a pretty funny bold move.
Valve has a chance to do something really funny.
They wouldn't, they use the Xbox layout as that is definitely the most prevalent layout for PCs
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.
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.”
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'll 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.
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.
Could be worse, it could be Japan where the purpose of X vs Circle is swapped.
No it’s swapped in the rest of the world PlayStation was released first in Japan. So O for confirm is the OG layout. It makes sense in Japan since in Japanese writing you write down a Circle for Yes, OK or Good or an X for No or Bad.
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It was too good for this world.
This is yet another one of the many reasons Steam is amazing. Not only do they have an abstracted layer that allows devs to insert control mappings that adapt to show your controller preference… but even BETTER, they have an option for “Universal” controller button iconography where they just show the relative position of the face buttons in a diamond layout ❖ where the button indicated is a filled circle ● and the others are outlined ○ - rather than letters like ABXY.
So like this :
…instead of “× or A or B” from PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo (respectively).
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It's been done.
The gamecube controller is how I memorized the x- and y-axis of the coordinate system.
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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.
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.
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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.
Nobody's been brave enough to name the buttons N(orth), S(outh), E(ast), and W(est).
In my middleware, it's like that, with the optional Btn_V and Btn_VI for reasons.
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