4 ms·

They mention X and O on the PS controller but usually in games O is for no and X is for yes. Completely opposite of the batsu/maru, incorrent/correct they were

They mention X and O on the PS controller but usually in games O is for no and X is for yes. Completely opposite of the batsu/maru, incorrent/correct they were discussing.

chewxy 12y ago
Try playing some Japanese games on PS. It's the other way round in Japanese games
serf 12y ago
not always. western games tend to be bound that way, but Japanese games, espescially RPGs , were not. example : final fantasy 7 control bindings. http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/ff7/buttons.php http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/ff7/buttons.php
- Sektor 12y ago
  Interestingly the positioning of the two matches the common use of the nintendo buttons, A for confirm and B for cancel. The western Playstation games are really the exception to the rule.
teamonkey 12y ago
In Japan they're sometimes switched. That is to say, I've worked on PS3 games where the US SKU had X=accept, O=back but the Japanese SKU had X=back, O=accept. [edited]
- ekianjo 12y ago
  In Japan the actual convention is X=cancel/back and O=select/validate. Most japanese games follow that, because the Batsu/Maru meaning is obvious in Japanese with these symbols.
edmccard 12y ago
On the PS1, Final Fantasy VII was O=yes, X=no, and so were a bunch of the less mainstream JRPGS; also, Metal Gear Solid games were O=yes, X=no at least into the PS2 era.
- _frog 12y ago
  I actually distinctly remember getting a copy of Metal Gear Solid 2 and being confused why I couldn't start the game. Hitting any button on the splash screen would take you to the menu, and then hitting X from there would take you back to the splash screen. Having primarily played western games up to that point, it didn't even occur to me that another button could be used for 'confirm'.
ntSean 12y ago
In Japanese variants, he is correct. When Sony westernized the playstation controller, the O and X functionality was flipped. Sony is yet to comment on the reasons why.
- cbhl 12y ago
  I thought the popular rumor was this was to help people with Nintendo 64 muscle memory, where the X corresponded (loosely) with where the A button was positioned, and the O corresponded to where the B was positioned.
  - qu4z-2 12y ago
    My SNES muscle memory prefers the Japanese version. :)
  - ANTSANTS 12y ago
    You're wrong on both counts. B is still to the left of A on N64 controllers, and the PlayStation launched a year before the N64 in America.
- teamonkey 12y ago
  It might be because of Sega's consoles, which were more popular in the US than they were in Japan, where Nintendo ruled. The Genesis' button layout was A,B,C arranged in a diagonal from bottom-left to top-right. A was usually 'accept'. The Dreamcast had a diamond with A at the bottom and B to the right. Nintendo's Famicom buttons read A,B from right-to-left, and that trend continued with the Super Famicom's diamond, which had A to the right and B at te bottom. The N64 had a weird layout, but again B was to the left of A. Sony probably focus tested the pad in the US and found that players were more used to Sega's layout.
  - anon4 12y ago
    SNES was also more popular than the Genesis in the west.
    - 12y ago
_frog 12y ago
It seems like Sony, being a Japanese company, originally intended for O to represent yes, and X to represent no. If you look at a lot of early PlayStation games, or most modern games released in Japan, that convention is apparent. The O and X buttons on the PlayStation controller even match the placement of A and B buttons on Nintendo's controllers, providing a clear analogue between the two. I'd be curious to know what caused that convention to change in the west.
- lnanek2 12y ago
  Makes sense to me. We have scan sheets and forms with empty bubbles and boxes meaning, "not this one," and we put a check mark, X, or other mark in them to indicate our selection.
- Guvante 12y ago
  > I'd be curious to know what caused that convention to change in the west. The XBox controller has a swapped A/B pair and uses A confirm B cancel.
  - anon4 12y ago
    The XBox controller is a clone of the Dreamcast controller. If you go back even further to the Megadrive, it had 6 buttons (on advanced controllers) with two rows of buttons - xyz and ABC arrayed from left to right. When the Playstation 1 was released, the two consoles consumers could have been familiar with in the west were Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive. SNES had the familiar ABXY, but mirrored with AX on the right. It used A for yes and B for no. The Megadrive had the aforementioned ABCxyz and also used A for yes and B for no. Meaning, one console used the bottom button for yes and the one on its right for no (Megadrive), while the other had the bottom button for no and the one on the right for yes (SNES). So I doubt SONY copied the competition for their decision to swap the yes/no buttons.
    - ANTSANTS 12y ago
      >SNES had the familiar ABXY, but mirrored with AX on the right. Those of us that grew up with Nintendo consoles would say that B on the left of A is the natural order of things ;) >Meaning, one console used the bottom button for yes and the one on its right for no (Megadrive) Actually, almost every Megadrive game I've played lets you use both A and C for accept in menus, so you could use whichever orientation you were more comfortable with.
gambiting 12y ago
If you buy a PSP or PS Vita in Japan it will use O as accept and X for cancel in the system menu. Not sure about the home consoles.

