Who has the better ABXY button scheme?

[SuicidalYoshi]

This refers to the order in which both companies place the buttons. Nintendo puts A right, B down, X up, Y left. Microsoft swaps A and B, and X and Y, being: A down, B right, X left, Y up. This is a battle of the SNES/DS scheme vs Xbox scheme.

 

[darthnazgul]

I don't really have a preference. For me, it depends more on the shape of the buttons and the spacing between them. And in that respect I prefer Microsoft's, but only just.

Also, I feel this is relevant:

 

[Booster]

Psst...you forgot Dreamcast, Retro counts.

Goes to Microsoft though, the A button on a Nintendo controller may accidentally cause you to press the X button due to the location of the button

 

[Saikyoshi]

I have to give this one to Microsoft. I keep accidentally pressing B when I mean to press A whenever I try to compare the two, and playing Super Smash Flash 2 on a PS3 controller (which has a similar layout to the Xbox's controller, in the sense that the "confirm" button is on the bottom and the "cancel" button is on the right), it feels weird to use standard attacks with what I keep thinking is supposed to be the special attack button, but I have to to get used to SSB3D's layout.

 

[Claire Diviner]

Frankly speaking, the button layouts are identical. The only thing that's different are the label of the buttons.

The buttons function the same way A (Nintendo) and B (Xbox) are for confirmations, B (Nintendo) A (Xbox) are for cancelling selections/jumping in platformers. Y (Nintendo) X (Xbox) dashes in certain games, etc..

It does make quick-time events in games annoying though, since assuming one plays both systems on a semi-regular basis, it can often force players to look down at their controllers to find the right buttons. I still have a hard time with distinguishing between X and Y on the GCN controller when playing Mario Party.