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"Y! WHAT. I HIT Y!! I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I HIT Y!!"
1: I meant why did they swap the A/B and X/Y locations that Nintendo had already established. We were all used to the SNES controller, and for whatever reason, Microsoft had to reverse everything.
2: Steam Keeping games off their store that don't natively support non-XBox controllers would be pointless. Steam forces compatibility with any controller I plug-into my PC, even if Windows doesn't know what the f&*# it is (think about that for a minute: Steam does a better job than Windows of managing plug-and-play HIDs. No drivers? No problem. I see a button. What do you want me to tell Windows when you press it?). That's good enough. The fact that I sometimes have to remember that Y means Triangle is a minor inconvenience.
3: I still haven't figured out a good way to hold any gamepad so I can use the right stick and push a button in the right cluster at the same time. For example: in SoM, I need to hold A to run, while using the right stick to steer, and at the same time hold R1 to tackle an Orc.
I end up holding A with my thumb, using the right stick with my right index finger, and grabbing R1 with my middle finger when the time comes. The modern gamepad isn't *really* a lot better than the old N64 monstrosity; it's just a little easier to use two buttons at the same time. If you need more than that, you need uncommon dexterity.
Could you use the aforementioned Steam Input to remap the buttons in a more sensible arrangement? Maybe someone has already had the same issue and done that, and there's a community button layout available? They shouldn't need to - that's on the dev - but the option is there.
Or, you could be a pioneer and design and build a brand new controller that makes more sense!
(although considering how little gamepad layouts & ergonomics seem to have changed with the past 2 or 3 big console releases, and how much they've remained the same the past 10 years, even with millions of dollars spent on R&D and play testing by all three big console makers, that seems like a pretty big challenge)
I genuinely love the way you're thinking.
I used to re-map all the controls to what I think of as "normal" (the SNES configuration). That made it easier for me to push the right button at the right prompt, but it (predictably) made everything feel backwards. Since Super Mario World, the button on the bottom of the right-side cluster has been "jump," and the button on the left of the same cluster has been "attack." Back then, we called those buttons "B" and "Y," respectively. Now we call them "A" and "X."
So when I used the Steam Controller Configurator to swap X for Y and A for B, I was now using the right button on the right-hand cluster to jump, and the top button to attack. That was *super* awkward.
True story: it was this game that taught me to re-map my muscle memory (at least nominally) to the new "normal." I was pretty much re-wired. I was fluent in XBox. When a game told me to tap X, I didn't have to think about it for even an instant; I just knew what that meant.
That all changed when I finally bought (you guessed it) a Nintendo Switch.
I'll tell you the worst part about all this:
I have Graveyard Keeper (and that's just my favorite example; this is equally true of other games) both on PC and Switch. On both versions you press X to attack with your sword, and A to interact with things in general. On the PC, that means I use the left button of the starboard cluster to attack, and the bottom button of the starboard cluster to interact with things. On the Switch, it means I use the top button and right button.
I think that's more do to lazy porting than anything else. It would be trivial (I hope) for the port team for any given platform to map the controls and change the in-game glyphs to match, so that in every version of the game, I'm pressing the same physical button to perform the same on-screen action. But for whatever reason, developers can't be bothered to do that for their Switch ports. Of course there are some who do, and that only proves that (a) it can be done, and (b) Nintendo isn't the problem.
But I digress.
I'd love to see some innovation in the dual-stick gamepad, but I don't think it will happen until the right stick is hole-hog replaced by a gyro. I know I'm in the minority here, but I absolutely loved my Steam Controller for exactly that reason (sadly, I lost it in the divorce). The dual track-pads worked unreasonably-well, and the gyro was a joy to use for aiming. My DS4 is fine, and the gyro aiming is very adequate. But it just doesn't feel as good as the one on the Steam Controller.
But not all hope is lost: Nintendo is famous for trying weird ♥♥♥♥ with their consoles. The N64 controller was absurd, but it was okay. The Gamecube essentially refined the ideas of the N64 controller into a button layout that could be used with only two hands. The Wii once again went somewhere totally innovative, with the wii-mote and optional nun-chuck attachment. The Wii U put a second screen in your hand (unfortunately an under-utilized feature that worked *incredibly* well when it was used (see Starfox Zero, Mass Effect 3), but was rarely taken into consideration by developers). The Switch took the ideas from the Wii/U (two controllers for two hands) and refined them into the joy-cons. A full, dual-stick gamepad for one player, or break it in half and hand one to player two. PS: remember how you could play your game exclusively on the Wii U's second screen? Yeah, we're keeping that as well. Now that expensive tablet is the entire console.
I like to say it this way: PlayStation has more Gigatrons. XBox has bigger Teleflorps. Nintendo says "you losers are still playing games on a TV? With buttons?"
And now everybody has motion controls of one type or another (popularized by the Wii), everybody has vibrating controllers (N64), and everybody has BlueTooth controllers (Wii again). Granted: the dual-stick controller was introduced on the PlayStation, as were the dual triggers, and I'm pretty sure XBox was first to have analog triggers (though Nintendo was first to have triggers on their gamepad, beginning with the SNES). But most of the game-changing innovations in the standard gamepad have come from Nintendo.
Wow. That was a way longer rant than I expected it to be, and it kinda went all over the place. I don't know if that's an apology or just an acknowledgement, but there you have it.
Lemme just lay this out from my own experience.
Having never owned an XBox (and therefore having no idea that those buttons are named "Right Bumper" and "Right Trigger") I began playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. The first time time I saw a prompt to press "RT," I had no idea what that meant. I quickly figured it must mean one of the triggers under my right index finger, of which there are two, one above the other. The only logical conclusion for me to make was that "RT" meant "Right Top" and "RB" meant "Right Bottom." Having *never, ever, ever* had any interest in owning an XBox or an XBob controller, it was literally *years later* that I discovered those abbreviations stood for "Right Bumper" and "Right Trigger."
If you're going to use "RT" and "RB" as abbreviations for two buttons under the right index finger, one of which is directly below the other, the only logical interpretations of those abbreviations is "Right Top" and "Right Bottom."
I am happy to hear arguments, but I will die on this hill.
You know what? No I won't. Because I'm f*$%ing right. YOU will die on this hill (assuming you disagree on this particular point), because I will win it. Because I'm right.
I never actually knew the Switch Controller and Xbox contoller had their buttons in the reverse order till you pointed that out! Yeah that would drive me nuts going back and forth.
My own experience with the Dualsense controller has been really frustrating using it on a PC, because so few games show the right prompts. It seems to be random. So I just have to memorize and map in my head a lot of the time, or go back to the Xbox controller, which I don't prefer.
I agree, I finally caved and got an Xbox controller having never played on an Xbox in my life. I find it more comfortable long-term, but my PS1&2 muscle memory always kicks in at the wrong time :)
Yes, but I found the quick time events in this game were a little challenging with the Playstation controller, so I putchased an Xbox controller.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch has an insanely hard training program to teach you combo moves. If you haven't played it, it's a side scrolling platformer but with some basic fighting game mechanics included, including combos. This "Master Wu" training is absolutely brutal. The timing is unforgiving. Imagine chaining together 5 Mortal Kombat fatalities in a row. It's the hardest thing I've ever done in any game. And you can't 100% the game or get the best weapon without completing it. Tons of people in the Steam discussions pulling their hair out for months trying to beat it, saying it's impossible.
And that game originally launched without Playstation button prompts. Can you imagine doing that button mapping in your head, blazing fast?
(thankfully they eventually yielded to customer pressure and added them in an update)