They mention X and O on the PS controller but usually in games O is for no and X is for yes. Completely opposite of the batsu/maru, incorrent/correct they were discussing.

chewxy 12y ago

Try playing some Japanese games on PS. It's the other way round in Japanese games

serf 12y ago

not always. western games tend to be bound that way, but Japanese games, espescially RPGs , were not. example : final fantasy 7 control bindings. http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/ff7/buttons.php http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/ff7/buttons.php

Sektor 12y ago
Interestingly the positioning of the two matches the common use of the nintendo buttons, A for confirm and B for cancel. The western Playstation games are really the exception to the rule.

teamonkey 12y ago

In Japan they're sometimes switched. That is to say, I've worked on PS3 games where the US SKU had X=accept, O=back but the Japanese SKU had X=back, O=accept. [edited]

ekianjo 12y ago
In Japan the actual convention is X=cancel/back and O=select/validate. Most japanese games follow that, because the Batsu/Maru meaning is obvious in Japanese with these symbols.

edmccard 12y ago

On the PS1, Final Fantasy VII was O=yes, X=no, and so were a bunch of the less mainstream JRPGS; also, Metal Gear Solid games were O=yes, X=no at least into the PS2 era.

_frog 12y ago
I actually distinctly remember getting a copy of Metal Gear Solid 2 and being confused why I couldn't start the game. Hitting any button on the splash screen would take you to the menu, and then hitting X from there would take you back to the splash screen. Having primarily played western games up to that point, it didn't even occur to me that another button could be used for 'confirm'.

ntSean 12y ago

In Japanese variants, he is correct. When Sony westernized the playstation controller, the O and X functionality was flipped. Sony is yet to comment on the reasons why.

cbhl 12y ago
I thought the popular rumor was this was to help people with Nintendo 64 muscle memory, where the X corresponded (loosely) with where the A button was positioned, and the O corresponded to where the B was positioned.
- qu4z-2 12y ago
  My SNES muscle memory prefers the Japanese version. :)
- ANTSANTS 12y ago
  You're wrong on both counts. B is still to the left of A on N64 controllers, and the PlayStation launched a year before the N64 in America.
teamonkey 12y ago
It might be because of Sega's consoles, which were more popular in the US than they were in Japan, where Nintendo ruled. The Genesis' button layout was A,B,C arranged in a diagonal from bottom-left to top-right. A was usually 'accept'. The Dreamcast had a diamond with A at the bottom and B to the right. Nintendo's Famicom buttons read A,B from right-to-left, and that trend continued with the Super Famicom's diamond, which had A to the right and B at te bottom. The N64 had a weird layout, but again B was to the left of A. Sony probably focus tested the pad in the US and found that players were more used to Sega's layout.
- anon4 12y ago
  SNES was also more popular than the Genesis in the west.
  - 12y ago

_frog 12y ago

It seems like Sony, being a Japanese company, originally intended for O to represent yes, and X to represent no. If you look at a lot of early PlayStation games, or most modern games released in Japan, that convention is apparent. The O and X buttons on the PlayStation controller even match the placement of A and B buttons on Nintendo's controllers, providing a clear analogue between the two. I'd be curious to know what caused that convention to change in the west.

lnanek2 12y ago
Makes sense to me. We have scan sheets and forms with empty bubbles and boxes meaning, "not this one," and we put a check mark, X, or other mark in them to indicate our selection.
Guvante 12y ago
> I'd be curious to know what caused that convention to change in the west. The XBox controller has a swapped A/B pair and uses A confirm B cancel.
- anon4 12y ago
  The XBox controller is a clone of the Dreamcast controller. If you go back even further to the Megadrive, it had 6 buttons (on advanced controllers) with two rows of buttons - xyz and ABC arrayed from left to right. When the Playstation 1 was released, the two consoles consumers could have been familiar with in the west were Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive. SNES had the familiar ABXY, but mirrored with AX on the right. It used A for yes and B for no. The Megadrive had the aforementioned ABCxyz and also used A for yes and B for no. Meaning, one console used the bottom button for yes and the one on its right for no (Megadrive), while the other had the bottom button for no and the one on the right for yes (SNES). So I doubt SONY copied the competition for their decision to swap the yes/no buttons.
  - ANTSANTS 12y ago
    >SNES had the familiar ABXY, but mirrored with AX on the right. Those of us that grew up with Nintendo consoles would say that B on the left of A is the natural order of things ;) >Meaning, one console used the bottom button for yes and the one on its right for no (Megadrive) Actually, almost every Megadrive game I've played lets you use both A and C for accept in menus, so you could use whichever orientation you were more comfortable with.

gambiting 12y ago

If you buy a PSP or PS Vita in Japan it will use O as accept and X for cancel in the system menu. Not sure about the home consoles.