I mean, give the buttons generic names like “Action”, “Jump”, and “Cancel”, and encourage games to use those buttons as consistently as they can within their control scheme. If you then tell me “Press Select to bring up the weapon-choice menu, then Action to select one, or Cancel to go back to the weapon you were using”, that’s a lot easier for me to learn than “Press L to open the menu, X to select a weapon, or O to go back”.
This is actually mildly infuriating when you experience it. Try playing Minecraft on Xbox and then Switch. Yeah you can change it in the settings but you shouldn’t have to… Microsoft corrected Nintendo’s error by putting the letter in the correct order. Nintendo needs to just fix their shit at this point.
Because some other literal-minded gamers will complain about having to press “Jump” to fire their missiles and “Cancel” to open the bomb bay doors.
Personally, I don’t care about the names at all. What bugs me is that on Xbox and PS, “main action” is down and “cancel” is right (or, depending on how your thumb is positioned, left vs. right), whereas on Nintendo it’s the opposite.
Yes, that is exactly what messes me up, just about every time. I regularly play with an XB360 controller on PC, PS3 controller on PS3, and a Switch controller. Regardless of X/Y/A/B/Triangle/whatever, having the main action/select button at different positions confuses me every time. I can’t tell you how many times I press B for cancel on the Switch when I really wanted to proceed.