Why is it that A, B, Y, X are the buttons on the gamepad?
- Thread starter SS1o7crazydude
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Kawaki
Kuro Ookami
Towns Folk
Well, it was the original. A child learns the alphabet early in life, so it is only right. However, since play station could not use this due to patents, They used shapes, also universal. In my opinion, shapes were better because they are easier to remembe. In games like hatsune miku project marai, you have to remember where x, y, a, and b are. I always messed up when it came to to press x and y because i had to look first before going for them. Hard mode, was truly hard
ErixSan
Somehow still top 3 poster after 3 years.
Towns Folk
In the case of Nintendo I don't know the reason, but it is something related to what @ultra said. In the case of X and Y, it can be because of 2D planes (which I doubt since their location is swapped).
In case of Xbox controller, they just copied the Dreamcast controller.
In case of Xbox controller, they just copied the Dreamcast controller.
Hayleia
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
Well at first (Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NES), there were only two buttons, A and B.
And you may already wonder "why is A on the right? it makes BA instead of AB". Well, because it makes sense that A is more of a main button than B, and it makes sense to have the main button closer to the thumb that will press it.
They tilted the buttons a bit on their handhelds to reduce the distance between B and your thumb.
Then they needed two more buttons (SNES) but still wanted the A and B buttons to keep their original purposes (when navigating for example, you always validate with A and cancel with B), that's why they kept A to the right, B to the left a little bit below, and added the two new buttons above them (in a cross shape) so that A and B are still the closest ones to your thumb.
And to emphasize the fact that these two new buttons were an addition to the classic A and B ones, and not a "we went from 2 to 4 and forget about your habits", they visually grouped them on the controller and didn't name them C and D.
Also notice that this YX-BA pattern happens when you mod a gameboy case to add two buttons to it to play SNES games with it on retropie. You're left with BA at the bottom and YX necessarily above.
And nowadays, not only there is little reason to change names everyone know, but it's still true that A and B are the main buttons used for navigating, and X and Y are additional buttons. So the name isn't likely to change. Even the Gamecube controller which doesn't have a cross shape still has the "main buttons in diagonal" pattern with two additional buttons.
And you may already wonder "why is A on the right? it makes BA instead of AB". Well, because it makes sense that A is more of a main button than B, and it makes sense to have the main button closer to the thumb that will press it.
They tilted the buttons a bit on their handhelds to reduce the distance between B and your thumb.
Then they needed two more buttons (SNES) but still wanted the A and B buttons to keep their original purposes (when navigating for example, you always validate with A and cancel with B), that's why they kept A to the right, B to the left a little bit below, and added the two new buttons above them (in a cross shape) so that A and B are still the closest ones to your thumb.
And to emphasize the fact that these two new buttons were an addition to the classic A and B ones, and not a "we went from 2 to 4 and forget about your habits", they visually grouped them on the controller and didn't name them C and D.
Also notice that this YX-BA pattern happens when you mod a gameboy case to add two buttons to it to play SNES games with it on retropie. You're left with BA at the bottom and YX necessarily above.
And nowadays, not only there is little reason to change names everyone know, but it's still true that A and B are the main buttons used for navigating, and X and Y are additional buttons. So the name isn't likely to change. Even the Gamecube controller which doesn't have a cross shape still has the "main buttons in diagonal" pattern with two additional buttons.
DarkSpyro
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
How is super mario world on the gameboy?Well at first (Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NES), there were only two buttons, A and B.
And you may already wonder "why is A on the left? it makes BA instead of AB". Well, because it makes sense that A is more of a main button than B, and it makes sense to have the main button closer to the thumb that will press it.
They tilted the buttons a bit on their handhelds to reduce the distance between B and your thumb.
Then they needed two more buttons (SNES) but still wanted the A and B buttons to keep their original purposes (when navigating for example, you always validate with A and cancel with B), that's why they kept A to the right, B to the left a little bit below, and added the two new buttons above them (in a cross shape) so that A and B are still the closest ones to your thumb.
And to emphasize the fact that these two new buttons were an addition to the classic A and B ones, and not a "we went from 2 to 4 and forget about your habits", they visually grouped them on the controller and didn't name them C and D.
View attachment 14923
Also notice that this YX-BA pattern happens when you mod a gameboy case to add two buttons to it to play SNES games with it on retropie. You're left with BA at the bottom and YX necessarily above.
View attachment 14924
And nowadays, not only there is little reason to change names everyone know, but it's still true that A and B are the main buttons used for navigating, and X and Y are additional buttons. So the name isn't likely to change. Even the Gamecube controller which doesn't have a cross shape still has the "main buttons in diagonal" pattern with two additional buttons.
DarkSpyro
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
Hayleia
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
Well I grew up seeing those so that's easy
Obviously, people whose first consoles were 3DS and Wii U were presented with ABXY roughly on the same level and can wonder why the names. But even on Wii controllers (the Wii Classic ones, Pro or not), AB and XY are different (transparent/solid).
I don't like Mario games in general so I guess any answer I'd give here wouldn't be satisfying
Wariomovie
Wario Monger
Towns Folk
I have always heard the x and y were selected because, when games began to have a 3D perspective and more buttons were needed, x and y were chosen because they correspond to the x and y planes in 3D or even 2D games. Thus, the x button is often used to gain vertical distance (e.g. jumping in Smash Bros.), although this is not always the case.
Kawaki
Kuro Ookami
Towns Folk
They use these things, like shapes and letters because they are easy to understand and name even for little children. Everyone knows square and it helps children remember such things and appeals to them. Shapes and letters have already been used by Nintendo and PlayStation, therefore Xbox has nothing left to use except something like pictures. This, however, can be seen as extra childish and may not appeal to older teens and adults (having to call out, "Rapidly tap teddy-bear!"
