PlayStation buttons have special meaning in Japan

by James Ransom-Wiley { Aug 30th 2005 at 12:30PM }

PlatStation 2 controller buttons Apparently, the common meaning of the PlayStation buttons was lost in translation. To any non-Japanese gamer, the buttons are just geometric symbols, but they have a deeper meaning in Japanese culture. Similar to how the tick and cross marks are used in the West to denote correct and incorrect, three of the PlayStation buttons are used in everyday notation. Here's the breakdown:

Cross (batsu) = "no good"
Triangle (sankaku) = "weak" OR "average"
Circle (maru) = "good" OR "satisfactory"

[Thanks, Dan]

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ill trooper @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"X" box theories about to fly around here?

Spartacus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

It took us how many years to come to this conclusion?

Glenn @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I for one, have always hated the PlayStation controller. The symbols are just so unintuitive. I wish for PS3 they would make the USA version AB XY but I know that's not going to happen. Oh well. Of this generation I definitely like the Gamecube controller the best. The Xbox S controller I feel is pretty good except for those white and black buttons.

szimm @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

oh yeah that explains why circle is always used to confirm in japanese games, and cross to cancel.

cool. ive always wondered about that.

Aselus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

wow...someone likes the gamecube controller *shakes his head at al the arm pains he's experienced from it... anyway no hate... I'm just wondering that if those three buttons have a meaning...sohuldn't there be one for the square button as well?

Imp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I believe I read somewhere that in laboratory testing, scientists were able to determine that the plastic used to create the square button were made of a softer material than the others.
Hrm....

Dave @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Umm... nobody realized this earlier? Rather than "good" and "no good", I'd translate the idiomatic maru and batsu as affirmative and negative, hence the useage of the circle button to select things, and the cross button to cancel. Really, this seems like an intuitive usage... For the life of me, I can't understand why they swap these functions when they localize games for the American market... it's no wonder we see the button symbols as meaningless.
Oh well, that's enough of a language/culture rant for now.

InfoMofo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Is that where Sanrio's "Badtz Maru" got it's name from?

Anyway, I was actually just about to start bitching about the inconsistency of PSP buttons. For navigating the OS, X is always used to select something, and O is used to cancel. While I was playing Metal Gear Ac!d, I got really frustrated because it used the standard PS2 button pattern, which was O to select and X to cancel. Now you're telling me that MGA has it right and... Sony has it wrong?

Joshua @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Well the O and the X make sense, and it drives me nuts that the american playstation reversed them so they are backwards. X should mean cancel and O accept what the heck, why did they change it?

Jeremy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Aselus, how can you have arm pains from a controller?

I don't get it.

astareus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

One of the first Playstation games I ever played (Final Fantasy VII) used circle for confirm and X for cancel. This caused me plenty of trouble later on with other games :)

I really don't understand why X is now used to confirm in the US though. Ergonomically, it feels more comfortable when i have my thumb on the circle button by default rather than the X. Maybe just because it's the button on the bottom so it's the first one people see?

Pepe @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Jeremy... arm pain = beginning of heart attack..

Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I always switched circle to confirm and X to cancel with the FF games. I think it just felt more fluent.

"The symbols are just so unintuitive. I wish for PS3 they would make the USA version AB XY but I know that's not going to happen."

That's silly. It's the placement of four buttons. Hell, you only have to remember 3 of them, then you know where the fourth is. Yet, somehow you're fully capable of typing without the keyboard? Dunno, I personally think the PS2 had the ideal controller. Always prefered it to Xbox and very easily more than GameCube. I never did quite get the "HIT THE A BUTTON!!!" it screams at you. Why do I need a gigantor sized red button in the middle? Am I that retarded that I can't figure out what the primary button would be? Also, what about the Z button? Can you honestly say that the Z button is not the most inconvienent button to use in the history of all video game controllers? Hell, the black and white buttons are more accessable than that thing.

Anyways, yeah. It's hard switching over playing Xbox for some things. Honestly whenever I'll play something team oriented and my roommate asks "how do I pass the ball?" for Xbox games, I'll still say "Circle" or "X" and he gets it right off the bat.

Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Wait, anyone highlight the picture on the link and see it switch to the PS2 controller. Anyone notice the coloring is different for the symbols? Is circle green on the Jap PS2 controller? Is circle not supposed to be red?

pacmanfever @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

personally, i think the green circle makes more sense. the color gives you a clue about the function of the button. kind of like my personal favorite, the gamecube controller. but let's stay on topic here.

White Rose Duelist @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Final Fantasy Tactics also used O for confirm and X for cancel. It felt very awkward after all the games that were the reverse, although I intellectually understood why.

I always thought they were just shapes that had one, two, three and four lines, respectively.

Johan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

This is why circle is usually "OK" or "Accept" in Japanese RPGs and x is cancel, but the buttons are reversed for NA releases (why the are swapped for NA release boggles my mind)

Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

That might be more accurate IMO white rose, since the current theory doesn't really support the whole [] button. Also don't get why they'd explain circle to be the best button, and the top button to just be "okay". Why's the top button the bastard middle child that no one cares about?

