Nintendo: BA for Life
The NES was the first console to move away from the joysticks of the
Atari generation, opting instead for what would become an iconic design
in gamepads. Despite my previous complaint, note that A is indeed
mapped to the right of B. D’oh!
Following their ancestor’s example, nearly every Nintendo console is
mapped this way. This includes the SNES, Virtual Boy, Gamecube, every
iteration of the Game Boy, DS and Wii Classic Controller. The only
dissenters are the Nintendo 64 (bottom right picture), which also
experimented with a 4 way C button and a Z button on the back, and the
Wiimote, which maps A and B on different surfaces entirely.
Sega & Microsoft Love AB
In the early days, Sega was hot on Nintendo’s heels. The NES had A
and B buttons, so the Genesis added a C *. When the SNES added the X
and Y buttons, Sega one-upped them by adding a Z to the Saturn. The
Dreamcast controller was more minimal, perhaps inspired by Sony’s
popular newcomer, the Playstation. The one element that all Sega
controllers share is the AB orientation (the Game Gear labelled them 1
and 2, but arranged them in the same way.)
* It’s worth noting that the short-lived Atari Jaguar had A, B and C
buttons oriented the opposite way. It also featured a full numeric pad,
for a grand total of 17 individual buttons!
The first iteration of the Xbox controller, nicknamed “Duke”, was
bulky and unpleasant to hold. The four main buttons were on a strange
slant, putting the B almost directly above A. Fortunately, Microsoft
quickly responded to public criticism and began packaging the
Japan-exclusive “S” controller with their system. The new gamepad was
smaller and straightened out the button layout, a mapping they largely
reused for the Xbox 360.
Sony Goes Both Ways
The main buttons on the Playstation gamepad don’t use letters, but are instead labelled 
, 
, 
and 
.
The original Playstation saw three types of controllers over its
lifetime, adding dual analog sticks in 1997 and rumble in 1999. In
recent years the DualShock line has seen slow incremental improvements,
but they haven’t strayed far from the original design (mercifully they
abandoned the boomerang concept.)
In North America and Europe, games commonly use to confirm (the role of A) and to cancel (the role of B.) In Japan, however, the symbol is commonly associated with maru (right) while is identified with batsu (wrong.) Therefore the roles are reversed, confirms and
cancels. While the controls of most games are localized with this in
mind, games such as Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid were left
with their original mapping (to the general confusion of Western
players.)
I hope this has been an enlightening trip down memory lane. With all
the variety in gamepad mapping, it should come as no surprise that even
veteran gamers can be betrayed by their muscle memory sometimes.
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