A, Y, B, X - what should they be called?

[diligentcircle]

SNES was, overall more popular than NES and YBXA is now synonymous with Nintendo.

I never heard of that.

...because it's only really to do SFII.

Er, no, I meant that I've never heard of "YBXA [being] synonymous with Nintendo" as a result of the SNES's popularity.

 

[SNESFAN]

action buttons


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamepad

 

[Nintendo]

action buttons


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamepad

I like that link.

SNES was, overall more popular than NES and YBXA is now synonymous with Nintendo.

I never heard of that.

...because it's only really to do SFII.

Er, no, I meant that I've never heard of "YBXA [being] synonymous with Nintendo" as a result of the SNES's popularity.

It was in my head from the 90's.

 

[dgame]

Pandora's A, Y, B, and X buttons are those buttons to the right of the right nub


Pandora's A, Y, B, and X keys are those keys on they keyboard

 

[foxblock]

I have always said "action buttons", I don't really know why...


Saying, it does not make sense because all buttons are executing some kind of action can be countered by saying that all buttons can be used for gaming. Sure some are preferred, but so are they for doing some kind of action.


Just adding another term to "... button" actually makes it clear that one is not talking about the keyboard literal A key (like dgame said: even saying "button" versus "key" might already indicate that).

 

[gp32rich]

I was going to vote 'Action Buttons' but then I read this:

I use "game buttons"/"gaming buttons", myself, as in appearance they're readily recognisable as this.

The term "action buttons" is mildly confusing to me, because any button can perform an action, and many games specifically refer to one particular button as *the* "action button".

 

[Exophase]

ive always used "face buttons"

Same.


"button" by itself wouldn't be ambiguous to me though. I call the others "keys."

 

[Christoph.Krn]

"Face buttons" as in "Press the B face button" is quite ambiguous. Likewise the differentiation using "button" or "key": "Press the B key" may be clear enough, but "Press the B button" is not.

[...] many games specifically refer to one particular button as *the* "action button".

That's a good point.

SNES was, overall more popular than NES and YBXA is now synonymous with Nintendo.

I like both the YBXAES and SYBXAES.

 

[Prometheus]

I was thinking about this some more, and I remembered the terminology frequently used surrounding the old computers which have been said to have partly inspired the Pandora.


It tended to be that people would refer to all of the buttons on a joystick or gamepad as the "fire buttons". This is archaic, but it's another possible term to think about.

 

[Exophase]

"Press the B key" may be clear enough, but "Press the B button" is not.

There's nothing intrinsically ambiguous about it, maybe you should find out how many people really think it's natural to refer to the keys as buttons? Even if you really are posed with a question would anyone really default to pressing the keyboard?

 

[iprice]

I dunno about buttons, but I'm still trying to find the "ANY" key on my computer :lol:

 

[Binky]

^ should be made more easily accessible on the P2

 

[Nintendo]

I like both the YBXAES and SYBXAES.

What is ES and S? (Start?)

 

[Christoph.Krn]

What is ES and S? (Start?)

'Entertainment System' and 'Super' respectively, why'd you ask?

 

[Fzero]

I like ▲●X■


..or 'game buttons'


'action buttons' makes me think of other buttons like 'start/select' or the Pandora logo button in this case

 

[Christoph.Krn]

There's nothing intrinsically ambiguous about it, maybe you should find out how many people really think it's natural to refer to the keys as buttons?

The problem I see with this is that the differentiation between buttons and keys wasn't made from the beginning, and so by relying on it now, people can easily misinterpret existing documentation.


Maybe this could work using 'key' and 'round button' (as in "To jump, press the round B button" and "To quicksave, press the B key"). (This method would not necessarily be future-proof, though, and is still somewhat inelegant.)

 

[Nintendo]

What is ES and S? (Start?)

'Entertainment System' and 'Super' respectively, why'd you ask?

Thanks, I was just curious. I love acronyms, that's why.

 

[BaDToaD]

Arthur


Yvonne


Benny


Xavier


Well, you did ask

 

[GiraffeeDreams]

I like Fire buttons, makes it sound even more retro you're right though face buttons could cause confusion.

 

[gruso]

Arthur


Yvonne


Benny


Xavier


Well, you did ask

ooh, I'd tap Yvonne.