I wonder if this is why Nintendo reversed the meaning of B A on their controllers.
I hate that the switch does this.
But it means sense if everyone in Japan is used to that behaviour because of the swapping of X and O on Playstation.
I hate that the switch does this.
But it means sense if everyone in Japan is used to that behaviour because of the swapping of X and O on Playstation.
Controllers typically used sets of A-B(-C) X-Y(-Z) face buttons, A/B intuitively meaning ok/back however they were laid out, usually in straight or angled rows assigned left-to-right (e.g. Sega) or right-to-left (e.g. Nintendo). The angled layouts are the modern Xbox and Nintendo layouts (which Nintendo used since forever and Xbox I guess inherited from their Windows CE involvement with Sega).
But Sony came up with the symbols instead, so Japanese devs followed the maru/batsu metaphor with circle/X, whereas early western games used X/triangle until they switched to X/circle, and those became official regional layouts until the PS5 switched Japan to X/circle.
The labels exist to help the game teach its control scheme, not to make players memorise the layout itself. But of course, games without consistent game mechanics don't have any control scheme to teach.
There are some games I've played on the Switch that use B=confirm, I think usually so that button layout is the same across consoles.