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Does anyone prefer PS button controller symbols over A/B/X/Y or 1/2/3/4?

I prefer Square/X/Triangle/O over A/B/X/Y but I've been either gaming on XBox360 or on PC with an XBox controller (and having those prompts built in) for the vast majority of my games over the last 10 years so I'm probably more used to those. That said, I've been gaming a little bit more on playstation now that I have a PS4 and I've been going back through some of the games I have on PS3 recently (Hitman HD Trilogy and MGS HD Collection, specifically), and I didn't realize how much I actually enjoy those symbols more until this thread.
 
As others have said ABXY was fine until Microsoft decided to fuck it up. For that reason alone I prefer Sony's layout over Microsoft's, my brain is hardwired from the SNES to memorize ABXY as Nintendo uses it.
 
I grew up with PlayStation consoles, for me that's the right way to do it. Also, letters are confusing since Nintendo and Microsoft controllers have them in different places.
 
Completely interchangeable for me.

I use my PS4 controller on my PC with DS4windows which turns it into a 360 controller, so all my controller supporting PC games still give me 360 button prompts.

Nintendo's button configuration is the only one I don't really like (apart from the GameCube, I actually liked that setup).
 
Dion Blaster said:
Nintendo made their layout first, but I prefer the MS layout now that the bottom button has become the defacto "yes" and right has become "no/back". A on the bottom and B on the right makes more sense now.
Click to expand...
That's actually another thing. In Japan, they tend to use the right-most button for confirm and the bottom button for cancel. In this case, the PS symbols actually carry meaning: circle to confirm, X means no. But in the US, we reversed it, and X marks the spot, while circle means...empty selection, I guess? I remember reading something a while back that stipulated that square and triangle have meanings, as well.
 
Jakartalado said:
Not sure why you feel that way since they actually mean 1,2,3 and 4 (number of lines in each figure)
Click to expand...

Mind = blown.

The biggest problem is typing a button combo fast. You have to use symbols or an abreviation. Even using 1234 to save time makes you have to translate.
 
Chuck Norris said:
I prefer them because they are iconic

As far as needing to think about which button I'm pressing, we have had twenty years to get used to that and nearly all games use a similar scheme of control - eg X will be your jump or roll, square and triangle are your attack buttons, O is generally to cancel. I generally don't need to put much conscious thought into it regardless of platform
Click to expand...

Right, most games are fine and follow that general flow. But there are some cases where the symbols bug me: like in a rhythm game, QTEs, or long combos in a fighting game. Symbols, especially if their pronunciation is polysyllabic, take more time to process quickly, at least IME.
 
greg400 said:
As others have said ABXY was fine until Microsoft decided to fuck it up. For that reason alone I prefer Sony's layout over Microsoft's, my brain is hardwired from the SNES to memorize ABXY as Nintendo uses it.
Click to expand...

Microsoft just took Segas. Blame them. Altho MS also changed the colors from the DC, so there's not even a proper Sega MS standard.
 
ABXY for me, but that may have to do with how the current generation handles the UI button prompts, they just look nicer for Xbox.
 
I'm fine with both sony's and microsoft's layouts, their both memorized and I can easy press square on a DS4 even if the prompt says blue X for 360 (pc game) without hesitation.

So I have no real preference between those two.

I don't like Nintendo's though because they're backwards.
 
I prefer ABXY. I'm used to the PS symbols but I never really got why they never switched X and O around. When you want to go back to the previous menu, you usually want to eXit out.

Plus it's less intuitive reading and writing out the symbols for button command faqs. When you see something like: left, left, right, down, triangle, triangle, square, X, O, triangle, it's a bit more cumbersome to instinctively apply the command.
 
I still think in ⃞/◯/△/X even though I was Xbox exclusive for 5 years.

I equate the Xbox buttons with colours, and would have to think about which button is 'B'. But I know that Green is on the bottom and Blue is on the left.

The Nintendo layout messes me up.
 
Why would anyone? The only real difference is that it's annoying/takes longer to describe inputs when you have the triangle, square, circle, x buttons.
 
