Matthew – Friday, May 9, 2014, 10:00 AM

I've been wanting to do a comic on this for awhile.

Nintendo's had a weird focus on making the A button on a diamond-shaped (i.e. SNES-style) layout the primary button. During the SNES days, this wasn't the case; games like DKC and Mario World would have you running by holding Y, and tapping B, while Square's games always stood out to me for having the far-right A be the confirm button (and B being cancel).

Since the Wii's classic controller, though (and extending to the 3DS), they pretty much go back to this awkward A/B layout every time, including in the new Kirby game. I think it's to keep the button names consistent across platforms, but the B/A configuration on the NES controller is clearly the equivalent of the Y/B configuration on the SNES, because of the way your thumb is angled.

Now, this strip exaggerates the curvature of one's thumb a bit, but even so, the most comfortable way I can play games like this is by having my thumb sit on the edge between both buttons, and "rocking" back and forth--and this just doesn't feel all that great.

So amidst people clamoring for Nintendo to make more "hardcore" games, I just would like them to go back to the way Super Mario World controlled already!