Lampbane @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

#14: You just totally blew my mind. I never realized... lines. 1, 2, 3, 4. Geez, I feel dumb for not noticing earlier.

And er, to everyone: you do realize these symbols were in place in Japan long before the PlayStation?

thetrash @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

So I guess the best way to describe the PSP is "cross" and "triangle". They should have made these buttons bigger on the PSP.

Alkaiser @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Whiterose: How's the O one line?

To me, O was yes, X was no, Triangle was Menu (I always thought of it as "up arrow".) and Square was the button that didn't normally get used.

Anyway...the connotations of the symbols have been common knowledge for like...years.

I don't understand switching the buttons. As far as not switching the O and X for FF 7 and FFT...I take credit for that. :) Go testers!

seraph @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

umm, "how is O one line?" Well, it's a circle. That's how. Circle's have one line. How many lines do you think are in a circle?

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

i'm most comfortable hitting start for a menu screen, triangle for cancel, O for select/interaction, X for a confirm/attack, and square for anything alse that needs to be assigned to a face button.

but recently. developers have started using square more (see prince of persia, god of war, etc.)

whenever i go back and play FF7 again, using x for cancel and triangle for menu really confuses me for a few minutes.

i like the way it is now.

Glenn @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

That's silly. It's the placement of four buttons. Hell, you only have to remember 3 of them, then you know where the fourth is."

I own practically every console ever made. When you go from playing an AB XY game for a few weeks and then to a PS2 game it's awkward. Yes, once you've played the game for 20 minutes or so, the button come back to you. But, with let's say a SNES or Dreamcast controller you always know where AB XY is. It is natural. Everyone knows the alphabet like the back of their hand. It just makes more sense.

"I personally think the PS2 had the ideal controller. Always prefered it to Xbox and very easily more than GameCube."

Unlike most others, that's fine with me. I have no problem with people having a different opinion. Do you own a Gamecube or Xbox though? If not, that makes a big difference.

"I never did quite get the "HIT THE A BUTTON!!!" it screams at you. Why do I need a gigantor sized red button in the middle? Am I that retarded that I can't figure out what the primary button would be? Also, what about the Z button? Can you honestly say that the Z button is not the most inconvienent button to use in the history of all video game controllers? Hell, the black and white buttons are more accessable than that thing."

The big A button, which is green by the way, is very intuitive because you ALWAYS know what the main action button is. Of course anyone could figure it out, but then again were talking about inuitiveness here, not learning curves. I can't say much for the Z button, I think it's pretty crappy too. One of the problem with the Xbox black and white buttons though is that in the heat of the battle, based on there position and the fact that they both feel exactly the same, I would still say they are worse than the GC Z button.

Steve @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

What about the square, man? The square just gets no respect.

Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Yeah, I hate the black/white buttons a lot, usually they are reserved for toggle options(flashlight, menus, weapon swap, etc). So they don't bug me.

Sorry, yeah, guess it is green. I do own a GameCube/Xbox as well as my PS2, but the PS2 gets the most play time. The only gamecube game that ever held a light to my PS2 gaming time was Tales of Symphonia. It's been awhile since I gave that doozy a spin.

Also, for saying the ABXY setup is best... Well I dunno, they jump around which is why I never liked them. SNES/NES both have "BA, YX", so they're backwards. Then the Xbox has AB, XY. I don't remember the dreamcast, but I'm pretty sure its AB/XY. Eitherway, I get used to them like you said, within 20 minutes. PS1/PS2 just most natural for me, since I've been using the same damn setup(Save analog sticks) for about 10 years now. The NES was like 4 years, SNES for about 4 years, Cube for 4 years, Xbox for about 2 years. Only thing that is more natural than a PS2 controller for me is a mouse/keyboard setup. For most games, you just lay your hand on the keys and everything is within reach of that one hand, then you navigate with the mouse.

My second fav controller would have to be SNES though. PS2/PS1 > SNES > Xbox > Gamecube > everything else > NES. Heh, honestly, going back I have no idea how I operated the NES controller. The straight corners kill my hands.

Version 1.0 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Quote---> I for one, have always hated the PlayStation controller. The symbols are just so unintuitive. I wish for PS3 they would make the USA version AB XY but I know that's not going to happen. Oh well. Of this generation I definitely like the Gamecube controller the best. The Xbox S controller I feel is pretty good except for those white and black buttons.

Thats just stupid! Who cares whats written on it?! It does the same function as the damn ABXY controllers..... Some fanboys just argue for no reason.....

Belgand @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"tick" and "cross"?!? Do you mean "plus" and "minus"? I can't say I've ever heard someone refer to them by anything else...

Glenn @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"Thats just stupid! Who cares whats written on it?! It does the same function as the damn ABXY controllers..... Some fanboys just argue for no reason....."

Why must you insist on proving your retardation? Because someone does not like a way something is set up on a contorller of a particular machine makes them a fanboy? Doesn't a fanboy love 1 machine/company? I own ALL of them all the way back to the Channel F. As far as "argue for no reason" my post was the 3rd comment here and was not in response to anybody. How can that be arguing?! Yes it's the same function no matter what's written on it, but we're are talking about intuitiveness - no function. Please brush up on your reading and comprehension skills. Thank you