Xbox controllers put Confirm on the Down button and Cancel on the Right — 5ch users torn over ‘I absolutely hate this’

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The story

Xbox-style controllers, like many other devices including the PS5, PC, Google, and Apple products, use a layout where the bottom button confirms and the right button cancels. A thread titled “I absolutely hate this” on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board sparked debate over this layout, along with a stream of trivia about controller button layouts — including how confusing PlayStation’s circle/X notation is, and the fact that the original Xbox’s button layout actually differed from current consoles.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:38
I wish it were reversed.
3AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:41
Wait, isn't A the confirm button on Xbox?
I thought A was confirm when using an Xbox controller on PC.
5AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:42
Re: #3
The position of A is different from the Pro Controller (Switch's).
6AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:42
Just swap it then.
7AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:43
Re: #6
If you swap it, the in-game controls get swapped too.
In games where B is dodge and A is jump, that flips as well.
12AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:46
Re: #7
Not my problem.
If you hate the confirm button, just put up with the rest.
You already put up with reversed jump layouts in some games anyway, right?
84AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:46
Re: #7
It doesn't, though? PS is the only one that gets messed up.
9AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:44
You'd think you'd get used to different button layouts in about a minute, but maybe people just adapt at different speeds.
14AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:47
Re: #9
I got used to it, but I still don't like it.
11AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:45
Thumb-angle-wise, the Xbox layout actually makes more sense.
13AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:46
Re: #11
I liked it at first, but eventually I started thinking, 'Actually, Right-confirm/Down-cancel is better after all.'
15AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:51
By the way, the original Xbox had a different button layout than it does now.
18AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:53
Re: #15
Wrong image again.
Here's the Japanese version.
The only real change was the Black/White buttons becoming LB/RB — it never flip-flopped as much as the 'certified' one (Nintendo's licensed pads).
19AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:54
Re: #15
Wrong image again.
Here's the Japanese version.
The only real change was the Black/White buttons becoming LB/RB — it never flip-flopped as much as the 'certified' one (Nintendo's licensed pads).
49AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:10
Every now and then some idiot claims the Xbox layout is "rational because the buttons are in alphabetical order," but as Re: #15 shows, Microsoft clearly wasn't thinking that far ahead.
And of course, the claim that it copied the Dreamcast's button layout is nonsense too.
17AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:53
I was wondering what 'Pro Con' meant — it's the Switch Pro Controller, right?
Guess that kind of confusion happens once you're jumping between different consoles.
23AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:55
Re: #19
No, the one in Re: #15 is the real "original" controller.
That other one is a later revision, not the original.
26AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:57
Re: #23
Quit lying.
25AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:56
Xbox (Sega) style:
Xbox, PC (including Steam), PS5, Google, Apple, and many more

Nintendo style:
Nintendo only (lol)

Bow down to Sega.
29AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:58
Re: #25
Wasn't Sega's confirm button C, though?
27AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:57
Re: #17
Yeah, exactly.
People who use a Pro Controller on PC usually swap A/B and X/Y around.
34AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:01
Re: #27
Why would you even bother using a Pro Controller on PC?
37AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:01
Re: #34
Probably people who don't own an Xbox controller use a Pro Controller instead?
31AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:59
Coming from Nintendo, which flip-flopped all over the place with the N64 and GameCube, that's rich lol.
33AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:00
Re: #31
Y
B X
A

The GameCube was the only one with this layout, right?
32AnonymousSep 2, 2026 11:59
Re: #29
A was confirm on that one too — just look at the Dreamcast.
There, I win.
35AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:01
Re: #32
What's a 'Dreamcast'?
39AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:02
Sony be like: "X is confirm, circle is cancel. The wrong-answer mark confirms, the correct-answer mark cancels."

Are they stupid?
45AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:07
Re: #39
It probably got weird because they decided it based on button position alone.
It's like pressing the AC button and getting blasted with hot air.
50AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:14
My controller is the PowerA Fusion Pro 3 — 4 back paddles.
People call it the "generic Elite Controller 2."
The Fusion Pro 4 is out now and the 3 has been discontinued, so prices shot up to around 30,000 yen, but it used to go for just over 10,000 yen.
I've used mine for 3 years and it hasn't broken.
FYI the 4 is garbage — they cheaped out with plastic stick components, the build feels way cheaper, and it drifts more easily.
Don't buy the 4, go with the 3.
Hall-effect sticks don't even matter — just slap on some Skull & Co. stick grips and your aim gets massively better.



51AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:15
Sony and Xbox already match, so at this point Nintendo should really fall in line too.
74AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:40
On PC, Xbox, and PS5, Down is confirm and Right is cancel.
Nintendo has it reversed, so it gets confusing if you own a Switch too.
75AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:41
Re: #74
PlayStation is the most confusing one, honestly.
What's up with X being confirm and circle being cancel?
So the correct-answer mark cancels and the wrong-answer mark confirms?
79AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:44
Re: #75
Look at your PC's power button.
Circle is off, and circle-with-a-line-through-it is on, right?
81AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:46
Re: #79
So what…
86AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:47
Re: #79
You look at the window close button a million times more than any PC power button.
78AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:44
PlayStation actually had Down as confirm from the very start, back on the PS1.

Except in Japan and Korea — those were the only places with Right as confirm.
Figures, brother nations and all (lol)
85AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:47
Re: #78
Liar, Gran Turismo, Ape Escape, and Crash Bandicoot had Circle/X as confirm and Square/Triangle as cancel.
88AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:49
Re: #85
There are exceptions to everything.
Super Mario Kart and Secret of Mana on the Super Famicom had B as confirm, lol.
89AnonymousSep 2, 2026 12:50
Re: #85
Those came out after PlayStation expanded into America and X became the confirm button.
Sony agonized between the circle-confirm it had set and the X-confirm it had set, and what Sony landed on was… circle/X as confirm.
Honestly, that's incredibly dumb.

Background and key points of this discussion

The Xbox-style button layout is shared across many platforms — the PS5, PC, Google, and Apple — with Nintendo standing alone as the one using its own layout, and that’s the starting point of the thread. Commenters brought up the popular claim that “the Xbox layout is rational because the buttons run in alphabetical order,” but this was debunked using an image of the original Xbox controller, showing that this wasn’t actually the design philosophy behind it. The thread also covered the history of PlayStation’s circle/X notation — how X became the confirm button once PlayStation expanded into North America, while Japan and Korea alone kept circle as confirm. Many commenters argued the layout debate comes down to “familiarity” rather than “rationality,” and opinions were clearly split between defenders of the Nintendo layout and supporters of the Xbox-style layout.

※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Xbox: “Confirm is the Down button, Cancel is the Right button” — I absolutely hate this

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