Ask Lemmy

as someone who has never had a playstation, knowing now the original semantic meanings of the playstation glyps i think they're the best compromise IF we go back to their original meanings. they had it right the first time with hlw intuitive it is to have O being confirm and X being cancel, and it'd keep Nintendo people somewhat happy because confirm is still the far right button. maybe they could also release a version with reversed or hotswappable buttons, using the current PS layout (which in this case would be O on the bottom and X on the right) to throw a bone to the xbox crowd because this compromise doesn't do anything for them otherwise

or like another commenter suggested, we throw out the diamond button layout, too tainted by the competing standards of the console wars, and use the gamecube layout like God intended

X-inverted c-stick southpaw

It would have to be modular and customizable. Whether the buttons can be removed and swapped around like key caps, or the D-pads and sticks are on interchangeable units, users would have to be able to arrange things a few different ways to get literally everyone on board.

One joystick, two buttons.

Mouse and keyboard,

Nintendo's ABXY makes the most sense to me among the modern controllers, but imo nothing beats their Gamecube's ABXY layout.

No one has mentioned grip paddles/buttons yet and I really want those to be standard.

I would go with the design of the PS5 controller but with ABXY instead of circle square etc. And do it right way around like Xbox not backwards like Nintendo. Oh and go with an actual cruciform D-pad instead of the four buttons that are actually a D pad under the plastic thing. FFS.

We achieved perfection with the Atari Jaguar and have strayed from its light further every day since

Also shout out for the NegCon

Final unironic answer, the OG Xbox duke is the ultimate layout, maybe the 20th anniversary version

https://xkcd.com/927/

Layout does not matter as much in my opinion, it's been fine since the snes controller and not evolved much past the ps1 controller which still works great to this day. I think per game rebinds are missing very often from games made during the last decade at least. Some programmer with a God complex just decided: this is how I would set the controls now everyone who wants to play my game better get used to this.

On a pc you can at least use some external tool to rebind the controller, but it's a lot of hassle and there are lots and lots of other games to play. I think this kind of attitude costs customers.

And don't get me started on console games. They are made for sheeple, there is not even an option to rebind the controller for any games available to this day. Correct me if I am wrong. But I was playing gran turismo in vr at my brothers the other day. The shift up is on the lower button and vica versa for some reason. Sure you can get used to this after a couple of hours but it feels like having look up and down reversed while playing a fps.

Why on earth are there still any games available in 2025 that don't let the user rebind the controls to their liking?

The one Xbox layout (asymmetric sticks) is to me the best.
I don't see it any other way.

Are you by any chance a Nintendo hardware dev and need inspiration? ;)