I don't think it's that important, but Sony's shape based layout has always felt mildly less intuitive than letters or numbers.
 
Not in a million years. Triangle? Square? Circle? Who remembers these things? And the colour codes are whack. They don't make sense.
 
I prefer using shapes to memorise buttons over letters. To this day, I couldn't tell you where ABXY are mapped on a Nintendo controller without looking it up; I've had every Nintendo handheld since the Gameboy...
 
King Gilga said:
I'm fine with both sony's and microsoft's layouts, their both memorized and I can easy press square on a DS4 even if the prompt says blue X for 360 (pc game) without hesitation.

I don't like Nintendo's though because they're backwards.
Click to expand...

Well, if you were to import a game you'll find that every Japanese games use the BAYX layout. Even Sony swaps XO to OX in menus because in Japan O means correct and X means wrong.
 
When I first got my Xbox, I played Crimson Skies. And there's a part in that game that requires you to dock on a zeppelin or something. To do that you have to press X. And I was getting so pissed because I kept lining it up perfectly and pressing X but it wouldn't dock. Thought the game was demanding a ridiculous amount of precision for a mundane task. Then I looked down at the controller. I had been a playstation gamer for years. And I felt way dumb.
 
A, B, X, Y is easier for me to react to than any other setup...but that's due to PC and Xbox controller layouts being the norm in games across both pieces of hardware for many years now.

I screw up on the Wii U sometimes as it has the same button layout (letter wise), but the X/Y and A/B are switched.

I'm good enough with X, Square, Circle, and Triangle to play games that require me to hit them in QTEs, but I'd say I'm still a bit slower with Sony's controllers than PC/Xbox and about equal to Nintendo Hardware.


So I guess....NO...is my answer to the OP Title.
 
I prefer the PS symbols because at least they're unique.

I still get tripped up sometimes when I switch from an Xbox game to a Nintendo game and vice versa
 
Nanashrew said:
Well, if you were to import a game you'll find that every Japanese games use the BAYX layout. Even Sony swaps XO to OX in menus because in Japan O means correct and X means wrong.
Click to expand...

I know I have plenty of import games. And I have no trouble getting used it.

I just don't like 'A' not being at the center bottom instead of shoved off the side. A feels like a really important letter know, it should be centered.

It's not an 'I'm used to xbox' thing I've owned and used Nintendo consoles since they started, and only owned one (360) microsoft one that I honestly barely used compared to the DS.

It's just a 'a minor letter like B has no right to be in the center'.

Could not care less about X and Y nintendo placements, and I have no trouble going from nintendo and xbox and back, but A and B just bugs me.
 
I like the meaning behind the symbols, how it's used as a logo/in ads, and how they are colourful and symbolic

But besides that, they are just buttons. Definitely unique though
 
It shows how long it's been since I've owned a Nintendo system when the A/B/X/Y symbols on the Wii U/3DS feel wrong because they're different than the Xbox ones.
 
Wow, no love for the O / U / Y / A button layout?

9200000019694350_2.jpg


/s
 
Nanashrew said:
Well, if you were to import a game you'll find that every Japanese games use the BAYX layout. Even Sony swaps XO to OX in menus because in Japan O means correct and X means wrong.
Click to expand...
Yes. You hit the nail right in the head. That was always something that I thought was fucked up. How can X mean confirm? In which language is that acceptable?
 
JinjoUnchained said:
Is there some benefit to using symbols that I'm missing? My research indicates that the symbols originally had more distinct meanings (eg square for menus), but it's clear that this was never enforced or used consistently. So I'm stumped on this one.
Click to expand...

They were designed with intentions but those meanings didn't translate across seas and from dev to dev.

That said, I think the letters a la Xbox is the cleanest way of doing things. The Gizmondo had the most interesting approach labeling the action buttons as media buttons.
 
I really like the Playstation symbols, but I like even more that they're constantly used in the same layout since four generations, so I don't have any problems to get used to it, like i often had with other controllers.
 
PS buttons all the way. I still can't remember the xbox/nintendo buttons to this day. Thanks Microsoft. How nice of you to swap it around.
 
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