Buttons on different controllers

[Pseudonym]

So I was playing some (ok, a lot, actually) Zelda: breath of the wild recently with a switch controller. I then went and downloaded Nier: automata on PC and plugged in my xbox 360 controller. Why are the A and B buttons inverted? And the X and Y buttons too? I was misclicking and looking down at my controller for hours untill I got used to it. It probably didn't help that I have barely played platinum games before (I quit halfway through MGR:revengeance and that's it) and that I don't really understand their gameplay at all (easy mode for me). It's not like I haven't played with an xbox controller before. I know this is the tiniest of annoyances and I know that nintendo and microsoft are different companies that will build different controllers, because competition or something but I still found it annoying.

Does anyone else have trouble with that or am I just slow adapting to the difference?

 

[Yoshi178]

no dw lots of people have trouble adjusting.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

No, you're not alone.

When I got my Switch, I kept trying to use the controller like an Xbox one and was constantly pressing wrong buttons. I eventually got used to it tho. Oddly enough, I only have trouble going from Xbox to SNES layouts[footnote]i.e. the NDS, 3DS, Wii pro controller, Wii U and Switch[/footnote], or the other way round. I don't have, nor have I ever had, the same issue switching to and from Playstation.

Maybe it's because Playstation has the same diamond lay-out for its face buttons, but uses different symbols. So, perhaps it's different enough to prevent my brain getting confused and make the wrong muscle memory kick in.

 

[sXeth]

ITs a common issue.

I wouldn't be surprised if patents were the "why" of it. If Nintendo patented their version of ABXY, Playstation used the ysmbols, Microsoft for whatever reason kept ABXY but flipped it around (why MS copied Nintendo's control instead of playstations is anyone's guess).

 

[Pseudonym]

ITs a common issue.

I wouldn't be surprised if patents were the "why" of it. If Nintendo patented their version of ABXY, Playstation used the ysmbols, Microsoft for whatever reason kept ABXY but flipped it around (why MS copied Nintendo's control instead of playstations is anyone's guess).

Possibly because gamepad letters aren?t patented but symbols are? Even if Nintendo patented the layout then Microsoft found a way around it, whether due to a general lack of creativity or exercising practicality.

 

[CaitSeith]

Nintendo has their console's buttons in reverse order (B first, A second) since the NES era. It's almost like a legacy of old times.

Meanwhile, competitors have put the buttons in alphabetical order.

Anyways, you just need practice.

 

[Pseudonym]

Well, it's good to hear that I'm not the only one who's muscle memory gets thrown off by this.

Spoiler

no dw lots of people have trouble adjusting.

That picture pretty much sums up my annoyance.

Anyways, you just need practice.

Well, more like time adapting. I've had practice with both. Enough to make either feel completely natural over time. But going from one to the other still messes with me. Or maybe you meant that and I'm just arguing semantics.

ITs a common issue.

I wouldn't be surprised if patents were the "why" of it. If Nintendo patented their version of ABXY, Playstation used the ysmbols, Microsoft for whatever reason kept ABXY but flipped it around (why MS copied Nintendo's control instead of playstations is anyone's guess).

At this point controllers have been around. Anyone can make functionally near-identical controllers. It'd be real silly if this were true, though with intellectual property law being what it is it wouldn't surprise me. I've tried to google how this came around but couldn't find much in the minute that I took.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

I used a PS3 controller on PC using an Xbox controller emulator tool for years. There was no ABXY.

So I've gotten used to it.

But I'm pretty sure it's a patent thing for why they're different. I think Microsoft is just a bit more flexible with it.

 

[sXeth]

ITs a common issue.

I wouldn't be surprised if patents were the "why" of it. If Nintendo patented their version of ABXY, Playstation used the ysmbols, Microsoft for whatever reason kept ABXY but flipped it around (why MS copied Nintendo's control instead of playstations is anyone's guess).

At this point controllers have been around. Anyone can make functionally near-identical controllers. It'd be real silly if this were true, though with intellectual property law being what it is it wouldn't surprise me. I've tried to google how this came around but couldn't find much in the minute that I took.

Playstation uses the 4 symbols in their branding stuff periodically, so those are almost guaranteed to be trademarked.

The Xbox controller is kind of an odd one. It has the reversed left stick/dpad from the Gamecube, and Nintendo's button names, but the layout of the SNES/PS controls for those buttons rather then the Gamecubes weird button layout.

Doesn't seem like you'd just pick X & Y at random though, especially with a competitor already using that set. Or moreso, X & Y is a common letter pairing, but putting them next to A&B isn't.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I honestly never have a problem with it. If I pick up a controller it only takes me about a minute to readjust to the new controller button layout. What trips me up way more is different button layouts in similar games, or different button layouts in the same game by region.

Like for example in Japan the function of the X and O buttons on the playstation is always switched. In the US X is accept and O is cancel, whereas in Japan X is cancel and O is accept, and this swapping of functions continues into the games themselves. In the US version of Dark Souls O is dodge roll and X is interaction, but in the Japanese version it's reversed, and Nioh, despite having very similar gameplay to Dark Souls has X as dodge instead of O by default. That shit broke my brain for a while.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I've not really had a problem, the symbols all look different. When I see the Xbox 'x' it triggers my Xbox muscle memory and when I see the PlayStation 'x' it triggers my PlayStation muscle memory.