The button names are already confusing enough as it is...
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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Logo uses joystick by liftarn
founded 2 years ago
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It's confusing because it doesn't make sense, what is it the left/right third of? There is no feature on the controller that has any amount of sequential things. There is no identifiable "first" or anything ordered anywhere.
That's why these buttons should be called LS, LB and LT for stick, button and trigger, which is still not perfectly intuitive without knowledge of the layout, but better than 123.
Nobody knows wtf that letter soup stands for.
PlayStation 1 came out having R1, R2 (right side buttons) and same for Left side buttons. The thumb sticks didn't exist yet on the controller. So when they were added the joysticks, they needed a designation, so they said right 3 and left 3
It made more sense if you grew up with the evolution of the controller. SNES - L and R are the left and right buttons on the top. PS1 - L2 and R2 are the buttons behind the left and right buttons on the top. PS1 dualshock - L3 and R3 are the left and right sticks being pressed in.
Naaaah. They could just have labeled L3 and R3. R1 and R2 and engraved and way more intuitive than RB and RT.
the ps shoulder buttons have always been labeled L1/L2 and R1/R2. literally stamped into the plastic.
Yarp, and the 3 buttons didn't exist when PlayStation came out (94') they were added with the joysticks in 97'.
7 year old me which didn't know English was way more confused about the Xbox controllers. Plat station's were way easier to understand. The problem with L3 and R3 is that I didn't even know the sticks could be used as buttons, once I learned that, L3 and R3 made a lot of sense.
I know the L-R of Xbox were buttons, I just wasn't able to understand which was which. Sony being a Japanese company, imagine if they named their buttons some random japanese characters. That's what Xbox buttons were to me.
The general population has no clue what a button or a trigger is most of the time and also have no clue what LB,RB,LT,RT even mean. You have to sit there and go “hmmm okay I see it’s right but now I need to remember what T and B mean” and it’s unintuitive, only makes sense to those who know it already.
Whereas numbers people actually know how they work and when you just say L and R people pick up on it easier. They can just figure out that top is 1 and 2 is bottom. Even helps them understand L3 and R3 better.
I have almost never seen someone new to games understand the stick button prompt easily with Xbox. Whereas a lot of PS controller sessions taught me that people who are new can even figure that out before I jump in to help them. Plus the icons are better. Shapes are less brain work than letters for a lot of people I know.
I still hate pressing the sticks for most anything. First thing I do in most games on my steam deck is remap them to the back paddle buttons.
I hate when the default controls have duck toggled on R3 but then don't have anything on two of the 4 face buttons. Crouch should be on Circle/B if you're not using that button for anything else.
No...
The entire reason it's like that is so you can crouch and aim at the same time, it's almost objectively better, as long as you don't accidently press it.
The best control schemes are the ones that bind any action that would be useful to do while still controlling the camera to the back buttons or the sticks.
I'm talking about a toggle tho. It's not going to be accidentally toggled if its not on the stick, and the stick press is usually really sensitive. I can also hit the far right face button with the first knuckle of my thumb, while still having the end of my thumb moving stick.
If there was no toggle crouch in the theoretical game, then I would agree with you.
Stick buttons should always be toggles in my opinion. Fuck having to keep that pressed in while moving it around.
What game does that? Any game I've ever played that used them for crouch was press for crouch, press and hold for a half second to go prone.
I prefer toggle crouch and I still much prefer it on the right stick. Allows you to spam crouch and aim at the same time, but do you. I just think it's objectively better and hate when any action I would use while controlling the camera is on a face button.
My main point is there is a genuine reason it's mapped to the stick by default, I would be annoyed if it was on the face buttons by default.
I think we can both agree that being able to make any button do any thing is the best way to go about it. I hate being limited to a single scheme, or even just 2 or 3 and not being able to 100℅ fully customize them.
Yes.
Breath of the wild is the worst. Crouch, as a toggle control, on L3.
Would be way worse to be hold. You know what I hate more than pressing L/R34? Holding them
That was the industry standard for a long time and it still pops up sporadically.
7 year old me also didn't know about the L3 and R3 buttons. But this was the controller I had at the time so perhaps reasonable.
These were mine:
The controller that came with the Atari 5200 was complete ass. That third-party one was much, much better.
I only had this at 7
They broke on WinterGames...
I had QuickShot I and QuickShot II
Hell yeah. A damn fine joystick, until the leaf switches break
Unironically, the NES controller and game boy advance controls are still some of my favorites
big if true
It's actually quite small
It confused me at 34.
1,2 shipped with the original console. 3 was added later.
You only get to know if you've looked at the game manuals of old, and seen them annotated. I still refer to them as left/right stick in
Oh yeah, push that stick right in.
Giggety
The only time a quick-time event was ever good is when God of War 3 made you press those
Poseidon in shambles
7 year old me was playing with keyboard, and years later i graduated to keyboard and mouse. the only reason i touch a controller is to give it to my kid.