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[Eusis]

The layout. It's like you shat all over my childhood.


Changing the SNES button layout would have made it easier to play SNES games on the VC? What what what?

I said to compromise between SNES and N64 games on the VC, if it had that layout in the first place then there'd be no question about adapting B/A for N64 games as the CC would've followed the template of this alternate SNES controller instead. Unfortunately N64 games traditionally follow the lettering rather than the positioning, and more often then not that results in a control scheme that isn't exactly ideal. You get cases like OoT/MM where it actually ends up mirroring LttP as a result, but more often it's like SM64 which is doable but not really ideal.

Of course, that would be more easily solved by giving us configuration options, but alas. At least the N64 controller works really well for N64 games, though that's no comfort to people with the newer Wii.

 

[Metal B]

I will always see the GameCube Controller as the only evolution of the classic controller. The reason is, that its the most userfriendly controller to date. Just becauce through the form of the buttons. Especially for new and casual gamers its easier to learn the button layout and find the right button fast.

Look at this:

Its much faster for a human to reconice a form then a letter inside a form. You can even easily feel the right button whitout looking down.

 

[ResidentDante]

My only button position beef with Nintendo was the SNES:

This is how the controller should have been laid out. B and A are the primary buttons, as established on the NES, and this layout preserves this for how your thumb goes across the buttons. It was always weird to me for primary controls (usually fire and jump) to be Y and B on SNES.

I always thought this back in the ninties. Would have been much better! I wonder why I didn't just look at the colour coding back then, like I do with the 360 controller now. Much easier to explain friends playing my 360 too, "shooting is on the green button etc."

 

[molekiller]

Nintendo did it simply wrong, A comes first than B so A should be on the left and B shoud be on the right, same for X and Y... Sega always did it right and Microsoft followed. I still sometimes get confused with square and circle buttons on PS systems, and I've got all of them...

 

[Odrion]

I will always see the GameCube Controller as the only evolution of the classic controller. The reason is, that its the most userfriendly controller to date. Just becauce through the form of the buttons. Especially for new and casual gamers its easier to learn the button layout and find the right button fast.

Look at this:

Its much faster for a human to reconice a form then a letter inside a form. You can even easily feel the right button whitout looking down.

That's really helpful if you're six years old.

But seriously, yeah. It's kinda interesting looking bad at the Gamecube controller as a predecessor to the Wii. Maybe they were trying to the casual market into games that early on, thinking that perhaps people could play traditional games if the obstacles between the user communicating to the TV was minimized.

Also you could put your thumb over the A, Y, AND X buttons. That was cool.

But the controller didn't allow you to have access to two shoulder buttons and two triggers simultaneously.

Also that Octagon stick cage was a horrible idea. "CLACK CLACK CLACK."

And that C stick? Made playing Timesplitters a PAIN.

what were we talking about

 

[FyreWulff]

Nintendo did it simply wrong, A comes first than B so A should be on the left and B shoud be on the right, same for X and Y... Sega always did it right and Microsoft followed. I still sometimes get confused with square and circle buttons on PS systems, and I've got all of them...

Either way is correct. The reason Nintendo had A on the right and B on the left is they were considering the button order as the order your thumb would hit them coming from the right side of the controller as you held it. So the first button you hit is A, and the second one is B.

 

[daviyoung]

I'm loving this analysis.

 

[TomServo]

A is the primary button
B is the secondary

X is along the X axis from the primary button
Y is along the Y axis from the primary button
Z is along the Z axis from the primary button

Very simple, and very intuitive.

The only people that think the PSx shapes are intuitive are those that have a number of hours logged on a PS console. I bought a PS2 for GoW / GoW2, and the QTEs are a nightmare. You can't even glance down to pick up the color like you can with the 360. You have to stop and focus on the shape printed on the button face.

 

[PokéKong]

Oh my, so many crazy explanations of why Nintendo set the letters backwards. I thought it was pretty simple, they're a Japanese company and the controller is a manga and you read from right to left...

I will always see the GameCube Controller as the only evolution of the classic controller. The reason is, that its the most userfriendly controller to date. Just becauce through the form of the buttons. Especially for new and casual gamers its easier to learn the button layout and find the right button fast.

Look at this:

Its much faster for a human to reconice a form then a letter inside a form. You can even easily feel the right button whitout looking down.

The shapes are helpful, but that's not completely why it was such a brilliant design, the placement was highly important too. Instead of an arbitrary plain of buttons laid out, their positions have actual meaning. Your thumb lands right onto the big A button, it's your primary button for confirming and doing whatever action in a game which you need to do most. It becomes the "home" of your thumb, and from there your thumb just slides forward, to the left or to the right to perform other actions, and then naturally falls back to A. The specific shapes have meaning too, B is round like A but smaller and it's the only button set lower, B typically functions as the antithesis of A, it cancels and performs your second most important action in the game usually. Likewise X and Y are different, performing more specialized and esoteric actions.

 

[molekiller]

Either way is correct. The reason Nintendo had A on the right and B on the left is they were considering the button order as the order your thumb would hit them coming from the right side of the controller as you held it. So the first button you hit is A, and the second one is B.

Weird explanation, the first and most comfortable button to press is always the left-most, so it should be A/X.

 

[BGBW]

But the controller didn't allow you to have access to two shoulder buttons and two triggers simultaneously.

