Decades-old Nintendo Power issue explains Nintendo's choice of A/B/X/Y buttons

What the report says

Buttoned up 29 September 2025 by rawmeatcowboy 9 The Super Nintendo brought with it a whole host of new features and abilities, and some of those were tied to the controllers for the system. While the NES had A/B/Select/Start and a d-pad, the Super Nintendo really stepped things up with a ton of buttons. The A/B face buttons from the NES were joined by X/Y this time around, which is a design Nintendo has stuck with to this day.There are plenty of gamers nowadays who wonder why Nintendo went with A/B/X/Y instead of something like A/B/C/D.

Turns out we actually got the answer to this decades ago, and it came straight from a Nintendo Power issue.Dug up by Sasha’s Retrobytes on Blusky, an old issue of Nintendo Power included a letter from a fan looking to get some insight into the A/B/X/Y decision. Nintendo Power published the question and offered up a direct answer as well, finally putting the mystery to rest.Turns out the A/B/X/Y decision was tied to the use of CAD software, which is used by designers, architects, and engineers to create 2D and 3D digital models and drawings of products.

In CAD software, A/B are labeled as primary buttons, while X/Y are secondary. Nintendo took this CAD approach and applied it to the face buttons on the SNES controller, and the rest is history! [Time Extension, Sasha's Retrobytes, Dual Shockers] Loading... Close Sign in or, Sign up the_crimson_lure 11M ago I wonder if this rumor is true!flyingcastle 11M ago the_crimson_lure - it's not a rumorDid you read the article?sheaintinthiscastle 11M ago I highly doubt this is the reason.... North America didn't design the controller, it came from the Japan offices.

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Plus he references the X and Y using a different colour. That was only in North America. Everywhere else they were all different colours... mimewithoutacoz 11M ago @rawmeatcowboySuper Famicom had 4 different colored buttons all the same shape, also named A/B/X/Y. It also released first, nearly a year earlier.The only thing this proves to me is that someone decided to publish this in a magazine. It makes zero sense. You should try and get a hold of this Lance Barr character. Changing labels on buttons would also potentially complicate localization.Multiple outlets citing a random twitter expat is wild work.You owe this person a favor RMC?

Edited 2 times ferdnyc 11M ago "In CAD software, A/B are labeled as primary buttons, while X/Y are secondary."That's... not even sort of correct. There are no A & B buttons in CAD software. There are no X and Y buttons, either. X and Y are the two primary AXES in of the 3-D modeling universe that CAD software (and any 3D modeling tool) use, with Z being the third. That someone might choose X and Y for labels for that reason... actually sounds somewhat plausible, since X and Y would also be found in CAD software used by designers in Japan or anywhere else.alienclay 11M ago To clarify, in cad design for CNC multi axis machines, A, B, and C are complimentary as rotary axis to X, Y and Z as linear axis.

Though most would view linear axis as primary it's a relative oint of view.hackatlantis 11M ago The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive was released while Nintendo was still consolidating it's market share with the NES/Famicom. Sega used a 6-button controller, with ABC and XYZ rows, because they were primarily an arcade console manufacturer and their arcade consoles were manufactured with a control stick and six buttons (Sega referred to the home system controller as "arcade style"). Nintendo realized the need for six buttons in more complex games, but moved two of them to the shoulders of the controller to allow for more convenient button-press combinations on a home system.

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The reason for X and Y likely wasn't really about CAD software for Nintendo, although it may have originally been for Sega's ABC/XYZ button naming convention that Nintendo copied.s1acker 11M ago [comment rejected] Loading... Close