Why is the circle button the default in Japanese PS imports?

[josekortez]

I've always wondering why the buttons reversed on Japanese and other Asian PlayStation and PlayStation 2 imports. In the U.S., X is the default button, but the circle button is the default button in Japan. Does anybody have a clue about why this is the case?

[DefaultGen]

Developers were trying to trip up people who play a lot of imports so that you'd always mess up in the menu of any given game.

(I dunno, Circle seems like "Yes" and X seems like "No" ?)

[Gapporin]

I don't know why, but I know that some games didn't revert the control scheme when they were released in the US. It always tripped me up when Circle was the main button, and X meant Back. It should always be the other way around, IMO (and whenever I use the PS controller on my PC, I always set it up in that manner).

[Kyle15]

O's and X's are common symbols of yes, no, correct, and incorrect in Japan.
It makes sense, but I do not see why most games that get translated have the X and O buttons swapped.

[Aussie2B]

If you want to get technical, it's the US that has the reversed controls since Japan laid down the pattern first. I don't know what the first US game to switch the controls was, but at some point I think localizers just got stuck doing it because American gamers got accustomed to those contols and no company would want their game getting negative press over the controls being different from the standard (of course, that didn't stop some companies from leaving it as is).

Who knows why they did it, maybe they were thinking "yes/accept" would be pressed the most and X is at the most natural position for the thumb, requiring the least amount of movement.

Personally, I have no problems getting used to either. It only weirds me out for a minute if I own both regions' versions of a game and I suddenly decide to pop in the other after playing one for awhile. In concept, I like the Japanese style better just because it's the way things are "supposed" to be and it's a bit more logical.

[SkiDragon]

Think of the SNES, which is what the PSX copied it's controller from. Wasn't A used more ofter for confirm than B was? I could be wrong, and it certainly worked both ways.

[The 1 2 P]

O's and X's are common symbols of yes, no, correct, and incorrect in Japan.
It makes sense, but I do not see why most games that get translated have the X and O buttons swapped.

You got it. X has a negative connotation in Japan and thus they use the circle button to confirm menu options because circle/O means "yes".

On a related note, this is just one more reason why the Xbox 360 continues to fail over in Japan. To them, it's translated into the "no"box 360 (and the original "no" box before it). Now I know this may seem silly to us(and it is) but those crazy Japanese are very...odd. But I suppose they think the same thing about us.

[Cryomancer]

I never understood how X was supposed to mean yes. I prefer the Japanese style in this case.

[Rogue]

Its because the SNES layout. A before B. X before Y.
It's not really "the SNES" layout, but the "japanese layout". For the japanese people, pressing the last right button is more easy than pressing the left button.

I have some Saturn dev manuals and there they say to the developers to use the C button as primary button. Because is better for players.

I think about this since I played Daytona USA for the first time, why the default button is C, to accel and to choose the track...

It's japanese oddity, for me...

In the Playstation they use the O as primary, and X to cancel. One word: Weird. I don't know if they have smaller hands or why is that, some japanese should explain it for us.

The N64 don't have this problem, A and B are well placed for anyone.

[DJ Daishi]

!!! topic of the year! I myself am constantly switching between US and Jpn PS2 games (Killer7/Melty Blood) so I know this problem very well.

[DJ Daishi]

I never understood how X was supposed to mean yes. I prefer the Japanese style in this case.

yeah, it always felt more comfortable to me to use the "O" as the enter button.

[Rogue]

that's true, the O means yes and the X means no...

but the fact is that sony choosed the actual position of O and X because they consider the right buton the primary...

that's the weird thing... not the simbols...

[PapaStu]

Its because the SNES layout. A before B. X before Y.
It's not really "the SNES" layout, but the "japanese layout". For the japanese people, pressing the last right button is more easy than pressing the left button.

Well since the PlayStation and its controller development took so much from the SNES controller that would be why its mimicked the SNES controller and its button mapping. Besides many developers and publishers who did SNES games went on to make PlayStation games. They just kept the layout that worked well in the minds of their primary market. No need to change something that wasn't broken to them.