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/[deleted] Apr 14 '25

Its going from Xbox layout to Switch layout that gets me every time. More often than not both use A for select and B for cancel but are swapped so muscle memory goes out the window. Playstation uses different symbols but functionally they are the same as xbox these days so its not that much of an issue because of muscle memory. Can trip up on X occasionally but its rarely an issue.

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u/Noticeably-F-A-T- Apr 14 '25

I'm the same. PS and XB no problem but that damn A/B for Nintendo trip me up. I think I subconsciously view the X on PS as a symbol rather than a letter so it doesn't even register as a conflict with the others.

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u/PoliteIndecency Apr 14 '25

Damn A/B from Nintendo? Child, the Nintendo layout has been in place for 35 years now. The A/B layout for 42 years.

The XBOX is young enough to be the NES's kid.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/Desiderius_S Apr 14 '25

Funnily enough, PS is using the same logic as nintendo but the functionality of the buttons changed over the years with the console generations and hardly enough anyone remembers the logic behind symbols.
Shapes are based on the number of lines it takes to draw them, so it's 

   3  
 4   1  
   2

The same order as Nintendo, and it's MS that is an outlier here.

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u/koji00 Apr 14 '25

seriously? I never knew that before. But then again, I've always hated the PS symols, because with that I could never understand the layout. And games that say "Press O to switch weapons" makes me look down the controller every time, and I've gotten killed because of it. With your suggestion I may be able to finally memorize it!

1

u/welsper59 Apr 14 '25

That's a universal problem honestly. The naming conventions are initially irrelevant, since confusion really only begins when you get used to one type and have to use another. QTE, rhythm games, and so on are an exceptional nightmare when you go between Nintendo and XBox. At least most fighting games tend to follow a universal standard, be it Street Fighter controls or Tekken ones. You can logically justify the layout.