Why do so many NES/GB/GBC/GBA emulators get this wrong?

[ChiefReginod]

B is the first button. A is the second.

Photographic proof:



I appreciate all the hard work put into the emulators in question (I won't name them), but how do you write an entire emulator without ever actually looking at the system it's for? Is A the first button in some regions or what? If not, what a mystery that this still happens. I mean it's almost to the point that it's the norm now.

 

[osaka35]

B is the first button. A is the second.

Photographic proof:

View attachment 277779

I appreciate all the hard work put into the emulators in question (I won't name them), but how do you write an entire emulator without ever actually looking at the system it's for? Is A the first button in some regions or what? If not, what a mystery that this still happens. I mean it's almost to the point that it's the norm now.

the nes and snes and n64 have the same order(B left, A right).

My guess is it's because usually the A button is used to go forward/progress, and the B button is the button to go back. So, A is the positive, B is the negative, which makes people want to place the "action" button as button 1, and the "go back" button as button 2.

Japanese also reads right to left, so with that understanding, A would come first since it's on the right. Which, honestly, might be why A is on the right and B is on the left.

My guess, anyway. could be wrong.

 

[ChiefReginod]

the nes and snes and n64 have the same order(B left, A right).

My guess is it's because usually the A button is used to go forward/progress, and the B button is the button to go back. So, A is the positive, B is the negative, which makes people want to place the "action" button as button 1, and the "go back" button as button 2.

Japanese also reads right to left, so with that understanding, A would come first since it's on the right. Which, honestly, might be why A is on the right and B is on the left.

My guess, anyway. could be wrong.

I could maybe see the positive and negative thing being a factor if the emulator is on a console where the confirm button is located before the cancel button (ie, Xbox). But I doubt this is the real issue since I've seen some emulators where even the joypad layout screen has the A button first. It's just factually wrong.

No matter how you slice it, if the run button is the first physical button and the jump button is the second physical button, it should probably be the same in emulators. Physical placement should take precedence over button labels.

And I know there's some irony in me saying this, but I have to chalk this all up to OCD. Some people's brains just can't handle the fact that B comes before A.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I actually prefer the B button to be the main button and I wish games/consoles still did that. Because the B button is where my finger naturally lands when I'm holding the controller, and pressing B+Y at the same time is more natural than pressing B+A at the same time since my thumb naturally covers the B button when I am pressing Y.

On Xbox or PC Xinput, the A button is the bottom one and that is much preferrable. Although I can't get used to how the buttons are switched around from the Nintendo layout I'm familiar with, when I play games on PC that use Xinput I always have to look down at the controller to make sure I press the right button. I much prefer having the bottom button be the main one.
The X button used to be the main button on PlayStation too but that was changed at some point I think because O to confirm and X to cancel just made more sense but they didn't want to move the buttons around. I still prefer X as the main button there too.

These days people are used to A being the main/confirm button, but it didn't use to be that way, and I don't know why it changed, when B was the main/confirm button it seemed natural, there was no reason to change it (unlike with the X/O thing on PS where it actually makes sense as mentioned)

This doesn't really apply to the Game Boy example though, A was always the primary button in Game Boy games.

 

[ChiefReginod]

The more I think about all of this, the more I realize that there are physical limitations on the way any controller can be laid out, and how the average player's age can play a part in the design as well.

For 2-button controllers, it makes the most sense to me that the buttons be placed diagonally from left to down since that's the more natural thumb placement. So, the Game Boy layout seems pretty weird since they're placed from down to right.

But this is where the age of the average player comes in. Although diagonally from left to down is the more natural placement for adult thumbs, it's not as much the case for children. So, the Game Boy's placement made the most sense for its intended demographic at the time, but most people playing the system present-day would probably be better off with the left to down placement. Otherwise you kind of have to hold the right side of the controller at an angle. But to each their own.

TL;DR: I guess it's not as black and white as matching the physical placement.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The more I think about all of this, the more I realize that there are physical limitations on the way any controller can be laid out, and how the average player's age can play a part in the design as well.

For 2-button controllers, it makes the most sense to me that the buttons be placed diagonally from left to down since that's the more natural thumb placement. So, the Game Boy layout seems pretty weird since they're placed from down to right.

But this is where the age of the average player comes in. Although diagonally from left to down is the more natural placement for adult thumbs, it's not as much the case for children. So, the Game Boy's placement made the most sense for its intended demographic at the time, but most people playing the system present-day would probably be better off with the left to down placement. Otherwise you kind of have to hold the right side of the controller at an angle. But to each their own.

TL;DR: I guess it's not as black and white as matching the physical placement.

That makes sense, but I played SNES as a kid and never had any trouble pressing Y and B at the same time. Then again I guess I have larger than average hand size.

 

[Taleweaver]

So... How many emulators do you find where the buttons can't be remapped?

I'm all for exchanging opinions, but jeez... Talk about a non - issue.

 

[MORSHU8KRTXON]

So... How many emulators do you find where the buttons can't be remapped?

I'm all for exchanging opinions, but jeez... Talk about a non - issue.

Nintendo's official emulators

 

[Taleweaver]

Nintendo's official emulators

You can't remap your keys in those?

(no, I haven't tried these. If not, I stand corrected).

 

[MORSHU8KRTXON]

You can't remap your keys in those?

(no, I haven't tried these. If not, I stand corrected).

No

 

[ack]

B is the first button. A is the second.

Photographic proof:

View attachment 277779

I appreciate all the hard work put into the emulators in question (I won't name them), but how do you write an entire emulator without ever actually looking at the system it's for? Is A the first button in some regions or what? If not, what a mystery that this still happens. I mean it's almost to the point that it's the norm now.

probably because a is before b in the alphabet, and people read left to right, so its very hard to have your brain not autocomplete to that

 

[ChiefReginod]

So... How many emulators do you find where the buttons can't be remapped?

I'm all for exchanging opinions, but jeez... Talk about a non - issue.

Well, it's a bit like building a 3D model of a car without ever actually looking at a car to see that they have four wheels. You put all of that work into it and that's great, but but come on... 5 wheels? I'm not complaining since I can remap them anyway. It's just baffling to me and kind of funny.

probably because a is before b in the alphabet, and people read left to right, so its very hard to have your brain not autocomplete to that

I suspect that this is the case. But imagine if you were to alphabetize the SNES controller's buttons and put them sequentially on the keyboard like this:

ABLRXY = ZXCVBN

Pure madness.

 

[subcon959]

In Japan, the first button is the one on the right. Here's a PC Engine pad which makes it less ambiguous..