Also that Octagon stick cage was a horrible idea. "CLACK CLACK CLACK."

Well it's impossible to press triggers if they are not even there, but those chunky sholder button are probably the most comfortable I've ever used. Also the octagon cage is great. You just have to be in the 50% who like it.

 

[TaroYamada]

I think it should be AB, XY left to right, given those are English characters and the English language reads left to right. I guess this isn't as big of a deal for non-native speakers like the Japanese.

Regardless when we see the alphabet if it is written ZYXW.... etc. we perceive this as backwards because we read from left to right, so when I am prompted on DS to hit B I usually hit 'A' because on the lower right row it is the furthest right. I am surprised so many think this is correct and 'natural' given that it flies in the face of the language many of you are using everyday.

 

[FyreWulff]

Weird explanation, the first and most comfortable button to press is always the left-most, so it should be A/X.

I'm talking about the NES, the SNES just carried it over from the SNES.

 

[Metal B]

The shapes are helpful, but that's not completely why it was such a brilliant design, the placement was highly important too. Instead of an arbitrary plain of buttons laid out, their positions have actual meaning. Your thumb lands right onto the big A button, it's your primary button for confirming and doing whatever action in a game which you need to do most. It becomes the "home" of your thumb, and from there your thumb just slides forward, to the left or to the right to perform other actions, and then naturally falls back to A. The specific shapes have meaning too, B is round like A but smaller and it's the only button set lower, B typically functions as the antithesis of A, it cancels and performs your second most important action in the game usually. Likewise X and Y are different, performing more specialized and esoteric actions.

Yes, thats also an important point, i forgot the mention. Even the colors of the button tell you right away there meaning. The colorful A und B Buttons show there importance for the game, while the grey X and Y buttons represent a more system function activity. The A button is not only big but also green, which underlines its "GO ON" or "YES" functions inside the games. While the red B Button of cource can be easly untderstand as "NO" Button, but also an agressive tune as most games use it as the attack-button.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

I don't care, so long as the Y button is the top of the diamond and A is the bottom.

Fuck you Nintendo.

I consider Triangle to be Y and Cross to be A.

Whenever I'm relaying controls to a pal, I always use the PlayStation buttons, even if it's an Xbox game. My pals all have PlayStations, so it's just easier that way. "Y" is "triangle", "B" is "circle" and so on. The confusion comes with "x", because that could mean "square", "cross", "x" or "a", which is why I always use the PS layout to explain controls.

Funnily though, I refer to R2 and L2 as right and left trigger, and the shoulder buttons as R1 and L1. It's all so very confusing.

 

[kinoki]

That looks hideous. Kill it with fire! My "Mega Man X"-grip would totally destory my wrist with that controller.

 

[LCfiner]

this is one area where sony is the undisputed king. shapes >>>> letters

Since I never owned a PS1, I feel the opposite. It took me ages to get my head around the position of the symbols.

Even after owning a PS3 since 2006, I still can't immediately remember where the symbols are. makes QTEs suck even more for me.

letters and colors "stick" in my head and form an easier pattern for me to remember. it feels less arbitrary. Now, i know people can make their own mnemonic devices and know that triangle is on top and that the number of lines in each symbol relates t its number and position... but that's never worked well for me.

A,B, X, Y just seems to work better for my brain.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Even after owning a PS3 since 2006, I still can't immediately remember where the symbols are. makes QTEs suck even more for me.

Man what? I didn't even own a PS2/PS1 when I played God of War for the first time, but I got the QTE's down pat in no time flat. I'm not saying they're better, but I find it weird that people could have trouble memorizing their positions, regardless of what the symbols were.

 

[LCfiner]

Man what? I didn't even own a PS2/PS1 when I played God of War for the first time, but I got the QTE's down pat in no time flat. I'm not saying they're better, but I find it weird that people could have trouble memorizing their positions, regardless of what the symbols were.

I know. brains are different.

I seem to snap to colors very quickly and easily but not so with shapes. See, I wouldn't buy that xbox controller with the adjustable d-pad because they got rid of the color on the buttons. But then I saw that they added the button colors to the MW3 version of that controller so I ended up getting one of those for PC playing.

I need those colors.

 

[Christine]

I can remember triangle and square consistently, but I always forget if it's cross or circle on the bottom.

 

[Brimstone]

The color diamond layout is fine for a,b,x, and y on the Xbox pad.

Just the Black and White should have been kidney bean shaped like on the Gamecube pad rather than smaller egg shapes. Also color coded magenta and cyan with a Delrex coating that Jim Dunlop guitar picks use.

 

[ZealousD]

have you never owned a playstation system or something? that would be the only reason for this the symbols are easy to remember.

I didn't know the difference between Square and Circle until I was essentially forced to learn by God of War.

 

[Orayn]

As someone who picks out buttons based on "identity" and common usage in-game, I really liked the Gamecube controller. Having a single primary button and three distinct companions just feels more intuitive to me, and it's no less efficient top user than the more traditional diamond configuration.

My biggest complaint about the GC controller was the kinda-sorta 8-way feel of the analog sticks. No, not the octagonal gate, but the little bumps that result from there being slightly lower resistance in the main directions.

 

[TheShampion]

:3 = press for cute cat

A controller with this button would ruin gaming for me because all I would do is press this button.