Based on my searches, I could only find 3* controllers that have this feature (and interestingly, they all do it differently). There’s the new 8BitDo Pro 3, where the face buttons are magnetic, the GameSir Supernova, where you have to remove the faceplate to swap the buttons, and the GameSir Tarantula Pro/T3 Pro, where there’s a motor that swaps the ABXY layout.
This seems like a pretty simple feature that would be really useful for multiplatform controllers. Lots of controllers advertise that they work with PC, Xbox, Switch, Android, etc., but very few of them give you the option to physically swap the ABXY layout. They usually have one layout or the other. I would get not having these features on a really budget controller, but there are some controllers that are really expensive and don’t have this neat little button swap thing (instead opting for gimmicky things like a screen)
edit: * There’s actually 4**, I forgot about the Nyxi Flexi!
edit 2: ** Nope, it’s five***, the Gulikit KK3 Max has replaceable button caps! Very cool!
edit 3: *** Actually, the older KK2 Pro also seems to have this feature too, as well as a few other older Gulikit controllers, so I guess it’s >6? That’s cool. With four different companies (GuliKit, 8BitDo, GameSir, and Nyxi) offering at least one controller with this feature, I guess it’s not as rare as I thought. Who knew?
Well many prefer the Nintendo layout and are used to it, esp. for Nintendo games.
Interestingly, after a bit of searching, it looks like the Nintendo layout came first, but due to a patent or something, SEGA and later Xbox would swap the ABXY buttons. Not saying that either layout should be the “standard” though. Both should ideally coexist (and that includes the PS layout. You can’t really complain about the PS layout changing all the time, it’s basically the same since the original PS)
Also, what do you mean by A being the “default button”? Do you mean that A is for doing most of the interacting (e.g. dialogue, next, OK) or something like that? Because A does that in both Xbox layout (where you interact with the bottom button) and Nintendo layout (where you instead do that with the right button, at least on “standard” controllers. The GameCube controller kind of did its own thing)
Interestingly, it seems that some PS games interact with X and others interact with O. Apparently this is because in Japan, “O” means correct and “X” means wrong, while this significance of “O” doesn’t exist in the US and Europe, so “X” is accept because that’s where the thumb usually rests. Cool!
I appreciate the consistency of the PA controller, but I can not for the life of me remember which side is square and circle. Been fuckin me up since 2002